I’m presenting at the San Diego HTML5 Meetup tonight talking about creating Windows 8 apps using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. If you want a copy of my slides and demos, you can grab them here:
Also, if you are looking for a copy of the free book by Kraig Brockschmidt, here’s the link: http://aka.ms/pw8a
And don’t forget to check out Scirra’s Construct 2!
I presented a session at the Microsoft Store in Fashion Valley last night (12/05/2012) on creating games for Windows 8. In that session I covered a TON of resources to help game developers. In this blog post I link to a number of tools and resources that can help you kickstart your Windows 8 Game Development!
If you are a C++ coder and need ultimate performance out of your game, you can develop your game using C++ and Direct X. If this is your first game though, C++/DirectX will likely be overwhelming.
If you like the power of DirectX, but don’t want to dust off your C++ dev skills, you might be interested in SharpDX.
I had looked into XNA a fair amount on Windows Phone 7, but it turns out that while XNA is still supported on Windows Phone 8, it isn’t supported in WinRT. But fear not, there is an excellent open source implementation of XNA that WILL run not only windows Windows RT, but also Windows Phone 8, as well as iSO, Android, Mac OS X & Linux! Want to know more, check out MonoGame from Xamarin!
Another approach could be to use HTML/JS/CSS and the ever powerful HTML5 Canvas to create your own games. Dan Wahlin has some great blog posts and Pluralsight content about HTML5 canvas.
There are a number of excellent game generation tools in the market already, and there are more on the way! Here are the ones I have checked into so far:
YoYo Games has “GameMaker: Studio” family of tools. The free version allows you to create both Mac and Windows DESKTOP apps (not Win RT) apps. However, for just $49.99 you can create games that can be published into the Windows 8 store.
GameSalad is another popular came creation tool called “GameSalad Creator”. In order to publish to the Windows 8 store, you need to purchase the Pro version for $299/year, but the free version can get you into the tool so you know you can be successful building a game before you pay for the Pro version.
Scirra’s Construct2 allows you to create Windows 8 store apps with the FREE version! If you want to publish apps for iOS and Android then you’ll need to upgrade to their Personal or Business editions.
Unity3D is a more advanced game creation tool focused on 3D game creation, and may be something you look at after becoming familiar with one of the 2D game creation tools mentioned above.
I like to create my game art using vector graphics first, and then I export those vector images as bitmaps. To create the vector images I use InkScape. If I need to edit the bitmap images that are exported, I usually clean them up using Gimp.
For sounds, you need to create them somehow, I have used MusicLab from ClubCreate to make game loops before. OpenLabs has a new tool called StageLight that sells for just $9.99 (a demo version is available), or you might consider buying pre-made sounds from sites like beatport.com .
Once you have sounds you like, you can edit them (or create your own) using Audacity. Audacity is a great sound editor that has all the functionality a budding game developer would need!
Don’t worry, there are a number of places that you can get assets (graphics, sounds, etc) for your games. My teammate Jeremy Foster has collection of them listed on his blog, but there are two that relate directly to games:
OpenGameArt.org is a great place to get art for your games. Even if it isn’t the art you end up using in the long run, it may help you get rolling!
Freesound.org is a great place for various sound samples, again this may not be the sounds you use at publish time, but they will serve a purpose.
With both OpenGameArt.org and Freesound.org, make sure to pay attention to how the assets you choose are licensed if you plan on publishing your game to the Windows Store.
I finally got a chance to go to the San Diego JS meetup last night. I have been wanting to go for months but I finally made it! This was also my first chance to visit 3rdSpace. Loved both. Todd Bashor of The Starter’s Academy gave a great demo of using casper.js as a way of automating phantom.js sessions for testing and more. It was very interesting.
Of course, I also got a chance to chat with local JavaScript developers about their impressions of Microsoft both good and bad, as well as their interest in developing on the Microsoft stack. Here is some of the feedback I received and my hopefully not too defensive sounding response.
Did you know that Windows Azure has it’s own store? It’s been around for some time as the Windows Azure Marketplace. Well, today an update to the Windows Azure Management portal allows both store vendors and consumers a much better shopping experience!
When you sign into the Windows Azure Management Portal you will see a new category on the left titled “ADD-ONS”
To sign-up for a new ADD-ON, click on the “NEW” button at the bottom:
Then click the “Store” icon:
Then use the “Choose an Add-On” wizard to complete your selection:
Once you have added an Add-On to your account, you can manage each by selecting the Add-On on the “ADD-ONS’ page and using the commands along the bottom. For example, here are the commands for the SendGrid add-on:
There are numerous add-on including data sets, data services, and application services. You can add services including:
Give it a try! Sign into the Windows Azure Management Portal and go shopping!
If you have been developing apps with Windows Azure Mobile Services, then you know how easy it is to create a set of backend services for your Windows 8 (and, really any REST capable) clients! Just last week an update was published that adds a number of features including:
To take advantage of these latest features in your projects, you will need to update to the latest version of the SDK (v2.2). You can download the SDKs (windows, iOS, and more to come) from the github repository (http://aka.ms/wamssdks)
At the “Making Money with HTML5, CSS and JavaScript” event today, I gave a lunchtime session on the various installation options that are available with Windows 8. If you would like a copy of my slides, you can grab them here:
This is an awesome jam packed weekend for me. I had the Windows8 Dev Camp yesterday, and SQL Saturday 157 today. If you are a Database Professional (DBA or Dev) and don’t know about SQL Saturday’s, do your self a favor and find out about them! They are free (or extremely inexpensive) events held on Saturdays at locations all around the world. They are organized by local members of your community and supported by PAAS. If you don’t see a SQL Saturday in your region, maybe you could help get one organized!
Anyhow, at the SQL Saturday #157 in San Diego today I have two sessions. You can grab my slides and demos here:
I love the Dev Camps we have been running lately because it gives me a great opportunity to show off all the great things we are doing around Windows 8 and Windows Azure. Case in point, at the Windows 8 Dev Camp in LA today (09/14/2012) I will be presenting on “Windows Azure Mobile Services”.
“Windows Azure Mobile Services” makes it super simple to create a cloud back-end for your Windows 8 WinRT apps. It provides you a way to manage data, authentication, and push notifications. Along with that you can scale your services as your app grows in popularity! Very cool.
Feel free to grab my demos and slides from today, and if you haven’t gotten a chance to go through the “Windows Azure Mobile Hands-On-Labs”, give them a try!
I had a great time presenting at the Windows 8 Dev Camp today in Irvine. You can grab my slides and samples if you want them, and get started yourself!
We covered tons of great topics today including:
Grab the samples and slides and get started now by building an app in 30 Days!
All I can say is WOW. This was super easy to setup. My goal was to use Visual Studio 2012 to create an Azure Web Site, and to use Microsoft’s Hosted TFS for my source control and build server. If all of the above items are new to you, that may sound like a daunting task, but as you’ll see, it is extremely simple. Also, don’t let the length of this blog post scare you off. I tried to be very specific about the steps and include a lot of screen shots, so It looks like a lot, but all in all it will only take you about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Here’s an diagram with a basic overview of the pieces:
Keep reading for a 7 MINUTE video demonstration of the ENTIRE PROCESS, and step-by-step instructions!
