Microsoft Publishes Free XBox Development Tools

prostoalex writes "Microsoft announced the release of free XNA Game Studio Express tools for developing C# games that run on both Windows and XBox. They're also selling XNA Creators Club subscriptions, which, similar to MSDN subscriptions, offer access to sample code and additional documentation. Also, Microsoft is explicitly aiming towards uniting the Windows and XBox development platforms: 'You will have to compile the game once for each platform. In this release simply create a separate project for each platform and then compile them both. Our goal is to allow as much code as possible to be shared between those two projects, allowing you to use the same source files in both projects, but platform-specific code will need to be conditionally-compiled.'"

Not quite free....

[nullset (39850)]

If you want to run the games on your own xbox, you need the "Creators Club" subscription...which costs $100/year.

So it's not quite free. And you can't distribute the games to others....unless you distribute the source and they are also members of the creator's club.

Re:Not quite free....

[Jazz-Masta (240659)]

It's a lot cheaper than a Gamecube, Wii, PS2, or PS3 dev kit. This is a major step forward. Indie developers can use it, even if it is $100 (which, let's face it, is not much money...two games worth) and if they create something worthwhile they can pay more to get it full licenced for release.

Re:

[asb (1909)]

if they create something worthwhile they can pay more to get it full licenced for release

Let me rephrase that for you: "if they create something worthwhile they have to pay more to get it full licenced for release".

Helpful, eh?

Re:Not quite free....

[acidrain (35064)]

The ps2 linux kit had device drivers instead of direct access to the graphics hardware, which made it useless for developing competitive console games.

Not QUITE informative- not really even correct.

[Svartalf (2997)]

Even in the X-Box, you're talking to device drivers, not the hardware directly. That IS what you do with DirectX- it's call that because it bypassed many of the software layers in Windows so you could write games. That's supposed to be the big selling point of the X-Box lines is that you can write for XP and do a minimal amount of work to make a console port to the X-Box or X-Box360. Talking to the hardware directly means poking values into the registers on the GPU, etc. Something few of the developers do- and none on the X-Box/X-Box 360 They typically go through a library or device driver on all the consoles to begin with. You might have done development under a console target, so your mileage may vary- but what I know of things differs from what you just said by a lot.

Re:

[jandrese (485)]

With documentation? Having access to the hardware and being able to use it can be two very different things.

Re:

[SScorpio (595836)]

The PS2 Linux kit came with PDFs of the documentation that came with the professional very expensive Linux kit. I believe you receive 6 out of the 7 documents or something like that. I know they just didn't include one, though I don't remember which one it was.

Here's the free code

[EmbeddedJanitor (597831)]

freecode.c

#include "creatorsclub.h"

Creator's Club

[Z34107 (925136)]

The press release says that they're working on removing the Creator's Club requirement for playing XNA games.

The reason you need to be a member of the Creator's Club as of now is because of the XNA framework - a souped-up version of the .NET framework - that your games are built on top of. Your games won't run without it, which means anyone who wants to run your game needs it (i.e., be a member of the Creator's Club.)

Re:

[pembo13 (770295)]

So you're argueing that $99 is free? Cheap - yes, but you can't argue that that is free, right?

Re:

[amliebsch (724858)]

Does that include a compiler?

The .NET SDK has always included a free command-line based compiler.

I figure it is meant for Visual Studio. How many $100 bills is that again?

Zero [microsoft.com].

Re:

[ericlondaits (32714)]

You can use Visual Studio Express 2005, which is free (as in beer). In fact, according to this page:

http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2006/10/10/XNA-G ame-Studio-Express_2C00_-C_2300_-and-Visual-C_2300 _-2005-Express-Edition.aspx [msdn.com]

the only version of Visual Studio you can use at the moment is the free one.

Re:Not quite free....

[ribond (149811)]

Way to fail to own it. They gave you something free (yes, there are caveats) or at worst dirt-cheap, that others sell for much more. You can now choose -- your wallet or your "must-irrationaly-hate-ms" reflex?

God help you if the indians get close to you with a few "gimme" rounds of texas hold'em. You'll never break free.

...you see where I'm going with this?

it's almost like this truly vicious practice that many shareware vendors have (wolves in sheeps clothing, these guys). They offer you up a fantastic game as a trial version and then ask you to pay for it if you love it.

bastards.

I can imagine that Sony and Nintendo are none to amused at this, so I'll just sit back and wait for them to file antitrust complaints.

...yeah. but it's MS that stifles innovation. What antitrust issue do you see here? The 2nd place player in a field tries to gain an advantage by giving things away... I'd come up with an analogy but they seem to obvious. I'll let you run with it.

Re:Not quite free....

[Blakey Rat (99501)]

The only reason behind the $100 charge per year is the same reason they charge for approving drivers, or they charge for Xbox Live:

To keep the riff-raff out.

If you're paying $100 a year, you're likely a responsible enough adult that you'll not constantly submit Xbox Live Arcade games that completely suck, have no chance at being published, and waste a lot of Microsoft's time. (They charge for driver certification so they driver makers don't start using Microsoft as a free QA service. Similar concept. They charge for Xbox Live subscriptions so assholes don't make 30 of them to dodge bans.)

It's a valid practice. $100 a year is NOTHING to anybody actually interested in game development, the only one is hurts are little kids who would produce crap games anyway. (And even THEN, they can produce as many crap games on PC as they want; the $100 only applies if you want to run it on an Xbox.)

I like the insane leaps of logic required to make giving free dev tools away to the public look like a bad thing. While you're making up anti-Microsoft bullshit, remember that releasing stuff like this is what is going to give Microsoft a huge lead in console gaming and leave Sony in the dust.

Re:

[ribond (149811)]

awesome. ...then I read your profile to find...

Keep your eye on the ball. SCO is merely running interference for M$. M$ is still taxing the world $40,000,000,000/year for a dozen programs it mostly wrote more than a decade ago.

I'd counter-claim astroturfing, but I don't know who would be paying... :)

You've clearly got a belief structure built up here... some people are christians, and frankly I don't agree with them either...

Creator's club not necessary to use XNA

[Osty (16825)]

The Creator's Club is only necessary if you want the extra content/samples/support or if you want to run XNA games on an Xbox 360 (for now you'll have to have a Creator's Club membership even if you only want to run others' code, but that should change in a future release). If you just want to build Windows games using XNA then there's no reason to get a Creator's Club subscription.

Xbox 360 only

[Mr2001 (90979)]

Those of us who haven't upgraded should note that this is only for the 360, not the regular Xbox.

Re:

[Osty (16825)]

Those of us who haven't upgraded should note that this is only for the 360, not the regular Xbox.

That's okay. You can still use it to write Windows games for free, and if/when you do upgrade to a 360 it won't be much extra work to port your game to 360. At best it's just a matter of setting up a new project using the same source and building that; at worst you may have to change some code if you're doing something the 360 doesn't support.

Re:

[wolrahnaes (632574)]

Not that this matters, as there are already many ways to develop for the original Xbox. If you have one of a few specific games, a memory card, and a USB cable you don't mind hacking you can do it for free.

So I make a vijeo game for XBOX360

[CrazyJim1 (809850)]

Who's gonna publish my game after I make it?

Burger King !

[up2ng (110551)]

Just find a way to murderlize the King and they'll sell it for $3.99 with a meal

SNES

[Midnight Thunder (17205)]

I would love to see Nintendo do something like this. I think allowing development using the SNES dev kit would allow those who want to get into console game development somewhere to start, yet not compromise what they are charging for their professional kit.

Re:

[edwdig (47888)]

I think allowing development using the SNES dev kit would allow those who want to get into console game development somewhere to start, yet not compromise what they are charging for their professional kit.

SNES games were coded in assembly. They wouldn't gain much by opening that up.

GBA is the sweet spot - powerful enough to code in C/C++, but weak enough that a team of a couple people can max out the power of the system.

Re:

[ivan256 (17499)]

GBA is the sweet spot - powerful enough to code in C/C++, but weak enough that a team of a couple people can max out the power of the system.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Almost no system is too underpowered to run compiled code, including the SNES. There is no system available on the planet right now that cannot be maxed out by one or two people... Even the most advanced renderers can be implemented by a very small number of people.

SNES games were coded in assembly. They wouldn't gain muc

Re:

[edwdig (47888)]

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Almost no system is too underpowered to run compiled code, including the SNES.

Obviously you can run compiled code on the SNES. You're just not going to get very good performance out of it. You have 3 general purpose registers on the SNES CPU. Compilers don't create very good code when they're that register starved. You can certainly code an average game in C, but if you're trying to do anything impressive, you won't get the performance you need.

There is no sys

Re:SNES

[Stormwatch (703920)]

Not exactelly. Here's more wikitrivia for you: the CPU of the SNES was a Ricoh 5A22, which was based on the CMD/GTE 65c816, itself a version of the WDC 65C816. Now, the WDC 65816 was also the CPU of the Apple IIGS, and that is why the Apple IIGS was used as an early SNES devkit. Also, some SNES games had a built-in processor, the Nintendo SA-1, which was also based on the 65816.

Re:

[Megane (129182)]

GBA is the sweet spot - powerful enough to code in C/C++, but weak enough that a team of a couple people can max out the power of the system.

I'd say Sega Genesis is a sweet spot, too. 68K, large address space (4 megabytes in a cartridge with no bank switching), good C compilers (people have supposedly used MPW C with it), decent graphics/sprite support, less colors than SNES, but still a decent selection, and the original Sega documentation is out there. You won't be doing 3D on it, but it's a darn good 2D system. Used consoles are easy to find, cartridges are relatively easy to make, and it's supported for Wii download games.

The Sega CD,

Re:

[jarrettwold2002 (601633)]

I emailed Nintendo about the indie option. I don't think it's going to be a go any time soon. I was told the usual bit, about needing prior game(s) and of course be a corporation. Along with financial requirements et al.

And I haven't seen anything announced to that effect so...

Re:

[modeless (978411)]

I don't see why anyone would want experience developing a SNES game, it wouldn't transfer well to modern consoles. If you just want to know how the SNES works, an open-source emulator is the ultimate documentation. If you want to develop an indie game, it's a no-brainer to do it on PC. A top-of-the-line PC is already far better than any console including PS3, and if the game is good enough to be released on a console, porting it will be cake compared to building it in the first place.

Re:SNES

[Darkforge (28199)]

Hmm, thought I'd hit submit, but the post disappeared.

Aaanyway. Nintendo has done you one better by providing Flash support in the Opera browser included in every Wii. That means that you can play games developed in Flash on your Wii using the Wiimote.

Opera is already installed on every Wii (it's used to power the Wii Shop Channel), but to access other websites you have to use DNS redirection hacks... Once Opera is properly "released" you'll be able to use it freely. Meanwhile, wiicade.com [wiicade.com] is a website dedicated to developing/promoting Flash games explicitly designed to be played on the Wii.

Re:

[colmore (56499)]

It would be interesting, but I think you'd find programming for the SNES and modern game programming to be different beasts.

Back then, with much smaller resources, a lot of work was still done in assembler and some pretty low level code that is now taken care of by libraries. There isn't the need to squeeze every last inch of functionality out of hardware any more, and the coding is a lot different.

Channel 9 Demo

[dilbert627 (561671)]

This video on Channel9 shows off running a game on the Xbox. Pretty cool stuff.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=2612 54 [msdn.com]

Non commercial

[edwardpickman (965122)]

It strictly allows only non commercial development and no distribution including free over the net. There's is another commercial version that'll be released early next year but you still face the Microsoft bottle neck. You can't release commercial games unless they approve of them and take a health chunk of the profits. It'll allow you to develope for the Xbox 360 at a much lower risk but there are no guarentees you'll be able to release the game on Xbox 360. Microsoft still retains the final approval and demands their pound 'O fleash.

Re:

[east coast (590680)]

I'm not a game developer and I don't know much about it but what's the costs associated with developing for other consoles? MS offering educational stuff for free or damn close to it isn't that bad of a deal, from where I sit.

MS put a lot of cash down to develop an entire platform, they stuck out their necks... if you're making cash from a venture involving their proprietary platform tell me where their cut comes from?

Re:Non commercial

[Osty (16825)]

A lot of people are going "holy cow! xbox programming! yay!" and ignoring that they're giving us tools that have existed in the pc world for decades. Microsoft isn't giving anyone anything.. they're seeing how much we'll pay for what we can get for free.

There are two possible answers to this:

1. When was the last time a company gave you a very inexpensive way to develop games for a console system? The last I can think of was Sony's Net Yaroze [wikipedia.org] (essentially a limited PS1 dev kit), but that was quite a bit more expensive than XNA currently is (at $100/year, it'll take 7.5 years for a Creator's Club subscription to equal the cost of a Net Yaroze). PS2 Linux doesn't count as it was seriously hindered in its capabilities, and PS3 Linux won't count until you can fully utilize the GPU. GBADev [gbadev.org] and DSDev [dsdev.org] don't count because they're not official development tools provided by Nintendo and rely on hacks to allow you to run your code on the handhelds directly.
2. What other frameworks allow you to build games for both PC (windows) and console (xbox 360) at the same time (there are a few minor differences you need to take into account, but if you write a game for Windows using XNA it's mostly trivial to re-build that for 360, with maybe a few shader tweaks here and there)? Do those frameworks allow you to load your game onto the console in a "legal" (non-modchip, non-hack) way? A framework like Torque doesn't count becase you still have to be able to get a 360 dev kit to be able to run your game (dev kits cost upwards of $10K, and getting one requires you to jump through a bunch of hoops proving that you're a competent software developer with a high likelihood of actually being able to ship your game in a timely manner among many other things).

That tools like this have existed on the PC for a while is a red herring, because tools like this for consoles generally have not. If you want to stick with PC development, that's fine, but it's orthogonal to the discussion at hand.

yeehaw! I'm gonna write me a program!

[ILuvRamen (1026668)]

I'll get right on working on a version of Open Office that runs on the Xbox :-D Then I can use that incredibly fast direction pad to type my documents. Ooh and I could bring in my Xbox for powerpoint presentations at school and have some fun when I'm not using it for that! The possibilities are endless! You may think that's a dumb idea but have you looked at the public domain roms made from scratch by people in their basements for earlier consoles like SNES, Genesis, and N64? THEY SUCK! Regular people aren't very good at console programming I guess. Office it is! :-D

Sample code with XNA: Madelbrot at 60fps

[jeswin (981808)]

Here is some interesting code, using C# and the pixel shader which draws fractals 60 times a second [msdn.com] using the XBox GPU. Initially I was skeptical about coding games with managed code (like C#), but it looks like we will see some games written in .Net. The drawing underneath still gets done natively, but you will be insulated to some extent.

Interestingly, Mono is planning to bring XNA to other platforms [taoframework.com]. Hopefully we will see PS3 running XNA sometime soon (quite possible, since PS3 already runs Mono).

Re:

[Osty (16825)]

Here is some interesting code, using C# and the pixel shader which draws fractals 60 times a second using the XBox GPU. Initially I was skeptical about coding games with managed code (like C#), but it looks like we will see some games written in .Net. The drawing underneath still gets done natively, but you will be insulated to some extent.

XNA is just the next version of DirectX's managed interface (it's changed quite a bit from DirectX 9's MDX interface). Anything you can do with DirectX, you can do w

Take that Stallman!

[Timbotronic (717458)]

From the FAQ:
Q: What does XNA stand for?
A: XNA's Not Acronymed

Seems even the Evil Empire has a sense of humour.

Re:

[ticklish2day (575989)]

Humor, the hallmark of yet another J. Allard [microsoft.com] led group.

XNA is not bad

[Maurice (114520)]

I come from a low level graphics programming background. Having played around with the XNA betas that have been out for a while, I must say that XNA is probably the easiest way to get an amateur started with DirectX programming and game development. It seems almost like Microsoft is trying to get the grass roots hooked onto the platform so that the next generation of game programmers prefer the MS platform.

Oh, and people who compare XNA to game engines like Ogre are missing the point. XNA is not a game engine, it's more of a development tool/platform. It does come with lots of library code, but it's not a full-fledged game engine.

Re:XNA is not bad

[MelloDawg (180509)]

I attended the XNA Open House [msdn.com] this evening. The first demo consisted of downloading a model from TurboSquid [turbosquid.com], adding it to a XNA Game project, writing about 15 lines of code ... and boom -- there was a rendered ship that was lit, spining and was controlable by the 360 controller. Ridiculously easy.

The entry barrier has been lowered significant. I forsee alot people taking advantage of this platform.

Developers, developers, developers!

[NineNine (235196)]

I think that the "Developers" chair-throwing speech is exactly why MS is #1. Other companies (especially OSS companies) need to get just as excited about supporting developers if they want anywhere near that kind of success.

Using Other Developers To Profit

[phantomcircuit (938963)]

The one thing that Microsoft does extremely well is document and provide tools to develop software for windows.(free tools such as visual c# express offer non-commercial developers a cheap IDE). It's why there is a much larger number of applications written for windows than for Unix like systems.

By applying the same principles to the Xbox 360 they might just find that more people use the system because of what they can do with it, not because of the numbers.

The applications make the system useful, not the other way around.

Re:

[Sentry21 (8183)]

The one thing that Microsoft does extremely well is document and provide tools to develop software for windows.(free tools such as visual c# express offer non-commercial developers a cheap IDE). It's why there is a much larger number of applications written for windows than for Unix like systems.

You must be new here. Until very recently, even the entry-level development tools were expensive and cumbersome to use. The vast majority of people who created apps for MS OSes when I was in school could only afford

This is actually not that bad

[jonwil (467024)]

Although I personally am not interested in this, I know lots of other people are.
I dont see the "you need to buy the subscription thing to play games on your 360" or the "you need to compile from source" or the "managed code only" as that serious.
To me, the 2 biggest lacks is:
C# only. No managed C++ or other languages.
and the real big one: Programs written for the XBOX 360 cannot communicate with the outside world at all (i.e. no networking period). This is by far the biggest limitation of XNA Game Studio 360 IMO.

Re:

[jonwil (467024)]

Unless you can run the linux kernel on top of the .NET Common Language Runtime.
Oh and someone would need to port it to C# too.

Re:

[rbanffy (584143)]

There must be some exploitable part that can be used to gain access to the hypervisor... It is Microsoft we are talking about.

Re:

[Osty (16825)]

Is it just me, or would this speed up the development of Linux on the XBox 360?

It's just you. I guess it might be technically possible to build a virtual machine on top of the .NET Framework Compact Edition which could then run Linux, but that's not anywhere near the same as running Linux on the Xbox 360.

Re:

[Sir Homer (549339)]

http://www.crystalspace.org/ [crystalspace.org] http://www.ogre3d.org/ [ogre3d.org] http://www.openscenegraph.org/ [openscenegraph.org]