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XBOX 360 Code Opened up to Independents

post #1 of 8
8/14/06 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/ar...ie_coders.html

Interesting. One of the linked articles mentioned that we might see the most meaningful efforts come from universities (i.e., classes designed around game designing).

Someone who knows more than me about game development, tell me this: How do we play the games people develop? You can't just burn them to DVDs or CDs, can you? I mean, if you design a game to work on the 360, I imagine you can give it away if you so choose.
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post #2 of 8
8/14/06 at 4:45pm
Heard about this morning. MS is looking to make developed content available via X-Box live to demo/download. I haven't looked at the specs yet, but I'll venture a guess that there is also the header files required to burn a DVD image for use on the 360 as well.

Microsoft usually makes their platform development SDKs available anyway, so I'm not sure how this is different other than announcing it for a marketing hook.
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post #3 of 8
8/14/06 at 4:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Death Surge
Heard about this morning. MS is looking to make developed content available via X-Box live to demo/download. I haven't looked at the specs yet, but I'll venture a guess that there is also the header files required to burn a DVD image for use on the 360 as well.

Microsoft usually makes their platform development SDKs available anyway, so I'm not sure how this is different other than announcing it for a marketing hook.
They make them available for free?
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post #4 of 8
8/14/06 at 5:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overlord
They make them available for free?
It's based on the product, but generally that's the case. Most SDK's, like the Windows Media Development kits, Windows CE libraries, etc. are only found through active searching of MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), but can be downloaded at no charge. Their heavy hitting language SDKs like the MFC (Microsoft Foundation Class), their development environments and compilers (Visual Studio, etc.) cost. They've changed even that policy as of late, with basic .NET development free emulating the Java world. But general development tools like this supporting their own interests usually are free.
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post #5 of 8
8/14/06 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Death Surge
It's based on the product, but generally that's the case. Most SDK's, like the Windows Media Development kits, Windows CE libraries, etc. are only found through active searching of MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), but can be downloaded at no charge. Their heavy hitting language SDKs like the MFC (Microsoft Foundation Class), their development environments and compilers (Visual Studio, etc.) cost. They've changed even that policy as of late, with basic .NET development free emulating the Java world. But general development tools like this supporting their own interests usually are free.
Well, you learn something new everyday. I keep hearing about the prohibitive cost of developing games, and assumed development kits were part of that.

Does Sony do the same thing?
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post #6 of 8
8/14/06 at 5:21pm
Quote:
XNA Game Studio Express will be available for free to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC, and will provide them with what's described as "Microsoft's next-generation platform for game development." In addition, by joining a "creators club" for an annual subscription fee of $99, users will be able to build, test and share their games on Xbox 360, as well as access a wealth of materials to help speed the game development progress.
You can develop for free, but DOING anything with your games is $100/yr.
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post #7 of 8
8/14/06 at 5:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overlord
Well, you learn something new everyday. I keep hearing about the prohibitive cost of developing games, and assumed development kits were part of that.

Does Sony do the same thing?
I'm fairly sure there a XBOX licensing deal for you to resell the end result, so while you might be able to develop things for free, MS still gets their cut from every item you sell. The tools are the low end cost of development. It's manpower, graphic artists, video cut scene designers, testers, etc. where the real money is spent.

Not sure how Sony works, buy probably on a similar structure.
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post #8 of 8
8/14/06 at 5:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bililoquy
You can develop for free, but DOING anything with your games is $100/yr.
That's still pretty cheap. An MSDN license (basically everything from MS available + support) is in the thousands.
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