Homebrew coding for the 360 [Archive] - Forums @ The Digital Fix

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Gavin

14-08-2006, 09:57

Couldn't see it posted elsewhere - seems like good news to me, when we starting a DVDForums developed game :D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4789809.stm

Wendelius

14-08-2006, 09:59

I mentioned it here in the XBox 360 thread (http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6643834#post6643834).

It's certainly not bad news to let people play with a dev kit. We'll see what comes out of it. I kind of doubt there will be too much content I'll want to spend money on but we'll see.

Wendelius

tawsi

14-08-2006, 10:02

Is there any news about exactly what will be accessible using the hobbyist devkit? ie will it be possible to write a media player capable of accessing network shares with it?

AdsterUK

14-08-2006, 10:04

If it means someone makes a 360 version of XBMC it may be the push I need to get a 360.

ShakeyJake

14-08-2006, 10:12

I can imagine it will be very restrictive on what can be done. If it could be made to stream video over a network it could probably be used to exploit a bug which would breach the 360's security.

RobDickinson

14-08-2006, 21:38

Q: What is XNA Game Studio Express?
A: XNA Game Studio Express is a new offering, targeted at students and hobbyists for game development. XNA Game Studio is based on Visual C# Express 2005 and lets developers target both Windows and Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio Express contains the following:

* The XNA Framework, a set of managed code development libraries which will allow game developers to be more productive when creating games for Windows and the Xbox 360.
* The XNA Framework Content Pipeline which is a set of tools that allow developers to more easily incorporate 3D content into their games.
* XNA Game Studio Express also contains a full set of documentation, how-to’s and starter-kits that demonstrate how best to utilize the content pipeline and XNA Framework.

Q: What exactly is the XNA Framework?
A: The XNA Framework allows game developers to create modern games using the C# programming language and a rich set of development libraries. The XNA Framework provides its own content pipeline to make it easy to get rich content (3D, 2D, sound, etc.) from content creation sources into a game. The XNA Framework also provides a very high level of API unification across the Windows and 360 implementations, thus virtually eliminating the cost and effort required to port games between these two platforms.

Q: How exactly can I share my 360 game to other 360 users? Will my game only be available to people with the XNA “Creators Club” subscription? Will it be available to all 360 users that have an Xbox Live account?
A: There is currently no supported way to share binaries on the Xbox 360. Currently, there are four requirements that must be met in order to share a game targeting Xbox 360 which is developed with XNA Game Studio Express.

1. The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
2. The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
3. The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
4. The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

Q: Can I create non-gaming applications (such as a Media Center/Player) with XNA Game Studio Express?
A: On Windows this is possible, but the initial release on Xbox 360 is tuned to writing games. This is an area we are actively looking to the community for feedback on the types of applications they want to write for their Xbox 360.

full faq here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/

looking fun but restrictive.

fitzpas

30-08-2006, 21:50

Beta version now available at Microsoft...
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=21e979e3-b8ae-4ea6-8e65-393ea7684d6c&displaylang=en

Visual C# Express required.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/download/

mince bigalow

30-08-2006, 23:23

Just had a quick play, couldn't get it to load my image in the example :( Will keep hacking away!

Looks like it could be rather good for creating nice simple games. I hope some user created games get released on arcade. I reckon a lot of people could code much better games than those already available.

mince bigalow

30-08-2006, 23:26

Got my image working by using another file, seems XNA doesn't like the DVD Forums logo :O

MetalGearAl

31-08-2006, 05:49

Signed up for the beta, I program in C# anyway every day so it'd be nice to actually make something fun for once :thumbs:

mince bigalow

31-08-2006, 09:56

Anyone got any ideas for a fun simple game I could make? My coding skills are OK, don't fancy trying any 3d stuff quite yet though!

msm13579

31-08-2006, 12:04

does anyone know if this works with visual studio 2005? or is it only the express edition?

$h@d0w

31-08-2006, 13:37

Only works with C# express I've heard, the professional XNA toolkit (coming later this year/next year) will have a proper vs2005 plugin.

degeneration

31-08-2006, 13:38

does anyone know if this works with visual studio 2005? or is it only the express edition?
Apparantly it will. XNA FAQ (http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/)

(NEW) Q: Okay, I know Game Studio Express is free, but how much does Visual C# Express cost?
A: Effective April 19, 2006, all Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions are free. This pricing covers all Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions including Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, Visual J#, and Visual Web Developer as well as all localized versions of Visual Studio Express.

Unless I misunderstood the question?
XNA Game Studio Express and XNA Game Studio Pro are related products targeting non-professional game developers and established professionals respectively. Both products integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio.
Suggests that Visual Studio does not have to be express.

msm13579

31-08-2006, 17:29

thanks, think i might download and try it, i'm sure microsoft will let me know if it's not going to work :)

actually finding the time to put into trying to make a game is going to be the difficult part!

degeneration

31-08-2006, 18:16

I may have been a bit to hasty with my cuting and pasting
Note
XNA Game Studio Express (Beta) is designed to work only with Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition. However, other members of the Visual Studio 2005 line of products, for example Visual Studio 2005 Professional, can co-exist with XNA Game Studio Express (Beta) on the same computer.

from msdn (http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/XNA/gse/readme/default.aspx)

VintageWhino

31-08-2006, 18:40

Could be great, if someone manages to re-create the same excitment as :notworthy :luv: :luv: llamatron :luv: :notworthy was, I'd be very pleased :dork: . Nothing wrong with letting 'the people' make a splash in what is sometimes quite a stagnant industry.

There are going to be plenty of great games to enjoy coming along because of this...!

:thumbs:

stormywhether

31-08-2006, 19:03

why can't they do an XBMC on the 360?

So many clever people out there, not one of em's cracked it yet.

Like some other flump who posted in this thread, that's the push I need to acquire also.

Gavin

31-08-2006, 22:59

why can't they do an XBMC on the 360?

So many clever people out there, not one of em's cracked it yet.

Like some other flump who posted in this thread, that's the push I need to acquire also.

I doubt XNA will allow enough low level access to be able to create a 360 XBMC....

The 360 works great as a MCE extender anyway - I've not used XBMC in 6 months or more now, just no need as MCE will do everything and in better quality (using transcode360)

RobDickinson

31-08-2006, 23:21

Chris

01-09-2006, 12:39

I doubt XNA will allow enough low level access to be able to create a 360 XBMC....

The initial XNA release won't give access to the networking functions of the 360. MS said they will review this at a later date based on feedback.

Unclegrump

01-09-2006, 22:32

There are going to be plenty of great games to enjoy coming along because of this...!

:thumbs:

not convinced this will happen to be honest. I would love to see some non-industry people release titles for XBLA, but given that there is already a long long waiting list for registered XBLA developers to get their finished titles onto the platform, I cant see non registered developers jumping that list. I also think that some non-reg folks would not be happy when they see what cut the platform vendor wants for distribution :)

The great benefit I feel, will be getting some fresh talent into the industry again.