Making $ on Windows 8 The First Mover Advantage

1. Making $ on Windows 8The First Mover Advantage • With Over 630 Million Licenses in 200+ Countries, Windows Has Unrivaled Global Reach • Windows 8 Represents the Single Biggest Developer Opportunity for Any Platform • In order for your app to be available for the holiday rush, you need to get ready now! • Hundreds of Thousands of Developers Recognize the Opportunity, but… • Only Some Will Have the Advantage of These Programs

2. Generation App: Getting You There • Windows 8 DevCamps & Hackathons • www.msdnevents.com/windows • 30 To Launch • Online training and tips from insiders • Tele-support with a Windows 8 architect • Exclusive one-on-one Metro style design consultation • Application Excellence Lab • <Evangelist’s 30toLaunch Link Here> • Application Excellence Labs • Your Opportunity to Get Into the Windows Store • aka.ms/apps Learn. Build. Publish.

3. Developing a Windows 8 Store App using XNA and MonoGame [NAME] [TITLE] [ORG] [BLOG] [TWITTER]

4. introduction

5. introduction

8. introduction

9. MonoGame is an Open Source implementation of the Microsoft XNA 4 Framework • The goal of MonoGame is to allow XNA developers on Xbox 360, Windows & Windows Phone to port their games to multiple platforms including Windows 8 and the Windows 8 Store • MonoGame uses SharpDX, an open-source project delivering the full DirectX API for managed code (.NET) and Windows 8 (WinRT) • By adding the MonoGame Framework to your Visual Studio Solution, you are providing your XNA code base the identical namespace and class model it was based on [your XNA code] MonoGame SharpDX WinRT

10. demo MonoGame

11. get store ready

12. Logo 150x150 pixels logos, tiles and splash screens Wide Logo 310x150 pixels • A tile is the front door into an app. Sitting on the Start screen, it is an extension of the app and can provide much more personal and engaging information than a traditional icon. Invest in designing a great tile to draw people into your app. • Your brand should carry from your tile to your splash screen as that is the first thing a user sees when they run your apps Splash screen 620x300 pixels

13. logos, tiles and splash screens • Add references to your Tile and Splash Screen artwork in the package.appmanifest • In addition to the artwork, you can set the name of the app, the background color for the Splash Screen, app capabilities, declarations and packaging details such as version number

18. demo Tiles, Splash Screen

19. using the MessageDialog • You may want to look for opportunities to add Windows Style UI elements to your game to create a more cohesive Windows 8 experience for the user. MessageDialogis one way to do that. • MessageDialog has a command bar that can support up to three commands • If you don't specify any commands, then a default command is added to close the dialog • The dialog dims the screen behind it and blocks touch events from passing to the app's canvas until the user responds • Message dialogs should be used sparingly, and only for critical messages or simple questions that must block the user's flow.

21. demo MessageDialog

22. screen resolution support • By being aware of the screen dimensions and changes to those dimensions you can support screen resolution changes by the user, switching between portrait and landscape mode and snap view • You can add logic in your game to draw appropriately for each possible state

23. code snippet – screen resolution using Windows.UI.Core; … public enum WindowState { Full = 0, Snap1Quarter = 1, Snap3Quarter = 2 }; public static CoreWindow _window; _window = CoreWindow.GetForCurrentThread(); _window.SizeChanged += _window_SizeChanged; … //called when the window is resized staticvoid _window_SizeChanged(CoreWindow sender, WindowSizeChangedEventArgs args) { if (args.Size.Width == _windowsBounds.Width) _windowState = WindowState.Full; elseif (args.Size.Width <= 320.00) _windowState = WindowState.Snap1Quarter; else_windowState = WindowState.Snap3Quarter; _windowsBounds.Height = args.Size.Height; _windowsBounds.Width = args.Size.Width; }

27. demo Screen Resolution and Snap View

28. process lifetime management App 1 App 2 App N App 3 … Running Apps suspend after a short delay Apps resume instantly from suspend Suspended App terminated under memory pressure without notification Terminated

29. suspend • System resources focused on the app that the user is interacting with in the foreground • Inactive apps have no impact on battery life or responsiveness, they are suspended by the OS • Enables instant switching between apps!

30. termination • User explicitly closes the app: soft termination • System needs more memory • User switch occurs • System shutdown • Apps crash Apps do not get notified when they are getting terminated

31. best practices

32. code snippet – PLM using Windows.UI.Core; … public enum WindowState { Full = 0, Snap1Quarter = 1, Snap3Quarter = 2 }; public static CoreWindow _window; … _window.SizeChanged += _window_SizeChanged; CoreApplication.Suspending += CoreApplication_Suspending; CoreApplication.Resuming += CoreApplication_Resuming; static void CoreApplication_Resuming(object sender, object e) { // coming back from suspend, don't do anything as current state is in memory } static void CoreApplication_Suspending(object sender, Windows.ApplicationModel.SuspendingEventArgs e) { // suspending, save appropriate game and user state }

33. demo PLM

34. other considerations • Use a Live Tile to display updated current level, score, etc. • Use Cloud Services such as Windows Azure for leaderboards and multi-player configuration • Use the Settings panel for user specified game settings • Use Contracts to provide Search and Share within your app if it makes sense for your gamer community

35. wrap up • Microsoft LOVES XNA developers !! • MonoGame provides a solution to get your code running as a Windows Store App • Follow the get store ready guidelines to make your app Windows 8 Store ready • Original article on Bob Familiar’s blog • Part 1 – Overview • Part 2 – Developer System Configuration • Part 3 – Get Store Ready

36. Making $ on Windows 8The First Mover Advantage • With Over 630 Million Licenses in 200+ Countries, Windows Has Unrivaled Global Reach • Windows 8 Represents the Single Biggest Developer Opportunity for Any Platform • In order for your app to be available for the holiday rush, you need to get ready now! • Hundreds of Thousands of Developers Recognize the Opportunity, but… • Only Some Will Have the Advantage of These Programs

37. Generation App: Getting You There • Windows 8 DevCamps & Hackathons • www.msdnevents.com/windows • 30 To Launch • Online training and tips from insiders • Tele-support with a Windows 8 architect • Exclusive one-on-one Metro style design consultation • Application Excellence Lab • <Evangelist’s 30toLaunch Link Here> • Application Excellence Labs • Your Opportunity to Get Into the Windows Store • aka.ms/apps Learn. Build. Publish.

38. hands on – get started

39. developer environment configuration system requirements • Windows 8 [LINK] • Games for Windows • Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone • Visual Studio 2012 for Windows 8 [LINK]

40. developer environment configuration setup Git • Setup a Git Account • Setup a Git Client

41. developer environment configuration clone the source for MonoGame 1. Run Git Shell 2. Navigate to the location on disk where you want to clone the source code (use CD command) 3. Type the following command to clone the Sickhead fork: gitclone https://github.com/SickheadGames/MonoGame 4. Once that command completes, navigate to the MonoGame directory by typing: CD MonoGame

42. developer environment configuration clone the source for MonoGame 5. Now we will initialize the project submodules by typing the command: gitsubmoduleinit 6. And then update the submodules: gitsubmodule update Note: this may take some time 

43. developer environment configuration create the Visual Studio 2012 Template 1. Open an Explorer Window and navigate to the MonoGame Windows 8 Project templates folder: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\GitHub\MonoGame\ProjectTemplates\VisualStudio11.MonoGame.2.5\VS11MGWindowsMetroTemplate 2. Create a Zip of the all files in this directory 3. Copy the ZIP file to the VS2012 Visual C# Templates directory: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#

44. developer environment configuration test your developer environment 1. Open Visual Studio 2012 and select New Project 2. Under Visual C# you should see the MonoGame project template listed. Select that and click OK.

45. developer environment configuration test your developer environment 3. Right click on your solution in the Solution Explorer and add the MonoGame Framework Windows 8 Project: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\GitHub\MonoGame\MonoGame.Framework\MonoGame.Framework.Windows8.sln 4. Add a reference to the MonoGame Framework in your game project by right clicking on references, select Add Reference. Under Projects choose the MonoGame Framework project (check the box!) and click OK

46. developer environment configuration test your developer environment 5. Compile and run the solution. You should get a cornflower blue screen, the default XNA application.

47. content pipeline • What is it? The Content Pipeline is a special set of assemblies included with XNA Game Studio that use MSBuild to compile game assets such as image and sound files into streamlined, pre-processed binary files called XNBs (so named for the fact that the file extension of the compiled version of a source file is changed to .xnb) which load quickly at run-time. • Visual Studio 2012 does not include an XNA development environment so there is no Content Pipeline compiler • Use Visual Studio 2010 Express with XNA Game Studio to compile game assets and then move the XNB files to the VS2010 Project folder

48. Content Pipeline Process Step 1. Create an XNA Game Studio project in VS 2010 Step 2. Add your graphic, sound, font and other game assets to the Content Project Step 3. Compile the project Step 4. Copy the resulting XNB files from this location C:\Users\[you]\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\[project name]\[project name]\[project name]\bin\x86\Debug\Content to this location: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\[project name]\[project name]\bin\Debug\AppX\Content