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How To Finish a Game With XNA
Joel Martinez
Experimentation
VS
Finishing a Game
How To Make Games
• Inspiration
• Prototype
• Play Testing
• Design
• Do It!
• Polish
• Release!
Some Motivations
1 I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 160k 2 Avatar Drop 117k 3 RC-AirSim 74k
Top 20 Games
"they all do one thing and do it very, very well: They fulfill the desire of gamers for something which they can't get on XBLA and would never see on a disc-based game. They're like a sugary snack and a can of pop - an instant hit of fun and refreshment. "
DrMistry
The Spark
• Find Inspiration in everyday life• Make a Statement, or Focus on an Interesting Mechanic
Don't Follow the Masses
Don't Follow the Masses
Don't Follow the Masses
The Prototype
• Single Focus Prototypes• Make more than one prototype• Be prepared to throw away code• Don't be afraid to Suck!
Tech
PlayTest
• Free Testing, use it!
• No Penalty for Uploading unfinished game concepts
• Community BasedoPlayTest other gamesoBe nice to reviewers
The Design
• Put together different prototypes
• Avoid "The Game Design Document"
• Find "The X"http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=717
http://theoryoffun.com
Be Prepared to Cut Features
The Grind
• Plan out your work• Agile in Stages • Don't Give Up!
You Can't Finish Them All
Plan Early for the Check List
• No "Official" TCR Process
• Best Practices for Indie Games http://creators.xna.com/en-us/education/bestpractices
• The Evil CheckList:http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/19525.aspx
Technical Issues
• Avoid Crashes at All Costs
• Avoid excessive allocationshttp://codecube.net/2010/01/xna-resource-pool/
• Profile to avoid GC Problemso XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor for XBox 360o CLR Profiler
Layout/Design
• Choose 1280x720 on the XBox• XBox and Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series will automatically
scale up or down if necessary.• On Windows, must handle different resolutions
http://www.david-amador.com/2010/03/xna-2d-independent-resolution-rendering/
Safe Area
• Don't be the "Works on My Machine!" guy• Title Safe Area: 20% Gutter • graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.TitleSafeArea• http://blogs.msdn.com/manders/archive/2006/11/28/helper-class-
to-show-video-safe-areas.aspx
Input Considerations
• Use Standard Input conventionso A to accepto B to go back or cancel
• Use "Press Start" to determine whatcontroller the player is using
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/contentpack/controller
The Final Stretch
• Keep Polishing• More PlayTests as you add levels
o Take the feedback seriously, these are game players too
o But be careful not to burn out the testeres• Peer review ... if you fail, fix the issue and resubmit• Don't give up!• Marketing!
Chop More Features!!!
