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Windows 8 may not support XNA framework

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Dave Voyles in News, PC, PC News, xblig, XBLIG News | 7 Comments

It’s no secret that we’re fans of XNA here at Armless Octopus. Considering nearly every title we cover is made from the framework, including every XBLIG game, as well as a some XBLA and PC titles, we’ve grown quite fond of it over the years.

Sadly, the latest version of Windows, simply dubbed Windows 8, may not offer a home for our beloved XNA. This news comes to us from XNA MVP Chris Williams, who was informed by John Lam, a member of the Technical Computing Group at Microsoft.

What does this mean for XNA and XBLIGs? Will this be the last stop for the framework as more and more titles are beginning to use languages such as HTML5 for web content and Direct X for gaming related content? We won’t know for sure until more details are released, but we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we find out. Bear in mind though, that Windows 8 is still in alpha, so all terms are still subject to change.

We’ve contacted Microsoft for a comment and will have additional content as it arrives.

Source: Chris Williams (Twitter)
Via: Thrifty Nerd

Blocks that Matter wins the Dream.Build.Play 2011 Challenge

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Mike Wall in Contests, News, xblig, XBLIG News | 8 Comments

Isn’t it nice when the judges get it right? Microsoft announced the top winners in the Dream.Build.Play 2o11 Challenge, and the fantastic platformer, Blocks That Matter, ran away with the the Grand Prize. It was selected from a pool of more than 250 entrants developed from 27 countries using Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio 4.0, and developer Swing Swing Submarine will net $40,000 for their efforts. We can’t say we’re shocked since we fell in love with the Tetrobot’s adventure earlier this year.

Guillaume Martin, co-creator of Blocks That Matter, said “With the money, we will try to make the studio live and we don’t want to change our plan, which is make another game BTM sized (4/5 month of dev), put it on XBLIG and PCs (digital platforms depending on who’s interested), and try to sell it.” Martin said he wasn’t sure how to approach the XBLA slot, and said perhaps they’ll port BTM to XBLA with Achievements and a Community section or perhaps save it for Blocks That Matter 2.

Jay Watt’s cosmological sandbox-game, Solar 2, won the $20,000 First Prize. Watts said he’s use the money to “find a better apartment, and use it to live off making games.”

TIC: Part 1 and Sequence round out the top winners, earning $10,000 and $5,000 for their developers.

Three other games won honorable mentions in specific categories. The accolades may not come with a cash prize, but we’re sure the developers will enjoy the little ego boost.

Production Quality: Alien Jelly
Innovation: The Bridge
Fun Factor: Ninja Crash

Source: Dream.Build.Play

Major Nelson Reveals the 20ish Dream.Build.Play Finalists

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Mike Wall in News, xblig, XBLIG News | 1 Comment

win 40,000!

Major Nelson annouced the 20 21 Dream.Build.Play finalists that are vying for the grand prize of $40,000 during the most recent episode of Major’s Minute. The winner of the fat load of cash (and potential XBLA publishing deal) will be revealed next week at PAX Prime. We reached out to a Microsoft representative to find out why the list contains 21 games instead of the previously announced 20. The full list of games, as well as a video of Major Nelson making the announcement are below. We will get our grubby hands on the finalists next week from the floor of PAX Prime.

1. Engo
2. 8-Bit Night
3. A Pixel Escape
4. Alien Jelly
5. Blocks That Matter
6. DarkRun
7. Last Dragon Standing
8. Lexiv
9. Ninja Crash
10. Ninja Rising
11. Oozi Earth Adventure
12. Orbitron Revolution
13. Plugemons
14. Project Temporality
15. Sequence
16. Solar 2
17. SpeedRunner
18. Tacticolor
19. The Bridge
20. TIC Part 1
21. Vizati

Xona Games shows off Duality ZF, has their sights set on XBLA

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Taylor Bliss in News, XBLA, XBLA Previews | Leave a comment

Last shown off back at this year’s GDC, Xona Games‘ upcoming title, Duality ZF, has a new trailer out. After watching the whole thing, calling Duality ZF a ‘bullet hell shooter’ might not be doing it justice. The game’s touting 6 different game modes, 4-player multiplayer, 8 different stages and several other features too numerous to be listed. If you’re craving more information, a full list of the details can be found on the game’s page, here.

The developer is looking to have the game published on XBLA and Steam, though based on the information from the website, it’s currently unclear whether or not such backing has already been secured or not. Since the title’s end goal isn’t on the indie marketplace, don’t expect to see it popping up in discussions about the upcoming Summer Uprising, but since the game is being developed on the XNA platform, it could still make an appearance in Microsoft’s Dream. Build. Play.

Soulcaster developer looking to license his engine

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Taylor Bliss in News, xblig, XBLIG News | 2 Comments

sweet 16 bit graphics

Are you a game designer – or maybe even a want-to-be game designer – with a great idea, but not the time or know-how of how to build and flesh out a whole game engine to support your awesome idea? Well, Ian Stocker, developer behind Soulcaster I & II and the upcoming Escape Goat, may have something that will be pretty handy for you. He’s looking for a designer or developer to put his engine to use while he’s toiling away with Escape Goat. He’s even willing to make some changes to the engine to suit your needs, supposing the change isn’t too great. Stocker has listed all the benefits and capabilities of his game engine over at his website. You can also find the form to fill out if you wish to contact him and get the ball rolling on your soon-to-be-developed game.

Postmortem: Astro Cluster – Scott LGames

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Dave Voyles in Features, Interviews, xblig | Leave a comment

In this Armless Octopus postmortem, Scott Lowther discuss the development process of  his first XBLIG release, Astro Cluster, which was recently released on the Xbox Live Marketplace, and currently holds a four star rating.

How did you get into indie game development, and where did you get the idea for your game?

This may seem like an illogical progression, but I recently left a career in retail games to pursue indie game development. Before starting Astro Cluster, I was employed for quite a few years as a programmer at The Creative Assembly studio in Brisbane (now Sega Studios Australia). I was lucky enough to work on the Total War franchise (PC), Stormrise (PC, 360, PS3), the recently announced Olympics 2012 and a few other unnanounced projects.

Working at The Creative Assembly was very rewarding and I loved the experience. Where else could I hang out with a bunch of awesome, talented and creative people and talk about games all day! Despite this, I wanted to expand my understanding of other areas of game development, particularly art and audio creation, and turn some of my own ideas into real games. I also had a long commute to the office and needed to spend more time with my family, so I felt it was a good time to take the leap into indie game development.

Read more

Indie developer converts XNA 3.1 to HTML5, JavaScript-based web browsers

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Dave Voyles in News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

Tired of having to install the XNA toolkit in order to build games or even play them? Well that may not be the case forever, as Kevin Gadd was recently able to successfully convert XNA 3.1, which is natively coded in C#, to JavaScript. No plugins are required, and it will operate in any browser that supports HTML5 and a modern version of JavaScript. Certain browsers have been known to have bugs, including Chrome 12 and 13 as well as various versions of Opera.

So what does this mean for developers and gamers? It could potentially allow for easier distribution and playtesting of XNA titles because developers will no longer have to rely on having the kit natively installed on machines. Head on over to the site and try it for yourself. You’ll be greeted with the XNA Platformer Starter Kit provided by Microsoft as a sample for learning XNA development.

Source: hildr.luminance.org

Via: Ben Kane

Get to know your XNA MVPs Part 4: George Clingerman

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Dave Voyles in Features, Interviews | 1 Comment

In parts 2 and 3 of our Get to know your XNA MVPs feature, we welcomed and interviewed two of the most recent additions to the team, John Defenbaugh and Michael McLaughlin, and now we’re concluding the feature with one veteran. Recently I had the opportunity to interview veteran XNA MVP George Clingerman, perhaps better known as his Twitter handle, @ClingermanGW.

Clingerman has held the status of MVP since the tail end of 2007, and has remained an integral part of the community throughout that time. Reflecting on his commitment, he claimed “I had absolutely no idea what I had just gotten. I had never heard of the program before and had no idea what it meant.” In 2006 Microsoft announced XNA and detailed how they were becoming increasingly frustrated with large studios not taking risks with their games. In order to find someone who would, they turned the reigns over to the little guy – independent developers. Immediately Clingerman leaped at the opportunity and purchased the domain XNADevelopment.com, where he offered, and still does, detailed tutorials, sprites, and other invaluable resources for the community.

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