I have been asked to develop an Xbox 360 app. Not a game but an application like Netflix, Youtube or Muzu... I find it realy hard to find any information on app development for the Xbox console. Can anybody give me some advice?
I know that the XDK allows game development in native C++ but is it suitable for creating apps as well? Is there any information on the submission process and policies for Xbox 360 apps?
I think you may need to ask the question, "What's the difference between a game and an application?" I'm sure you could use XNA to build an application as well thus develop your app in C#, using the libraries Microsoft provides. Good luck!
I am not sure if what you want is possible with XNA. If you are registered xbox developer, you should talk to your developer account manager.
I assume you may get detailed explanation from theese links
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/developers
http://www.xboxmb.com/forum/15-xbox-360-tutorials/67430-how-create-xbox360-applications-sdk.html
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Till now I haven't found clarity on how to integrate 3rd party services in a libGDX project.
My project targets Android and iOS both the platforms.
Can someone tell me the best ways to do that?
You can try https://github.com/TomGrill/gdx-facebook or write your own platform specific code https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki/Interfacing-with-platform-specific-code
I have no programming experience at all. I've always wanting to know how to program games and have some fun with it. I started with Corona SDK because I heard it was really simple (and it was very simple), but I decided against continuing in it (I had only programmed a character to jump until I realized --> ) because I realized that when I advance in it, I am going to end up having to pay for it.
In my search for a new cross-platform sdk to learn (since I don't have time, like most people, to learn and program 15 different apps in 15 different native languages), I found Moai SDK. I was turned away from Moai since its target audience are people with prior programming experience.
Later, I found Adobe Gaming SDK. Although I doubt it is in any way as simple to pick up as Corona's Lua, if I figured if I have to learn something knew, I may as well learn something new that is as established as Adobe and their gaming SDK.
I have a few questions though...
1) What language does Adobe Gaming SDK use? (Pretty sure it is Action Script 3, but I do not know much about that either.)
2) Just how cross-platform is it? (Which devices?)
3) Where do I start!
4) Is it free?
#3 is the most important question for me since I don't have any programming experience, but I am willing to learn on my own. Honestly, I only want to learn how to program (2D) games; therefore, is there a source you can direct me to in order for me to learn from scratch and just gaming.
Any and all help is greatly appreciate!
P.S. If you have any other SDK or something that you think could suit me please help. Also, I am a cheap person, so i would prefer for resources to be free as well. Also, please check back if you answered my question because I sometimes forget a question or will have a follow question since I am a major novice.
THANKS!
1) What language does Adobe Gaming SDK use? (Pretty sure it is Action
Script 3, but I do not know much about that either.)
Yeah, it's ActionScript3. You can also code in C/C++ using CrossBridge.
2) Just how cross-platform is it? (Which devices?)
Using Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR, for short), you can make your game available to several devices running iOS, Android and Windows, as long as they have the minimum requirements to run AIR.
Your game will also run on any browser with the Flash plugin, which includes Linux, Mac and Windows.
3) Where do I start!
There are plenty of materials about game development in Flash/Actionscript3, but I would recommend you to learn about a game engine first. It will make your life easier and will help you make a game faster (which will boost your motivation).
Two famous Flash game engines are Flixel and Starling. Start by checking these GamedevTuts+ guides: how to learn Flixel and how to learn Starling (there is an article about how to learn Flash/AS3 too).
4) Is it free?
Yes, all the tools you will need are free.
As a general advice, I would recommend you to take a look at GamedevTuts+. It has several resources about game development, from simple concepts to more advanced things. You will find articles for people with no programming experience at all. It's a great place to start as a novice game developer.
As a second advice, you could also use Phaser to create your games. It's an easy to learn HTML5 game engine, it doesn't require several tools to develop with (all you need is a code editor and a web server) and your game will run on any modern browser.
Everywhere I found the buzz about Xbox 360 games. However I want to know how I can develop normal application for xbox 360. Mostly silverlight based.
Also I am not sure what this homebrew stuff is all about? What language I need to use for Xbox 360 application development?
From where / how can I get the SDK? On App Hub all buzz is about windows phone. There is not much information on Xbox? Why is it so?
Xbox 360 development is largely split into two distinct sections:
XNA Development
This involves using the XNA Framework to develop games/applications, and is done through AppHub. You can find the tools for development (XNA Game Studio) here. Anything developed using these tools must be written in C#.NET and can only be released onto the Xbox LIVE Marketplace as an 'Indie Game' (after passing the review process, of course). To debug your XNA app on the console itself, you need a membership. Another thing to note is that Xbox 360 apps can't access the Internet at all - all communication goes through Xbox LIVE or System Link.
Professional Development
This covers the development of complete Xbox 360 titles, and requires that you be part of the Xbox 360 Registered Developer Program. Once a development license is obtained (and the NDA is signed), Microsoft provides developers with access to the official Xbox 360 SDK and development hardware, which includes full Visual Studio integration and documentation for developing native Xbox 360 applications and libraries using C/C++. The development kit hardware comes in a few flavours and supports debugging from Visual Studio via ethernet, DVD emulation via USB, etc. For more information on the professional development program, see this information.
Developing 'normal' applications for the Xbox 360 isn't really possible at the moment due to the limitations of the XNA Framework and community developer program. If you're part of the registered developer program it might be possible, but there's no way to be sure (due to Microsoft's strict NDAs).
As for Silverlight, there have been some rumours regarding Silverlight on the Xbox 360 but Microsoft hasn't confirmed or announced anything.
Microsoft has introduced App Hub as a publishing portal for WP7 and Xbox 360. However, for the Xbox 360, there only seems to be support for adding and Xbox Live Indie Game project. Given the recent introduction of apps and the app marketplace on Xbox 360 I would expect the option of creating apps as well.
Is it possible, or will it be possible, to create and publish apps for the Xbox 360 without a full-on professional Xbox development partnership with Microsoft?
As far as I know there is no official information on this, but there have been some rumors.
Microsoft is said to plan a version of Silverlight 5 running on the Xbox 360 and with this they may open up the platform some more. Look at this article for instance: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Free-To-Play-Apps-Xbox-360-microtransaction-silverlight-5,news-10800.html
But this is still only a rumor, Microsoft has not even announced Silverlight for Xbox in public yet.
That there will be a version of Silverlight for the Xbox is quite obvious though, look at the documentation for the INotifyPropertyChanged interface for instance. Here the supported platforms lists the Xbox 360 :-)
This does not fully answer your questions, but I think it is the best answer there is. Microsoft will probably announce a new platform (Silverlight) for developing apps on the Xbox 360 quite soon. This new platform will probably allow for more ways to publish apps, but that has not been confirmed.
Some years ago I dipped my foot in the water of developing WML websites and J2ME apps - and found it a rather unpleasant experience.
Hearing stories about developers making $$$ in their free time, writing trivial apps for iphone and android, and having a (top secret - don't tell anybody) idea for an app that everyone will immediately rush out and buy, I thought I'd have a look at the current state of play regarding development tools - however while there are no end of people pushing branded products, its often unclear what the programming language is like and what integration it provides with mobile devices.
I could develop most of the functionality as an online website - but for reasons of confidentiality and the ridiculous cost and low speed of mobile internet connections, it makes a lot of sense to deploy most of the functionality client-side.
Google gears like the ideal tool for implementing this - but Google have pulled the plug on the project.
The reasons I liked GG were:
html rendering (there will be a lot of content in the app)
a standard programming language (javascript)
integration with geolocation
If it had supported the accelerometer and bluetooth it would have been perfect!
Looking around at other approaches, I see that standard Android apps are developed using Java. While I'm not a big fan of the language, I could stretch a point in this case - but what about all the content rendering? Is there an off-the-shelf html renderer for android which I could then build my own handler for?
(if you're getting the impression that I'm something of a programming snob - you're probably right)
I had a quick look at Appcelerator - which has lots of pages telling me how wonderful it is - but I've yet to see any details of how it works, what the language looks like, how it integrates with hardware on the client, how to produced a packaged app for resale....
Any suggestions for a suitable toolkit/platform?
TIA
Yes google gears is deprecated but so what? As they clearly state they intend to continue with the product until a suitable replacement is found (AKA HTML5). Just be sure to write your application with a migration path to HTML5 in mind and you're sweet.
Besides, its open source... So if you need something added or changed the code is all there.
I am currently in the process of gambling my entire future on the google gears platform. Don’t forget that they currently use it in GMail so I don’t see them stopping at least basic continuing development on the platform.