XNAtutorial.com

This is the second half of ‘Chatting with George Clingerman’. The first half is also available. See, second part came pretty soon…

How has XNA changed the game development process?

I just don’t need to think about getting the game setup which is just awesome. When I first make an XNA game project, I have my “game”, now all it needs are my images and my logic.

It’s SO incredibly freeing to just think about the parts of the code that I actually care about.

Why not OpenGL or Allegro?

I’ve never even used any other development methods. I’ve been a Microsoft guy for quite a while. It’s just easy and convenient for me. I work with Microsoft code and products during the day, so it’s easy to go home and use the same familiar products.

Why is Microsoft releasing XNA for free? I mean, are we beta testers of the professional version, do they just want to lower their gaming division losses, or are they just nice guys?

Yes.

I think all of those are true. Microsoft is a company, they don’t JUST make decisions because they are nice guys, and they are going to make money off of this in some way. I like that though and if I benefit in the process by having free game development tools, more power to them.

So yes, we are beta testers for their professional version and I’m glad to be doing that for them. Yes, the want to lower their gaming division losses and yes they are going to be attracting more attention to their Xbox 360.

Yes they are great guys. All of the guys that I talked to at Gamefest that worked with XNA were just awesome.

Yes, they want to spur the industry on, unlocking those once closed doors to give game development a much needed burst of new talent and ideas and yes that’s going to make them more money too.

Nothing wrong with a company doing something that makes them money and with all the tools, help and support they’re giving the community I’ve got nothing to complain about.

Open Source and community websites make many projects transparent. Sometimes published code follows all the standards, sometimes, (like mine :-), its pure rubbish. Do you think this could be detrimental to people learning to program, or is it purely helpful?

Well, this is a tough subject. First let me just say, never let your lack of coding prowess prevent your from offering something to the community. Even if it’s the ugliest code out there, it still great to get content into the hands of future game developers. So yeah, make it available.

Can it be detrimental? Yes, horribly so. I think one of the worst things you can do to someone trying to learn how to do something is show them all the things they shouldn’t do.

I would just urge people that run large community sites to really make an effort to use some good coding practices. If that’s going to prevent you from posting content, then throw those practices out the door. But, if you just need an extra day to do some refactoring, add some comments and create some objects, then PLEASE take that time. You’ll be doing yourself and the community an amazing benefit.

There’s a thread over at the MSDN forums right now where people want to know how they can protect their code and content. Obviously people are concerned about that and probably rightfully so. I think people tend to be a little overly paranoid in that area and I wish people would focus more on sharing content and not about protecting what’s their, but they have a right to that.

I don’t think code quality or skill level should even prevent you from publishing though. Don’t be afraid to put your code out there. Every little piece just helps build the community and your simple project might be the one that makes some aspiring game developer realize they can do it to.

How can community members help shape XNA’s community?

I think the opportunity is going to be what you make of it. Community members that get involved in the forums, actively visit all the community sites and participate in the community are going to be able to hold more influence over the community than someone who just lurks.

I think those active community members are going to be able to set the pace for code quality in community submissions, the type of content and really the spirit of the community.

I also think that Microsoft will be closely monitoring the community leaders and really listening to what their frustrations and praises are for XNA and enhancing and improving those areas.

So really, community members have every opportunity in the world right now.

Blogs and participatory journalism have taken off and is changing the way people receive news. Will community sites and open source change the way people receive their gaming entertainment in a similar fashion?

Also, the media are an important part of the checks and balance system of any country. Just as some people are afraid that the quality of news reporting will go down (not necessarily my opinion), is there a risk of gaming taking a similar downturn, especially coupled with the increased development costs of commercial games? Or is this mass amateurization simply a democratization of the media?

That’s a lot of words. Let me re-read that question eight more times. Ok, got it.

I think there’s a great chance of gaming have a new avenue. Whether is supplants the existing game delivery system is yet to be seen and I think this new XNA community is going to be a litmus test to see how effective this type of delivery can be. So the potential to change is there, whether we achieve that change or decide we really want that change is yet to be seen.

I think the masses being able to develop games will be good for game development in the same way I see mass journalism being good for the media. People that never had a chance to get into game development before will be able to show that their “big idea” was just that. Skill, ingenuity and innovation will rise to the top. I think many forms of media are benefiting from this type of new delivery, music, movies and writing are all seeing a surge of new and talented artists because of this new delivery option and I expect the same with game development.

With journalism, I think it’s helped keep it more honest. It’s become a better checks and balances system than before. The big news companies have to dot their “I”s and cross their “T”s because they know every blogger out there is researching and ready to pounce.

There will be a lot of junk to filter through, but I don’t think the junk will hurt the industry, just encourage others that they can make better junk than that and gaming will continue to innovate and improve.

Open source and hobbyist developers are becoming increasingly hot among venture capitalists. Will this money reach the XNA community, and if it does, will it affect the kind of output we see. I mean, will people focus their projects to become Curriculum Vitaes and potential purchases, instead of something they do for the love of it? Is there a possibility that the growth of interest from corporations will hijack the spirit of the “movement”?

There is that chance, I’m a bit of a romantic though and I don’t believe you can crush that spirit. If people want to make money off their games, I’m happy for them. If people want to just make games for their friends, I’m happy for those guys too.

There will be people working the system, using XNA to attract money to invest in. There will be new startup game companies popping up all over America, companies that could have never gotten money before and there will be those people that only get active in the community to attract someone’s eye that has money.

I don’t think success necessarily hurts the community and the people doing it for the love of money instead of doing it because they are passionate about game development have their role to play in the success of XNA and the XNA Game Development community as well.

What would you like to see in XNA Game Studio Express 2007?

My biggest wishes are the ability to write text, draw simple 2D shapes like lines, circles and squares and to have typical windows controls available to be used.

I find as a 2D developer, that I’m spending a lot of time adding those things into my projects. Every other area of my development is smooth as butter, so if those three areas got added, I think we’d see a lot more content from the community.

What question would you like to ask the community?

What are you working on right now?

Mike and Lisa live on opposite sides of the river. Lisa needs to get another peyote button from Mike. Thom has a boat with a lockable compartment. He is willing to deliver the goods, but Mike and Lisa know that he will steal the button if the compartment is unlocked. Both Lisa and Mike have a padlock with a single key each. The keys only open their own padlock, and you can’t pass the key along with Thom, of course. How can Lisa get high tonight?

Well, if she launches XNA Game Studio Express and hits F5, that cornflower blue screen has been known to have some serious psychedelic side effects. I know it makes my head spin. So, if she plans on making a game tonight, she’ll be flying high in no time.

Again, thank you, George.

Cheers!

Joran