Category Archives: Game Development

Cross-Platform Apps/Games with Azure

By Shahed C on November 13, 2015

Here is the material for “Cross-Platform Apps/Games with Azure”, delivered at my Reston meetup group on Thu Nov 12, 2015.

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/shahedC3000/crossplatform-appsgames-with-azure

Download PPTX: https://wakeupandcode.com/public_downloads/ms-AzureMobileAppsGames-ShahedChowdhuri-20151112.pptx

Azure portal links:

BizSpark, MSDN Benefits, AzurePass:

Azure App Service (Web, Mobile, Logic, API):

 

 

Asset Game Challenge

By Shahed C on October 19, 2015

#AssetGameChallenge

Need some motivation to build and publish an indie game? It’s time for the #AssetGameChallenge!

Looking for great game dev communities? Join one of these on Facebook, or suggest your own in the comments below!

How to Participate

  • check-icon Nov 10, 2015 – start building an asset (graphics, game components, game templates, etc)… for your own game, for the community, for an asset store, etc. Announce it on your website, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Use the hashtag #AssetGameChallenge
  • check-icon Dec 10, 2015 – Pencils down! Your asset should now be ready for public consumption. In case you weren’t able to publish it to a official Asset Store just yet (e.g. Scirra, Unity), you should publish it to your website or make it available for download via Dropbox, etc. Make sure you announce it on social media using the hashtag #AssetGameChallenge.
  • check-icon Jan 10, 2016 – It’s time! Your game should now be ready, at least as a playable demo or a published game that includes a free/trial/freemium/F2P version. In case you weren’t able to publish it to a game store (e.g. Windows Store, Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store) yet, you should at least publish a web export to your website.  (for security reasons, no executables please!)

Need Help Publishing? Check out these step-by-step guides!

Badge-Prize-icon How do you win? Are are there any prizes?

  • Within the Construct 2 and Unity Indie Devs groups, we could use an online poll to determine the top games for each community.
  • Participants will be encouraged to offer free game codes for prior published games or downloadable assets. If you offer a code, game or asset, you must be the developer/publisher, and you can choose how many you would like to offer.
  • If you decide to run the #AssetGameChallenge contest in your own communities, feel free to offer your own prizes.

Help-icon Questions and Answers

Can u make a mini game or just assets for a game?
There are 2 phases, one for assets, one for a playable game. You can participate in either or both. For the first phase, just build an asset… any asset that people can use freely. For the second phase, build a playable game… it can be a minigame or a playable demo, free trial, etc. There just has to be some component of it that is playable without having to pay up front.

I already have a prototype of my game. Can’t I just give the link to you?
The point of this initiative is to promote a new game project through social channels. You can wait until each milestone and then post a link in this group with the proper #AssetGameChallenge hashtag. To be fair, you should start a new project instead of using a game/prototype that you’ve already built. (It can be derived from an existing game, but the submitted game has to be a new game)

I’ve already done a lot of work on this over the past month. Would I be eligible? 
If you build something new on top of an existing asset/game, that counts too. If you blog/tweet/post about it, make sure you mention what was already developed in the past month and what’s new.

Is there a limit of team members?
Nope, just mention the dev/team name and (if you wish) the team size.

(more will be added soon)

Leave your comments below or send a tweet to @shahedC with the hashtag #AssetGameChallenge

Thanks for participating!
Shahed Chowdhuri 🙂
founder/admin of unofficial Construct 2 Devs and Unity Indie Devs groups

 

Indie Game Development at Game Developer Symposium 3.0

By Shahed C on October 14, 2015

Presentation material for Indie Game Development presentation at Game Developer Symposium 3.0

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/shahedC3000/indie-game-development-53942292

Download PPTX: https://wakeupandcode.com/public_downloads/GameDevPanel-ShahedChowdhuri-2015-10-14.pptx

 Useful Links:

* Win10 development: http://dev.windows.com
* Publish Win10 game with Construct 2: Guide: http://wakeupandcode.com/publish-a-windows-10-game-with-construct-2
* Publish Win10 game with Unity 5: https://wakeupandcode.com/publish-a-windows-10-game-with-unity-5
* Apply to ID@Xbox: http://xbox.com/id
* Apply to HoloLens: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us/development-edition

 

Facebook groups:
* Construct 2 Devs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/construct2devs
* Unity Indie Devs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnityIndieDevs
* Xbox One Indie Devs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XboxOneIndieDevs
* HoloLens Indie Devs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HoloLensIndieDevs

 

 

Publish a Windows 10 Game with Unity 5

By Shahed C on September 21, 2015

unity-logo

Unity recently announced support for Windows 10, starting with Unity 5.2. To help developers export their games and publish to the new Universal Windows Platform for Windows 10, I put together a quick tutorial.

Steps:
1. Enable developer mode in Windows 10
2. Enter game details in Unity
3. Export to Windows 10 Universal format
4. Build Solution in VS2015 w/ Win10 SDK
5. Associate your app with Store App
6. Add required images, e.g. logo, icon, splash
7. Run WACK (Windows App Certification Kit)
8. Publish to Windows Store!

Slides & Video

 Download PPTX file:

https://wakeupandcode.com/public_downloads/Unity-Win10-Export.pptx

 Video on Ch9:

https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/shahedC/Publish-a-Windows-10-Game-with-Unity-5

 

  SlideShare:

http://www.slideshare.net/shahedC3000/publish-a-windows-10-game-with-unity

 

Developer Feedback

Upon sharing this with the developer community, I got some useful feedback from indie dev Tarh Ik, so I have copied/pasted his words below:

Awesome manual!!! Everybody should see this video.
A couple of additional notes:
* Always make sure you are using the latest WACK. It has been rather… buggy ever since Windows 8 was released, and it could throw a false “Fail”
* Compile using the “Release” version. The “Debug” version always fails to install in other computers due to the absence of the “Debug” version of certain run-time libraries.
* There is no hurry to upload packages to the store. Create a package for “side-load”, and test in as many devices as you can before submitting to the store.
* Although the game asset’s logos and other store images can be “png” format, it is recommended to use “jpeg” instead, because “png” usually go beyond the size limit when working with the large store assets.
* You have 1 year after reserving your game name.

One very important advice:
* uncheck the “Internet (Client)” capability if the game does not need to connect to the internet.

However…

* If your game needs to go on-line, not only the “Internet (Client)” capability needs to be checked, but also you need to have a web-site with your own “terms and conditions”, as the standard agreement in the Windows store does not cover on-line experience.

When in doubt, consult a Lawyer.

Lastly…
* Check the requirements for each country where the game is release. Depending on the country and the game’s contents, additional documents may be required (eg rating).
* Check tax declaration requirements too. When in doubt, consult a Tax expert.

Wrap-Up

Needless to say, I am not a lawyer, and cannot provide legal advice. Please consult a lawyer for any legal questions/concerns.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! 🙂

 

 

Publish a Windows 10 Game with Construct 2

By Shahed C on September 4, 2015

(I’ve also posted this link on Redditreddit-logo   

Scirra recently announced support for Windows 10, in their game development tool Construct 2. To help developers export their games and publish to the new Universal Windows Platform for Windows 10, I put together a quick tutorial.

Steps:
1. Enable developer mode in Windows 10
2. Enter game details in Construct 2
3. Export to Windows 10 Universal format
4. Fix manifest file in Visual Studio, if necessary
5. Associate your app with Store App
6. Add required images, e.g. logo, icon, splash
7. Run WACK (Windows App Certification Kit)
8. Publish to Windows Store!

 Download PPTX file:

https://wakeupandcode.com/public_downloads/C2-Win10-Export.pptx

 Video on Ch9:

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/shahedC/Publish-a-Windows-10-Game-with-Construct-2

  SlideShare:

http://www.slideshare.net/shahedC3000/publish-a-windows-10-game-with-construct-2

 

 

 I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! 🙂