Three links for Windows Phone Developer
If you're a developer for Windows Phone 7, the following three posts by Michael Klutcher will most likely be of use. They're one month old, but they're useful for people who didn't see them yet:
Trouble Installing the Windows Phone Developer Tools
It’s Official, XNA & WP7 are set to get it on!!
Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for.
Over the past few weeks I'm sure you've all heard about the "leak" of documentation that was supposedly showing the use of XNA and Silverlight for Windows Phone 7.
Well now, it's official!!
Windows Phone 7 WILL support XNA and not only that it will also support the use of Silverlight for Apps & Games.
Our favourite Mr Klucher posts his snippet http://klucher.com/blog/gaming-development-for-the-go/
And the The Special One finally prevents himself from imploding by spilling some beans here http://twitter.com/shawnhargreaves/status/10014398597
There's still very little details on what exactly will be available to us.
Will we have avatars? will he even have 3D or will it be the same mediocre support that we have for the Zune HD. Will it even matter? Will there be a marketplace for you to develop for ? All that should be revealed at MIX and beyond but for now, get writing some Windows Phone 7 games. You can bet a $ anything that works on Zune HD will require very little changes to work on WP7.
Silverlight is also very interesting, knocking up high quality applications will be a breeze.
Stay tuned for more details as they come in... Exciting times ahead.
[EDIT : Added link source] : http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/04/microsoft-talks-windows-phone-7-series-development-ahead-of-gdc/
XNA 7 Day Challenge
Nick "the crazy" Gravelyn has posted on his blog about a new challenge he's set up called the XNA 7 Day Challenge. We're a bit late, ITS COMMING!!! on sunday. He's even set up a website see "the crazy"
We can't make the cut this time. But maybe we'll try the next one. Can't wait to see the entries.
The XNA 7 Day Challenge is as follows.
Challenge #1 Dual Buttons
Theme/Rules:
Your game is only allowed two buttons or keys. You cannot use triggers, thumbsticks, or other analog input. A directional pad can be used, but each direction counts as one button. You can use these buttons in combination, context, or any other mechanism in your game; the only requirement is that only two physical binary inputs are utilized in the game.
Challenge Time:
October 25, 2009 – November 1st, 2009 (Entries due by 12:00 PST GMT-8 on November 2nd, 2009).
To Enter:
Email your entry to contact@xna7day.com with the subject line “Challenge 1 Entry”.
Please see the About page for full rules/guidelines for the challenge. Since this challenge was started with this post, those rules are also valid for this first challenge.