Sharky's Air Legends & XNA Creator's Club

We speak to an XNA "creator".

There have been some really cool new developments lately in the Xbox Live arena, most interestingly the introduction of Xbox Live Arcade Community games, which will allow users to sell their games for between $2.50 and $10 US per download (playable on PCs or Xbox 360s).

Making this all happen is the XNA Creator Club, part toolset, part forum, and part peer group. Game makers who are keen to join up and get busy putting their stuff out there can join the Microsoft XNA Creator Club, download the XNA toolkit, and once they've created their game, submit it to the Creator Club for peer review. If your game gets the go-ahead, you can expect to see it up there on the Xbox Live Marketplace, where players can try a demo, and if they like, pay you for all the sweat you've put into it.

But how straightforward is it really? And what sort of chances are there for kiwis hoping to make it big on the international scene? To find out, NZGamer tracked down Lawrence Hodson, creator of the very cool Sharky's Air Legends, a game that's already been making a serious impression on the powers-that-be, featuring in several Microsoft showcases, demonstrating just what the XNA toolkit's capable of. We asked Lawrence about gaming, making games, and his impressions of the XNA Creator's Club.

NZGamer: Have you always been a gamer? What are some of your early gaming memories?

Lawrence: I was probably a geek before a gamer, and now I guess I'm a geek again. My first gaming memory was when I was perhaps 11 years old (?) - I'm not sure exactly. Anyway it was during the 80's "Home Computer" craze when my neighbor showed me his brand new ZX-81 - the hottest thing back then. 1k RAM! It just blew me away seeing how you could press a key on the keyboard and something would happen on the TV screen. The possibilities seemed endless, and I just wanted to make games. I didn't even touch a computer for a year or two, until I finally got my own computer. (A SpectraVideo SV-318 with the joystick built into the cursor key pad.) During that time I had taught myself BASIC programming from all manner of illustrated books aimed at kids (not something you see these days).

A game that left a mark for me was, I think, called Armoured Assault. It was 2-player mutiplayer ONLY with tanks, bases, ammo & refueling spots. It left an indelible mark - introducing me to the idea that games didn't necessarily have to provide a lot of game play. Provide a sandbox with simple rules, and let the players make the gameplay.

NZG: How did you first find out about the XNA toolkit and the creator community?

LH: It was a total fluke really. I hadn't touched the childhood game development hobby since leaving school and doing IT software development for a day job. It was back in 2006 when I had picked up some game development again. I only did so because I was looking for a little home project to brush up on my .NET Framework v2.0 skills - having been stuck in v1.1 world for longer than was tolerable. No project ideas came to mind, until I heard of Managed DirectX (MDX). A .NET framework wrapper for DirectX programming. So I started tinkering in my own time at home choosing to try building a game I had begun in BASIC so many years ago. I didn't even know that XNA was on the horizon, so it was very exciting when XNA arrived and I immediately converted my stuff to XNA.

I already had a blog where I journalled my progress for friends and family (emailing them felt too spammy). XNA being so new, there wasn't a clear community at first. I discovered other peoples' blogs like my own from people's comments on several of Microsoft's XNA developer blogs. The community just grew from there really. Web sites like Ziggyware came to form the community hub we have now. Microsoft has now launched XNA's "Creators Club" web site, with samples, forums etc... Ziggyware is still the real pulse of the community though.



NZG: What did you find attractive/interesting/alluring about the XNA toolkit, compared to other game development tools? Had you ever tried writing (coding, etc.) a game before? How does it compare?

LH: The thing about XNA that's immediately attractive is that you are coding in the C# & .NET Framework just like you might for any IT software development. That's my day job, so it fits perfectly. The XNA Framework itself is very nice, and relatively painless to its predecessor Managed DirectX. It is very powerful, and certainly no toy.

Back in the 80's making games in whatever BASIC your choice of home computer had almost always ended up hitting the brick wall that was performance. That is why commercial games back then always had some or all Assembler coding. With Microsoft .NET that is no longer necessary. It is very powerful & performs really well. Any doubts about its performance for commercial games can really be laid to rest now I think. For certain types of games like big scale FPS's the jury's still out. But there should be no doubt that top commercial quality games are possible. Take Schizoid for example.

XNA is cross-platform - Windows, Xbox 360, and soon the Zune! You can perfect your Windows game, and with minimal/sometimes zero changes compile it for the XBOX 360 as well.
Also, Microsoft recently announced how they'll be paying developers like myself royalties for the games on their upcoming XBOX Live Arcade Community games feature of the Dashboard.

Talk about a bonus for doing something I'd do anyway for fun, eh!

NZG: What's the XNA creator community like - are they pretty welcoming to new peeps?

LH: The community is great, down to earth, approachable. Loads of good blogs, samples & tutorials out there. In the last year or so I've been very focused on my own game, so I've been contributing less to the community than I'd really like.

NZG:You've been working with the toolkit for a couple of years now, do you have any advice for people starting out?

LH: Start simple. It's great to have a grand plan, but set yourself goals you are capable of and be iterative. In my case I am a bit of a perfectionist so I'd tend to leave out a feature if I wasn't happy with the end result.

Don't be all secretive. While you are learning the ropes there is probably more value in being open with your progress. Having my blog was one of the best things I ever did. Seeing the readership grow & receiving constructive comments from the community is not only helpful, but highly motivating.

Don't be discouraged when your game is only remotely like your original idea. It's all part of the learning process, and in the end your game will probably be better for it! Plus, you'll be leaving room for game #2!

Be persistent & take a look at the many great samples around and particularly on Microsoft's Creators website.



NZG: Tell us a little bit about Sharky's Air Legends - what made you decide to make a dogfighting/flying game?

LH: As I mentioned earlier, it's a remake of a game I started when I was about 13 years old in BASIC. I loved the idea then - and love it now. The difference is I am a much more capable developer now than I was then.

The idea is still original as far as I can tell. There is some obvious insperation from the arcade classic "Timepilot", but I think there's enough unique about "Air Legends" to set it apart. One feature in particular was always going to be a ground with airfields you land at to re-arm/refuel. I still haven't got round to adding that one yet! One day. ;-)

NZG: Is it true that Microsoft showcased your game when XNA was new? How did that come about?

LH: That's right - actually twice! Timing is everything! At the time (late 2006) "Air Legends" was one of the few XNA games in a reasonably complete state. I was contacted via my blog by Microsoft's XNA Community Manager at the time. I was pretty stoked. It was particularly awesome that I was put in touch with several of the high-profile XNA developers/bloggers to help me with some technical issues at the time.

It's recently been showcased in another video here...



Here's the link(s) to the older 2006 showcase. The funny thing was my game didn't have sound back then - so Microsoft graciously dubbed some on.

Video - http://majornelson.com/archive/2006/11/08/...eo-montage.aspx
Details - http://letskilldave.com/blog/xna-video-mon...-ready-for-you/

NZG: What's the hardest thing about creating and marketing your own game?

LH: Creating?

Well it could be just me, but to get the desired result there's a lot of smoke-'n-mirrors going on in my game. To the game playing public I think there's a misconception that modern video cards make 3D game development simple. That you just throw a 3d scene at the GPU and it automagically just renders it with the correct transparencies, geometry in the right place and particle effects. With frameworks like XNA and I guess other game engines it is definitely made easier, but there is still a lot of low-level stuff going on behind the scenes. GPU's are all about triangles and what we interpret as transparency is more about color math trickery (alpha blending) and correct rendering order than anything else.

I've lost count of the number of "simple" features I've added, that in reality proved quite tricky.
As for marketing, well besides keeping a journal in the form of my blog I haven't really done any marketing. The great thing is with XBOX Live Community games close to being launched later this year Microsoft will pretty much look after the marketing side via the XBOX Dashboard itself. Microsoft will promote the better performing games on your behalf.

NZG: What's the coolest thing about making your own game?

LH: Well I'd like to say the Babes, but I'm still waiting on that front. ;-)

I'd say the coolest thing right now is that I would have made my game anyway just for the fun & satisfaction of it. But with Microsoft's XBOX Live Arcade Community Games endevour launching later this year it seems certain I'll get paid as well!

**

Sharky's Air Legends is available for PC and Xbox 360, and can be downloaded via Lawrence's blog (link below), and soon via the 360 dashboard.

If you'd like to get in touch with Lawrence, or just find out more about his journey with creating Sharky's Air Legends, you can find him at Sharky.BlueCog.co.nz.

The XNA toolkit is available via the XNA Creator's Club. Both can be found here.

With some luck we'll be hearing about more NZGamer readers who are getting out there and showcasing their games to the world!


Video: Air Legends trailer

UPDATE: Lawrence is currently prepping Air Legends for entry into the Dream-Build-Play competition (http://www.dreambuildplay.com/, entries close 23 September). Expect a considerably more polished version “real soon”, with some spanking new game play features, and loads of improvements. Keep an eye on his blog for details. http://sharky.bluecog.co.nz
Good Luck Sharky!

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