Developing the Future

Come work with me!

lindsayr — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:09:49 GMT

So, I often say that I have the best job at Microsoft, I get to work with smart and talented people both inside and outside of the company. I get to geek out on the latest and greatest technology, and excite, empower and educate developers. The US Developer and Platform Evangelist team at Microsoft has all kinds of roles, from Developer Tools sales, to Evangelists for Developers and IT Pros, to Marketers to help us spread the word, and more in between! On April 3rd from 9-10am PST, we’re running a virtual career fair where you can learn more about DPE and hear from our fearless leader, Mark Hindsbo. Register at http://microsoftdpecareerswebinar.eventbrite.com. Tell them Lindsay sent you!

Part 3 of 9: Design Aesthetics

lindsayr — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:36:00 GMT

Missed the rest of the series? Check out:

Part 1
Part 2

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For developers, a common obstacle on the road to game publishing success is DESIGN.

If considering design isn’t part of your game development strategy, your game will not be successful. Think about the mobile games you love (or researched as part of the planning process discussed in Part 2), or how you choose games/apps to download or purchase. Aesthetics is always a consideration.

“Questions about whether design is necessary or affordable are quite beside the point: design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all.”

– Book Design: A Practical Introduction by Douglas Martin

Working with developers, I often see that design is an afterthought or left to chance…it’ll take care of itself. The first time I heard the quote by Douglas Martin, I realized that I couldn’t just hand off design to someone else, that I had to deal with it, because it’s inevitable.

So, how do you deal with design if you have no design skills? One obvious answer is to find a designer, but where/how? Like I mentioned in the last post, you’re starting a company so you will need to invest in talent. Many app developers have found success in using freelance artists to create assets for their apps via a site like Elance or Craigslist. If you don’t have the money to invest, you could post to trade services – your technical know-how for some design time. Or form a partnership and share a percentage of revenue (of course, this will require some legal work). Another venue is to find some eager design students who are looking to build their portfolios. Lastly, Microsoft’s App Builder program provide some free designer support, no strings attached! No matter what way you find some design help, my point is that you have to do SOMETHING.

Windows Phone UX Guidelines	A new Design Library has been published, providing UX guidelines and design resources for designing Windows Phone 8 apps.
Windows 8 UX Guidelines	Windows 8 UX guidelines, case studies and downloadable design assets (including Photoshop templates) are available on design.windows.com. The UX Guidelines are also available to download in PDF format.

Part 2 of 9: Creating a Complete Windows 8 Game (minus the game) - Planning

lindsayr — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

(Missed Part 1? Here you go: Part 1: Overview)

The first aspect of creating a COMPLETE game for Windows 8 is: PLANNING.

By planning, I don’t mean figuring out your characters, level design, number of levels or anything that is internal to the game. Remember, this is minus the game. Think of it this way: you’re starting a company. You have to invest in multiple facets to help your company succeed. Protect your investment by doing some careful thought and planning.

Planning is all about:

Understanding the environment where you’ve chosen to engage.
Using that understanding to decide what are your goals in developing your game.
Thinking through the steps that will get you there.

Understanding the Environment

This series presupposes that Windows 8 is the platform on which you’re choosing to create a game. But, before you jump into the code, you should do a bit of research.

Get to know Windows 8 as an end-user. If you can find a touch-enabled device, see what gestures you use often, what areas of the OS you spend time in, how you interact with the start screen, tiles, charms bar, etc. This will help you understand how to make your game feel like it belongs on Windows 8, a natural extension of the OS.
Explore the Windows Store (and other marketplaces). Check out the games in the different categories, look at their screenshots, descriptions, reviews, etc. Try to identify what makes some games stand out from the rest. If you have a game idea in mind, is there an existing game that does something similar? Could you do it better? If there isn’t an existing competitor, what about another marketplace…is there a similar game that is successful? Do you think it would perform as well on Windows 8? Though I’m not talking about game design, here are a couple of articles that call out some features of highly successful mobile games: Successful Casual Games & Doodle Jump & Angry Birds.
Play some games. To complement the last point, what kind of games do YOU like to play? What makes them fun? What keeps you coming back to them? Look for some stats about game/gamer demographics, learn who your audience is and tailor your game to them.

Set and Prioritize Goals

I did an informal poll which provided some common goals for hobbyist game developers are:

Make money – this may seem like a no-brainer, a little coin is always nice. But, surprisingly my informal poll showed it is not always the main motivator.
Popularity/Street Cred – maybe you just want to feel special and your prime motivation is the number of downloads or high feedback/review scores.
Gain knowledge/experience – if you are pursuing a career in the games industry, it hopes to have a little experience under your belt. Having a published and “successful” game does look good on a resume.
Class assignment – you just want a good grade. :)
Entertainment – you’re just looking for something enjoyable to pass the time with.

When you decide on your goals and prioritize them, you can define how you measure success. Therefore, you can determine how to invest your time and efforts to be successful.

Think through the Steps

If generating revenue is your primary goal, you have to put a lot of thought into your monetization strategy, marketing, etc.

What will make your game unique/better than the rest?
Will it be paid, ad-supported, or in-app purchase?
Should you have a trial version? (yes is always the answer)
In what countries/markets will your app be available? Will the monetization strategy be the same for each?
How will you market your app? Will you buy ads in other games? Speaking to a marketing expert is a good place to start.

Now that you’ve put some work into the understanding of the environment you’ll game will live in, setting goals and examining the steps to make your goals – it’s time to get started and prepare your game for the spotlight.

For more about planning and to get a head start of Part 3: Design, read the MSDN articles: Planning Windows Store Apps and Designing great games for Windows.

Part 1 of 9: Creating a Complete Windows 8 Game (minus the game) - Overview

lindsayr — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:04:00 GMT

Emphasis on the word: COMPLETE.

(I’m going to generalize a bit here…just for argument’s sake)

Developers like solving problems, making stuff work, figuring things out, fixing bugs, adding features. So, it’s no surprise to me that when I talk to devs about Windows 8, and explain the enormous opportunity behind developing on this platform, I can see the wheels turning in their brain, “Oooh, I’ll make a game that does A, B, C using X technology and maybe create the backend with Y, and use Z API…” Or, if they’re new to programming, but want to get something published relatively quickly, creating games with GameMaker, GameSalad or Construct 2, “I’ll make a platformer, kinda like Mario, but with a little bit of Angry Birds mixed in…”

I love the enthusiasm, excitement and gumption to get started with Windows 8! However, there’s a trend of diving right into code with minimal thought which I think can hurt your game in the long run.

This leads to some common questions I get, “Why isn’t my game doing well?” “Why am I getting bad reviews?” “Why isn’t the money rolling in?”

When I dig a little deeper, the most common reason for failure is that their game is lacking something. It’s either:

a.) Just a bad game. (dodgy graphics, poor gameplay, not fun, too hard, one level, boring, etc). Or,
b.) A decent game, but not the best complete experience.

This blog series is not primarily about the first case, though I’ll touch on some points that apply. There are many great books, websites, tutorials and articles out there that can help you create a good game. I’m not going to walk you through the technical points of “How to make a Game” here, but if that’s what you’re looking for – head over to Generation App and learn how to build Games for Windows 8. For Game Design, Ernest Adams has a great book that I read after attending one of his workshops last year, Fundamentals of Game Design. Lastly, find a community of experts that can help you. Stackoverflow is a great resource.

What this series will cover, is what you can do to take full advantage of the Windows 8 platform and make your game ready for market. This series is by no means EVERYTHING you can do to “complete” your game, but it has some main fundamentals which I’ve seen proven successful.

We’ll dive into 8 ways to make your game more complete for Windows 8:

Planning
Design Aesthetics
Details Details Details
Windows 8 Features
State Persistence
Socializing
Global Perspective
Marketing

So, stay tuned! I’ll do at least a couple of posts a week!

Register now for Wowzapp 2012!!

lindsayr — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:58:12 GMT

Be part of the app revolution

Join thousands of developers worldwide, November 9-11, 2012, for Wowzapp the worldwide hackathon for Windows and build apps for the next generation of Windows.

There will be dozens of event venues from college campuses to Microsoft offices, all buzzing with energy, music, free food and more. New venues being added daily – check back to find the event near you.

Expert help, free resources

Microsoft app experts, developers and trainers will be available to assist your learning and coding.

Get the app

Download the Wowzapp app (created by students!) to use throughout the weekend. You can post questions for other Wowzapp attendees, stream tech talks happening at other locations and score points through the app to compete against other attendees!

Locations in East Region

Wowzapp is happening all over the world in 100+ locations. Here in East Region there are several events being held. They don’t all start at the same time, so be sure to click through to the registration page.

Getting Started

Get Windows 8

Remember, to program for Windows 8 you have to have Windows 8. You can buy Windows 8 online from the Microsoft Store, download a 90-day Windows 8 RTM evaluation or download it through an MSDN or DreamSpark Premium subscription.

Get the Development Tools

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the free development tools! You can download Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8 for free or download one of the full versions if you have an MSDN or DreamSpark subscription. You can also sign up for a 90-day trial of Windows Azure if you plan on using cloud services for your app.

Start Learning

Jumpstart your Windows 8 development skills so you can hit the ground running at Wowzapp!

Windows 8 30 to Launch – Tips, tricks and resources to take your app from idea to store.
Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript – I blogged about this free Microsoft Press ebook that provides comprehensive coverage of programming for Windows 8 Apps, by Microsoft’s Kraig Brockschmidt. This book is about writing WinRT apps using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
HTML5 Game Starter Kit for Windows 8 – with the HTML5 Starter kit, how-to instructional video, along with the step by step guide, users will be able to set up a new Windows 8 game project with ease. This content was developed by Petri Tapio Wilhelmsen (@petriw) who also has a great blog.

An first person developer perspective from //build

lindsayr — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:35:00 GMT

Conrad Zimmerman, a local PA student developer has had the awesome opportunity to attend //build on Microsoft's campus this week. He's attending with his father who runs their company, ABC Softek. I met Conrad at a Windows 8 Camp we held in our Malvern office recently, where he started his work on MetroGist - available now in the Windows Store. He's blogging about his experience, so here's your chance to live vicariously through him!

Conrad's Blog: http://www.conradz.com/blog.html

You can get started writing Windows 8 apps like Conrad did: http://bit.ly/AppIn30!

Getting an App in the Windows Store: What, Why, and How

lindsayr — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:44:41 GMT

G. Andrew Duthie, my fellow Developer Evangelist based near DC, did a great post about the opportunity behind Windows 8. I know a lot of you are thinking about what’s ahead, but for those who haven’t looked at it, yet, here are some reasons to get in the game early!

Here’s what Andrew has to say:

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Most of my readers are probably aware that Windows 8 is on the horizon. If you're a software developer, whether an experienced Windows dev, or one who works on other platform, chances are good that you've at least heard of it. What I propose to do in this post is argue for a simple proposition...every developer who would like to put some additional money in their pocket owes it to themselves to learn the What, Why, and How of the Windows Store.

What

The "What" portion of this post is pretty straightforward, namely the Windows Store. New to Windows 8, the Windows Store is the single place for consumers to find and acquire Metro style apps in Windows 8. If your app isn't there, users won't be able to find and install it, simple as that. You probably won't be surprised to find that we think the Windows Store is kind of a big deal. In fact, there's an entire official blog devoted to the store, which you just might want to bookmark.

Why

All developers, whether experienced Windows hands, HTML/CSS slingers, iOS/Android app developers, have a tremendous opportunity in Windows 8. The Windows Store will represent a huge market when Windows 8 launches, and if history is any measure it will grow rapidly. Windows 7 sold more than a half a billion licenses in its first 2 years after release. By some estimates there are more than 1.5 billion PCs running Windows today.

Simply put, those who are first in the door to the Windows Store stand to profit handsomely by the visibility and prestige of being one of the first apps in the store when Windows 8 is released.

What's more, Windows 8 Metro style applications allow developers to use familiar languages and UI paradigms, so it's easier than ever to leverage your existing skills. If you have experience with WPF or Silverlight, then building a Metro style application with XAML and C# (or VB) will be straightforward for you. If you're more of a web whiz, the support for building HTML5/CSS/JavaScript Metro style applications will help you to quickly leverage those skills to build awesome apps and games. And C++ developers are now also able to join the party, with C++ and XAML a fully-supported pairing for building Metro style apps.

And if you're a website developer or iOS developer, we've even started providing resources to help you port your applications to the new platform:

Website to Metro style app

iPad to Metro style app

How

Hopefully, by this time you understand why you'd want to write a Metro style app and get it in the store. Next is the question of how. To start with, you'll need a copy of Windows 8 (the current release as of this writing is the Consumer Preview, which you can get here), and a copy of Visual Studio 11 (the current release as of this writing is the Visual Studio 11 beta, which you can get here).

Next step is to head over to http://dev.windows.com/, where you'll find tutorials, downloads, and samples you can use to get started (not to mention performance best practices and store certification requirements). And if you're looking for information on making your app look great (and work well, from a UX standpoint), we've got you covered at http://design.windows.com/, including UX design patterns, downloadable design assets, and end-to-end guidance.

If you learn better via webcasts or in-person events, you should check out our Windows 8 Developer Camps and see if there's one near you. If you're in the DC area, the local Public Sector folks are holding a series of Windows 8 events, including evening lectures, webcasts, and 1-day dev camps.

Need some focused time to get started on your app? Join us for a local Metro Accelerator Lab, or Metro Friday Hackathon (currently running here in Mid-Atlantic and in Tampa, FL, but more are coming to other locations in the US east coast). There are Metro Accelerator Labs coming up in the following cities (for the east coast...if you're outside of the US east coast, check availability with your local Developer Evangelist):

Tampa, FL (http://aka.ms/MetroLabTA)
Atlanta, GA (http://aka.ms/MetroLabAT - I'll be there!)
Boston, MA (http://aka.ms/MetroLabBos)

Whichever you attend, lab or hackathon, you'll have focused time for coding, with access to Microsoft evangelists with hands-on experience building Metro style apps, who can help you with your ideas, questions, or roadblocks.

Once you have your app idea prototyped and have a fairly clear idea of what's needed to finish it, you'll probably start thinking about submitting it to the Windows Store for review. As with the Windows Marketplace for Windows Phone 7, all apps in the Windows Store will have to undergo review to ensure that they meet the required performance and quality guidelines.

At the time of this writing, access to the Windows Store is by invitation only, and you will need a token in order to be able to register for a developer account with the store. So the last part of how is "how do I get a token?" The best way is to attend an Application Excellence Lab, which is a 1:1 engagement with a trained Premier Field Engineer to review your application for performance, quality, and adherence to Metro design principles. If your application meets the review criteria, you will receive a token to register for the store. If your app still needs some work, you'll receive detailed feedback on what needs improvement, which means you'll have a better (and hopefully more profitable) app in the end.

Finally, here are the suggested steps to get invited to an App Excellence lab:

Create a really great Windows 8 Metro style app (or game) immediately. Get it as ready as if you were submitting to the store.
If you know your local DPE evangelists (maybe because you attended a Windows camp training), get in touch with them (that would be me, Lindsay, for you all in PA/DE/NJ) and ask them to nominate your app for a lab.
If you don’t know your local evangelist, then email the following information to win8aefb@microsoft.com:

Your name
City & country where you are located
Brief description for your app (no binary, screenshot is optional, but only send if the screenshot is public, non-confidential stuff )
Wait for our response letting you know where the closest app excellence lab will be and how to get in touch with the right evangelist to nominate you.

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So, get some skin in the game, and let me know what I can do to help you on your way!

Happy Hacking,

Lindsay

HackReady.Phone Episode 3 of 7: Understanding Windows Phone’s Application Lifecycle and State Management

lindsayr — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:58:40 GMT

You can view the webcast On-Demand: http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone3

This part of our Windows Phone development series covered the Windows Phone Application Lifecycle (see picture below). Understanding this is important for developers, as users expect a consistent experience across all their applications. Because only one Windows Phone application can be running in the foreground at any given time, we need to know what to do when that is not the case.

Here are some resources that I mentioned in the webcast:

Slides are attached to the bottom of this post
Download the Windows Phone SDK
Dani's blog: http://smallandmighty.net
Execution Model Overview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817008(v=VS.92).aspx
Tombstoning Quickstart: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/quickstarts/Running_your_App_in_the_Background_(Tombstoning)
Application State "How to": http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff967547(VS.92).aspx
Page State "How to": http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff967548(v=vs.92).aspx
Best Practices for Application Lifecycle management: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817009(v=vs.92).aspx
Lastly, the demos were from the Jump Start series:

Video: http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/egibson/windows-phone-7-jump-start-session-8-of-12-advanced-application-development-part-2
Source Code: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/wp7/m/default.aspx (Application Lifecycle)

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Happy Hacking,

Lindsay

HackReady.Phone Episode 1 of 7: Introduction to the Windows Phone Platform (Level 100) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone1

lindsayr — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:39:00 GMT

I hope you enjoyed the first part of our series on Windows Phone development! Here are the resources that we covered:

Slides are attached to the bottom of this post
Download the Windows Phone SDK
Dani's blog: http://smallandmighty.net
Resources from slides:

App Hub: http://create.msdn.com
Arturo TV for Metro UX: http://ux.artu.tv/
Silverlight Control Toolkit: http://silverlight.codeplex.com
Coding4Fun Control Toolkit: http://coding4fun.codeplex.com
App Hub Education catalog: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/

My "Go-To" resources:

For students to get started: http://findyourcolony.com
Windows Phone for Absolute Beginners video series: http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-7-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners
Windows Phone QuickStarts: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/quickstarts
Sample Code Resources: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff431744(VS.92).aspx
How-To Index: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg278408(VS.92).aspx
Dani's Phone Resources and link to Starter Kits: http://smallandmighty.net/blog/windows-phone-resources
Windows Phone Training Course w/ Hands-On Labs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsPhoneTrainingCourse
Website Template: http://wp7appsite.codeplex.com/
Application Certification Requirements: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh184843(v=VS.92).aspx
List of resources from Larry Lieberman (from September 2011): http://wpdev.ms/keyresources

Happy Hacking!

HackReady.Phone Webcast Series is coming soon!

lindsayr — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:32:47 GMT

Join us for HackReady, the new online learning series designed for developers to bring you the vital bits you need, without the fluff you won’t miss. Full of key information and demonstrations, this series gives you a solid understanding of the tools, techniques, and resources you need to become HackReady.

The HackReady.Phone series brings you seven episodes, from start to marketplace. Whether you are a new Windows Phone developer thinking about your first app or well on your way to publishing, these sessions help you get there. Join us for one or the whole series—pick and choose as you like. First, download the tools and follow along: http://bit.ly/hackready.

(Tue 4/3 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 1: Introduction to the Windows Phone Platform (Level 100) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone1

(Thur 4/5 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 2: Working with Internal and External Data in Windows Phone (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone2

(Tue 4/10 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 3: Understanding Windows Phone’s Application Lifecycle and State Management (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone3

(Thur 4/12 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 4: Working with Windows Phone Sensors and Other APIs (Level 200) -http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone4

(Tue 4/17 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 5: Enhancing the User Experience and App Usability with Live Tiles, Push Notifications, and Background Agents (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone5

(Thur 4/19 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 6: Enhancing Performance and Application Testing (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone6

(Tue 4/24 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 7: Ready, Set, Publish: Everything You Need to Know About Releasing Your Apps (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone7