How about XBOX 1 Development?

Do yourself a favor and look into XNA. I can't really see an Xbox 1 game selling very well, as well as XNA could potentially speed up your development time. If you could get your hands on a Dev Kit (at little or no expense) it might be worth it just to see what a Dev Kit is actually like.

This thread is a business discussion.

Moved to Business of Game Development.

The Xbox 1 is already as good as dead. Publishers aren't interested and some retailers are already clearing them out of their stores and selling off final stock. Moe is right, time to move on to PC/360 with XNA.

Dear Anonymous Poster
You shouldn't shy away and post as anonymous. Yes, I live in US but I'm a Japanese.
Moe and Obscure, thanks for your suggestions but I don't know if I can create commercial grade games using XNA. I've heard that availing XBOX 360 Development Kit itself is a tedious job. Let me try!

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Original post by innowaresoft Moe and Obscure, thanks for your suggestions but I don't know if I can create commercial grade games using XNA.

The point is that you can't make commercial games on Xbox 1 either. By that I mean that you may be able to make a game but there won't be any way to make it commercial because Microsoft and all the publishers are giving up on it. Your best bet is to use XNA to make a PC game (it is easy for indie devs to sell PC games). Then, if you can find some way to get your game accepted by a publisher or for Xbox360 Live Arcade then do the 360 version.

The Xbox 1 market is dead now. 8 months from now it will smell really bad.

The latest issue of the UK trade paper has some numbers for software sales per format by value....

In 2005 the Xbox 1 had 11.6% of the market
In 2006 it was down to 3.8%
In 2007....?

As for game through emulators. A publisher will only consider those if they are their own back-catalogue games. They won't want to sell an Xb1 game + emu to Xb360 users. There is no point when there are already more than enough 360 games available.

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Original post by Obscure Your best bet is to use XNA to make a PC game (it is easy for indie devs to sell PC games). Then, if you can find some way to get your game accepted by a publisher or for Xbox360 Live Arcade then do the 360 version.

I usually agree with Obscure, but in this case I'd have to raise a caveat. Most non-developers don't have the CRL2.0 installed (which you need to run PC XNA titles), and it's a pretty hefty download; that alone would most likely reduce your potential target audience to tech-savvy people and Vista users.

You'd also design a PC title differently from a Console title, primarily in terms of input and UI design. A PC game (especially casual ones) will generally be using the mouse as the primary input device, and UIs/control schemes will derive from that. A console title will use the joypad, and both gameplay and UI will change because of that. The launch-queue for XBLA is also VERY crowded in US and Europe right now, so don't bet your business on getting onto it.

Allan

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Original post by __ODIN__ I usually agree with Obscure, but in this case I'd have to raise a caveat. Most non-developers don't have the CRL2.0 installed (which you need to run PC XNA titles), and it's a pretty hefty download; that alone would most likely reduce your potential target audience to tech-savvy people and Vista users.

I disagree. 22 megs really isn't that bad (unless you are on dial-up).

I guess I would just like to argue this point as Todo 2.0 and Todo 3.0 (a nifty little to-do list app that I am working on) use the .net 2.0 framework. At least I hope 22 megs really isn't that bad of a download. I know a lot of corporate networks and schools don't allow individual users to download and install things like the .Net 2.0 framework, but that isn't exactly the target market of an XNA game, now is it?

Didn't .NET 2.0 go out over Windows Update, anyway?

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Original post by Anonymous Poster Obscure: You're correct but given that he already got an xbox kit it can serve as proof of concept if nothing else. A publisher might be interested in making a 360 version if they see the game working.

1. Publishers are stupid (very). If you are trying to sell a 360 game they want to see it on 360. Maybe less so once you are an established developer but essential if you are trying to break in.
2. Eight months from now most publishers won't have an Xbox dev system or console on which to view demos. The ones they have will have been tossed in the basement and they won't be able to find the controller/PSU.
3. If you ignore point 1 and go ahead with a proof of concept on a different machine then the only worthwhile machine would be PC as you can at least bring that game to completion and sell it yourself over the net.

The fact that he already has the xbox is a problem not an advantage. He has invested time and money into learning it and thus doesn't want to waste it. However, going ahead and developing on that platform is a dead-end and as such is an even bigger waste of time and money. Time to drop it and move on.

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Original post by innowaresoft ... thanks for your suggestions but I don't know if I can create commercial grade games using XNA.

Why not? What do you think is stopping you? Is managed code "too slow"? Complete and utter nonsense.

">XNA Racer is being made available as a starter-kit soon, and from what I've heard, they're releasing a FPS starter-kit soon. Managed code and XNA aren't going to hold you back from making a great game.

WOW!!! XNA Racer is a stunner. I'm really sorry to know the fate of XBOX though :(