Some of us are making our own engines, some of us write popular blogs and make tutorials.
Some of us here even write books and give presentations at GDC/SIGGRAPH, or do private research and publish research papers.

One of the authors of SlimDX said he was not interested in adding support for it to SlimDX, and Valve is obviously going out of their way to make a point that they are not going to support it either. Minecraft won’t, and I am not decided on my own engine.
MJP has never even tried to use DirectX 11.1 yet.


How about you?
If you are a book author and see yourself having the chance to write a book about it, will you? Would you only do it if they approached you to do it or would you actually send a proposal to the publish of your own free will?


If your blog is mainly focused on tutorials, will you be putting any out for DirectX 11.1/Windows 8/Metro in the near future?


Do you plan to continue any private research you are doing on any new graphics techniques on said platform (if is so why)?


How many of you are starting to consider moving away from Windows in favor of Macintosh OS X or Linux?
Do you think Microsoft will be able to continue going this route or will they be forced to either downsize considerably or lift their ridiculous policies? Do you plan to push them into such a situation by, for example boycotting any of their products?


// ======= MY ANSWERS
As I said I am not decided about my engine. I can see some market value in being one of the few who support it, but I prefer to take a stand against them.
And this is the first time I have considered moving away from Windows, or at least never “upgrading”.
Windows XP and Windows 7 still work fine. If games stop coming out for them, I will see what platform is getting all the games. Linux? Valve’s own new game machine? That Ouhaoasdjh thing funded by Kickstarter?
In any case it is not going to be Windows 8/Metro, as guaranteed by their own policies on what they allow through their store, which specifically state, “No good games”.

I see Microsoft in the near future being just a shell of its former self.
Apple has been rising steadily in popularity thanks to iOS and other vendors are stepping up to fight in the console wars, while existing platforms may suddenly get a boost in popularity depending on how things go.

The upcoming generation of gaming will leave consumers with many more options than previously, so we are no longer bound to just Windows and consoles. With many gamers feeling smitten by Microsoft, I see a lot of people intentionally seeking options outside of Microsoft, and Microsoft will ultimately end up in trouble.


L. Spiro

I think I'm in the same position as you are, I haven't completely decided on the matter yet either, but I'm leaning more towards not supporting it.

The store policies microsoft has set up really don't make sense to me, they were in a unique position where they had a huge market share in desktop and notebook installs with a platform which allowed for open development. The fact that they didn't play the role of gatekeeper when it came to application publishing for their platform made Windows a very attractive platform to develop for, in contrast with Apple who tried to control almost every single piece of software developed for their platforms (for iOS anyway).

I had the chance to get an early copy of Windows 8 as soon as it went gold and did a dual-boot setup with a Windows 7 install. I must say I enjoy working with Windows 8 as I get some very decent performance out of it, but I'm not going to get too comfortable with it because of Microsoft's sudden change of tactics.


I've always planned to support linux for my current projects, but the problem with linux is that it's still not at the point where any computer user regardless of their computer knowledge can install and use a distro without problems. There will always be situations where you have to open up a console window to get something to work correctly, and that's just a big no for your average home computer user. The average user doesn't want to search through forums to fix a problem with their pc, they don't want to edit configuration files to get their system to work for their hardware setup, they don't want to look through error logs when their system suddenly crashes out of nowhere, they don't want to have to compile their software when they're used to just being able to install a piece of software on windows (package managers solve a part of this problem), and I'm under the impression that a large part of the linux community just doesn't get this.

The lack of quality games on linux is also a very serious vicious circle. As long as there's no collection of quality games for linux, gamers won't adopt the platform, and if gamers won't adopt linux there won't be a lot of developers interested in building games for it. Maybe this will change with Valve's decision to create a linux version of steam, who knows. I really hope so though.


So my priorities for my current project are: Windows Vista, 7 and 8 (Desktop, not Metro) support, support for some popular linux distro's and maybe Mac OSX support later on.

Honestly I like the Metro interface on WP7.5 as opposed to Windows 8. Everything that I've read makes Win8 seem confusing and not intuitive. However, all I've read on Window Store policies is what I've read from Valve and Minecraft creator. But they seem to be complaining about the potential of being shut out. So is there a de-facto web page/site that explains all the issues for developers in the new Windows Store?

In any case it is not going to be Windows 8/Metro, as guaranteed by their own policies on what they allow through their store, which specifically state, “No good games”.[/quote]
This sounds like FUD. You gotta a link for that?

So is there a de-facto web page/site that explains all the issues for developers in the new Windows Store?

In any case it is not going to be Windows 8/Metro, as guaranteed by their own policies on what they allow through their store, which specifically state, “No good games”.

This sounds like FUD. You gotta a link for that?
[/quote]
Yes to both: http://gamasutra.com...years_what_.php

This is not speculative; it is certain. Skyrim is a game for adults. It has a PEGI rating of 18. If you read the Windows 8 app certification requirements you will find, in section 5.1:

Your app must not contain adult content, and metadata must be appropriate for everyone. Apps with a rating over PEGI 16, ESRB MATURE, or that contain content that would warrant such a rating, are not allowed.[/quote]

That's 2011's Game of the Year, banned from the Windows Store. How about 2012? With several highly anticipated games yet to be released, it's anybody's guess which game will be selected. But a random sampling of internet predictions suggests some of the leading contenders are Max Payne 3, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 3, Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Borderlands 2. Of the four of those that have already shipped and been rated by PEGI, how many could be shipped on Windows Store?

Zero.[/quote]




As for fickalities, I had never before said I wouldn’t move on to later versions of Windows such as XP, Vista, and 7.
I tend to wait a while for the drivers to get stable etc., but I always have planned on moving up eventually.

Except this time. I am waiting to see how it works out, but for now this is the first time I have considered moving to another platform should I ever get tired of Windows 7 and Windows XP.


L. Spiro

I heard that rumor but never saw the official word on it.

Seems they can be pressured after all.


[EDIT]

Games rated ESRB Adult or games only rated PEGI 18, meanwhile, will still be barred from the marketplace.[/quote]
[/EDIT]
So, Skyrim is still banned along with half of that list?


L. Spiro