Windows 8 Store

By now we’ve all seen the endless stream of either misinformed or FUD-based complaints, commentary, or sound bites circulating on the web regarding Windows 8 and its new app store. The most disappointing aspect is that I’ve seen other independent game developers partaking. Really?!

So let me get this straight—all those people who’ve been rejected by Steam and their gated approach to digital distribution aren’t happy to have a store that will provide instant access to millions of PC and mobile users? Interesting…

I get Steam’s perspective. They’re concerned because they see Microsoft making a legitimate attempt to encroach on their territory. I’ve also heard suggestions that they think Microsoft post-Windows 8 will attempt to close them out of Windows all together. While that remains to be seen, I have my doubts. That aside, we’ll just ignore the inconvenient little fact that Apple currently runs OS X the exact same way with the Mac App Store. Where’s all the highly publicized bitching about that?

Bottom line is that the Windows 8 app store presents a tremendous opportunity for both small- and big-time indies.  As long as you can adhere to the handful of guidelines governing app submissions and content, you’ll have millions of potential users at your disposal without the fear of the unexplained subjective rejection.

Visual Studio 2012 Express

Microsoft has released several different versions of Visual Studio 2012 Express, each targeting a different type of application (Web, Metro, Desktop). I’m interested in Metro apps so I can target the new Windows 8 app store. But, I also need to build desktop applications since I have an editor that’s used to create scenes, import assets, etc.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the Metro version and its ability to build static C++ libraries that depend on D3D11. It generates the following error:

error C1083: Cannot open include file ‘d3d10sdklayers.h’: No such file or directory

Apparently, someone else has already run into this issue, but no resolution was ever posted.

For now, the easiest workaround is to use the 90-day trial version of Visual Studio 2012 Professional. After that, it’s either purchase Pro or hope for a Microsoft fix.

Unity

Obviously, it has been a good long while since the last post.  But there’s a good reason for it, I promise!  Earlier this year I bought a house, moved, and dealt with all of the headaches and distractions that come along with a decision as monumental as that.  However, with all of that pleasantly behind me, I’m free to refocus on one of my passions—making video games.

Now that I’m back in the development saddle, I figured there’s no better time to check out Unity.  I’ve heard so many great things about it, have a number of online colleagues who speak very highly of it, and it seems like a large number of indie devs have embraced it as well.

Within the first 72 hours of beginning with Unity, I easily had a rough level up and running with minimalistic core gameplay implemented.  Having spent years in the game industry working on low-level tech and interfacing engine features with an editor, I must say that Unity’s editor seems very intuitive to me.  Their standard objects/interfaces have checkboxes, options, or buttons in all the places I would expect.

At this point, I’ve been working with Unity for about a week, and simply put—I’m super impressed with it.  Toss in the huge online community and I think I’ve found a tool that I’m looking forward to using for the foreseeable future.  Props to the Unity team for putting together such a fantastic tool.

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