Book Image

Learning Windows 8 Game Development

By : Michael Quandt
Book Image

Learning Windows 8 Game Development

By: Michael Quandt

Overview of this book

With the recent success of a lot of smaller games, game development is quickly becoming a great field to get in to. Mobile and PC games are on the rise, and having a way to create a game for all types of devices without rewriting everything is a huge benefit for the new Windows 8 operating system. In this book, you will learn how to use cutting-edge technologies like DirectX and tools that will make creating a game easy. This book also allows you to make money by selling your games to the world. Learning Windows 8 Game Development teaches you how to create exciting games for tablets and PC on the Windows 8 platform. Make a game, learn the techniques, and use them to make the games you want to play. Learn about graphics, multiplayer options, how to use the Proximity + Socket APIs to add local multiplayer, how to sell the game outright, and In-App Purchases. Learning Windows 8 Game Development guides you from the start of your journey all the way to developing games for Windows by showing you how to develop a game from scratch and sell it in the store.With Learning Windows 8 Game Development, you will learn how to write the code required to set everything up, get some graphics on screen, and then jump into the fun part of adding gameplay to turn a graphics sample into a proper game. From there, you'll look at how to add awesome features to your game like networking, motion controls, and even take advantage of new Windows 8 features like live tiles and sharing to make your players want to challenge their friends and keep playing. This book wraps up by covering the only way a good game can finish development: by shipping the game on the Windows Store. You'll look at the things to remember to make certification painless and some great tips on how to market and sell your game to the public.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Learning Windows 8 Game Development
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

App packages


To submit your game to the store, you need to package it up in a format that makes it easy to upload, and easy for the store to distribute. This is done by compiling the application as an .appx file. But before that happens we need to ensure we have defined all of the required metadata, and fulfill the certification requirements, otherwise we'll be uploading a package only to fail soon after.

Part of this is done through the application manifest editor, which is accessible in Visual Studio by double-clicking on the Package.appxmanifest file in solution explorer.

This editor is where you specify the name that will be seen in the start menu, as well as the icons used by the application. To pass certification all icons have to be provided at 100 percent DPI, which is referred to as Scale 100 in the editor.

Icon/Image

Base resolution

Required

Standard

150 x 150 px

Yes

Wide

310 x 150 px

If Wide Tile Enabled

Small

30 x 30 px

Yes

Store

50 x 50 px

Yes

Badge

24 x 24 px...