UK XNA Developers

My name is Andy (or Andrew) aka Duckocide and I currently reside in Andover, Hampshire (UK).

Following some inspirational work and informative publications by Tom Miller (Microsoft), I started writing games using the Managed DirectX libraries. As soon as XNA was born, I moved on to that. So I guess I started using XNA from the very beginning with the public beta release. I entered the first Dream Build Play competition with a game called "Nanonomi".

Copernicus One is the only project I currently find the time to work on (duckocide.squarespace.com/copernicusone - regular Vid-log of progress on youtube.com/duckocide). I'm hoping to have it release this year (2011). I'm looking to have a build ready for DBP 2011.

Of late, my releases have all been an Xbox 360. Two games are currently listed on XBLIG ("Tail Gun Charlie" and "Rail Gun Charlie"). These are my 3D interpretations of classic 80's arcade games and constituted successive annual entries in to Dream Build Play. Winding the "way back" clock to the 90's, I used to develop computer games and graphical demo's in 68000, 68030 Assembler on the Atari ST, STe and Falcon. My most celebrated game (for me) was "Zero-5". It was also ported on to the Jaguar console after release although I had little programming involvement in this port (was quite different to the original game in the end).

It won't make you a millionaire! Computer game development (using XNA) has never been easier. It is very special in that you get so much functionality out of the box that just works. Use the community (no one person can know it all!). As far as your source code is concerned... back-up, back-up, back-up and back-up again. Oh and don't forget to floss. For other advice, I can but recommend this youtube.com/watch?v=gmAReOklwNY ... Baz knows what he is talking about although I really don't floss enough! :-)

With the power of today's computers, the managed XNA approach is a revolution. There is such a plethora of render, physics and sound libraries out there now that (as a hobby developer) you can finally spend your time thinking about game play, visuals and sound without having to think about code to deliver visuals and sound. For me, I think game writing using XNA is now more an artistic outlet. I know some people enjoy writing deferred lighting engines, physics libraries and sound production routines (for example) - Whilst a technical accomplishment, that's not for me. I did all that technical stuff back in the late 80's / early 90's and it eats up so much creative time. Finally, I have a suite of tools that allow me to explore my imagination (Dream build play is a very adapt one liner!).

Website: duckocide.squarespace.com/copernicusone
Youtube: youtube.com/duckocide
Twitter: @Duckocide

I'm Andy and I'm from Nottingham, UK.

I started in early 2010, and built a few tech demos, and now working on my first game for XBLIG.

Currently working on a 3D Side Scrolling Platform Game, a bit like Trine meets the original Oddworld games. Weird combination I know, but hey!

Well, I've made several small games, but that was mainly for training myself in how to program, and they will never see the light of day =]

Spend a few weeks learning the language (or months, depending on your coding experience), and just play with it, have fun, and enjoy what you do. If you don't have fun or enjoy it, it will show in the end product :)

@lrdkzrth

We are Anonymous Devs, we are based in South Yorkshire, England.

We first started using XNA back in 2005 - We entered the Dream Build Play competition at the time and came 2nd. Our game Yo-Ho-Kablammo won an XBLA contract and the game can currently be downloaded on XBLA.

We are currently working on two more game projects. One for Xbox. The second will be cross platform Xbox and Windows Phone 7.

Yo-Ho-Kablammo - XBLA
Missing Reel - XBLIG
Drizzle - XBLIG

Do not let ideas spiral out of control. Keep it simple and stick to your original idea. Sure things might need to change that don't work once they have been implemented, but the hardest thing as always is finishing. The more features you keep adding the further the finish line gets.

I'm Ashley Muncaster, 23, originally from Bourne in South Lincolnshire, but now reside in Darlington in County Durham. I have a degree in Computer Games Programming awarded from Teesside University in 2010. I am competent in a multitude of different languages from C++ and C#, to Java, Python, and even Lisp.

I first started using XNA in 2008, but it was only a small dabble, and I really didn't start using XNA to a major effect until about 2010.

I took part in an X48 Gamecamp competition in Birmingham in 2010 in a team of 4, where the aim was to develop an XNA game from scratch according to a theme released on the day in 48 hours. This was when I really started to work with XNA.

I have dabbled with a few test projects since, but now I am working on a major game project that I hope to release for Xbox360 in the future.

I am currently working on a puzzle game called Qubizm to be deployed on Xbox360. No release date is slated just yet, as a lot of the game is merely in its infancy.

None.

Although I don't think I need to say this, Google is your friend! There were a lot of problems I've had with weird graphical bugs or limitations that I wouldn't have found without searching Google. Oh, and you should bookmark Shawn Hargreaves' blog, as it has some really useful and up-to-date information about XNA.

Blog: ashthebash.co.uk
Twitter: @ashbash1987

I'm Ben Pritchard, I'm from Croxley Green in Hertfordshire (near London).

I started writing in XNA about a year ago (Feb 2010), after a 15 year break from game coding. Before this extended hiatus I used to code for the Atari ST, under the software house name of "LedaSoft Developments Inc.", along with Paul Harman.

Currently, I'm working on AstroSwag, a space action game for Windows Phone 7, with an Xbox360 tile-flipping game currently on the backburner.

Two of my projects were released on the LedaSoft label, but to date, I have not released anything in XNA - I'm still very much the learner!

My advice to other XNA developers - this is a tough one, considering that I'm working things out as I go along. I guess I'd have to say:
1 - keep it simple
2 - thing "whole game", not "showcase for effect X"
3 - have fun!

back to top Since starting out in XNA, Paul and I have reinvented the Leda label as "Leda Entertainment" - our website is ledaentertainment.com, and more info on AstroSwag is up there, along with all our other projects.

Website: ledaentertainment.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leda-Entertainment/160438230674029
Twitter: @ledaentertain

I am Colin "Domipheus" Riley, from Edinburgh in Scotland.

I think I first downloaded the XNA framework in 2008, poking around with it really. It was only in mid 2009 I took a more serious look at it and started experimenting.

At the moment I am only working on Wheels of War. It's an IP I have been using for the past 5 years, have created a mod for ETQW based on it too.

Nothing yet from a personal viewpoint.
WolfTactics (RTCW MOD) - 2003 - PC
Enemy Territory Fortress (ET MOD) - 2005 - PC
Wheels of War (ETQW MOD) - 2008 - PC

My XBLIG work is purely hobby stuff, I work in the Games Industry professionally and have worked on PS3 and Xbox360 games - of which I can announce nothing, boo-hoo.

Remember your targer market and plan the UI very carefully; first impressions mean a lot and the UI is the first thing players/customers see.

Nope!

Twitter: @Domipheus

Dave Henry - From Cardiff now living in Southampton.

I originally started with managed DirectX, but moved over to XNA for the first release.

I'm mostly trying to get a series of entry level Tutorials written, but I've currently got 4/5 games in different stages of completion.

I've released very little, I've never been good at the finishing part of writing games. the last game I finished was pre XNA for DOS/Win95 with some friends in '98 called "Bert Higgins: The man from H.E.L.L."

Finish things, but experiment a lot.

Check out my tutorials on my site mort8088.com It's mostly for the absolute beginner, but sometimes I come out with stuff to make advanced coders think twice.

Website: mort8088.com
Twitter: @mort8088

My handle's DjArcas, and I'm currently stationed in Sheffield, having just escaped Leamington Spa.

At the end of 2008.

Currently I'm working on updates to my last game, FortressCraft.

I've worked on 55 full commercial SKUs including the Burnout series, Black, Dirt 1+2, F1 2010, Grid, MotoGP and Dj Hero.

Spend every spare waking moment coding, thinking about coding, talking about coding, or learning about coding.

Big up the Uk massif! Also, put more dubstep into games.

Website: projectorgames.net
Website: fortresscraft.com
Twitter: twitter.com/projectorgames
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/ProjectorGames/145662852037
Youtube: youtube.com/ProjectorGames

I’m Hannah (more commonly known as ‘hannardynamite’ around the internet) and I’m based in Southampton, Hampshire.

Around April 2011. Despite being completely new to this, already I have learnt so much from the community.

I’m currently working on my first Xbox Live Indie Game called Celestial Apotheosis.

None released yet, however I do have a few games to my name that were made in the Torque Game Builder for various university projects.

To aspiring developers who are still in the early stages of their university/educational career, I’d say if you have an idea just run with it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, or how many roadblocks you face on the way, everything you do in development offers an invaluable lesson to learn. More specifically for XNA developers, never be afraid to ask for help – that’s what community is there for. Lastly, never be afraid to try something new.

Blog: hannardynamite.wordpress.com
Twitter: @hannardynamite

My name is James Mintram and I am currently a student at Northumbria university (In Newcastle) studying computer games programming and I am just coming to the end of my first year.

I have been programming games as a hobby for around 14 years now starting with a 286 laptop and QBasic moving onto Blitzbasic and then properly onto C++/C#. I have used a number of languages inbetween such as PHP, Python and Delphi. I spent 5 years working for the Navy before I decided I wanted to write games professionally for a living.

The first time I used XNA was around April 2008 when it was still XBOX Live Community Games, I had a subscription and really enjoyed creating little toys for my 360 , unfortunately I was robbed and couldn't afford to replace my 360 for another year or so!

Since buying I new one I have spent a lot of time coding for it and I really like the C#/XNA/Visual Studio combo and believe there isn't anything out there that can compete for indie developers.

I am currently working on 2 games, one of them is a port of an existing game written by Jake Birkett of Grey Alien Games called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this will be released for the WP7.

The other is a new IP from Jake which I am creating a WP7 version of and possibly an XBLIG version: Spring Bonus.

I was like a lot of hobbyist developers for the longest time starting projects and not finishing them until I decided to become a games programmer professionally. After I had made that decision it was easy to commit myself fully to creating a game, I decided to start with a Match 3 game as it would allow me to focus on completing a game whilst keeping the scope within my abilities.

The first game I finished completely and released was Planet Popper on XBLIG.

Christmas was coming up quickly so I emailed Jake about the possibility of porting Holiday Bonus to XBLIG using my Match 3 Engine, unfortunately we missed the xmas windows due to a little bug but it was a great experience and led to my second released game within 2 months on XBLIG.

I found trying to define the behavior of the game when it comes to handling Controllers, Storage and Profiles to be the hardest part. I learnt that defining exactly how it should work is very important and a generic solution is not likely to fit all cases. I spent far too long trying to create some generic solution to cover all eventualities for any type of game and ended up with more grey hairs than lines of usable code!

I think the XNA platform is a great one to program for, the only downside is the limited platforms fully supported, this wouldn't be a problem if the platforms supported were as large as the iOS but unfortunately they are not at the moment.

Hopefully Microsoft will do more to nurture these platforms, for example XBLIG could do with Offline mode and the ability to control when your application is released onto the market place, this would be great for seasonal games as the peer review process is not suited for timing a release accurately. I haven't got any experience in the WP7 marketplace yet but that will change in the near future :)

Twitter: @jamesmintram

My name is James Watton from West Midlands, UK.

I first picked up XNA around March 2010.

I'm currently working on a 2D puzzle game based on the old Tiger handheld 'Lights Out!' game, and a 2D side-scrolling RPG game for the Dream.Build.Play competition.

No games released yet.

Set yourself a deadline. Making sure you get a feature completed by a certain time helps see your creation come together sooner, helping keep you motivated to actually finish the project.

XNA is great!! =D

Websites: x35mm.com | chaoswilds.x35mm.com
Twitter: @x35mm

John Brown, from Essex.

I started using XNA in March 2009.

I only have one game project. Diabolical: The Shooter. It will be a SciFi first person shooter released on the Xbox.

While modding various Quake and Unreal based games I became interested in writing my own First Person Shooter. Writing the whole lot in C++ always looked like too much of a learning curve for me to do as a hobby. XNA being based on managed code made the whole thing look much more realistic. It also means I can play the game on the Xbox which is a real plus for me.

After only completing half of the online 2D tutorial example I jumped right in to 3D characters, animation and then shadows using HLSL.
I made a joke with a friend that it might take me 10 years to finish. I’ve just reached the end of my second year.
After a year I started a blog about the development of the game: blog.diabolicalgame.co.uk.

I am doing nearly everything on the project myself including some of the art. As Christmas and Birthday presents from my Wife I paid a 3D artist to do the character models for me although I am animating them. My budget is quite low so I use free tools where possible and have become very familiar with Blender for creating 3D models. When XNA 4 came out I had to take a break from my project in order to write an FBX exporter for Blender to get models in to XNA 4. That exporter is now included in the Blender release.

I decided recently that I need to get some good screen shots in my blog. I’ve done lots of code and all the important stuff like collision, shadows, movement, weapon pickups, dropping weapons, some AI and even a HUD are complete but it does not look impressive because I am still using simple test models on an uninteresting terrain. Therefore I am just starting to work on some better models and once I have a finished level I plan to do a video to show off what I have coded.

I have not released any games yet.

I only write code as a hobby so I am not sure how relevant any advice I might give would be. I would say, if in doubt, try it. As everything I do on my project is learning I don’t worry about getting things wrong. I have completely re-written some bits of code three or even four time before I was happy with the result.

Although my game will only be released on the Xbox, I plan to do a Windows PC trial version as an advert for the Xbox game.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the developers who have posted sample code on the XNA UK User Group site. I have found some of it very useful.

Website: mistymanor.co.uk
Game development blog: blog.diabolicalgame.co.uk
Code samples: discoverthat.co.uk/games/
Twitter: @MistyManor
AppHub account: JCBDigger

My name is Jon Keatley and I am currently based in a small town in the Midlands called Nuneaton.

I first started playing around with XNA during my dinner breaks when the Indie market place was first lunched. I was interested in it before then but I had not found the time to take a look at it.

I am currently working on a web based game called Grub.

I have released two games on the XBLIG market place, the first called Run Away and the second Love Hurts. I have also released a few smaller web based games.

If you want to make money from the service get your W7 form filled out as soon as possible and prepare for a real battle with the IRS.

Yes I have a development blog which I update weekly, use Twitter and have a Facebook page (links below). It would do wonders for my self-esteem if everyone liked and followed me :P

Blog: joncorp.org
Twitter: @JonCorpGames
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/JonCorp-Games/132157283515018

Les Player from deepest Hampshire, UK.

Ex Technical Director of Atari and few other software companies. (GFA Basic and ArCon 3D Visualisation)

Since release of XNA 1

HexWorld Battle Engine, allowing recreation of most land battles in 18th and 19th century, first release being Waterloo 1812. Target: Xbox / Windows.

None recently- last published game was on Commodore Pet in 1978, but have spent many years publishing other peoples games and applications (as Atari and Data Becker UK)

Read everything about XNA. Concentrate on a single project. Try and complete a project before the next XNA release kills it.

To get the best out of XNA, fully understand HLSL – (unless you are targeting Windows Phone).

I hope this info is of interest and encouraging to members.

Website: lesplayer.com
HexWorld: hexworld.co.uk
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lesplayer

My name is Mark and I am from Cheshunt (about 30 minutes from central London ) and I am the Managing Director of MWD Games.

I started using XNA just over 4 years ago when I went to university, I was using it whilst it was in beta. It was a lot more challenging to use back then, but looking at the state of it today it is amazing how far it has moved on.

I am currently working of two undisclosed projects for the windows phone 7 platform and I am also working on an underlining tools and engine set.

I have had one game released on the Windows Phone 7 marketplace (Riddle Me This) so far. This was a test Silverlight app I made but after I saw the download stats I developed it a lot more and made it a more of fully fledged game.

Don’t think that you are working on an original idea. Games have been around for far too long for people to be fully original. Instead look for a gimmick/feature that makes your game stand out from the rest. Give your players a reason to come back and play your game time and time again. If your selling your game make sure the trial mode offers enough to draw a user in, but not too much that they feel they have no need to pay for the game to get anymore out of it. Finally, if you’re stuck or need advice use the community, the XNA community is a solid bunch and you will usually find people out there that are willing to help.

Nothing

Company Website: mwdgames.co.uk
Company Twitter: @mwdgames
Personal Twitter: @markblue777

BBQ Games - We are a group of now five people coming from a mix of nationalties and backgrounds, such as English, Pakistani & Zimbabwean. We all currently reside in the South of England and work part-time on video games development. Our current team consists of:

Mark - Programming
Neal - Design & Art
Tony - Art
Wayne - Design & Art
Fazal – Programming

For the founders of BBQ Games, we first started using XNA about eight months prior to the launch of XBLCG. The others have joined more recently, with the newest member of the team having only joined us in the last month.

To be honest, this list would be quite long as we have a number of things on the go at any one time, but in a nutshell, we have one WP7 app and four Xbox games on the go. We may also consider releasing the games on WP7.

Simply Hangman - XBLIG
Avatar Quizcall - XBLIG
Avatar Quizcall - Africa 2010 - XBLIG
Avatar Quizcall - Xmas Edition - XBLIG
Avatar Banker - XBLIG
Ava Bash - XBLIG
Avatar Cash Dash - XBLIG
Spiders! Why Spiders? - XBLIG
Fly, Butterfly, Fly! - XBLIG & PC
Retrovaders - XBLIG & PC
Unstoppable Chopper - XBLIG
Spider Squisher - WP7

There is probably so much that we could mention on the things that we have learnt over the years, but probably one of the most recent lessons learnt is that when writing games for WP7 - "Guide.IsTrialMode is designed to be event-driven!"

Website: bbqgames.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/BBQGames
Mark's Twitter: @MarkMD76
Neal's Twitter: @XboxHornet

I'm Martin, 28 from Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

I first started using XNA in January 2009. After the launch of Xbox Live Community Games (since renamed Indie Games) I became interested in XNA and quickly started prototyping some ideas for games.

While I enjoy working on all aspects of game development my strongest skill is programming, so I quickly began looking for other people to help create some high quality, professional games for the service. Over the past two years I've worked with over 20 individuals with a similar view to myself. We want to show off these games with a view to making a career from game development in the future.

Retroburn Game Studios is currently this collaboration of people across the globe working on games for XBLIG, Windows Phone 7, PC, Android and iOS (not using XNA for the latter two of course).

Currently, we have a whole range of games in development. Since they all use the same re-usable base engine it means the work I've done over the past two years powers all of our games. Development of future games should go much smoother and we have plenty more ideas to work on.

Shadow Racers - The first game I started work on in early 2009, this is a full 3D arcade racing game. By far our most ambitious project, but we also have other smaller games in development due for release.
Positron - A tron inspired light cycle game with more of a modern style and some new game modes.
Critical Strike - My DBP entry, a top down helicopter shooter in the style of the old Strike games.
Many others! - Some secret projects that we'll reveal later this year.

None yet, but hoping to change that soon!

Don't do it the way I did! No, seriously, start out with something nice and small. I know it sounds 'too simple' but make a pong / breakout / tetris / space invaders style game. Feel the excitement of getting a game complete and learning the language and framework as you go.

Larger games take a lot of planning, and unless you know the framework very well you're going to be writing code for a very long time. I find one thing that keeps me motivated is to split down tasks into small chunks which are achievable in just a few hours. For example I might want to improve the strafing behavour of my helicopters which is just an hours worth of tweaking with input controls. After that hour I feel I've really achieved something and look forward to working on the next task.

Stick to your strengths. We've all heard the term 'programmer-art', and seriously, people will not buy your game if the visuals aren't high quality. Yes, gameplay is key to making a great game but graphics is what attracts them in the first place. Get some people to help you, there are thousands of talented students out there

If you're interested in XNA why not come along to the XNA UK User Group meetings? We meet on the first Wednesday of each month in Kenilworth (near Coventry). It's completely informal and we usually have a few presentations covering topics suggested by our members. There's Pizza and a few drinks after too!

Blog: martincaine.com
Retroburn Game Studios: retroburngames.com
Twitter: @MartinCaine | @RetroburnGames
AppHub account: Retroburn Game Studios

Martin Evans, From Worceester. Currently living in Birmingham while I complete the last year of my computer science degree.

Summer 2008, after I got fed up of building games in visual basic at college. I started learning OOP, C# and XNA all at the same time!

My main focus is a platformer game, which will hopefully be my first published game. But I also have some half baked projects for generating infinite procedural worlds, an entity based game engine, a library for game networking and a few other things. One day they'll all be open sourced.

None yet, but hopefully that will change soon!

Make something really cool! You're more likely to finish it that way.

Buy my games! please? When I eventually release one at least...

Blog: martindevans.appspot.com/blog
Twitter: @martindevans
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/profile/view?id=114284226
Github: github.com/martindevans

Hey I'm Matthew Harrington originally from Leeds but living in London.

I first started using XNA in 2008 as a hobby on the side of my degree in Computer games technology.

Blocky was originally a spare time project during my degree in Computer Games Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University. As I finished my degree I decided to continue work on Blocky in my spare time as a hobby and to build my portfolio. I have been developing blocky now for over a year and have been putting in a couple of hours whenever I can as it’s hard to find the time with a full time job.

I had help learning and creating images from my friend, as I had never used anything but Microsoft’s Paint. I learnt XNA on my own using the internet tutorials, books and the XNA creator’s forums. I did this as my university didn’t include XNA in any of their projects and heard about it when a Microsoft representative (Ed Dunhill) came to do a Lecture at our university.

Mainly I have been working on my game Blocky.

Blocky has had its mechanics changed and balanced so many times I can’t remember. Finally I have drawn the line and all addition ideas are being locked away for future projects and making sure I finally release my game.

As it stands Blocky is now in play-testing for game balancing. Blocky is very close to being released and I can not wait to move on to a fresh project.

Also I assembled a team to enter the X48 event arranged at Birmingham. We made a demo of our game 2492. After I have finished blocky, there may be an opportunity to pick this back up and polish it.

I have a few secret projects in the works but at the moment it’s a case of finishing what I’ve got at the moment.

None atm but blocky will be on Xbox and hopefully after I will try and get it working on WP7.

Give it a go, do a few tutorials and see how easy it is to get set up. Even if your unsure you'll want to release your games, it's great for hobbist. It's really easy to get your ideas and gameplay down quick, without the knoledge of all of the background areas.

Website: thinkflowgames.com
Twitter: @thinkflowgames
Facebook: facebook.com/thinkflowgames
YouTube: youtube.com/thinkflowgames

Michael Wilson, I live in Croydon now, I went to university in Sheffield and spent ten years there.

Around November 2009.

Windhaven: youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Zb_usd7Os

I released several freeware and shareware games on the Amiga as a teenager. I worked on a commercial MMORPG project that was unfortunately never published.

Test on your target platform early. Don't be afraid to write your own engine code if you can't find existing tools or utilities that do what you want.

Youtube: youtube.com/StargliderX

My name is Paul Bates and I'm living in Derby, Midlands. My developer name on XBLIG is Game Group/Pixelbit Games.

I bought a XNA Creators Club membership in 2010 with the aim to learn C# and see how it could make development of a game on the PC/Xbox360 easier. After leaving professional game development I was interested in looking at methods which would reduce the workload of game development and spend more time on the more fun parts of programming.

My first XBLIG release was Pixelbit Snooker & Pool, and the current project is based on flying a helicopter to complete challenges but as yet I've not finalised the name of the game yet. I hope to release a new game every 3-4 months.

Pixelbit Snooker & Pool - XBLIG

I was a professional game programmer for around 17 years, working on the early 16-bit consoles through to the PS3 and Xbox360. During that time I worked on arcade conversions and license based games. I have been involved in the direct development of around 14 titles with various publishers, and helped out on a number of other releases.

Ensure you do it purely for the enjoyment of developing a game through to completion, and not for any financial income/approval. Consider your efforts a success if you make enough money to pay for your XNA membership.

Work to be part of the Indie Game community, testing and reviewing games. The more you participate in the community the better feedback you'll receive for you own titles and it'll improve the turn around of your games when in Peer Review.

If you're new to game programming spend your timing learning the basics and don't get caught up in the latest methods, or elements which are particular to one programming language or one games console.

Thanks to everyone who has downloaded one of my games!

Website: pixelbitgames.webs.com
Twitter: @pixelbitgames

Pumpkin Games - An independant games studio raised on a diet of retro goodness. Specializing in simple, addictive games, focusing on fun and playability.

Well actually, it's just me, Paul Cunningham - (rookie) games designer, coder, (not really an) artist, (definitely not a) musician. I write boring business apps using C# and SQL by day but then it's off to the bat cave to create awesome games* using XNA by night (may not actually be awesome).

I started from the very first release. Downloaded on day 1 and not looked back. XNA is brilliant and C# is a joy to use. My first project was a game called Doppelganger which I wrote part time in about 10 weeks while learning XNA (I had an engine written in Open GL / C++ that helped).

I'm currently working on bringing Droid Assault to the Xbox 360 for Dream Build Play 2011. It's a reworking of Andrew Braybrook's C64 classic, Paradroid. It was originally written in Java for the PC, Mac and Linux by the cool dudes at Puppy Games.

Alien Abduction: PC, Mac Ultratron: Xbox 360 (XBLIG) Sumo: Xbox 360 (XBLIG) Doppleganger: Xbox 360 (XBLIG)

* Learn the differences between reference and value types. * Watch your allocations / Garbage Collections especially on the Xbox. * Start small if you've never programmed before / remember C# is not C++ if you have! * Learn to finish games - this is the hardest part of game development and takes real discipline. * Code doesn't need to be fast - only fast enough, so don't get too hung up on the best / fastest way to implement a particular feature. Only optimise if it is a bottleneck (use a profiler to measure or something like the Performance Utility component).

XNA makes it super easy to create games so stop reading this and go create something!

Pumpkin Games: pumpkin-games.net
Twitter: @PumpkinGames

We're Pocket Starship, a.k.a Richard Clifford and Nick McCrea. We're based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Around 2007, so we're reasonably well-versed in its mysteries at this point.

Ruthless Darwinian model - we tend to discard a lot of prototypes that we don't think will cut the mustard, so we're narrowing down on the next project right now...should be a good 'un! We think we've got games two and three lined up.

We just recently Rotor on XBLIG, for 80 points. One of us spent some years in the games industry at Realtime Worlds, before that went famously and spectacularly belly-up, though (rather typically these days for the industry) nothing we worked on was released, though it's still in development under different ownership.

Firstly, finish something. Ship it, ship it, ship it - nothing prepares you for releasing software like doing it for the first time - it gets much, much easier to repeat once you've done the first. There's something psychologically significant about forcing yourself to finish - the compromises you have to make and the skills you learn applying finishing polish (rather than the more coarsely-grained work of building your main subsystems) are hugely beneficial.

Secondly, tailor your game to your skill set. We're both programmers, hence can quite happily chew off some meaty programming tasks, but we very carefully tailored Rotor's art style to something we knew would look great despite our lack of traditional art skills, and it worked well - reviews have been overwhelmingly positive on the game's looks.

Indie developers have to be jacks-of-all-trades, if possible. Pick up Audacity and try your hand at generating sound effects. Garageband is a god-send for those of us with limited musical ability. Get yourself a decent art package by hook or by crook (we won a copy of Softimage and a couple of Wacom tablets in an XNA UK competition). The more you can do yourself, the less you have to spend, and the less you have to make to hit profit.

Come and visit us at pocketstarship.com to see what we're working on, read our post-mortem (replete with sales stats), and please feel free to follow us on TwitFace or whatever it's called!

Website: pocketstarship.com
Twitter: @PocketStarship

I'm Simon Jackson and i'm from Warrington in the UK (but in my heart i'm still a scouser ;-D)

I've been using XNA since before the first beta, I started with C++ and DX and then MDX about a year before XNA came out. Soon as it showed up I was right on board with the early beta's and haven't looked back since (except for my forays into Silverlight with WP7).

Whew, where to start. I'm currently working on several on-line presentations for WP7 development using XNA and Silverlight which is pretty much my life at the mo. Other than that i have about 3 game projects on the go at various stage which I hope to release later this year, providing I don't get pulled into more presentations or see another piece of Shiny.

My only ever release (remembering the Shiny problem, i'm too busy researching new tech and writing about it to finish a game, lol) was an entry for one of the very early XNA competitions (XBOX360hombrew contest) which I came 4th in (Game, hack-1). I never did it enough justice to win but have hopes I can re-release it some time later, better.

build build buld, when you are first starting out, the best way to learn is by building lots of little small games / apps. Other than that don't be afraid to ask questions, no matter how simple or how daft you may think the question is, just ask. It is better in the long run to appear a bit daft than to spend weeks trying to solve a problem which could be solved easily with a bit of help.

I want more cake!!

Blog: xna-uk.net/blogs/darkgenesis

My name is Stephen Dunn I’m 25 and work as an application developer. I’m from Manchester but have lived in Devon for 10 years as well as other places. Currently reside in Cheshire. My gamer tag is Trolog and I’m willing to accept friend requests to talk about games and game development oh of course actually play some would be cool too.

I first heard of XNA about 2 years ago, I did a 2D tutorial on at the AppHub but stopped mostly because work was so hectic. 8 Months ago I decided to restart XNA and have been doing it on and off but more on recently.

I’m currently working on a casual game that involves chickens, it’s early days yet but this being my second game I have set a goal of it to beat the first.

I’ve had one game released called 360 Video Poker, I decided on a simpler game for realistically having the time to work on it.

My advice for anybody willing to start XNA is be realistic, start in 2D in fact stay there for a while and slowly work towards 3D. You aren’t going to make an amazing game over night. Don’t look at it as a business unless your planning on regularly releasing a game each week most XNA Devs don’t make much money here. Most of all have fun with it make something you want to see to keep you inspired.

Make a portfolio of your work, I actually used some of the stuff I did in XNA to land the job I’m in now. Each game I work on I set myself goals that the other game didn’t have, for example my new game will feature shaders, 2d camera, multiplayer all of which aren’t featured in my first game. I’m doing this to make a point of learning as much as I can in XNA.

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My name is Stuart Garnham, I’m from Manchester and my company is Boddicker Games.

I dabbled back in 2008 but never really did much, it’s only in the last year that I really got to grips with using it and then ultimately went on to make a game.

I am currently working with someone on a game with the working title ‘Robohead’, it’s a 2D arcade game where a Robotic head must retrieve all his body parts from evil robots.

My first game, ETMD – ExtraTerrestrials Must Die, has recently been released on XBLIG!

Plan your game first. ETMD was unplanned, it started as a single screen, 2 way ship firing at waves of enemies, and along the way evolved and stretched and got ideas above it’s station :p If I’d planned the game out first properly then I probably would have been able to produce the game a lot quicker and more efficiently, instead of it evolving haphazardly.

Lots of money to my bank account? :p I’d just like to say to anyone thinking of making a game, DO IT! It may seem a daunting task at first but XNA is a very friendly language and does take a massive amount of pain out of the programming side of things.

Facebook: facebook.com/BoddickerGames
Twitter: @BoddickerGames