My real time strategy game is being ported to Windows Phone 7. I have already accomplished the framework to support basic gameplay. Now work will begin to actually make it into a shippable game for Windows Phone 7 platform. The game will support multi touch, different levels of AI opponents, a campaign mode, as well as a skirmish mode. Here is a video of the current build running against the CTP Windows Phone 7 Emulator.

That is what I learned from working on the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7.!

I've recently ported over Farseer Physics to work with CharZero Framework on the Windows Phone 7 emulator. I also have added support for 2d animations, and particles. 

I've been using the GumDrop framework for Xbox and PC based XNA games. However this does not lend well to the Windows Phone 7 environment. Now I am currently working on my 2nd gen framework called CharZero. This will feature most of what I had in GumDrop like object pooling, object management, etc ... But optimized for Windows Phone 7. Here is a current demo of it running.

I know that the indie scene on XNA is fairly new but that does not mean we need to forget how important user testing is on our games. We as developers often fall into the trap that if it feels good to us then other people will love the game. However this is a misguided form of thinking as we have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of our games. All the subtle rules and interactions that we know about most likely does not translate well in the eyes of a new user. So I just want to call out that each XNA developer should:

1. Get as many friends/family to try out the game in it's different phases/milestones. The higher the frequency the better
2. Test on the target platform. PC and Xbox have different user experiences and with WP7 coming out the need to test on mobile devices is needed too
3. Make sure the people who play your game are familiar as well as unfamiliar with the genre. The different view points from each of these groups are really important in determining if your ideas/systems are being perceived as you intended

I decided to give the game's philiosphy a name. That is the Active Movement System, with this philosophy the player should never sit idle for long periods of time waiting for things to happen in a tower defense game. The player's direct involvement is crucial to winning the game. Having the player dynamically upgrade and pick up money are core components to the game. Also having certain nodes be movable adds another dimension to a already crowded tower defense genre.

GDC Day 2 started with more tutorials and summits. I attended the Microsoft Developer Days as they talked about DX11 and Windows Phone 7. Microsoft demonstrated how easy it was to create a quick accelerometer enabled game. It used a windows logo that reacted to tilting and was created in around 5 minutes. It showed the trivial amount of work needed to get something on the screen, granted that it was Michael Klutcher (Dev lead for XNA) who made the program. The most frustrating part of it was the limited amount of information they were allowed to tell us because they had to wait for MIX10 next week. Even the developers I talked to were frustrated that they could not reveal anything to us during GDC. 

GDC Day 3 kicks off the start of the main conference, this is where the madness begins. I expect for things to get this sign in front of them :)

The first day of GDC concluded with a very interesting trend. I have seen the social game tutorials and summits fill up, with around 400 people listening to industry leaders talk ab out social games. That is is a big change from the last GDC where there were social games summits but nothing quite this big. Also I have been able to talk to someone from the Microsoft lobby who explained that Silverlight and XNA will initially not mixable in the same mobile 7 application. Today I will be doing the Microsoft Developer Days tutorial and hopefully learn alot about XNA 4.0 and how it will work across all three platforms.

I will be demoing Scribble Defense during GDC, but for those who won't be at GDC to see the game I posted up a video of the Build that I will be showing off. Here are the following changes since the last video:

1. Added tower placement UI, the towers are not hard coded to specific keys/buttons anymore and now are handled through the new UI
2. Added support for up to 3 separate creep paths. Creeps can come from all over the place! :)
3. Added a Area of Effect Tower that can harm all creeps within its range. Good for whittling down enemy health en masse
4. More tower/creep specific animations
5. Added support for high scores

After weeks of trying to find a name for my new tower defense game I have settled for the name Scribble Defense. I chose this name because the game reminds me of scribbles I made when I was younger. Mixing contrasting white lines on a black background, as well as having colorful towers to accentuate and add colors to the game.

Currently I added some new concepts to the game. First of all the game now supports 2 player co-op. Having two players in the game will increase the challenge level to account for the added player. Also I have added a money drop system, money no longer automatically add to the player's bank, but has to be picked up by either player to be added to the bank. This makes the game more dynamic as the player has to constantly move around in order to get money he needs to buy more towers.