XNA Studio Unleashed News
Chris Leyton
07/03/2005
Microsoft lets the world know how XNA Studio will assist the development of next-generation content...
As widely expected, Microsoft today continued to champion the effects of the XNA Game Development Studio at the Game Developers Conference currently taking place in San Francisco.
Based on the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System, XNA Studio is an integrated, team-based development environment, tailored for game production to allow a closer and enhanced collaboration between designers, programmers, management and quality-assurance staff members to reduce the development time of next-generation titles.
With High-Definition presentation and next-generation content likely to rapidly expand upon the resources and costs needed to create titles for the n3ext wave of consoles, XNA Studio addresses the likely workflow challenges by delivering an advanced build framework driven by a unified file format.
The XNA Studio framework encompasses an integrated tool suite to optimise the game development process for all members of the team.
Citing the largely ad hoc integration and creation of code along with the constant fight that development teams face, XNA Studio is claimed to drive content at the core of the game development process by delivering reliable, controllable and reusable methods for managing and building content in synchronization with the game code.
âSkyrocketing consumer expectations are putting tremendous pressure on game development teams,â said Chris Satchell, general manager of XNA at Microsoft. âNew hardware will be required to deliver the experiences consumers crave, but the real challenge is integrating the whole development process to allow fast iteration of game content and code with minimal rework. This allows developers to realize their visions and deliver higher-quality games more quickly.â
Suggesting that next-generation development will require close collaborations across diverse and distributed teams, XNA Studio provides an environment that is tightly integrated, highly scalable and optimised for code creation.
The suite provides robust versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. Working seamlessly to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team, XNA Studio allows team members to work quickly and effectively using familiar techniques and tools even when split across the globe.
So XNA Studio provides a level of product management not seen before and should assist the spiralling demands placed on game developers for next-generation content. The suite is already beginning to gain the support of the industry, with companies such as AGEIA Technologies Inc; Alias Systems Corp.; Discreet; Havok and Softimage Co., already recognising the value in the XNA Studio development environment.
âThe increased complexity in game development pipelines takes many forms, so developers need a wide range of weapons to contain risk. We are dedicated to bringing solutions that will contribute to solving this challenge and are making sure that the Alias product line will integrate seamlessly with XNA Studio,â claimed Geoff Foulds Global Industry Manager, Games Alias.
Gareth Morgan Senior Product Manager Avid/Softimage added âThe game industry is incredibly creative and competitive, and 3-D artists are continually driven to deliver richer visual content in less time. Industry collaboration is key to empowering studios to focus on creative concerns rather than on infrastructure and efficiently deliver compelling next-generation titles. At Softimage, working closely with our partners to ensure that developers can easily integrate SOFTIMAGE|XSI software into game development pipelines is a key area of investment.â
Finally Dr. Steve Collins CTO Havok claimed âClear separation between content tools and game engine components and the management of asset lifecycles and team workflow are critical aspects of next-generation game production. Microsoftâs strategy of leveraging the Visual Studio infrastructure for content and code is a clear next step in the evolution of the game development process, and in the support of modular, cross-platform middleware solutions like Havok Complete. We are excited to see these important steps being taken and have been preparing to take full advantage of this infrastructure in our products.â
With further specific details becoming available as to how XNA Studio plans to shake up the development process and provide some structure to what is becoming a rapidly resource demanding process, all that remains to be seen is how actual game developers take to the process.