“Hey, You Got XNA Game Studio in my Windows Phone Developer Tools!”
When interacting with users of XNA Game Studio one question that commonly comes up is “How do I develop for Windows using XNA Game Studio 4.0?”. My quick reply usually points them to http://developer.windowsphone.com however I’ve noticed sometimes with the former, I create a bit of confusion, leading to a reply similar to “No, I want to develop for Windows, not Windows Phone.” Admittedly at first glance it may seem a bit odd to download something called the “Windows Phone Developer Tools” that allows you to write games for your Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Naming aside what we’re really doing is creating a simple and robust experience for developing games across platforms.
One of the key goals for all of us working on Windows Phone 7 was to provide a set of tools in a single download that allows you to develop anything you wanted for Windows Phone for free. It was important that you didn’t have to visit SiteA for Visual Studio, SiteB for the Silverlight SDK and then yet another SiteC to develop games with XNA Game Studio. Why not have a great experience where you have one installer that gives you everything you possibly need for developing on the phone?
For the XNA Game Studio team we also think it’s very important that we provide all of our platforms for developing on out of the box, again not making you have to choose what your interested in as a developer and download extra stuff! This is especially important for me in that we’ve invested heavily is a cross platform framework that allows you to move your code between platforms.
This is the core of why XNA Game Studio 4.0 CTP’s are included with the Windows Phone Developer tools. For our existing customers this creates a bit of a shift in thinking, where you may be accustomed to downloading something specifically called “XNA Game Studio X.X” you now download something named a bit differently, however it’s still the same product, with more features.
I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that we could do a better job of making this clearer on our website, so we’ll get working on that. What suggestions do you have to make this more clear? How can we help make this the best experience possible for you as an XNA Game Studio customer? Hoping to get your thoughts!
-Michael
Hi Michael.
I think basically the problem is that it should still be called XNA Game Studio.
XNA now has support for Windows Phone but I think it's a bad mode to call it Windows Phone Developer tools. That didn't happened when Zune support was added, having Zune Developer Tools would be weird.
I think the name should be the same but when installing it gives access to all platforms that support XNA.
I understand that having WP Dev Tools will bring in developers that think XNA is just for games and that name looks more professional but developers that already use it will became confuse, I'm still hoping that the name will change and this is just to cause hype around the WP.
"Where's my XNA 4.0? Just download the WP Tools" :S
How about http://developer.xna.com/ ? It's a little quicker to type in & should be more focused on XNA anyway. #xna
How about a single package for Windows Phone development, but the user could download the XNA GS from the xna site, as a single download. this tho, will need to "know" if you already have XNA GS installed on your machine so you don't have to download it again, and use that XNA installation for the phone development too..
Separating WP7 and XNA isn't a good idea IMO. WP7 SDK without XNA wouldn't be a complete experience and XNA without a support for WP7 deployement woudn't be complete too. As Micheal stated, a single package including an IDE is the most consistent approach to have. The main problem is the name of this package. No matter the name, people will get confused (I don't think one can find a name so that WP7 and XNA devs will not be disturbed).
.
The most simple solution (to me) is to mention on the creators website that XNA is now part of the WP7 SDK and that it is normal that following the download link redirects to the WP7 SDK download page.
The WP7 SDK download page may also be a little bit more detailed about the XNA integration. Maybe a cheerful "Don't Panic" message will do the trick
Good luck in finding a solution.
The description of the CTP on the XNA website is a bit disturbing. The CTP supports Windows development, not only WP7, and deploying to a 360 isn't supported yet. Considering the many changes in the XNA API, it would be really sad if the 4.0 API wasn't planned to support Xbox development.
I think that the descritpion should be read as "here's a preview of our new WP7 support !". This is a nice achievement so it is quite normal that the focus is on WP7 deployement.
The final 4.0 will support PC/Xbox/WP7. Development for Zunes will require XNA 3.1 and as far as I know XBLIG submissions will support both 3.1 and 4.0 projects (am I wrong? I think that all the details are in the CTP FAQ).
The XNA framework should also be available in stand alone form for those of us who have no interest in developing for windows phone.
I'm lost for words – seriously, how on earth did you arrive at this? It is so clearly just an attempt at pushing the windows phone down our throats, and to be honest trying to cover that up bordering on insulting.
Marvin is right, the CTP and now the beta are an obvious attempt at pushing phone development at all costs, even if that means losing a couple of XBOX developers here and there. So, in a way the package is aptly named, because that's about as much as you can develop for for the time being. Shawn says in his blog the XBOX support was "bang on schedule", I bet it is; too bad none of us XBOX developers have any idea what that schedule exactly is.
When the RTM finally arrives it should be renamed to XNA Game Studio again, because that's what it really is, you wouldn't rename Visual Studio to Phone Developer Tools just because that's one thing you could develop for with VS, would you?
I agree with many of the comments above. although it is commendable to make all the downloads available in a single package, naming it Windows Phone Development Tools is either foolish at best, or blatant hype for Windows Phone products at worst. When Zune was added as a solution, the tools were not renamed, so why now? Regardless of potential market share between platforms in terms of users or revenue, naming these tools solely in terms of phone development will only lead to mass confusion and is an effective 'kick in the teeth' to the xbox and windows developers that Microsoft had been courting up until now.
Its decisions like these that makes me wonder how mentally sane the Microsoft leadership really is, do they have any contact at all with their user base?
Call it XNA Game Studio X.X Like you said already make me feel "Yes! Newest version will make me can do every platform you(MS) has!"
Confusion yourself make all other confusion
Sorry
P.S. Many people in my country has blame you(MS) for naming of many many product. You should consider to replace a naming team
Maybe you should ask apple about this problem