Starting out in the independent game development industry is both scary and uplifting at the same time. There are so many things that you want to do and start working on that the wealth of ideas are at times overwhelming. So where do you start when setting out to create an independent game?

There are many avenues to explore and I don't see this is the only or even the best approach, it is just the approach that we took and hope that someone can learn from it and maybe use it to establish themselves in this industry. There are tools aplenty and this technology page is an attempt to give a brief description of the tools we found useful as well as other tools that will be used for future games. Feel free to browse through the content and you might just stumble onto something of value or interest.

Programming

Microsoft has created a number of tools that are very useful to the new game developer. First in the list of tools would be Microsoft Visual Studio Express C#. Any programmer famiar with Visual Studio should feel right at home and those that are trying to learn programming will definitely not make a mistake by starting with C#. Even today the language of preference remain C++, but C# is a great alternative and is equally suited to help the budding programmer to create those first games. The Express editions are free to download and you can get them from Microsoft here...

If you want to learn more about how to use C# and get some introduction to software development using C#, then be sure to read this page where much more detail is presented...

Next in the lineup of tools would be the XNA Framework provided by Microsoft. There is a well established community called the XNA Creators Club Online that share experiences and are very helpful to new programmers. A number of tutorials and quick start utilities will help to shorten the learning curve and assist programmers to adapt to the framework and game development in general. As programmer you would want to use the XNA Game Studio and publish your games to the community. Other people can test and review the games and assist you to sort out the bugs and issues that are typically difficult to do on your own. This is also a fee tool and more information regarding the tool and community can be found on this website...

I also included some background on how we're using the XNA framework and some useful resources to extend the basics. You can read about the experience here...

Graphics

There are a wealth of graphics tools out there for both 2D and 3D graphics, not to mention world building, level building, animation and all sorts of vector graphic utilities. Where to start and what to look at might be more of an issue. Basic rule of thumb is to select something, get used to it and move on to other tools once you find something that you cannot accomplish with the current tool.

In light of that, Patrick started out using Microsoft Paint as the tool of choice to create the graphics for Blox of Doom. There are better and more advanced tools out there but it demonstrates that you don't have to break the bank just to get started with a simple game.

Other tools that we are looking at to use very soon include the Softimage XSI Mod Tool and GameStudio. I'm sure as we continue to develop more advanced games we will identify other features that are needed and quickly find areas that can be enhanced with some third party tools. For now we're limiting our search to tools that can easily integrate with XNA, but that does not mean that tools like the Torque engine, Maya, Photoshop, and 3D Studio Max is completely off limits. We are always looking at tools that make life easier and where possible we'll use them to shorten the learning curve and hopefully simplify some of the concepts we want to include.

If you're creating tools for the development community in general or the Xbox and XNA in particular, please let us know. We're always looking for tools to feature on our site and would like to help the community to understand the advantages of the tools and where they can be used to the greatest effect. Drop us an email, we'de love to here from you...