covert.creations

It’s no secret that the “end game” in World of Warcraft is broken. Once I had attained the splendour of Level 60, I could progress no longer. Without forty of my “closest friends”, I could not raid, I could not obtain better items, and the remaining hopeful sprigs of activity remaining became simply unattainable. The game was over.

This same story is about to be re-told. This time, within a much, much older game. Where the end-game is much like the brickwall that is WoW. The great game of Slashdot.What? News for Nerds? Stuff that matters? How is that a game?

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I wanted to do some original graphics for the site, so rather than doing what I usually do when I’m forced to do some quick graphics work (use GIMP on Ubuntu, my fav), I decided to try out Photoshop again. Years past at university, I used to design websites for weekend money. Back then, my PS skills were quite wretched. That is no less true today.

I imagined something reminiscent of the word “covert”, so obviously I had to do a spy of sorts. Not quite a character, just a nod towards the world of espionage. What better than a trenchcoated character? Yet, I had absolutely no clue how to draw something original in Photoshop. So I sort of cheated. I have no idea if this is what the gurus do. Unfortunately the ones that I know are never on IM, and generally unavailable for a quick, “how you doin?” much less a “how the h#ll do I do this??!11″. Anyhow, read on for the trials and tribulations of my voyage…
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Gamasutra reports that Microsoft is getting into the independant game biz. As of August 30th, anyone with a Windows XP can download Microsoft’s XNA “Game Studio Express” and start making various games for the Xbox 360.

For an additional fee of US100$, indie developers will then be able to access the Xbox Live Arcade service, both to list their titles and to possibly download content for their game dev needs.

The engine itself will be a “XNA version” of GarageGames’ Torque engine, plus some upporting tools. This engine has been a popular choice among indie developers, although I’m somewhat ashamed to say I’ve never played anything from there.

Putting aside my typical cynicism of Microsoft, I have to admit this is cool. Yes, they have an agenda – to sell more Xboxes. Yes, they’d love to envelope indie development. Sure it’s to their advantage to reel in fresh programmers and designers to get them accustomed to using their products.

But there’s a plus side too :

• it’s the first time anyone’s been able to create content for a major console without hacking into it.
• Also by creating a “community of interest” surrounding indie gamedev, it elevates it, bringing it closer to the mainstream.
• You have extensive Microsoft resources teaching you how to make games.

Not bad, for evil Microsoft.

I wonder what Greg thinks of this…

Links:

Microsoft XNA Dev Center
Coding4Fun