Microsoft aimed to bring indie games to their console by creating the Xbox Live Indie Game (XBLIG) service. With XBLIG, developers could approve each other’s games, making it fast, cheap, and easy for indie developers to release their games.

Why Microsoft Created XNA

Microsoft also wanted to make it easier for developers to make games for their systems. To do this, they created XNA, a set of tools intended to streamline game development and to make it easier for indie studios to create games. Many of the most popular games on the system have been created using XNA. Despite its popularity, Microsoft recently announced that they would no longer be working on the toolset. I asked them what the situation was, and what discontinuing XNA would mean for indie developers. Here’s what a spokesperson had to say:

“XNA Game Studio remains a supported toolset for developing games for Xbox 360, Windows and Windows Phone. Many developers have found financial success creating Xbox LIVE Indie Games using XNA. However, there are no plans for future versions of the XNA product. Game developers have a wide set of options on Microsoft platforms, ranging from XNA and managed code to DirectX and native code. Microsoft provides developers the options they need to be successful.”

To find out what developers thought about the decision to stop work on the platform. I spoke to David Johnston, of Smudged Cat games, makers of Timeslip, Gateways, and The Adventures of Shuggy. Here’s what he has to say about developing games for Xbox using XNA:

David Johnston – Smudged Cat Games

“It’s been exciting to develop games for the Xbox. I started with Shuggy which was actually an XBLA game in the end. I tend to play games on consoles more than on PC so it felt like the right place to be releasing games for me. It’s great to think of people chilling out on their sofas and playing a game that I made.”

”XNA has been fantastic. I’ve developed games on and off for most of my life and struggled with various different programming languages and APIs but using C# with XNA has been by far the easiest to get to grips with. It removes so many of the mundane tasks related to game. It’s great that it’s inspired so many people to actually bring those game ideas they’ve had in their head into reality.”

”There’s bound to be a decline in the number of indie games that are released now as people looking at XNA will be reading “XNA is dead” everywhere. However, it’s not quite as straightforward as that. The MonoGame project has been around for a while now offering a cross-platform solution to XNA. It seems that MonoGame is now going to take over, it’s being actively worked on and will soon be a complete solution for making XNA games even on future versions of Windows. ”

”I’m curious to see what Microsoft announce about support for indie games on the next Xbox. Given how things have gone with the current Xbox it’s debatable if there will be any support at all. I really hope there will be something but I’ll certainly be approaching it with caution this time round given the way the current channel was promoted and lack of profits from it. I’ve certainly had better figures from Steam and am currently more interested in the Ouya and Steam box at the moment.”

I also spoke to Shahed Chowdhuri of OnekSoft games, creator of 2D Math Panic as well as Angry Zombie Ninja Cats. Shahed has also developed tools to help indie developers make games with XNA. Here’s what he has to say about XNA and indie games on Xbox:

Shahed Chowdhuri - OnekSoft Games

“Developing games for Xbox is a childhood dream come true. Completing a game project and putting it out on the world’s (arguably) best game console is a great experience.”

”When I first learned about game development, I worked with C++ and DirectX, and tried out some basic samples on Windows. But XNA changed everything. I was suddenly able to write a video game for Windows and Xbox 360 at the same time, using C#. My day job requires me to work primarily with C#, so this was definitely a plus for me.”

”XNA has made it easy for me (and countless others) to create Indie games that would not have been possible without it.”

”Technologies come and go, and XNA is no different. Although Microsoft won’t release updated versions of the XNA framework, that won’t stop us from using Visual Studio 2010, C# and XNA to create games that run on Windows Vista, Windows7, and even Windows8 (non-RT version). For the rest of the year, we can also continue to publish to Xbox Live Indie Games on the Xbox 360.”

”As a whole, XBLIG developers will have to migrate to other areas. Some of them may gravitate towards development strategies that allow them to use the same language they are used to. And some of them will learn other languages (e.g. Java and Objective-C) so that they can develop native games and apps for Android and iOS, respectively.”

”Another portion of XBLIG developers may go the multi-platform route (e.g. Unity) to create high-quality games on both iOS and Android, with proven tools and technologies.”

”I think that the future of Indie Games on Microsoft’s next platform will ride on their ability to show off what the Indie world has to offer. This is a tricky situation, because they have made it clear that they want to separate out the $1 XBLIG games from the $60 AAA titles, with distinct marketplaces. Heck, there’s even a middle ground with Xbox Live Arcade, where some Indie games (e.g. Fez and Super Meat Boy ) have found success.”

”Apple and Google have shown the world that you can place professional games and homebrew indies in the same marketplace, and let the customers decide what they want to buy. Microsoft has started to move towards this trend with their Windows Store for Windows8, so there may be a chance that Indie developers will get better exposure on the next Xbox console.”

”Many developers will definitely switch to other platforms (as they have been), but they can also be wooed back to Microsoft’s corner if their needs can be appeased.”

The Future of Indie Games on Xbox

Developers are clearly uncertain about their future with XNA, and with Microsoft systems in general. When Microsoft created XBLIG and XNA, they hoped to attract indie game developers to their system. Looking at the statistics, it seems like they were succesful – there are 2,837 games in the XBLIG marketplace. The best selling title, Castle Miner Z, has sold over a million copies.

But for every game that succeeded on XBLIG, there are a handful that didn’t. Many developers have not seen the profitability they had hoped for, and in financial terms other platforms are far more attractive. Take developers Zeboyd Games, whose RPGs Cthulhu Saves The World  and Breath Of Death VII sold more in a week on Steam than they did in a year on XBLIG.

Microsoft hasn’t abandoned indie game developers completely. There are still a range of tools which developers can use. But by discontinuing XNA, Microsoft will surely push some indie developers away from Microsoft systems altogether. It is strange that after so much time fostering a positive and productive indie community, Microsoft seems to have turned its back on the developers it once supported. If XNA is to have a successor, it will have a big act to follow.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Here’s the rest of their press release:

Timeslip was originally a Playstation One game developed with a Net Yaroze and released on an “Official Playstation Magazine UK” cover disk.  It’s a time travelling 2D platform game where you are caught in a continual time loop, forever travelling back in time to encounter past echoes of yourself.  Whilst using your past echoes is the key to opening doors and progressing through the levels they must also be avoided to prevent causing a paradox.  Timeslip was the very first game to feature self co-op back in 1999 and was re-released for the XBox LIVE Indie Games channel featuring updated HD graphics and a fresh sound track with the ability to switch back to the original version for that retro feeling.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Growing Pains consists of 9 levels, each broken up into a series of continuous sections.  As with many platforming games, you must run, hop, and wall-jump through each section trying to reach the next one.  In the case of Growing Pains,  in order to reach that next section you must collect all of the rainbow blocks within that area to open the gate.  If that sounds easy enough, it won’t be.  A variety of deadly obstacles and traps are waiting in every stage to slow you down and kill you.  Orbiting spikes, pendulums, and lasers all present pattern-based puzzles that will put your skills to the test from start to finish.  The game has three difficulty settings for each level that ramps up the challenge even further.

The most fascinating element of Growing Pains is the overarching mechanic of the game’s design – your character grows over time.    Every second you’re playing, your character is also growing which can not only prevent you from making it through tight passages, but also affects the controls.  Naturally the larger you are the higher and further your “vessel” will travel.  This adds the natural challenge of making it more difficult to avoid the perils of each area.  However, it’s also a problematic area of the game because you can’t always accurately guess the magnitude of your character’s response to jump commands.

Although there’s no official time limit to completing a level, the fact that your character can outgrow the environment does impose a limit of sorts.  There’s a meter you can draw from to keep your character from growing, but there’s a limit to how much you can use that power.  On the easier difficulties, there’s not much use for this ability.  However, on the higher difficulties, analyzing the obstacle patterns will slow you down and therefore necessitate slowing your character’s growth.

Bright, flashing graphics and thumping music present a techno feel to the environment, though not as intense or distracting as say, Techno Kitten Adventure.  The music can also soar at times as the level previews zoom out making your task seem even more epic in scope.  I really felt like these presentation choices worked well in supporting the game’s theme.

There are leaderboards for every level and every difficulty, including the ability to see how you’ve done compared with your friends.  You can also view replays for everyone on your leaderboard.  This can be handy on the tougher difficulty settings to see how Smudged Cat and other developers handled some of the crazier levels.  It’s also useful in figuring out where you slipped up if you want to shave a few seconds off your time.

Growing Pains is one of those rare beasts.  It’s part of a genre almost everyone who’s played a video game is familiar with.  However, I feel like the difficulty level will turn off a lot of casual players.  The Bronze difficulty level is likely to give them all the challenge they’ll want, and the Gold difficulty is only for those who enjoy a healthy dose of punishment.  However, in a medium where games like Splosion Man  and Super Meat Boy have excelled, fans of those titles will find an entertaining indie platformer that comes highly recommended.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

© 2011 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.