So, basically, there's a nifty little program called Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0 that allows you to debug and put games you've made onto your xbox. That's great and dandy...if I didn't have to pay 100 bucks a year to use the damn thing. Is there anyway else I can do this? Simple enough question I guess? I can give more details if needed.
In the past there was also a 4 Month version of the subscription, and you could obtain 4/12 month code for personal use deployment and testing( aka no publishing on xbox live) for free from places like Dream Build Play contest, dreamspark, etc. 2008 through 2010 they were handing out yearly codes to the people applying for DBP, don't know if that is still the policy. Also you need your Xbox and PC to be connected to the internet and be on the same local network.
So wait do they send you a developement xbox or HDD or you can actually send stuff to your normal xbox?
You sent the stuff to your normal xbox. But, it costs 100 bucks to use because Xbox loves charging the fuck out of people for things that should be free.
Unless I'm missing something, with a 70% commission on everything sold, you're looking to break even after 50 (@ 240 points) or 150 (@ 80 points) downloads. Surely this is feasible for even the lousiest of games - there are 67 million Xbox 360s out there but usually when it comes to video game development on the internet I'm always missing something.
It's a lot harder to sell indie games; they don't get nearly the same exposure as even the shittiest XBLA games, and there's a ton more competition. On the other hand, the cost is annual rather than per game; the faster you can push games out, the more chance you have of making a profit. This has the obvious downside of encouraging people to release as much crap as they can rather than making fewer, better games.
I think he just wants to run his own stuff on his own console. Not to release anything onto XBLA. Classic wouldn't be rubber-stamped, that's for sure!
Well, whatever you develop and works on your PC it will more or less work out on XBox with some tweaking. Unless you want to do what dsrb said and you don't actually want to sell the game... well, then you're out out of luck there.
I guess what I am trying to keep under wraps but am forced to say is, I have a build of Sonic Classic made for Xbox, but I have no way to test it, and I am not going to make any profit obviously, so that is why I do not want to pay the 100 dollars.
By the way you can test it on Windows Phone 7 too, there is an integrated emulator. You wont be able to use C# 3.0 specifications and write your own shaders, but still it is something. As for the xbox, if you don't use unmanaged libraries then the PC code will be 99% compatible right off the bat. The video performance is comparable to GeForce 8500 GT, and the CPU is slower than 1.8GHz Core 2.
No, you deploy from inside your Visual Studio 2010 via the local network. You start a specific XNA app on the console, connect to the VS. From there, you can run your program from the VS itself and debug/trace whatever. Also there is an integrated screenshot taker. Once deployed, you can start the program from visual studio or from the console itself. As for publishing for sale, it is a little more complicated than just paying 100$. You have to be in one out of a dozen countries, fill spefic document regarding social security number, taxes. W8 forms. Send to Microsoft.
Actually, yeah, now that I think about it you can test on Xbox without having to shell out 100%. I don't remember exactly off hand on how to do it but I do remember that the Xbox generates a code that you have to use to register on Visual Studios. The Xbox must also be connected to the Internet. If you want someone else to test I have all of the tools available at my end.
RIGHT SO. AS IT STANDS: You can use XNA to develop games for Windows. The will build and compile and work with no problems, no questions asked - no money down. From what I can gather, assuming you stick to the XNA specs and can add touch input controls to your game, you should also be able to make your game run on Windows Phone and be able to compile a releasable version for free - with the caveat that you need to shell out to put your game onto the Windows Phone marketplace. If you want your game to run on the Xbox 360 console, you WILL be required to shell out the $99/year fee, just to test the application - afterwards, you can submit it for review and subsequent upload to the Indie section of the Xbox Live Marketplace. IN SHORT: There is no way to run homebrew code on the xbox360 without shelling out the $99/year fee.* *On a technicality: if you are skilled in the art of messing with electronics, coding, and don't mind voiding all warranties and risk getting banned from XBL, there is a "timing hack" which can be implemented to load up and run unsigned code on the xbox 360. As this requires specialized hardware and technical skill, this greatly limits your potential audience.
If you are a student you can get a trial 12 month code from the dreamspark.com program or wait until next year's DreamBuildPlay. http://www.bechte.de/2009/12/09/free-one-year-xna-creators-club-trial-membership-for-students/
Another possible benefit to the combination of XBL Gold and XNA Premium is that you can use Audition mode on Rock Band 2 and 3 to transfer .RBA song packages directly to the 360 for playtesting, which has been commonly used for customs (although technically outside the relevant licenses) without needed to faff about with the common method to run customs on RB3 Title Update 4 (and since there is a TU5 out, there's a little rigging to do with making that work while still being able to run on TU5 for "normal" usage).
