Microsoft® XNA™ Build is a tool which will help game studios manage the growing complexities of their game content builds. We invite you to install this pre-release into a non-production environment to learn more about how XNA Build will reduce development complexities.
We have also re-released Microsoft MechCommander 2 under a Shared Source license as a sample you can use along with XNA Build. We suggest that you download the Microsoft MechCommander 2 Shared Source Release using the link below after you have installed the XNA Build March 2006 CTP to learn more about how XNA Build can be used to build a game.
XNA is Microsoft's game development platform. Its mission is to enable developers to help contain costs while allowing developers to create better games, faster and across consumer platforms. By integrating the best innovations from across Microsoft with the best innovations in game development from across the industry, XNA is targeted to help contain the skyrocketing development costs and allow developers to concentrate on the unique content that differentiates their games.
Strategically, XNA covers three synergistic areas: Content Creation, Production Processes and Game Technologies. XNA is a long term commitment from Microsoft to partner with the game industry; expect to see familiar technologies improved and new technologies created in each of the three areas as we continually address the needs of game development in the HD Era.
Demand for high definition content and richer more involved game worlds will bring increased complexity to the process of creating next generation games. Game teams are already wrestling with the challenges of growing content requirements, larger and more specialized teams, and globally distributed resources. XNA Studio is the major new product in the XNA game development platform targeted at overcoming these challenges.
XNA Studio will enable enhanced collaboration between content creators, programmers, management and QA staff to speed the game production process. Based on Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the latest innovation of the flagship development platform, XNA Studio is the "Visual Studio" for game development; an integrated, team-based development environment tailored for game production.
XNA Studio will provide robust versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. These tools will work together seamlessly to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. XNA studio will allow team members to collaborate quickly and effectively using familiar techniques and tools, even when elements of the team are distributed geographically, an increasing trend in game development. This all adds up to more developer time generating unique content and less time running the content process.
A core tenet of XNA continues to be strong partnership with the industry and we are gaining excellent support. Many companies throughout the game industry are thinking along the same lines. We are finding that developers from all areas of game production see the need for XNA and particularly XNA studio. Microsoft is in a unique position to partner with the industry to deliver solutions that address the challenges of next generation game development and unlock the opportunities in the HD Era.
"Software will be the single most important force in digital entertainment over the next decade. XNA underscores Microsoft's commitment to the game industry and our desire to work with partners to take the industry to the next level."
- Bill Gates, founder and chief software architect of Microsoft
