Sylien on track to complete epic 100 games in 100 days for Microsoft Windows 8…

This is something that was written by a freelance journalist that got interested in what Sylien Games was doing with Microsoft and Windows 8 / Windows Phone 8 apps.  Pretty cool guy and good writup so instead of writing my own... here is his.  Thanks Andrew Noël and kudos.

Ottawa based game development company Sylien Games has been very busy lately, the company has succeeded in the task of churning out 100 games for Microsoft’s new Windows 8 platform, all within a very short timeline. 

Although the programming team encountered the usual hurdles and bugs that come along with development and using a relatively new OS, Sylien (with some help from Microsoft to work out the kinks) has risen to the challenge and was able to figure out much of the good, bad and ugly of this whole Windows 8 business.

I got a chance yesterday to chat with Sylien’s CEO Sylvain Rochon; he gave me a good feel for how the project went.  There have definitely been some challenges; the fact that the Windows 8 phone platform didn’t accept native HTML 5 was initially a roadblock.  No problem, the team found a way to get around that issue to push out the same 100 games on Windows Phone 8 in about 2 extra weeks from now.  This challenge aside, I was given the impression that, overall, Microsoft has really simplified the game development process with its new OS.  Sylvain told me this much:

“The idea with Microsoft was to show how easy it was to produce HTML5 games fast for Windows 8, and for sure, we're doing just that.  Whether it’s an HTML 5 project, or C# project, the Windows 8 and the Win Phone 8 platforms are really cool to work with.”

Chain Lightning Online

  

However, he also added:

            “There is a catch though:  because it’s a young OS with a completely new UI design and internal workings, we found a number of bugs that can hamper or frustrate Win 8 and Win Phone 8 app developers to no end.  Fortunately, we have submitted bugs and in some cases provided solutions that, I hope, will be deployed in future updates to make developer’s lives easier in the future.”

This project has shown that Sylien has what it takes to play ball with the big boys, and has massive potential.  It’s clear that this team is looking forward to the next Microsoft Windows 8 project they can sink their teeth into.  Expect to see more of this company on the development scene in the near future.

Andrew Noël, Freelance Journalist and amateur game nerd