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

Sylien Games interview on Untethered.tv about how we got to where we are and our current Microsoft adventure

Untethered.tv is a great videocast owned by Rob Woodbridge, one of Canada's foremost experts in the smartphone world with 14 years of immersive experience in the field.  During that period, Rob Woodbridge has been busy helping innovative companies grow their business through mobile.

In this video interview, Rob asks me all about how I started the company, how it was grown from nothingness to over 120 multiplayer strategy games, 2 proprietary game engines and a really cool challenge with Microsoft on Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phones.

Untether.tv Episode 448: Sylien Games and how it came to be

Enjoy!

Sylvain

Churning out games for Microsoft's Windows 8 Marketplace

If you have been following the blogs, our company, Sylien Games, has been producing in a serial way games for Windows 8 with the direct help of the excellent people at Microsoft.

Its been so far a challenging but fun ride.

So far we have 6 games out on the Windows 8 marketplace, and we're putting 3 new games on it every day (providing they pass the Microsoft cerfication process).

Akron Online

Akron was one of the first.  Its a game designed by a man in the US called Cameron Browne.  This is the basic game playout for each one of the games really.  A board, some tools to play versus an opponent (casually or competitively), a chat and a history of moves so you can backtrack and see what you did (or revert to a previous position if both players agree).

Due to the serial aspect of the  project, all games look alike but the strategies needed to win are very different from one another.

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.  Currently, since the Windows 8 shell is done, we're publishing 3 new games per day using 2 artists and 1.5 programmers only.  And that's because one of the programmers is working on a shell for the Windows 8 Phone (which needs to be different due to screen dimentions/UI considerations and the fact that the Phone SDK is NOT HTML5 native... compared to the Windows 8 SDK.

Chess Masters Online (Hub portion)

We did spend about 6 weeks producing the first shell with 2 programmers though.  Also, learning the SDKs, circumventing issues with our own engine technology, networking issues, communications issues, interfacing with Microsoft online accounts and contractual obligations etc....  But all in all, since Microsoft personnel were available to us as well as LOTS of good online information (some would say too much of it).

Now for the readers that wish to consider making a game for Windows 8 like this may think its going to be a breeze.  Wait a minute, its not difficult but its not trivial either.  Remember that we already had the 100 games to be ported onto the two platforms running on another site off a game engine already so we didn't have to code any of the logic, just the front end and UI elements for the shell.

You can see from the Chess Masters Online hub picture above that the system we have supports the creation of new games and waiting for an opponent to essentially sit down with you at your board and start playing... and you can also join an existing game and see how another game is going, and even check out a Finished game to see how it worked out, look at the moves made etc...  This was already present in our original engine.  You can also see at the bottom right the other games for Windows 8 being added (up to the 100, with a scrollbar). 

Talpa Online (being Challenged)

If you look at this Talpa game panel, you'll notice how the game also engages players to challenge one another.  This was a feature we added during the build on the client side that was not present in the original engine build.  Since all of our games are primarily player verus player games, mechanisms like these are quite important to keep players engaged while the app is active.

Ultimately, the goal will be to pick out the games that perform best in the Windows 8 store and improve on the model, deepend the experience, use more of the Windows 8 tools to connect with users, like the Tiles, more Notifications (different types are available), Tournament modules (we have one on the server we could use pretty simply) etc...

But of course, I'll keep that for another post.  :)

Here are the links to the games shown above.  Don't worry, if you want to see the others, simply go to the game's hub (at entrance) and choose any one of the games that populate the bottom right corner to get to the proper Marketplace link for the game.

Link to the games in the Win 8 store to check them out and play:

Chess Masters Online

Talpa Online

Akron Online

 

When we get more games out there and finished with the Windows 8 Phone shell, I'll likely write something more so stay tuned!

 

Sylvain

Making 200 games for Windows 8 .. in 4 months

Dear readers,

As you may know, Sylien Games, our web and smartphone game company, is getting lots of wind in its sails recently, what with being approached by Microsoft itself to create LOADS of games for the brand new Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone platforms. 

Its a really great opportunity.

We're also getting some interesting press on this from different sources, which is great. 

I thought I would write something about our progress in this project.  With the first game apps coming out on Windows 8 app store this or next week, I think it'll be interesting for readers to follow.

Below is an article that I wrote for Woot Studio, Microsoft's indie developer game blog site (Canada) where I describe the arrangement and some of the pitfalls discovered on the way.

I know those of you who are indie developers considering developing for Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone should be paying attention and should subscribe to this blog.

Woot Studio (Microsoft) blog article:
http://wootstudio.ca/articles/sylien-games-challenge-making-200-games-for-windows-8-in-4-months

Cheers!
Sylvain