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First of all, apologies for not getting my weekly post out last Monday. It was actually written and submitted, but somehow I managed to set the publish date to the 17th and not the 10th! We’ve got another full week coming up with events in the Boston area as well as in Burlington, Vermont, and Portland...

In my last post , I mentioned the “starter-kit” applications my colleagues and I have built around the many open APIs available across the web. My contribution to this effort is a sample that leverages both the Bing Maps control and API and the TomTom Traffic Cams API to show the location of and display...

I hope you managed to stay cool this weekend – no better way than building Windows 8 apps, right?!  Here’s what Chris, Michael and I have planned for you this week. And for those of you not in the immediate Boston area, take note of our “Northeast Roadshow” hitting sites around New England and upstate...

Before I delve into the main topic, I wanted to provide a bit of context. My East coast colleagues and I have been busy working on a number of Windows 8 “Starter Kits” that leverage a host of popular, open data APIs, such as those managed by Mashery as well as others like Yelp, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc...

As you might know, my Technical Evangelist colleagues and I spend a lot of time on StackOverflow helping out with Windows 8 questions, but somehow I missed this!  This promotion started on May 2nd and has a June 7th submission deadline (at which point the app must be in the Windows Store) , so get...

As we head into Memorial Day, we won’t be running our normal Saturday workshops this coming weekend, but we’ll be back in June (and we’re cooking up some other on-line opportunities too!)   Don’t forget the $100-per-app incentive and several partner promotions end next month, so be sure to...

My colleagues and I have run a fair amount of events over the past few months demonstrating how easy it is to build games for Windows 8 with Scirra Construct 2 , and by doing so be able to Keep the Cash – $100 each for up to 10 apps accepted in each of the Windows Store (or Windows Phone store)! Now...

In a previous post , I showed how you could extend Construct 2’s generated Visual Studio project to add your own custom Settings flyouts. In this post, I’m going to take things one step further and show how to have controls on the Settings flyout interact with the game itself! After all the Settings...

It’s another great week of events for Windows and Windows 8 developers – and not just in Boston! Note the inaugural meeting of the Windows Phone Group in New Hampshire and the 6th annual Hartford Code Camp just north of the city in Bloomfield.  Tuesday, May 14th Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center...

Welcome to May! We’ve just kicked off a series of Saturday workshops at both our Cambridge and Farmington offices, so be sure to take advantage of those opportunities to build your first Windows 8 application!   Tuesday, May 7th Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 11:30 a.m.-1...

In Construct 2 , or any game development platform, sprites are a key component and often used to animate movement of a player or other objects in the game, such as demonstrated by this tutorial . When you edit the Animations property of a sprite, four independent windows appear and represent a tremendous...

Join us for a series of weekly workshops at both our Cambridge (Boston) and Farmington (Hartford) office locations where we'll help you get your first (or second, or tenth!) application published to the Windows Store - and you get to Keep the Cash ! We'll be running five-hour workshops each Saturday...

Hopefully the gorgeous weekend (in Boston, at least) has re-energized you, and you’re raring to go for another week of Windows Phone and Windows 8 activities! Tuesday, April 30th Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.    Thursday, May 2nd Virtual Office Hours...

Memorylage (on Windows 8 and Windows Phone ) is the work of Jeffrey Harmon of AgileData Software . I first met Jeff at one of our first Windows 8 Hackathons last September, and indeed his Windows 8 app was one of the first in the store. Since that time he’s not only enhanced the app, but he’s...

Here’s this week’s CORRECTED lineup of events for Windows Phone and Windows 8 developers ! Tuesday, April 23rd Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.    Windows AzureConf 2013 , on-line, 12 noon – 8:00 p.m. (several sessions quite relevant to mobile application...

As we saw in my last post , the Windows 8 plug-in that comes with Construct 2 has a great number of events and actions that can add value to your Windows 8 game and make it shine over and above other platforms you might target. In addition to snapped view, another native feature of Windows 8 that I encourage...

This is the first of a short set of blog posts (following up on my article on Construct 2 Starter Kits ) in which I want to touch on a few techniques and lessons I learned while building games and applications for the Windows Store using Scirra’s Construct 2 . This post specifically covers how I’ve been...

Kudos to Lance McCarthy and the combined efforts of Telerik and Nokia on a wildly successful Boston Hackathon this past weekend. And congratulations not only to the six named winners but also to all the seasoned as well as brand-new Windows Phone developers who demoed THIRTY-FIVE applications produced...

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a great time building HTML5/JavaScript games for Windows 8 with Scirra’s Construct 2 , and I’ve been using those experiences to run a bunch of workshops with high-school and college students across New England. Construct 2’s niche is creating casual games for any HTML5...

Here's what the week looks like for all of you looking to learn more about building applications for Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Tuesday, April 9th Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.    Windows 8 Games and Social Apps , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge...

Let's face it, your March Madness bracket is toast - and any hope of winning that pool is lost. But there's a better way to make some extra cash, have a bit of fun, and get bragging rights by having your casual game appear in the Windows 8 store – the Gr8 St8 Student App-a-thon . This is the last weekend...

Be sure to grab your spot at the Boston Hackathon being run by Nokia and Telerik at the Microsoft Office in Cambridge on the weekend of April 13th and 14th! Tuesday, April 2nd Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.    Drinks on Tap , Ned Devine’s, 1 Faneuil...

It's time for the very first Spring listing of happenings for Windows 8 and Windows Phone-focused developers. Note especially the change in office hours both in time and day; with a lunchtime offering we’re hoping to better accommodate your workday schedule   Be sure to grab your spot a the...

Our friends from PreApps are hosting the next App Demo and Drinks Meetup at Champions in Boston on March 28th, and this event has two featured guests: Jonathan Kay , COO and Founder of Apptopia , will be kicking off the event. Apptopia is a local success story with global traction and has been featured...

Here’s the post-St. Paddy’s Day edition of what’s going on for Windows 8 and Windows Phone-focused developers over the next week. Monday, March 18 Office Hours , 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA, 3–5 p.m. Windows Phone 8 (with Lance McCarthy) at Merrimack Valley Software Engineers , 40 Shattuck Road...