Faculty Connection is an online set of real-world resources and shared peer knowledge, the goal of the Faculty Connection site is to put relevant and applicable tools and information at the fingertips of technology educators.
The UK Academic Team is responsible for offering IT students and faculty members free access to software, for enhancing knowledge and skills by providing curriculum materials and other learning opportunities, for helping students achieve their dreams by organizing an international competition, and finally for assisting last year students through career resources and job opportunities at our customers and partners.
With this blog we want to inform you on our latest initiatives.
Enjoy reading and stay tuned!
I have a had a number of questions last week, from some of the UK’s University Gaming Students and Academics re Windows 8.
Over the past few weeks as part of my UK tour with Aardvark Swift recruitment, I have been highlighting the opportunity of students building portfolio’s and publishing apps on Windows 8 Store to demonstrate their abilities to help them gain employment see the PowerPoint deck below.
For more resources on Windows 8 development see http://www.ubelly.com/gaming
If your interested in attending a free Windows 8 developer camp see http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/windows8
Game/App prototyping
One of the questions, I was asked last week was how can student use tools to develop prototypes and proof of concepts for academic activities, I wanted to share with you the following templates for PowerPoint. Using these templates, you can quickly put together a Windows 8 app layout and iterate on it. All elements in the set are based upon regular PowerPoint vector shapes, and are fully editable and customizable.
As anyone who has seen one of my presentations, PowerPoint is a really great rapid prototyping tool its slide-by-slide approach allows you to present a flow and tell a story with your designs. You can even create basic clickable prototypes by adding hyperlinks between slides. Furthermore, PowerPoint is available on almost every computer, including the new Windows Surface devices that run Windows RT, and is fairly simple to get started with.
Download the Templates For Free!
The wireframing set is available as a .pptx file (for PowerPoint 2007 or newer) that you can download using the link below:
It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can therefore use it any way you want, private or commercial, just as long as you distribute the resulting work under the same license and give proper credit to the original creators:
Example grid page displaying item previews arranged in groups.
Example page displaying details for a single group with previews for each item in the group.
Example page displaying one item in detail.
Example page displaying a list of items and the details for the selected item.
Example of a Metro app in snapped view state.
Example of an app in fill view state.
Collection of common UI controls (part 1): button, text box, list box, check box, radio button, toggle switch, etc.
Collection of common UI controls (part 2): search box, date/time picker, slider, progress bar, scrollbar, etc.
Grid view (with groups).
List view and charms bar.
App header, app bar, and toast.
Message dialog.
Text styles.
240 app icons (part 1).
240 app icons (part 2).
Touch gestures.
While you can build great prototypes with FREE tools and PowerPoint, you may find yourself wanting the templates to be in a format that is easier to search through.
In this case, I can highly recommend taking a look at PowerMockup, an add-on for PowerPoint.
PowerMockup provides a searchable library of wireframe elements that can easily be dragged and dropped onto a slide. Best of all, the tool allows you to add your own creations to the library and share them with others.
Andreas Wulf, www.powermockup.com has created these FREE additions
After downloading the files, switch to the “PowerMockup” tab in the PowerPoint Ribbon bar, click on “Import Files”, and select the downloaded .pmst files. Here is a screenshot of how it will look like after you have imported the templates:
All elements, including the icons, are properly named and tagged, making them easily searchable.
I hope you enjoy the set!
Source: http://designmodo.com/windows-8-wireframe/#ixzz2DGKTR0dv
Here are the system requirements for the Windows Phone 8 SDK
If you have already been developing for Windows Phone 7 note the new requirements
1. You need to be running a 64 bit Windows 8 OS to install the Windows Phone 8 SDK.
2. If you don’t meet the requirements for the Windows Phone 8 Emulator, the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 will install and run but the Windows Phone 8 Emulator will not function and you will not be able to deploy or test apps on the Emulator. see http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uk_faculty_connection/archive/2012/10/24/hyper-v-list-of-slat-capable-cpus-for-hosts.aspx for details on SLAT
The emulator uses Hyper-V under SLAT so if you try to run a project in the emulator and Hyper-V is not enabled, you will be prompted to turn on Hyper-V. Turning on Hyper-V will require you to restart your computer.
If you visit the Windows Phone Dev Center you’ll find all documentation and samples for the Windows Phone 8 SDK.
Here are a couple of new features here just to whet your appetite
No. Apps built for Windows Phone 7.5 still run on Windows Phone 8, so finish and publish the apps using your free developer account from http://create.msdn.com via http://www.DreamSpark.com
If you want to leverage some of the new Windows 8 features, you can do that in your next release.
Additional Resources
Check out the following videos from Build 2012 on Windows Phone 8 Development
This competition is aimed at the growing number of indy game developers in the UK.
The prize structure has been developed around the strategy of supporting the indie game space in the UK and fostering a vibrant and successful industry by giving developers and their titles the best chance of success through profile and discoverability. If your a winner you will get support and assistance in the form of a PR campaign, mentoring with industry leaders & a professionally produced video games trailer.
There will be first and second prizes as detailed below. All ten game app finalists will be invited to an Awards Ceremony hosted at Dolby’s London HQ in January 2013. In addition to the awards ceremony itself; there will be a chance to discover the latest audio technologies and listen to a guest speaker discussing the challenges involved in delivering a great audio experience.
The prize(s) will be as follows:
1st Prize
2nd Prize
Timing: Monday November 5th competition opens and closes on December 14th
To be in with the chance of winning one of our fantastic prizes, after successfully submitting your app to the store, follow the steps below to enter the competition.
Send the following details to andrew@microsoft.com
There is no limit to the number of entries, all entries need to be received by 11.59PM GMT 14th December 2012.
Please see below for all Terms and Conditions and further details at http://www.ubelly.com/power-up-competition/
Don't forget if your a Student game developer then enter your Games in the Imagine Cup
Games are an important part of Imagine Cup. But this year we’re increasing the prizes dramatically and holding Games Local Finals in many countries. Games teams can even be chosen as the National Team for their countries and win a free trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, to compete for the top prizes!
So do you have an idea for a gaming experience that could transform how we play? Imagine Cup is where students can make it happen and share it with the world!
Create a game on your favourite gaming platform: Windows (PC or touchscreen), Windows Phone, Xbox Indie Games, or Kinect SDK. Embrace your love of gaming and show us what you can do.
Be fearless: Use the Microsoft platform to change up an existing genre, make something crazy and new, or deliver a killer new visual style. Let your skills in game design, art direction, and storytelling run wild. Take the first step and you never know what could happen. The future of gaming is in your hands!
Win Bigger with the Windows 8 Boost! If you're one of the three Games Competition winners at the Worldwide Finals in St. Petersburg, and your project includes a Windows 8 Store App, your team will win an extra US$1,000 thanks to the Windows 8 Boost! Please see the official rules for details.
Register now and Get Started! Then join us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest scoop on our contests and even more ways to win.
2013 Official Rules
1st Place: $50,000 (USD)
2nd Place: $10,000 (USD)
3rd Place: $5,000 (USD)
And a free trip to St. Petersburg for all finalist teams & mentors!
August 30, 2012 Competition begins!
March 15, 2013 Deadline to register your team
April 15, 2013
Good Luck!
Microsoft is currently planning a number of events for Building Windows Store games using 3rd Party game frameworks
Microsoft has a planned Unity Event which will be Live Streamed so you watch the live stream at http://channel9.msdn.com details of the event will be posted at https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032536057&IO=RvvJnnxnVDNkhQ1yt1cwdQ%3d%3d
You do not have to register for the live stream, just point your browser to Channel 9
Join Unity and Microsoft for this free, all-day training designed to jumpstart your Windows Store game app development with the Unity engine.
You will learn from Unity and Microsoft experts in a low-key, interactive way and then get hands-on time to apply what you’ve learned.
Proposed Agenda
Day1
· Overview and Introduction to the Windows 8 platform and the Windows Store
· Introduction to the Unity engine
· Unity + Windows 8 global business opportunities
· End-to-end walkthrough of building a Windows Store game with Unity 4
· Learn how to tweak an existing Unity game to target the Windows Store
· Learn to optimize and deploy your Unity project for Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8.
· Learn about features to differentiate your games with Windows 8 integration, such as tiles and contracts
· Tips & tricks for designing, reusing, and sharing code between Windows Phone and Windows 8
· Case studies and Shared examples from Unity, Microsoft, and expert 3rd party developers
· Discussions and Q&A from Microsoft and Unity engineering and product specialists
Day 2
· Bring your hardware and software and immerse yourself and your team into a full day of Windows Store game development using Unity platforms in a casual environment.
· Meet other Unity Windows 8 developers, share experiences, and grow your development capabilities.
· Meet members of the Unity and Windows evangelism team and get great advice on developing great Windows Store games.
Live Stream
If you can’t attend in person, watch the live stream of the event at http://channel9.msdn.com. You do not have to register for the live stream; just point your browser to Channel 9 or to our registration site on the day of the event.
At /build a number of open source communities announced their support for Windows Phone 8 SDK availability, along with other partners.
There are several open source frameworks to choose from today.
The Windows Phone team and Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. engaged early in the process with open source communities to enable Windows Phone 8 in these popular open source and cross platform frameworks.
Its is important that developers have choices and can reuse their skills and code to build Windows Phone 8 applications and this is extremely important within academia as we don't want you having to make drastic changes to your approved curricula.
This added support for Windows Phone 8 in diverse open source and cross platform frameworks was made possible thanks to new features in Windows Phone 8: native C++ programming and Internet Explorer 10 expanded HTML5 support.
Developers who have applications based on these frameworks can publish them to the Windows Phone Store in record time. And this applies to various domains, like gaming with
What the industry is saying?
“Nearly 50% of Sencha customers have expressed interest in building apps for Windows Phone 8 in the next 6-12 months. Supporting Windows Phone 8 is a natural choice for Sencha to enable our customers to build universal apps for mobile devices.” - Abraham Elias, CTO Sencha Inc.
Jay Garcia, CTO at Modus Create, and his team are developing a mobile companion application for the game Diablo III: “Using Blizzard’s Diablo III web APIs in combination with PhoneGap and Sencha Touch, we were able to hugely increase the game’s fan base because we could build and publish our application to both iOS and Android with the same HTML5 and JavaScript code base. It literally took us a few days to get the same code to run on Windows Phone 8 thanks to this newly added support.” You can read more about Modus Create work to migrate their application to Windows Phone 8 on their blog post.
Craig Walker, CTO at Xero commented on the new support for Windows Phone 8 in Sencha Touch: “Using web standards-based technologies such as Sencha Touch and Apache Cordova for our mobile accounting software application Xero Touch helped us target a wide range of platforms so our customers could focus on their business, not the underlying technology. Support for these technologies in Windows Phone 8 tools made it an easy Xero Touch build for our dev team, and a smart addition for our customers who need flexibility managing their business on the go.”
Brett Nagy, Technical Director at Microgroove, and his team got a chance to try the Windows Phone 8 tools and the early Sencha Touch support for Windows Phone 8: “Our apps have been making companies more productive for well over a decade. Sencha Touch support for Windows Phone 8 has made our engineer team more productive by allowing us to easily re-use code from one mobile platform to another. Within a couple of hours, we had the basic Windows Phone 8 themed version of an existing app without requiring any changes to its JavaScript codebase. Now that producing builds that run on Windows Phone 8 is part of our regular workflow, the next step is to build out functionality that really takes advantage of that platform. Knowing that we can do that in HTML + JS allows us to extend our reach beyond iOS and Android with minimal change to our projects timelines.”
For developers using jQuery Mobile, Sergey Grebnov from Akvelon, who previously published a jQuery Mobile theme for Windows Phone 7.5 is releasing a new jQuery Mobile theme for Windows phone 8.
So what’s NEW?
This is the first time so many open source and cross platform frameworks are on board with Windows Phone on the first day of a new SDK version release. It is great to see how much communities are eager to work with Windows Phone.
And today is just the beginning. We want to continue this effort to help open source developers enable their frameworks on Windows Phone 8. It’s important for developers to reuse their skills, expand the market opportunity to make money on our devices, and build the next generation of apps. Imagine the possibilities.
Go check out the various frameworks and more details at the Windows Phone Team Blog
Microsoft Learning is thrilled to announce a new Jump Start for developers focused on building apps for Windows Phone 8.
This special live online course is scheduled for two full days of fast-paced, demo-rich sessions led by my colleague and fellow Microsoft Technical Evangelist, Andy Wigley, and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Strategist, Rob Tiffany. Andy and Rob are two of the most respected experts in mobile app development and are excited to help C#/XAML developers get the most out of the Windows 8 platform.
What: Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start Date: November 28-29, 2012 Time: 7:00am – 5:00pm PST Cost: FREE! Target audience: Application Developers who want a fast-paced, real-world understanding of how to leverage C# and XAML to build apps for Windows Phone 8
** REGISTER NOW **
Help us spread the word with a blog post or a tweet like this one: Building Apps for #WindowsPhone 8 #MSJumpStart w/ @andy_wigley & @robtiffany 11/28! #wpdev http://aka.ms/WP8-Apps-JS @MSLearning
What’s a “Jump Start” Course? Training specifically designed for experienced technologists whose jobs demand they know how to best leverage new, emerging Microsoft technologies. These advanced courses assume a certain level of expertise and domain knowledge, so they move quickly and cover topics in a fashion that enables teams to effectively map new skills to real-world situations.
Cannot spare the two day on the 28th and 28th
The first UK in person - Windows Phone 8 DevCamps will be help in London on Friday 14th December and Saturday 15th December.
Booking details here:
14th December, Modern Jago Event ID: 1032536241
URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032536241&Culture=en-GB&community=0
Phone: 0870 166 6670 ref – 6241
15th December, Modern Jago Event ID: 1032536242
URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032536242&Culture=en-GB&community=0
Phone: 0870 166 6670 ref – 6242
The Windows Phone 8 Camps have been designed to show you how to build a Windows Phone 8 app. You can tailor the day to make it as personally productive and rewarding as possible. You can work on your own projects with assistance from Windows Phone 8 experts, network with others and also have the option of attending short tutorial sessions on Windows Phone 8 related topics.
The Windows Phone 8 Camps will cover an introductory overview session as well as a range of short tutorial sessions. Short tutorial sessions will include topics such as the Windows Phone 8 application lifecycle, new Windows Phone 8 controls such as the LongListPicker, a high level view of the platform – i.e. how .NET and the Windows Phone Runtime APIs work together and the choice around implementation technology, new Windows Phone 8 features such as the Speech API, app to app communication with file and protocol associations, lock screen notifications and in-app purchase, how to make the most of the new Tile templates, and how to make best use of the tooling – the role of Visual Studio and Expression Blend. We’ll also cover how to share code between a Windows Phone 8 app and a Windows 8 app.
In addition, you will learn how you can publish your Windows Phone 8 app into the Windows Phone Store.
The Windows Phone 8 Camp will kick off at 9am and officially finish at 6pm or 9pm for the hardcore attendees.
In conjunction with Salford Software we are holding an exclusive, IT Professional Azure Camp
Monday 10th December, 2012
Location – Media City, UK Plot B4, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 2HE
This event is a technical hands on introduction to some of the IaaS Cloud Services that Microsoft is now offering to Academic organisations.
The camp will be led by an Azure specialist and is aimed at the IT Professional. On it you will build and deploy an entire SharePoint infrastructure with a dual-machine server-farm, Active Directory Domain Controller and SQL Server. On the road to that infrastructure you will create a dual-server, load-balanced IIS website, a WIndows Azure Virtual Network in to which you will deploy the Active Directory Domain plus all the member servers (SQL and SharePoint) and you’ll also learn how to generalise your images and add them to your library of images to make future deployment simpler.
All running in the Cloud!
You will walk away with a complete – Cloud based – service that you will be able to continue to use, further develop and show colleagues following the camp.
Please register at the site below:
http://www.salfordsoftware.co.uk/content/it-professional-azure-camp
Windows Azure IT Pro Camp
Time
Topic
09:00 – 09:30
Registration
09:30 – 10:00
The Windows Azure Platform
10:00 – 10:30
Windows Azure Virtual Machines
10:30 – 10:45
Break
10:45 – 11:15
Lab: Windows Azure Virtual Machines
11:15 – 11:45
Windows Azure Virtual Networks
11:45 – 12:15
Lab: Windows Azure Virtual Networks
12:15 – 12:45
Lunch
12:45 – 13:15
Active Directory in the Cloud: Windows Azure Active Directory, Running a DC in Windows Azure
13:15-14:15
Lab: Running an Active Directory Domain Controller in Windows Azure
14:15 – 15:00
SQL Server and Sharepoint in the Cloud
15:00 – 15:15
15:15 – 16:45
Lab: Running a complete infrastructure in the cloud (Sharepoint, SQL Server, Active Directory)
16:45-17:00
Wrap-up and Review
Note: Because you can leave your Windows Azure service deployed and you will have all the configuration and projects etc. on your laptop when you leave the camp, any unfinished labs can be completed at home/in the office.
You will need to bring a laptop and complete some pre-requisites to participate in the camp. Please see details below:
You will need a working Windows Azure subscription and you need to have applied for and successfully been granted access to:
Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks – for the IT Pro camp.
There is a video that describes how to apply for these features here.
Any working subscription is suitable; paid or free.
You can get a free trial subscription. This grants you access to certain resources free for 90 days. You will need a Windows Live ID and a Credit Card to register. The spending limit on the free trial account is set at £0.00. When the free trial period of 90 days has passed you will be asked if you’d like to remove the spending limit and from that point on treat it as a standard paid subscription.
If you use more than the free allocation of resources in a month, you will also be asked if you’d like to remove the spending limit. There is no perpetually free subscription available for Windows Azure.
Details of the free trial accounts are here:
To get a free trial subscription go to http://bit.ly/azure4free. . To register for this offer, you need a credit card to activate it, but the spending limit on the subscription is set to £0.00 so you won’t be charged.
To add Windows Azure benefits to your existing MSDN subscription, go to http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/msdn-benefits/
To add Windows Azure benefits if you are a BizSpark customer, go to http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/
To add Windows Azure benefits if you are an MPN member go to http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/offers/ms-azr-0002p
There are also free trial subscriptions available to certain MSDN subscribers. Or if your at teaching academic you can apply for a Azure Educator account which offer a 12 month FREE subscription at http://www.windowsazure.com/education
IT Pro camp pre-requisites
As an IT Pro who uses a laptop, you’ll almost certainly have the required software already installed. You will need:
A working Windows Azure subscription – see details above. You need to have successfully applied and been granted access to the Windows Azure Virtual Machines preview.
A wireless-enabled 64-bit laptop with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 8 RTM. The camp is written with Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 users in mind. If you are using Windows 8 there will be variations in the way the UI is described.
Bring the power supply: you will be using the laptop all day.
A basic knowledge of the Windows infrastructure stack (Windows, Windows Server, Active Directory, Web, Security, SQL Server etc) to the level required by an IT Pro.
Perform the following software setup:
1. Log in to an account that has full administrative privileges on the 64-bit machine. This is the account you will do the machine setup from and also the lab-work. It’s essential to ensure you use the same administrative account for both setup and lab-work to avoid permissions problems. By far the biggest problems on this bootcamp are to do with permission problems on machine setup.
2. Install the Windows Azure Powershell Cmdlets by following the instructions on this page:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156055
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do I need to know about Windows Azure to attend this Camp? You don’t need any prior experience or knowledge about Windows Azure to attend this Camp. The purpose of the event is to provide you with the basic skills and knowledge to get started with learning about Windows Azure.
Who can attend the Camps? Students, developers, technologists, IT Pros, architects, hobbyist, technology enthusiasts. Everyone is welcome! All we ask is that you are ready and keen to learn about Windows Azure.
How much does it cost to attend this Camp? Your luck’s in – it’s free.
What do I need to prepare in advance to make the most of the Camp? There are a basic set of things you should prepare before attending the Camp, listed above. Please make sure you are prepared so you can make the most of your day at the Camp.
What if I have registered already and cannot make it on the day? Please let us know as soon as you can if you can’t make the camp as there’ll be plenty of people who are keen to take your spot. Please respect the trainers and your fellow delegates by turning up if you have registered and committed. Thanks!
We pleased to confirm that cocos2d-x for Windows Phone 8 is also now available.
Coco2d-x is one of the most popular and open source 2D game engine worldwide, and used by 570+ game apps crossing iOS/Android/Windows8. A
With cocos2d-x for Windows Phone 8, game developers can quickly develop new game apps, and easily migrate the existing game apps from iOS/Android and Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8. You can download the latest version at here, and please share its broadly to your game partners.
Announcing in Build keynotes: see http://www.buildwindows.com the keynote http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/1-001 includes some lovely demos of the frameworks if your interested in this is 1hour 30 mins in.
Announcing in cocos2d-x community website: http://www.cocos2d-x.org/news/76
As you are all aware, last weekend was Uni Jam 2012, at Nottingham Trent University.
Presentation from the welcome keynote and announcement of the theme.
Setting up at Inter Uni Game Jam
Participation
Students from the following universities attended the event:
Nottingham Trent University
University of Nottingham
Kingston University
City University London
University of Derby
University of York
University of Warwick
Anglia Ruskin University
Highlights
It is clear from the video footage taken during the event that the general atmosphere was great. The attendees were upbeat and enthused about the opportunity with everyone smiling even in the middle of the night people. Even in cases where development was being halted by bugs and other issues, all the students managed to stay positive and enjoy themselves.
Another highlight was when a member of the team from Warwick University offered to help the 2 man team (from Kingston and London City University) with a maths problem. This goes a long way to showing that although it was a competition, the spirit of the event was friendly and students from different universities were able to work together to create brilliant games.
A quote from the DevSoc Facebook page following the event was "I came to Uni in October, hoping to be able to learn how to make games, and with DevSoc, I successfully made one after a month. Can't argue with that!!!" This is what the vision for the game jam was all about, so feedback like this has made all the work worthwhile.
Full videos of the event and interviews with the teams can be found at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCElCpSPU28MP_e3IhDerJ-A
Inter Uni Game Jam 2012 Winners
Prizes were awarded by the judges as follows:
Accessibility - NTU DevSoc (Patrick Merritt, Paul White, Eamonn Hayden, Charlotte Ash) Windows Phone 7/8, XNA MonoGame
Game Play - NTU DevSoc (Luke Shires, Alex Roberts, Nick Powell, Charlotte Neill, Russell Claxton) Windows 8 XNA MonoGame
Graphics - University of York (Samuel Twidale, Joe Williamson, Tom Rosling) Flash
Innovation - Anglia Ruskin University (Ed Horsey, James Roberts, Kieran Linnie, Owen Westfield Bell) Unity
Windows 8/Windows Phone - NTU DevSoc (Luke Shires, Alex Roberts, Nick Powell, Charlotte Neill, Russell Claxton) Windows 8
People’s Choice - NTU DevSoc (Luke Shires, Alex Roberts, Nick Powell, Charlotte Neill, Russell Claxton) Windows 8
Random Prize Draw for a Windows Nokia Lumia Phone - NTU DevSoc (Eamonn Hayden)
Acknowledgements
This event would not have been a success without all the support we have received from third parties. Our thanks go to:
Nottingham Trent University – Dev Soc’s Alex Close and his excellent organisation, huge thanks to the Computer Science Department for providing on going support through the planning and running of the event and providing us with an excellent venue.
Stewards and Nottingham Trent DevSoc team – For volunteering their time to help run the jam. Some stayed awake for the whole 24 hours to make sure they could help if they were needed.
Sponsors
Microsoft - For sponsoring the Windows 8/Windows Phone category, Peoples choice category and random prize draw.
Pocketeers - For sponsoring for the Innovation prize category.
Marmalade - For sponsoring the Game Play prize category.
Desura + Indie Royale - For sponsoring the Innovation prize category.
Pololu – For sponsoring the Accessibility prize category.
Rebellion + 2000AD - For sponsoring the Graphics prize category.
Insane Dev (Steven Batchelor-Manning) - For sponsoring the Accessibility prize category and coming down to the venue to show support.
Dynamite Jack – For sponsoring the Graphics, Innovation, Accessibility and Game Play prize categories.
Wiseman Designs - For providing treats for all competitors in the form of Haribo and Freddos.
Fellow judges
Mode7 Games (Paul Taylor) - For judging the competition and providing a Frozen Synapse key to everyone who participated in the event.
David Smith - For judging the competition and providing ongoing support throughout the competition.
So get publishing apps and creating a portfolios here are some useful takeaways
Games are the #1 download and #1 money making app category so get developing!
Pick your niche, grow from there have a look at the excellent things www.devsoc.co.uk have achieved.
XNA and MonoGame provides a solution to get your existing XNA assets and games running as a Windows 8 Store App
MonoGame provides a cross platform solution so that you can leverage your existing XNA development effort, across multiple marketplaces to develop a portfolio of games across platforms
Follow the certification guidelines (WACK) to make your app Windows 8 Store ready and use your www.DreamSpark.com Free windows phone and Windows 8 developer accounts to publish your titles to store.
Enter as many competitions and Game Jams to grow your experiences also enter competitions such as www.imaginecup.com for teams and http://www.aswift.com/searchforastar for individuals.
Useful Resources and links
http://www.ubelly.com/gaming Building Windows 8 Games
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/windows8/ Windows 8 UK Camps and Training Events
http://bit.ly/GJ_W8Samples Windows 8 Samples http://dev.windows.com Windows 8 developer resources
http://dev.windowsphone.com Windows Phone 8 developer resources
http://www.monogame.net MonoGame
http://monogame.codeplex.com MonoGame Installer for Windows
http://www.github.com/mono/MonoGame Git Resource
So if your an academic or student based in the North East of the UK then you need to be aware of the Imagine Cup North East regional events which are being coordinated by Sunderland Software City. Last year the North East flew for the UK at the World Wide Finals with team eye works as the UK winner.
Sunderland Software City and the regional support in the NE from Microsoft Partners and MVPs want to be the UK winners again!
This week the teams from Sunderland Software City and a number of MVP Based in the North East held an event in Gateshead.
I will be in the North East on Thursday and Friday presenting on the opportunity of Windows 8 Game Development at the University of Newcastle, Northumbria University and Teeside University so the Imagine Cup Gaming competition is ideal for students studying or with an interest in gaming.
Sunderland Software City and the teams are hosting another event at the University of Teesside on the evening of Monday 3rd December and then are following this up with an event on Saturday 8th December which will help form teams and work on their entry ideas so we can ensure before Christmas teams are formed, know who they are working with (how to communicate with each other etc) and what they are working on.
Then at the end of January they are planning a 36 hour hack event with additional workshops and presentations (presentation skills, core skills - TFS, UX, Win8 Apps, WP8 Apps, Azure, Business Plans etc) running alongside the hack.
If anyone shows interest and wants to know more direct them to www.imaginecupnortheast.co.uk where they can register for events
You can stay in touch with us through www.twitter.com/imaginecupne and www.facebook.com/imaginecupnortheast
For more details of ImagineCup see http://www.imaginecup.com
The Competitions are:
World Citizenship
Make an app that could change someone’s life. Pick your cause: the environment, education, health, you name it. Use technology as an agent of change.
Games
Build amazing games for Windows 8, Windows Phone and the cloud.
Innovation
Reinvent social networks. Transform online shopping. Experience music in a new way. Do something amazing with GPS. It’s time to take that crazy idea of yours and ship it!
For a student information pack click here
For a faculty information pack click here
If your interested in becoming a mentor click here