quick start guide - create

Take the first steps toward creating your own game by joining the club and downloading the tools. It’s a simple, two-part process. First, sign up as a creator on the XNA Creators Club Online Web site. You will be asked to provide a creator profile for yourself. Second, download XNA Game Studio so you can start making games. XNA Game Studio requires that you install either Visual Studio 2008 or Visual C# 2008 Express Edition on your computer. Download XNA Game Studio and Visual C# 2008 Express for free here.

Once you start XNA Game Studio, press F1 on your keyboard to get the documentation. You’ll find tutorials and articles to help you get started in the XNA Game Studio help node. There’s even more information at the XNA Creators Club Online Web site, in the Education section, where you’ll find starter kits, samples, tutorials, and educational articles. All this documentation should help you learn the art and science of game creation.

If you have questions, there’s a rich knowledge base of frequently-asked questions in the FAQ section. You can also connect with other creators and ask questions in the Forums.

Creating games for Windows is free, and you can start right away. If you want to develop games for Xbox 360, see Purchase a Premium Membership.

To begin making your game, select the XNA Game Studio folder from your Start menu. Depending on your version of Visual Studio, select either the Visual Studio 2008 or the Visual C# 2008 Express Edition item from the menu. Once XNA Game Studio starts, click the File menu, and then click New Project.... You will see a tree of options. Be sure you select the XNA Game Studio option underneath the Visual C# node. You’ll then see a selection of projects you can create. You can select Windows Game to make games for Windows, Zune Game to make games for the Zune or Xbox 360 Game to create Xbox 360 games and make them available to the world through Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Developing games for the Xbox 360 requires an Xbox 360 console with hard drive, an Xbox LIVE Gold or Silver account, and an XNA Creators Club Online Premium membership. For more information, see Purchase a Premium Membership.

Once you’ve created a new project, you can press F1 on your keyboard to find help on getting started with your first XNA Game Studio game. Open the XNA Game Studio help node and view the Getting Started section. Additional help is available via the XNA Creators Club Education Page and the Forums.

Once you sign in to the XNA Creators Club Online Web site, browse to the Membership page to sign up for a Premium membership, and, if necessary, an Xbox LIVE membership. You will be prompted to sign up for either a four-month Premium membership (49 in US Dollars) or annual (99 in US Dollars) membership.

If you have a prepaid membership code, redeem it on your Xbox 360 by signing in to Xbox LIVE with the Gamertag associated with your profile. Navigate to the Marketplace blade, then choose Redeem Code. Enter your code to receive your Premium membership.

Once you sign up as a Premium member, you’re ready to connect to your Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio on your Windows computer.

Now that you’re a Premium member of the XNA Creators Club Online, it’s time to set up your Xbox 360 console so you can transfer your games from your PC. On your Xbox 360 console, sign in to Xbox LIVE using the Gamertag associated with your Premium membership. Once you’re signed in, navigate to the Games Marketplace. In the Games Marketplace area, select All Games, Browse, All Games, and finally XNA Creators Club. From there, select and download XNA Game Studio Connect. This Xbox 360 download connects your Windows computer running XNA Game Studio to your Xbox 360 console so you can deploy and debug your games on the Xbox 360 console.

When the download finishes, navigate to the My Xbox channel. Select Game Library, Indie Games, and then select XNA Game Studio Connect.

The first time you run XNA Game Studio Connect, you will see a code on the screen. Leave the code on the screen. You will use it to connect to your computer.

On your computer, Click the XNA Game Studio folder on your Start menu, and then click XNA Game Studio Device Center. Select Add Device, and enter a name you’d like to give your Xbox 360 console. Enter the code provided for you by XNA Game Studio Connect on your Xbox 360 console, and click Next. Your computer and your Xbox 360 console should display a message letting you know you have a successful connection. If you run into trouble, see this article.

You can now deploy an Xbox 360 Game project from XNA Game Studio to your Xbox 360 console. To deploy a game project on the Xbox 360 console, have the project open in XNA Game Studio. Make sure XNA Game Studio Connect is running on your Xbox 360 console, and then press F5 on your keyboard. The project deploys and runs automatically.

If you have a Windows project you would like to run on your Xbox 360 console, simply open the project in XNA Game Studio, right-click the project icon in the Solution Explorer, and click Create Copy for Xbox 360. Now set your Xbox 360 project as your startup project by right-clicking on the project and selecting Set as Startup. Press F5 to run the game on your Xbox 360 console.

If you’ve created a game for Xbox 360 that you’re ready to share on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, you need to package it into a .ccgame file. This package keeps your source code and game assets hidden while it permits others to play the game. You’ll submit this file, called a game package, to the XNA Creators Club Online Web site. This initiates the peer review process. If you are using Visual C# 2008 Express Edition and cannot find or change the Release option or the Solution Configurations box, click the Tools menu item, then Options. From the dialog box, check Show All Settings, and then click the Projects and Solutions node. Check the box marked Show Advanced Build Configurations, and click OK. Continue to follow the instructions.

 All you have to do now is navigate to your .ccgame file. Inside the folder for your game project, open the bin folder followed by Xbox 360 and finally Release. There you should see your .ccgame file. Drag this file to a safe place so that it will be easy to find when you submit it to the XNA Creators Club Online Web site.

We will show you how to submit your completed Xbox 360 game in the next guide

Next: Submit Your Game