XNA Then and Now Part One
XNA 现况与未来 - 1
Hello everybody and welcome to the XNA Team Blog. This is an exciting time
for myself and everyone else on the team as we finally get to go public
tomorrow morning at Gamefest with the "Big Thing" we've been working on.
I'm pleasantly surprised that it hasn't been leaked and expect there to be
excitement out there as the implications of what we are doing become
apparent.
大家好，欢迎来到XNA组的网志。我们现在十分紧张，因为我们努力研制的大作将会在
明天早上的游戏节里公开。我感到很惊喜哦，它竟然没被泄露出去，相信当我们发布
后，定必会引来高潮。
I'll talk more about the big announcement after it happens tomorrow. Until
then, let me tell you a little about the strange/fun journey which as been
XNA.
过了明天之后，我会谈及更多的重大消息，现在就让我向大家展示少许XNA的资料吧。
XNA was announced with much fanfare at GDC in March 2004. For many reasons
the first XNA announcement was louder than it should have been. Everyone
wanted to talk about the Xbox 360, which wasn't going to be announced, or
even confirmed, until E3 in May. Next generation graphics were the thing
and we knew we had to show some of it.
在2004年三月的GDC上，XNA在备受各方赞赏下正式向大家作出预告，因为有很多因素
影响下，这次预告好像有少许夸大了。即使是在五月的E3上才确认的消息(和
Xbox360有关)，也一早被大家讨论得如火如荼。实际上，XNA就是次世代图像引擎，我
们知道我们一定要展示一部份给大家知道。
The real XNA message was supposed to be about solving the deeper problems
in the game industry. Most people don't realize this but games are a tough
business. As the graphics quality bar rises, so does the art costs. Many
games are better looking than they are fun and their sales suffer while
the costs soar. Most games lose money while a few make lots. Hopefully,
the ones that make money make enough to cover all of the ones that lose.
开发XNA是为了解决一些在游戏工业中的深层问题，很多人都不知道，其实游戏开发是
一盘十分困难的生意。随着图像质素的提升，美工方面亦要付出相同代价。很多游戏
都在画面下功夫，却忽略了游戏性，加上索价甚高，因而损失大量金钱，相反，有些
游戏却是大丰收。希望后者可以平衡前者的损失吧。
This creates a situation where the industry is afraid to try anything
really innovative. Certain game play styles and genres sell in a
"predictable" sort of way and, thus, appear to have less financial risk
associated with them. This is why we see so many sequels on the market, so
many copycat games, and so few real innovations.
由于以上原因，很多公司也害怕作出创新，来来去去都是那数类游戏，从而减低财政
危机的可能，这亦都是我们常常看到续集推出的原因。市场上，抄袭多，原创少！
To throw more fuel on the fire: making games is hard (we hope to fix
that). In addition to the technology being hard, game studios have been
fast and loose in their development process creating poor practices and
controls around how things get done. This leads to delays, overruns, and
games that are unplayable when they ship and require a big patch to finish
them. It isn't fun for the people making the games who work long hours,
and the turnover in the industry is crippling. There just aren't enough
educated and talented new people coming in to meet demand.
制造游戏是十分困难的，对于那些公司来说，尤如火上加油，因此我们希望改变现
状。除了技术上有困难，游戏工作室在开发过程上不认真的态度，亦造成很多不良现
象，延迟、甚至在运送过程中导致游戏不能玩的，最后可能需要打补丁才解决问题。
又，缺乏一些知识人士、有才之士的加入，导致游戏工作者长时间工作，一个恶性循
环，最终就会使游戏工业瘫痪。
The big XNA announce at GDC in 2004 was really about a project to fix some
of the deep issues in the industry, although most people thought it was
about the Xbox 360 which we couldn't talk about yet. Some people thought
we were going to make a game engine, and some thought it was all a big
joke as then things went quiet for a few years. None of those were true.
纵使很多人都在谈论我们未能公开的资料(关于Xbox360)，XNA确实是一个解决这深层
问题的方案。有人推测我们是在造游戏引擎，有人则认为它只是一个玩笑，在几年后
就会不了了之，我可向大家说，这些都是假的。
Just over two years ago, I was the Development Manager for Xbox Live. I
must have done a good enough job helping to define and build that service
that they asked me to run the new XNA team. The offer felt a lot like the
beginning of XBL as there was a lot of opportunity, big meaty problems,
and very little clear direction. The task was: given the outline I just
described above, go figure out, build and ship whatever XNA should be. And
don't take too long either.
两年前，我还是Xbox Live的Development Manager时，我有一个想法：我要打造一队
XNA工作组。这就像XBL的开始一般，有很多困难，缺乏清晰的方血。当时我要做的就
是上述的情形，我要想清到底XNA是什么，我要怎做等等问题，时间亦不能太长。
I quickly made a few key hires and got a small, but talented team
together. We then talked to a lot of people in the industry. The idea was
to not only listen to their complaints, but actually watch what they do
and see what bothers them the most.
很快地，我聘用了一些人才，麻雀虽少，五脏俱全。随后我们就和很多游戏工作者讨
论，我们的宗旨是『除了听取他们的意见，还要实地考察，明了他们的苦况。』
Here is a sample of issues we found:
以下是一些我们发现的：
• Most of the people on game teams are artists and story tellers, yet all
of the "telling" is owned by the coders, who would rather work on engines.
• 在游戏开发组中，大部份是美工人员以及剧本创作者，而描绘出故事的，则是一群
宁愿开发引擎的程序员。
• There is very little innovation because of financial risk averseness.
• 因为要顾虑开支的原因，很少创意可被加入
• Burnout on teams is very high, and there aren't enough new people
coming out of the schools to backfill.
• 人才需求很大，却只有很少毕业生加入
• Even if you do get a relevant degree, it is hard to get into the
industry because of a certain amount of elitism.
• 即使你有相关的学位，可是不够精通，你也难以加入游戏工业
• It is too hard to build games – in the technical code build sense. Art
assets are complicated and intertwined and your C++ linker doesn't do
anything to help.
• 在技术范畴上，是很难去创建游戏的。美工本来就很困难，在C++不提供协助下，
就难上加难。
• Creating a game is hard. The APIs, tools and such have all been written
with the expert coder in mind. Unfortunately, the best game designers are
usually not the best coders.
• 开创游戏是很难的。APIs，工具等等都是为专家而设的，可是最好的游戏设计师往
往不是最好的编写员。
And so on.
还有很多，不能详述。
So we started multiple investigations to see what we could do to help the
industry. The first two, which I started talking publicly about at the
CEDEC conference in Tokyo last year were a build system for art and a
related set of asset management tools. These were on the CTP we released
at GDC this year.
所以，我们开始多方面的研究，希望给予游戏工业一些援助。在上年东京的CEDEC会
议，我首度公开一个美工建立系统以及一连串资源管理的工具，这些都在本年GDC上
CTP中发布。
The other project was secret for a long time. We were working with Mike
Zintel's .NET Compact Framework team to see if we could bring their
technology to the Xbox 360. Rob Unoki and others on that team did a
stellar job and we were able to show managed running, and being debugged,
on a Xbox 360 Development kit to our execs in September 2005. After this
we zeroed in on what we wanted to ship first, finished hiring a team that
can ship code, and have been running like mad ever since.
有另一个项目一直是秘密的。我们和Mike Zintel的.NET Compact Framework合作，试
图把他们的技术应用到Xbox360上。Rob Unoki 以及其组员做了一项重要的工作，在
2005年九月，在我们的展览上，我们展示出能够在Xbox 360 Development Kit上做出
managed running以及除虫的工作。在这之后，我们招聘的工作告一段落，便开始空前
的疯狂工作。
GDC 2006
The GDC 2006 show was an important milestone for us. We showed working
managed code running on an Xbox 360 development kit and talked about how
it is going to help designers and others get games written more quickly
and cost effectively. Just as importantly, we shipped a CTP of some of our
tools and gave away all the art and source code to the game MechCommander
2.
GDC 2006是一个重要的里程碑，我们展示了在Xbox 360 Development kit 中运行
managed code，并道出它如何帮助设计者有效率地编写游戏。另一边厢，我们在CTP上
亦展示了我们一部份的工具以及MechCommander 2的所有美工图及代码。
Let me repeat that. We got permission from the company to give away all
the art and source code for the game MechCommander 2 (minus the networking
code). A big part of the team philosophy is to give back to the community.
我重申，我们已经向该公司取得权限去做出以上行动。我们组的其中一个宗旨，就是
回馈社会。
We want people to see how games are built. We want people to learn how to
build new games. We want people to do innovate things that nobody is
expecting. We want people to surprise the industry with new genres and new
gameplay styles. We want to see the equivalent of the Sundance for games.
We want to see more creativity. We want to make games, and game
development fun. We want to lower the barriers to entry and we want more
people to participate.
我们想让人们看到如何制造游戏，我们想人们学习去制造游戏，我们想人们造出没人
估计到的创新作品，我们想人们为这新游戏风格惊叹，我们想人们造出如Sundance(是
美国艺术中心吧) 的大作，我们想看到更多的创意，我们想令游戏、游戏开发都变得
有趣，我们降低门坎，让更多的人参与在其中。
I'll talk more about how we intend to achieve this tomorrow.
明天我会再谈我们想达到的目标！
Boyd Multerer
Product Unit Manager - XNA
posted by XNABlog | 9 Comments
XNA 现况与未来 - 2
星期一, 8月14, 2006 7:59 AM
再次向各位问好!
我不知道有多激动地告诉你们关于我们XNA小组真正在做的东西.在今年的GDC上,我们
展出了在XBOX360上运行的Managed Code.但我们认为那是个帮助游戏企业的工具.而我
则相信它会成为一个优质环境，让大家创造普通的游戏，而且随著不断的发展，它会
令制造FPS以及其他大作更加方便.
当我们展出这个时,我们就在想,如果能让大多数的刚入门的游戏团队能在XBOX360上运
行他们的程序,那该有多屌.然后我们都笑了,并盼望着那一天的到来,我们能拿出些真
的东西出来的那一天.
今天我们发布这个公告的核心就是这个.我们将在今年秋天推出XNA Game Studio
Express.这个工具完全为那些数量众多的使用Visual Studio在WINDOWS环境下开发游
戏的团队所准备.他们将可以使用此软件将他们的游戏运行在任何WINDOWS或零售的
XBOX360上.对,正如你想的那样,你可以将你自己的程序运行在任何一台在商店中购买
的XBOX360上,当然,包括你已经拥有的XBOX360.
当然,以上是这篇公告最值得你注意的部分,但是,我想强调的是,这个程序的目的是学
习和对游戏的大致开发流程有一个认识.除了我们在GDC上放出的源程序,我们将继续放
出更多的能在任何平台运行的游戏示例.你可以在9月份下载BETA版(WINDOWS ONLY)时
得到第一个示例.
在春季GDC过后,有人指出开放XBOX360将是个艰难的商业模式,对于我们,也对于
MICROSOFT,这是游戏机的本质决定的.他们是对的.在你的XBOX360上运行一个没有许可
的游戏将需要99美元每年.WINDOWS方面的开发程序则将是免费的.这些费用将允许我们
开放新的XBOX商业模式,投资于新的示例游戏,并维持软件的更新.
当我还是个孩子的时候,就祈求我的父母给我买台电脑.他们最终答应了,并且我成了一
个骄傲的Timex-Sinclair 1000的拥有者,当时,这台机器只有16K的扩展内存.它并不能
做太多事,但我用它写了几个简单的游戏.这使我爱上了编程,成为了我事业的开端.我
们想将这种体验传达给每一个有潜力的人.我们听到很多家长的声音,他们希望将游戏
作为一种能教育孩子并且开发孩子创造力的体验.实际上,已经有好几所学校在介绍游
戏引擎给年青人.
然而,我们正在开发的这个软件并非只是一个入门级程序.你可以开发一个完整的游
戏,并且使用阴影特效,高端的图形效果,只要你肯深入研究.比如,我们和Garage
Games有很好的合作.他们已经使用XNA技术创造了自己的工具和引擎.他们已经开发了
一个MARBLE-BLAST使用C#的版本,那很酷.
他们也已经得到了很多使游戏开发更容易的工具,使编剧,美工等对程序不熟悉的部门
更好的投入游戏的开发.
总之,我们都对这些情况感到很开心.我们对于改善周围的游戏小组的状况和让开发革
命性游戏更容易感到愉快.随着时间推移,我们将看到更多这方面的资料.
因为这只是个BLOG,我也没什么压力,所以我可以说一些这个计划的漏洞.当我们在秋天
放出XNA Game Studio Express时,你可以在WINDOWS上分享你的成果给任何你希望的
人,但如果你想在XBOX上这么做,恐怕得不到任何支持.我们非常希望在以后改进这
点,当然,如果在这其中我能做什么,我一定尽力做到,让它赶快实现.当然,越多的人付
费并开发他们心目中革命性的游戏,这一点越容易做到.
最后我想说的是,我为我能和如此有才能的人一起工作感到荣幸.我们希望将游戏的创
造性带给这个世界并且就在今年.我们急切的想玩到你们用XNA Game Studio
Express开发的革命性游戏!
Thanks,
Boyd Multerer
产品经理 - XNA
翻译 by 小龙
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