Yes, the console is back and will remain in some form or another. I have been working on integrating new features into FGF as school has started to wind down for the semester. The below shot is of the current build of Foxhorn which includes LAN and Live session creation, search and join through the console (The new build of the GUI library is not ready for testing yet).

Right now I am testing a few features being built into Thrust for the next release including the ability to log and share data between people playing a game on Live. The goal is to abstract the idea of a high scores sharing component to be able to share anything. The next release of Thrust will come with two things to share: high scores and error reports. While high scores will be a liberal thing to hand out, error reports will be setup in a client / server manner where only one server exists and is only connected to when a) it is up and running and b) the client wants to or can (ie the game detects he/she is idle in the menus).

As you already know, XNA 3.0 is out and you can now start submitting games to XBLCG for real. Well Nick has made a fantastic post about a feature of the new Xna site. In the post, May The Playtest Be With You, Nick discusses the importance of not clogging the review pipeline with a game that hasn’t been tested by others.

So if you are about to submit a game for review and have not had anyone look at it, be sure to use the playtest feature. If nothing else, give the game to a few friends to try out.

The Focused Games Framework is well on its way to hitting the next version. All libraries in FGF will be updated to reflect this new number (1.3) as it will be a major release. If you have any requests or bug reports, please get them to me as soon as possible. Many thanks to those that have gone out of their way to really test the code. Here are a few things to look forward to in FGF 1.3 (and beyond):

1. A License
   

   FGF will be released under an official license. The license will remain fairly loose with a few restrictions put on distribution. For example, you can redistribute the libraries with your game/software but cannot redistribute the libraries as a standalone piece of software.

2. Refined State Management
   

   A lot of work has been going into getting all the kinks out of the state system because it is a very large part of Thrust. I am streamlining the Load code to give the end-developer more control over what is happening. I will be releasing some samples that cover this system in detail as well.

3. Return of the Control
   

   I have made the decision to start going back to GUI Controls. Although menus have done me well in the past, controls will allow me to truely delegate responsibility. I will be including some basic controls that implement much of the same functionality you see in the GUI library today. The menu system will state in tact, but look for it to be removed in a later release.

4. Gamer Profiles
   

   I have spent some time learning about the gamer profile APIs and will be including some classes that help manage user specific data. This will include helper classes for gamer profiles, storage, signing users in and out, et cetera.

5. A Better XmlProvider
   

   One of the best unused features of FGF is the XmlProvider class. It is an incredibly powerful and useful Xml serializer / deserializer. I have rebuilt it from the ground up to be even better. Not only that, I have ported it to the Zune and Xbox 360 platforms.

6. Samples
   

   I understand that many developers need samples. If you haven’t yet, check out the currently available samples. I will be adding to this list as time goes on.

7. Clear Error Messages
   

   One of the things I do worst is trap errors. It is a bad habit that I am attempting to change. Starting with Vodka, FGF will be getting clear cut exceptions, a numbering scheme and an online database of these errors with explanations and possible solutions. Check out FGDN for more.

8. A Faster Framework
   

   Last but certainly not least, I have made great strides in the performance of some of the core components of Thrust. This is especially true on the Zune where garbage collections were causing a big problem. I have taken extensive looks at the memory useage and garbage generation on the Zune with Thrust and have solved many of the issues.

If you are still with me, you are wondering what is bringing on most of these changes. As I gear up to release more games that are better (overall) and better suited for Xbox Live Community Games, I need to make sure that my core code works well. The biggest driving factor to most of the new changes is the newest version of Galactic Wars. The following video of Galactic Wars shows the smooth transitions between different UI states. This build of the game is using a post 1.2 build of FGF which makes it a lot easier to support a lot of what you see. My favorite part is how easy it is to handle when all gamers have signed out.

Soon after making the decision to get started on Galactic Wars [3] 2.0, I ran into the problem of managing users and their profiles in a way that was not going to limit what I could do with the game. This article gives you a closer look at how I am handling users in the game. » Read more: A Closer Look at Profile Management

I am taking a different approach to the menus in the next version of Galactic Wars (formally known as Galactic Wars 3). The previous version (1.3) used a new sliding menu that shifted to seemingly random points on an image and displayed some text for the point. It made sense since Galactic Wars does take place in space (each menu choice was a star in a galaxy). However the graphics required to do this were a big drawback, even on the Zune. This is because you can’t really have a low resolution image and have to make it much larger than the screen to get the sliding effect to look good. Because the game is going to the PC and Xbox 360 platforms, to carry over this idea would require even bigger images. In the end, it just doesn’t make sense.

So the new idea is to keep it sleak and simple. On the PC/360 version the menus will drill down a little differently but the idea is the same.

A very early version of Gato Muy Splato is now available for download one the Zune Games page.

During the last part of this little article series I mentioned how I used a queue in each state object to allow for continuous transitioning to occur. The reason for this is to allow for complex transitioning to occur. One example for this is a logo screen where it needs to fade in, stay on screen and then fade out again. Rather than relying on managing the states manually, we can add states on to a queue so they occur automatically.

» Read more: Advanced State System: Queues and Removal

There comes a time when simple state management just will not cut it anymore. I found this out while building up the code base for Thrust’s GUI library. As the objects on the screen became more complex, so did their states. This article covers a new way of thinking about an object’s state, a design that has been proven in Thrust (v1.x). The goals of this state system include the following:

» Read more: Advanced State System: Concept and Base

I have put up a new version of the Focused Games Framework for download. This release includes Thrust v1.1 and Vodka Alpha files. I have also released X86 and X64 installers for Folder Kill. Below is a more complete list of the changes made.

Thrust

• Created Content Pipeline Project
• Terrain Content
• Cleaned some StateObject & Menu code
• Added repeat states for GamePad
• Added Xbox 360 projects
• Added Camera components
• Added Console component
• Diagnostics
  • Added Stats component
  • Added Thumbstick Throttle Component

Vodka

• Created core Vodka project
• Added core interfaces
• Implemented a few providers
• Added Services project.

Finally, I urge you to keep an eye on FGDN as I continue to add to it over the next couple of months.

I have upgraded GW3 for Xna 3.0 Beta and Thrust v1.1. I have included a fifth level that should be very hard and attempted to fix a few bugs. If you run into any issues, please do not hesitate to let me know. You can download the GW3 source code from the following link:

Galactic Wars 3 (8551) - 7.46 MB