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Games for Windows and the DirectX SDK on GitHub

60 points by lelf 12y ago

corysama 12y ago
Original article is poorly titled. The DirectX Toolkit (a collection of DX utilities and wrappers) is on Github. That is nice. If the DirectX SDK was on Github, that would be major news.
- 0x0 12y ago
  Just came here to say the same thing. Looks like a bunch of wrappers and helpers and sample code, but not the actual SDK.
  - scrollaway 12y ago
    The article isn't poorly titled - the submission is. The blog is titled "DirectX and Games for Windows".
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
- frik 12y ago
  Please change the title! ("Games for Windows (Live)" is not on GitHub) It is rather confusing and simple wrong in this context. "Games for Windows" was a brand name and certification process. Also many older games like GTA IV (2009) came with a GfWL (Games for Windows Live) DRM client. As Microsoft discontinued that software many older PC games cannot be started anymore or at least the online cloud game-profile with save games is lost and the game cannot be played online/multiplayer (only a tiny fraction of games got a patch that removed GfWL by their developers). So an open source release of "Games for Windows Live" on GitHub would have saved many PC games! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows, https://www.facebook.com/gamesforwindows https://www.facebook.com/gamesforwindows
scrollaway 12y ago
Bad submission naming aside, I am loving the direction Microsoft is taking lately. I wonder why it took Ballmer getting out for a "developers developers developers" philosophy to actually be adopted.
- BinaryIdiot 12y ago
  > I wonder why it took Ballmer getting out for a "developers developers developers" philosophy to actually be adopted. At least from the outside I always got the impression he was stuck in the last decade where many thought giving our source code was only for unemployed linux geeks and competitors would steal your products. I'm not sure if he was really like that but that was almost my impression. I know many who managed companies around the same timeframe that at least thought that way.
- cpayne 12y ago
  A "Developer" today is very different to a developer 7 years ago [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer]. I started as a software developer in the 90's. Back then, if you didn't have a degree or similar it was considered strange. These days, if you have a degree (and nothing else - no github / stackoverflow / portfolio etc) then THAT is strange
  - yoklov 12y ago
    Strange, I wasn't working that long ago, but most of what I've heard from people who have is that not having a degree was very common. This might be a game industry vs rest of software engr thing though.
- jasonlotito 12y ago
  To be fair, I remember back in 2005'ish Microsoft reaching out to open source developer communities to help provide support for open source projects running on Windows. That was when I first remember thinking that it was interesting hearing from them at the time. I think it's not so much waiting until Ballmer was gone, but rather, it just took a while for everyone to take note of the changes. And, of course, that changing a big company like Microsoft would take some time.
LMAlVvQjSGj 12y ago
Are contributions accepted on GitHub?
- viccuad 12y ago
  of course not. Embrace, extend, extinguish is all they want.
- BinaryIdiot 12y ago
  Yes. Microsoft has given the message, constantly, that they would accept pull requests. The workflow is still being worked out but many have contributed to many of the .Net components they have opened sourced. Right now I think it's a semi manual process to bring code in house and semi automatic when it gets pushed into GitHub. At least that's what one of the last Microsoft engineers described when they were on HN a few months ago.
M8 12y ago
Anything but XNA: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/3725445-xna-5 http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studi...
- BinaryIdiot 12y ago
  XNA was so amazing. At my university we used it to work with another university in Argentina to develop an XBox 360 game. It was amazing how quickly we could get things up and running. I miss XNA so much.
  - nogbit 12y ago
    You and me both, and many others!
  - nstart 12y ago
    XNA was what I used to build my first game ever. It was a magical experience to realise how quickly I could get things running. Nowadays when I go over game frameworks' documentation, I find myself thinking back to how simple xna was. Not to put down the other frameworks out there, but it felt like I'd never have been able to pick them up as easily as I did XNA.
- teamonkey 12y ago
  XNA isn't in their interests any more. The niche that it aimed to fill was superseded by universal apps and the rise in popularity of cheap, fully-featured engines such as Unity. Meanwhile, Win2D, by the creator of XNA, is on GitHub https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D
  - cledet 12y ago
    Too bad it's for Windows Store appa only.
  - frik 12y ago
    I thought you meant DirectX2D, the newer API used now in various products. But it seems there is also Win2D, something very different.
douche 12y ago
The DirectX Toolkit has been on CodePlex for years, ever since they deprecated D3DX and all of the math, texture and model handling code therein when they switched to the DirectX SDK versions that was included in the Windows SDK (Windows 7, I believe? The last standalone DirectX SDK download is the July 2010 version).

60 points by lelf 12y ago

Original article is poorly titled. The DirectX Toolkit (a collection of DX utilities and wrappers) is on Github. That is nice. If the DirectX SDK was on Github, that would be major news.

0x0 12y ago
Just came here to say the same thing. Looks like a bunch of wrappers and helpers and sample code, but not the actual SDK.
- scrollaway 12y ago
  The article isn't poorly titled - the submission is. The blog is titled "DirectX and Games for Windows".
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
frik 12y ago
Please change the title! ("Games for Windows (Live)" is not on GitHub) It is rather confusing and simple wrong in this context. "Games for Windows" was a brand name and certification process. Also many older games like GTA IV (2009) came with a GfWL (Games for Windows Live) DRM client. As Microsoft discontinued that software many older PC games cannot be started anymore or at least the online cloud game-profile with save games is lost and the game cannot be played online/multiplayer (only a tiny fraction of games got a patch that removed GfWL by their developers). So an open source release of "Games for Windows Live" on GitHub would have saved many PC games! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows, https://www.facebook.com/gamesforwindows https://www.facebook.com/gamesforwindows

scrollaway 12y ago

Bad submission naming aside, I am loving the direction Microsoft is taking lately. I wonder why it took Ballmer getting out for a "developers developers developers" philosophy to actually be adopted.

BinaryIdiot 12y ago
> I wonder why it took Ballmer getting out for a "developers developers developers" philosophy to actually be adopted. At least from the outside I always got the impression he was stuck in the last decade where many thought giving our source code was only for unemployed linux geeks and competitors would steal your products. I'm not sure if he was really like that but that was almost my impression. I know many who managed companies around the same timeframe that at least thought that way.
cpayne 12y ago
A "Developer" today is very different to a developer 7 years ago [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer]. I started as a software developer in the 90's. Back then, if you didn't have a degree or similar it was considered strange. These days, if you have a degree (and nothing else - no github / stackoverflow / portfolio etc) then THAT is strange
- yoklov 12y ago
  Strange, I wasn't working that long ago, but most of what I've heard from people who have is that not having a degree was very common. This might be a game industry vs rest of software engr thing though.
jasonlotito 12y ago
To be fair, I remember back in 2005'ish Microsoft reaching out to open source developer communities to help provide support for open source projects running on Windows. That was when I first remember thinking that it was interesting hearing from them at the time. I think it's not so much waiting until Ballmer was gone, but rather, it just took a while for everyone to take note of the changes. And, of course, that changing a big company like Microsoft would take some time.

LMAlVvQjSGj 12y ago

Are contributions accepted on GitHub?

viccuad 12y ago
of course not. Embrace, extend, extinguish is all they want.
BinaryIdiot 12y ago
Yes. Microsoft has given the message, constantly, that they would accept pull requests. The workflow is still being worked out but many have contributed to many of the .Net components they have opened sourced. Right now I think it's a semi manual process to bring code in house and semi automatic when it gets pushed into GitHub. At least that's what one of the last Microsoft engineers described when they were on HN a few months ago.

M8 12y ago

Anything but XNA: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/3725445-xna-5 http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studi...

BinaryIdiot 12y ago
XNA was so amazing. At my university we used it to work with another university in Argentina to develop an XBox 360 game. It was amazing how quickly we could get things up and running. I miss XNA so much.
- nogbit 12y ago
  You and me both, and many others!
- nstart 12y ago
  XNA was what I used to build my first game ever. It was a magical experience to realise how quickly I could get things running. Nowadays when I go over game frameworks' documentation, I find myself thinking back to how simple xna was. Not to put down the other frameworks out there, but it felt like I'd never have been able to pick them up as easily as I did XNA.
teamonkey 12y ago
XNA isn't in their interests any more. The niche that it aimed to fill was superseded by universal apps and the rise in popularity of cheap, fully-featured engines such as Unity. Meanwhile, Win2D, by the creator of XNA, is on GitHub https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D
- cledet 12y ago
  Too bad it's for Windows Store appa only.
- frik 12y ago
  I thought you meant DirectX2D, the newer API used now in various products. But it seems there is also Win2D, something very different.

douche 12y ago

The DirectX Toolkit has been on CodePlex for years, ever since they deprecated D3DX and all of the math, texture and model handling code therein when they switched to the DirectX SDK versions that was included in the Windows SDK (Windows 7, I believe? The last standalone DirectX SDK download is the July 2010 version).