Cocos2d-x game development for Microsoft Surface - windows

I have a little question.
Can I develop for the Microsoft's Surface (Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro) tablet with Cocos2d-x?
In that case, which version of Cocos2d-x I will need to use? Because there a lot of branches of the Cocos source.
And, Can I use the same code for Surface and for Windows Phone 8?
Thanks in advance!
Sorry for my beginner's English, I'm learning =)
EDIT:
Digging a bit deeper in the Cocos2d-X documentation, I see the HTML5 branch.
Is it viable develop a game with that technology and port the game to iOS, Android and Windows using a WebView, UIWebView and the Windows's equivalent?

Yes, you can develop for Windows 8 using Cocos2d-X Windows 8 version.
Sometime in the feature the will merge it with the main version,
but currently you'll have to use the Windows 8 branch. Please not that it uses the old Cocos2d-x API.
I've successfully released my game "Noogra Nuts" using Cocos2d-x for Windows 8 and it works well.

Related

How control the Mavic Air drone with the computer

right now, I’m on a study project for School. I'm french. I have the Mavic Air drone, and I do to control my drone with my computer. DJI Developer has some SDK for different plateforme, whose a Windows SDK. But it was in beta version and he don't support the fly mod.
I think, to take the OX SDK (Android Version in JAVA) and translate it into a Java App for a Windows version. OX SDK support drone control commands. You thinks it's a good ideas ? And some people can help to translate this app ?
Can you help me find a solution? Have you some command-line to give to me?
Thanks you all.
It's unclear from your question if you've actually tried to implement the Windows 10 SDK and ran into difficulties or if you saw something which stated flight is not supported by the SDK. According to the SDK documentation (https://developer.dji.com/windows-sdk/), high & low level flight control are supposed to be supported. For example, the ComponentManager.FlightControllerHandler has methods such as StartTakeoffAsync, StartGoHomeAsync, etc. Joystick control is available via the VirtualRemoteController.UpdateJoystickValue method. So far, I have only used these while my Mavic Air is in simulation mode (without propellers on!) and haven't encountered any issues. But I haven't seen any documentation that states the beta SDK doesn't support actual flight either. Before launching into a conversion effort (does DJI even provide the source? I haven't checked...), I'd stick with with Win10 SDK.

DirectX 11 & Windows SDK: any modern project setup tutorials for Windows 7?

Note: I just wanna say at first that I tried literally everything I could find about the subject (MSDN, Stack Overflow, D3DCoder, etc.) without any success (after solving one, another error was waiting for me). So I am posting here by pure demotivation (there are similar posts already, yes, but none of them actually helped me out).
Here is how it goes:
A few months ago, I decided to start learning modern OpenGL by pure curiosity, and finally decided to switch to DirectX after reading the downsides of OpenGL (I was also only targeting Windows platform). I think it was one of the worst move I ever made: I heard that OpenGL was lacking of documentation and everything was a mess with third party libraries, but I realized that DirectX was way worst than what it seemed to be compared to OpenGL. In fact, trying to code in modern DirectX 11 using Windows 7 and VS2013 is just a pain (especially shaders) and the time it takes to figure it all out is just a time waster. After reading a lot of porting articles on MSDN about alternative libraries, like DirectXTK, DirectXTex, DirectXMesh, Effects11 and DXUT, I still don't know what to do and how to setup a fully working modern project in Windows 7. Specifically, the 5 (/5_0) shader model (deprecated) combined with the new Effects11 library (not deprecated) is the thing that confuse me the most.
By the way, I am currently reading the latest Frank Luna book about the subject ('Introduction to 3D Game Programming with Direct3D 11') and I still can't get his samples working at all (even with DirectX SDK). Also, I don't know if what I am learning is relevant or not since he wrote it before the Windows SDK switch. For your information, the latest error I am trying to solve with his samples (for those who know the book) is a E_NOINTERFACE from D3DX11CreateEffectFromMemory function (at runtime):
HR(D3DX11CreateEffectFromMemory(compiledShader->GetBufferPointer(), compiledShader- >GetBufferSize(),
0, md3dDevice, &mFX));
// Done with compiled shader.
ReleaseCOM(compiledShader); -> crash here
All that being said, here is what I wanna know:
Are there any clear step-by-step tutorials on how to setup a modern DirectX 11 project in Windows 7 using VS2013 or it is still in pre-alpha stage (just kidding)?
What is actually going on with the shader model, the HLSL compiler, and the .fx files and what should be used (I hear everywhere that it is deprecated but no replacement seems to exist yet)?
For those who know the book, any idea on how to build the old DirectX SDK samples without getting this silly runtime error?
Thanks a lot!
E_NOINTERFACE is an usual error in that context, so likely there's something wrong with the code around it you are not showing in your question.
You can still use the legacy DirectX SDK with VS 2013, but it takes a slightly different procedure than was used with VS 2010. In VC++ Directories set Executable to $(ExecutablePath);$(DXSDK_DIR)Utilities\bin\x86 or $(ExecutablePath);$(DXSDK_DIR)Utilities\bin\x64;$(DXSDK_DIR)Utilities\bin\x86, Include to $(IncludePath);$(DXSDK_DIR)Include, and Library to $(LibraryPath);$(DXSDK_DIR)Lib\x86 or $(LibraryPath);$(DXSDK_DIR)Lib\x64. Read MSDN for some other details of doing this. I've also made some notes w.r.t. to that book here.
You actually don't need the legacy DirectX SDK, but you may find it easier to do that for now using that book. VS 2013 comes with the Windows 8.1 SDK that has all the OS headers for DirectX 11 along with D3DCompile #47.
You can use the Direct3D tutorial for a simple example of setting up a Win32 desktop app (i.e. one that works on Windows 7) with a device, swapchain, and window. This makes no use of legacy DirectX SDK.
There are some additional Effects Tutorial Win32 Sample you can use as well. Instructions on adding the Effects 11 library is on the CodePlex wiki under Documentation / Effects 11 / Adding to a VS solution.
Your questions about FX vs. not are also covered on the CodePlex: Is Effects 11 deprecated? and How do I avoid using fx_5_0?. Also on StackOverflow.
Many of the older DirectX SDK samples have been reposted to MSDN Code Gallery and do not require the legacy DirectX SDK to build. You should read these posts for the fate of various DirectX SDK things:
DirectX SDK Samples Catalog
DirectX SDK Tools Catalog
Living without D3DX
DirectX SDKs of a certain age
The story for learning DirectX 11 with Windows Store apps / Windows phone 8.x aps is a lot cleaner, and is well supported by VS templates and MSDN documentation. Win32 desktop apps are of course a completely reasonable option, but you have to distinguish between legacy and modern with a bit of research. You still start with the standard Win32 desktop app project template in VS.
Note: Windows by default only supports OpenGL v1.5 software renderer. You have to install 3rd party ICD to get anything else, and there are no OpenGL VS templates.

Windows Phone - XNA & SIlverlight

I was wondering if it is actually true that Microsoft is discontinuing XNA and Silverlight. If this is the case? What shall I learn to make applications for Windows Phone? What shall I learn to make simple/easy 2D based games (not c++)?
What are the alternatives with Windows 8?
Cheers.
There is no official announcement from Microsoft that says they are discontinuing Silverlight/XNA.
Of course, a lot of us have our own reasons to believe that Silverlight is dying. I would not say the same about XNA. At least not yet :-) Don't forget XBox.
For the next version of Windows Phone (8), application programming model is going to be based on/same as Windows 8 (Win RT). And they have been promoting DirectX as a technology to develop games for Windows 8 (WinRT). XNA is officially not supported in Metro Mode.
To program games in DirectX, C++ is not the only option. Managed DirectX can be used with C#/VB. You can look into that.
And if you know Silverlight, your understanding on XAML would really help you a lot with new Metro Style apps (Phone and Windows). So, you don't have to worry about that part.
It's hard to say something about a rumor, but in this case the best thing that you can do is to stay in contact with Microsoft and its forums or social network.
For example http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/XNA-in-Windows-8
Windows Phone 8 will surely introduce a support for DirectX and C++, XNA is a subset, more or less, of DirectX, if Microsoft will introduce DirectX in its phones i see no point for keeping XNA; Silverlight is a technology that will never succeed at this point, even Flash is dead, you can imagine what is the situation about Silverlight that is a really really really small player in this market and it's not even portable.
For games it's better to use XNA, because eventually you'll start to create 3d games.
Silverlight is more adapted for common applications, like notepad, browser and other stuff.
And again, if you want to create games, learn more Xna.
As there is no official statement yet, it's hard to say what will happen with those platforms. If you want to create games, you might consider using MonoGame.
What is MonoGame?
MonoGame is an Open Source implementation of the Microsoft XNA 4
Framework. Our goal is to allow XNA developers on Xbox 360, Windows &
Windows Phone to port their games to the iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Linux
and Windows 8 Metro. PlayStation Mobile development is currently in
progress.
I had a demo of a few games made in MonoGame on Windows 8 last week and I gotta say I was pretty impressed.

IOS programming on Windows system [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How can I develop for iPhone using a Windows development machine?
(42 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I'm interested in learning IOS programming but at the moment i do not have access to a Macintosh system. Just wondering if there is an equivalent of IOS SDK for Windows? I do have an iphone though :)
You can check out GNUStep which is a cross-platform objective-c API that you can work with on windows. Not exactly the same, but you can at least get your feet wet in working with objective-c and cocoa-like objects.
You need a Mac to get started with iOS development. However, you could google "Hackintosh" and try to install Mac OSX on your windows laptop, which will enable you to install XCode and later iOS Development.
Yes, there are indeed development platforms on windows for the iPhone and iPad. The usually do not support the native iOS language: objective-c. However, most of them to allow you to build and or deploy onto iOS through some method or other. Here are a few recommendations:
DragonFire SDK. It is currently only for game development, but if you're really determined you can make a non-game app simply by adding UI elements programmatically (however this can be very painful). Dragon Fire SDK runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7. It costs a bit of money to be get full features from the SDK and submit to the AppStore. Here is the link: http://www.dragonfiresdk.com I have used it before, it works wonders. You can develop for the iPhone or iPad and it's all in C/C++. It comes with examples and help files too.
Stencyl. This is a simple and easy to use Game IDE that allows you to deploy your 2D games onto multiple platforms: Windows, Mac OSX, iOS, etc. STencyl requires no coding, however if you pay for the full version you can add your own objective-c or flash code. Here's the link: http://www.stencyl.com
Unity. Unity 3D is a very complex and very high end (in other words, expensive) game IDE and engine that lets you build 3D games for any platform (almost any, ex. iOS, OSX, Windows, Xbox, Wii, Playstation, Android, Linux). Unity costs (on the cheaper end) $1500... so this is probably not the best solution if you don't have the money to buy a Mac which is around the same price. However, if you're looking for one of the best Game Engines and IDEs with options to distribute to literally every platform, you may want to check it out: http://unity3d.com
All in all, DragonFire SDK is probably your best bet. It gives you the most flexibility on your PC for the price and it doesn't take a huge learning curve. I tried DragonFire before getting my Mac or knowing about iOS Development. And I had a simple guitar app up and running with DragonFire in an hour or so using my prior C++ knowledge.
If you aren't looking for a development platform, try out GNUStep to get a basic understanding of Obj-C. You could also look into building a "Hackintosh".
The best way to build iOS applications on a Windows machine is with the Adobe AIR packager for iOS. No, it isn't programming with the iOS SDK - but the current best-selling application in the App Store games category (Mechanarium) was built with it.
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2011/06/adobe-air-2-7-now-available-ios-apps-4x-faster.html

is there any free barcode reader sdk for Windows Phone 7?

I am developing windows mobile application to scan a product barcode by using in built camera. Can you tell me something about barcode reader sdk which are supporting windows mobile 7?
In Windows Phone 7, with the upcoming Mango update, there will be direct access to the camera feed, without having to take a picture of the barcode. Prior to Mango, there is a library that can be downloaded from Codeplex, called ZXIng (Zebra Crossing). http://silverlightzxing.codeplex.com/
Are you developing for Windows Phone, or Windows Mobile? There is no Windows Mobile 7 - with the complete rewrite, the name changed to Windows Phone.
There is always this library (zxing):
http://silverlightzxing.codeplex.com/
It does a pretty decent job, and is able to read a number of different barcodes/qrcodes/and so on.
I updated the link to the silverlight version.
You can see the documentation here:
http://silverlightzxing.codeplex.com/documentation
It's fairly easy to implement, as he's given everything you need for WP7.

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