Overview of Windows 8 C++ opportunity with Rapid2D

1. C++ Game Engine
David Fletcher

2. Rapid2D
• 299 Students entered a World Record breaking game jam for Windows 8
• They where split up into teams and each team had to make a Windows 8
game within 48 hours
• To give the students a helping hand we searched for a engine that could aid
them
• At the time we couldn’t find any, so we decided to make one.

3. Why Windows 8
• 670 million Windows 7 machines in the market
• 40 million upgrades to Windows 8 in the first month – we have direct access
to those 40 million people via the Windows 8 Store, and the number is
growing
• Windows is the single biggest operating system in the world

4. Some of the big development changes for
Windows 8
• Windows Store
• XAML and Blend
• C++/CX
• Windows 8 Phone DirectX

5. Windows Store
• Windows 8 offers the single largest potential market for your apps.
• Windows 8 and the Windows Store make it simple for millions of customers
to find, try, and buy high-quality, certified apps.
• Anyone from solo developer's to indie team all the way to AAA game
developer's can publish.
• All you need is a PC, Windows 8 and Visual Studio to get started.

6. Windows Store Apps
• Live Tiles - Developers can dynamically add content to their tile to be
displayed on the Windows 8 start menu.
• Snapped States - The Windows 8 experience allows your apps being able to
snap to one of the four states, Snapped, Filled and full screen landscape or
portrait
• Storage Settings - Windows Store App’s have three inbuilt locations where
data can be saved, locally, temporary and roaming.

7. XAML and Blend For Games
• Easy to create complex, machine independent UI controls that respond to
multiple types of events, interaction and manipulation.
• Ability to create a UI that adapts to different resolutions, Landscape /
Portrait layouts with fluid adaptable controls.
• Powerful storyboard animation system that can be used in styles to show a
button expanding on click, or to show a complex entry animation for an
entire main menu.

8. C++/CX
• Use C++/CX to write Windows Store apps and components in native code
that easily interact with Visual C#,Visual Basic, and JavaScript, and other
languages.
• Handles verses Pointers: Ref counting

9. Windows Phone and DirectX
• In the first half of February, Windows Phone posted a 150% year-over-year
improvement in market share.
• Windows Phone 8 has now implemented DirectX
• This allows desktop and phone applications to use a very similar code base

10. Windows Phone and DirectX
• Windows 8 apps can use the WIC to load textures in multiple image formats,
for example, as PNG files. Windows Phone doesn’t support WIC. Games for
the phone should use textures that are in the .dds file format.
• Windows Phone 8 apps cannot use Direct2D to render 2D graphics to the
screen. Direct2D is typical for rendering GUI components like menus and
HUDs, as well as being the simpler option to make 2D games in.

11. DirectX
• DirectX is an incredibly powerful and extensive graphics API.
• It can be complex and time consuming to start a project.
• DirectX is incredibly efficient if it is used correctly however it can be easily
used incorrectly

12. Rapid2D
• It’s RAPID!
• It’s 2D – great for the pick up and play market
• Optimised for the Windows 8 Store
• Easy to follow Graphical User Interface
• Generates code that can be edited outside of the Graphical User Interface, incorporates the
power and flexibility of C++
• Caters for physics and collision
• Add animations using Sprite Sheets
• Touch screen input
• GAME ENGINE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE WINDOWS 8 MARKET

13. Rapid2D Windows Store Apps
• As our editor generates a visual studio solution all the features available to
Windows 8 Store developers are available to Rapid2D users.
• Live Tiles
• Snapped States
• Roaming Settings.

14. Rapid2D and XAML
• XAML lets you put together some exciting user-friendly interfaces and
menus with transitions.
• Rapid2D communicates with XAML, allowing developers to bring XAML
features directly into their Rapid2D games

15. Rapid2D Integration
• Rapid2D integration with existing projects
• Rapid2D exports to a Visual Studio solution, this allows users import custom created
libraries and classes of their own creation.
• This could include their own XAML pages, as an example, Rapid2D could be introduced
into an app that shows the weather, as an animated weather report map, while still being
allowing the app to use its usual XAML controls.
• This lets developers concentrate on what they want the software to achieve rather than
being limited.

16. Rapid2D and C++/CX
• Rapid2D developers can handles instead of pointers and get all the benefits.
• Ref class that interfaces with our Rapid2D components, meaning that null
pointers are a thing of the past and debugging is much simpler.

17. Rapid2D and Windows 8 Phone
• Windows 8 Phone SDK doesn’t employ Direct2D – which means it’s
complicated for users to develop 2D games
• Originally our Engine used Direct2D – but the Windows 8 Phone SDK
rather put pay to that
• So, we moved over to DirectX – our users won’t even notice, all the original
API calls are exactly the same and have the same results

19. Rapid2D Walkthrough