Posts

So you have Windows 8.1 + Visual Studio 2013 installed. Now you need to install a git client. My workflow on Mac is: I use git command line about 70% of the time. In the reaming 30% I’m using Tower, Kaleidoscope and Xcode. So, I was looking for something similar for Windows. And so far, this is my current setup: Mysysgit, for git command line. SourceTree for GUI I couldn’t find a good stand-alone diff-viewer, so I’m using SourceTree’s What I like about Mysysgit is that it installs a Unix-like shell, with git auto-completion and you can also see the current branch in the shell prompt. That is very handy. ...

In order to have a better understanding of Windows Phone, I’m migrating from my old and tiny iPhone 4S (3.5" display) to the huge Lumia 1520 (6" display),( Thanks MS for the gift). I’m also switching carriers, from Verizon to AT&T. My very first impression is that Windows Phone is different. I’m not saying it is worse or better than iOS, it is just different. It is an smartphone , so it has Apps, a Store, Maps, Messages, and more… but with a different interface. If you are coming from iOS or Android it might take a while to get used to it. ...

Let’s compare some prices. iOS: Xcode is free You have to pay $99 per year in order to submit games to the AppStore. Android: The SDK and NDK are free There is a $25 one-time-only fee in order to submit games to Google Play Windows Phone 8: VS Express 2013 and Windows Phone 8 SDK are free. If you want something more complete, you can get VS Online Pro for $45 per month, or VS Pro (offline version) for $499. You have to pay $19 as an individual or $99 as a company per year in order to submit games to the Windows Store Random thoughts: ...

A long time ago I was a Windows developer. I developed for user mode, kernel mode, win32 stuff, etc. And having a MSDN subscription was a must-have. Not only because Visual Studio was included, but also because you were able to download “debug” builds of the whole Operating System; and also you had access to all the Microsoft products in different localizations. The MSDN subscription was expensive, but it was worth it. ...

So, by now you should have Windows 8.1 up and running. The next thing is to install the Windows Phone SDK. A few days ago I tried the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK (it comes with Visual Studio Express 2012) and it works OK. But VS 2013 Update 2 RC ( announced 2 days ago) already comes with the Windows Phone SDK 8.1 (which also allows you to develop for WP 8). This is good, because you don’t need to have two versions of VS installed in your machine in order to develop for Windows and Windows Phone 8. ...

You need Windows 8 in order to develop for Windows Phone 8. Windows 7 won’t work. But avoid Windows 8, it is confusing. Use Windows 8.1 instead. And boot directly into the “Desktop”. Avoid the annoying “Start” thing. Good news: the upgrade from 8 to 8.1 is free. You should know that there are many “flavors” of Windows: “RT”, “Regular”, “Pro”, “Enterprise”… just get the “Pro”.RT (Runtime) is the new name for Metro. Windows 8 (Regular, Pro,Enterprise) has both shells: the desktop shell (win32 API); plus the new RT shell… but you should not confuse Windows RT with Windows Phone. They have the same shell (Metro), they have very similar APIs, but they are slightly different Operating Systems. Remember: You are going to develop games for Windows Phone (using the C++ API), and not for Windows RT. ...

My dual boot Linux/Win machine. Not powerful enough for serious Win Phone development. Get a good, dedicated Windows machine. Not like this one. VMWare / Parallels is OKish… but I wouldn’t recommend it. My current notebook has 2 big issues: Low performance and a low-quality trackpad. I remember when I switched from a Dell XPS 12" to a MacBook 13" around 2008. One thing that called my attention was the size of the MacBook’s trackpad: it was huge. And now it is the opposite: I find that most Windows notebooks have a crappy trackpad: too small and unresponsive. ...

My background: I’ve been developing game engines & games for iOS for the past 6 years Two years ago I started developing for Android And this week I started developing for Windows Phone …and so my journey begins.

El Domingo 22 de diciembre con Tom hicimos Dimond Park y Joaquin Miller ida y vuelta. Estuvo muy bueno. A la vuelta nos pusimos en modalidad “no caernos” para ver cuantas caídas teníamos desde arriba de todo en Joaquin Miller, hasta abajo de todo en Dimond Park. Creo que en Joaquin Miller tuvimos 2 caídas cada uno y en Dimond yo tuve 6 y Tom 5. Reporte de Tom

Desde Septiembre hasta hoy pasaron muchas cosas… lo primero es que fui padre. Mi hijito se llama Vicente y tiene 2 meses y medio. Y después de eso, no recuerdo mucho más. Los eventos monociclisticos desde el último post hasta hoy fueron más o menos así: Septiembre 22: Skyline Park en Napa con Tom. Muy bueno, pero me hice pelota el hombro. Todavía me sigue doliendo. Reporte de Tom Fin de semana de Septiembre 28-29: Nada. Reposo por el hombro. Fin de semana de Octubre 5-6: Nada… el 4 nació Vicentito!! Octubre 12: Me escapé al California MUni Weekend en Rockville Hills. Estuvo buenisimo. Reporte de Tom Fin de semana de Octubre 19-20: Ni idea. ¿Qué hice? Sábado Octubre 26: Santa Cruz con Kevin, Michelle y Christo. Me hice pelota la costilla derecha, y hice un corte grande en la frente. Pero estuvo muy bueno. Noviembre 17: Joaquin Miller con Kevin Noviembre 24: Lake Chabot con Tom y Josh. Noviembre 29: Annadel con Tom, Nathan, Sydney, Mark, Nancy, Grace, sobrina de Grace y Mamá! Reporte de Tom. Diciembre 8: Rockville Hills con Tom y Josh. Reporte de Tom. Diciembre 15: Joaquin Miller con Tom, Josh, Jimbo, Mark, y Pete. Reporte de Tom.