What tools do we use?

We've had a couple questions about what tools we used to make Professional Burglar, so I figured I may as well blog about it.

Code
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Visual Studio 2010
C#
XNA Game studio
Windows Phone 7 SDK
Phat Games Engine/Game Editor - A .net based game engine and game editor. We are considering open sourcing this in the future once it becomes more mature (I'll probably post more on this in a bit).

We will be using Monotouch for the iPhone version of the game and are evaluating Monodroid for the android version.

Artwork
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Inkscape - an open source vector drawing utility.
Paint.Net - A freely available raster drawing utility.

Before and After Screens

Here are some screenshots of the old dos version of the game and the new mobile version. The new version has higher resolution graphics, and we added a lot more contrast between the backgrounds and foregrounds to help with visibility on the small screen.

Phat Professional Burglar goes mobile!

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Phat Professional Burglar. Today, Phat Games officially announces that Phat Professional Burglar will be available for download on the Windows Mobile Phone in April, with releases planned for the iPhone and Droid later this year. Stay tuned, Burgals' entrace to the little screen is only a few short weeks away!

A little hint...

Greetings,

Our first game that we are launching is an enhanced version of a game we launched a decade ago. It's a puzzle game, involves money bags, and a little guy named Burgals. Can you guess what game it is?

It's launch is very close and you will be able to download it from the Windows Mobile Phone Market Place. A wider release on the iPhone and Droid phones is a possibility in the near future as well. More news to come next week!

Accepted To the Windows 7 Marketplace

Shortly after uploading a fake app to the marketplace I received an email from Microsoft's identity verification provider, geotrust. They emailed me a form to fill out and sign. It was pretty simple, I just had to write my name, the date, attach my driver's license, and add my signature. I took a picture of the filled out form and emailed it back to them. A couple of days later the process was complete. We are now one step closer to launching a game on the WP7 platform.

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace for Canadian Developers

I just thought I'd share some of my experiences with getting signed up to publish to the marketplace. Although the development experience for WP7 itself has been quite pleasant, getting on to the marketplace has had a few hiccups.

First off, it costs money to create an App Hub account, about $100. I think there is some free option for students, but I didn't get into that. I created my account with the same windows live account that I use for my XBox, and during this process they decided to automatically bill to the credit card I had associated with that account. No option was given to select a different credit card. In my case this was an ok assumption on their part, but in general this isn't too great of an idea.

Next, they need to verify your identity. To do this they have a third party provider, GeoTrust, email you and gather some information. After waiting two weeks (or one fortnight for the nerds out there) without hearing anything I looked into the matter a bit more. It turns out that you need to submit an app to the marketplace before they verify you. Additionally, to unlock your phone for testing purposes you need to be verified. I can understand a need for verification, but I don't understand why I need to submit an app to start that process. The process requires you to submit an app which has never been tested on a real device.

After submitting a fake app I got a notification from GeoTrust saying that they will send me some more stuff in 1 to 2 business days. This is where I sit right now.

Cheers