Development Environment White Papers
A white paper is an educational tool that provides you with an in-depth look at a technical aspect of, or the performance of, a component, feature, function, or process. Most often, a white paper introduces you to subjects to expand your knowledge and to help you build better apps. You’ll also discover white papers that emphasize best practices and solutions to help you work smarter.
Important Check out the full list of white papers on the Xbox Game Developer (XGD) site.
| Category | Title | Description | Author | Date of publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development | Improving Iteration Times | When you’ve changed only a couple of files, lengthy build times can seriously impact your productivity during development. This paper covers the various ways to improve iteration time—how long you wait between changing a file and being able to debug that change—by choosing different build options. | Xbox Advanced Technology Group | 06/05/2018 |
| Development | Migrating to Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 | This paper provides information for upgrading existing XDK projects from Visual Studio 2012 and the 17.1 C++ compiler (Platform Toolset “v110”) to Visual Studio 2015 and the 19.0 C++ compiler (Platform Toolset “v140”). | ||
| Advanced Technology Group | 1/29/2018 | |||
| Development | Updating Your Xbox One Title for Xbox One X | Start preparing your Xbox One titles now to take full advantage of the newest member of the Xbox family, Project Scorpio. This white paper describes best practices for engineers enabling Project Scorpio capabilities on existing Xbox One titles. | Advanced Technology Group | 11/2/2017 |
| Development | Windows Runtime and C++/CX Extensions for Xbox One | Discusses Windows Runtime from the perspective of Xbox One game developers, and summarizes all the WinRT concepts that any Xbox One game developer needs to know to successfully use Windows Runtime by using C++/CX extensions. | Advanced Technology Group | 08/23/2017 |
| Development | The Path to Xbox One X | This paper offers info about development paths and about compatibility across the Xbox One family. This update clarifies naming conventions for pre-approved XDKs and recoveries (no schedule changes). | Advanced Technology Group | 07/12/2017 |
| Development | Code Generation for Xbox One Best Practices | For high-performance titles on Xbox One, the tools of choice are C++ and the Visual C++ compiler. This update includes information about Visual Studio 2017. | Advanced Technology Group | 4/28/2017 |
| Development | Porting from Xbox One to Windows 10 | This paper describes how to execute a port to Windows 10 UWP from existing Xbox One apps and titles, Windows 8 Store apps, and Windows desktop apps. Updated for Visual Studio 2017 and the Windows 10 Creators Update SDK (15063). | Advanced Technology Group | 4/28/2017 |
| Development | Hats Off! Getting Started with CPP-WinRT | This white paper provides an overview of the common changes you can expect to make to your code and your build setup as you port your game project to the new C++/WinRT language projections. | Advanced Technology Group | 11/11/2016 |
| Development | Title Mode Console Application | You can create small console applications that run alongside an ERA title and help with debugging, testing, and similar prerelease activities. This paper covers the steps to either create or convert console applications for this purpose. | Advanced Technology Group | 9/20/2016 |
| Development | Writing Change Resilient Games | This paper, written for studio technical directors and systems engineers, provides advice on how to future-proof your title code to maximize the likelihood that your title will run well across future revisions to Xbox console hardware and software. | Advanced Technology Group | 9/20/2016 |
| Development | Getting Started with Debugging UWP Apps on Windows 10 | Compared to traditional desktop applications, debugging UWP apps requires a few additional configuration steps. This article provides an introduction to the options that you have for debugging UWP apps. | Advanced Technology Group | 5/26/2016 |
| Development | CPUSets for Game Development | This paper is an overview of the CPUSets API new to the UWP. It covers the core information pertinent to game and application development, and provides examples of using the API to organize thread allocation for optimal performance. | Advanced Technology Group | 5/24/2016 |
| Development | Porting Xbox Live Code from Xbox One XDK to Windows 10 UWP | Provides help for developers who have used the Xbox One XDK to get started migrating their Xbox Live code to the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform (UWP). These are tips and tricks that we in ATG have learned along the way. | Advanced Technology Group | 03/01/2016 |
| Development | App Manifest - Solid Information on Metadata | Provides an overview of your application manifest and includes the most common errors encountered and how to fix them. It also includes a comprehensive reference of the contents of a manifest, which details what every element should look like. | Advanced Technology Group | 12/08/2015 |
| Development | Optimizing for the Cloud | Optimizing your code to run in the cloud can have unique performance issues; the usual tools and algorithms for game development do not work. This paper covers the most common issues and gives suggestions for how to locate and minimize them. | Advanced Technology Group | 11/04/2015 |
| Development | Porting from Xbox One to Windows 10 - Universal Windows Platform | Covers the new development model, and highlights key differences for planning and executing a port to Windows 10 from existing Xbox One apps and titles, Windows 8 Store apps, and Windows desktop apps. Includes updates to Tables 1 and 3. | Advanced Technology Group | 10/14/2015 |
| Development | Code Generation for Xbox One: Best Practices | For high-performance titles on Xbox One, the tools of choice are C++ and the Visual C++ compiler. This paper, originally published in March 2013, includes updates for Visual Studio 2015 and additional resources. | Advanced Technology Group | 09/28/2015 |
| Development | Preparing Your Project for Xbox One | Provides an overview of the recommended process for getting started with the Alpha release, with focus on strategy for key steps in porting. | Advanced Technology Group | 05/04/2012 |