John's Blog
Apps for Windows
Unite2013 - Day 1
I have such a nerd-crush on Unity3D at the moment, but of course that could be because I've just...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 08/28/2013
Unite2013
I'm currently in the Canadian city of Vancouver for Unity2013 - the developer conference for users...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 08/27/2013
Porting a photograph sharing app from iOS to Windows 8
You can never have too many photograph sharing apps (so it appears), and so I wrote my own for the...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 08/12/2013
Flowchart of App Writing
So, you want to write apps for Windows 8, but you don't know where to begin? Not a problem. Here's...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 08/02/2013
Using Unity3D on Windows - need an incentive? How about a load of cash?
Unity3D is an excellent development environment for writing 3D games. It works cross-platform, and...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 07/24/2013
Videos that grab your attention - and a little more too
I found an interesting bug in the embedded video technology we use in our doc publishing tools....
Author: grantmestrength Date: 07/22/2013
Count the dots
You know that spinny ring of dots that appears when Windows 8 is busy? (It reminds of the creepy...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 07/08/2013
Windows 8.1 Preview, and a cookbook for iOS devs
Today was the first big product launch event I've been to in my new team. The conference rooms were...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 06/26/2013
Using XAML to write Windows 8 Games - Part 2
If I was a cheesy marketing-type person, I'd said that "XAML stands for 'XAML Assists My Life', but...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/08/2013
Using XAML to write Windows 8 Games - Part 1
For my next Windows 8 app, I wanted to switch from JavaScript/HTML and try C#/XAML instead. XAML is...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/04/2013
Mouse events in Windows 8 JavaScript apps
Just a quick one today. I spent too long trying to find the JavaScript equivalent of adding an...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/01/2013
Next best thing to WWDC?
If, like me, you are bummed you didn't get tickets for WWDC, then I've a treat in store - a virtual...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/30/2013
Porting to Windows 8 from iOS - Part 3
After a few more days tinkering around with my astronomy app, the time finally had come to submit it...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/26/2013
Hey, iOS devs! Get Windows for cheap!
** Sorry, it's US only at this point ** The amazing offer is on again - get Windows running on your...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/18/2013
Porting to Windows 8 from iOS - Part 2
Last week I started porting my iOS Astronomy app to Windows 8, and now I've had some time to do a...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/12/2013
Porting to Windows 8 from iOS - Part 1
For the past few years, I’ve been writing apps – mostly Astronomy apps – for...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/05/2013
The Easy Way to Write Windows 8 Games
One of my goals in my new position on the Windows 8 Developer Documentation team is to help...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/03/2013
Got a Mac? Try Windows 8.
Through a remarkably generous offer, Microsoft is helping you Mac folks try Windows 8 - primarily to...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/02/2013
I'm back, baby!
The last time I posted on this blog site was about 3 or 4 years ago, and I was a PM in Microsoft...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/01/2013
How to write a game (part 3)
So, four main characters with about ten actions and ten to twenty frames of motion for each.. plus...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/01/2009
Game developers don't eat cheese
Last Friday I attended the GameDevelopers.ie annual Shindig, at which various Irish games publishers...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/18/2009
How to write a game (part 2)
Writing a game is difficult, but we're rapidly learning that getting the art for the game is just as...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/12/2009
How to write a game (part 1)
I'm very interested to see this site which records the process of writing a game (Darwinia+) and...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/02/2009
Scroga
An excellent idea came from lunch today: Scroga - the combination of Yoga and Scrum. Normally we do...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/31/2009
I am the Empire too.
I'm not a particularly subtle person. Which is why I wore my nice green "I'm a PC!" t-shirt (with...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/18/2009
It wasn't that far..
I'm back from The Games Fleadh in Tipperary, where I was lucky enough to be a judge in one of the...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/13/2009
GamesFla...gh...ea..ch..a.. thing. In Tipperary.
This year I'm going to be a judge at the Tipperary Institute Gamesfleagh...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/03/2009
Snow Day
After working in Microsoft's Redmond campus for almost ten years, I was used to the two or three...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/04/2009
Mesh for Mac
If you happen to be an Apple user, you'll be interested to know that Microsoft have released a Mac...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/31/2008
XNA Games Studio 3.0 - Now available!
Yup, get yerself a nice fresh non-Beta Games Studio release:...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/31/2008
Revenge of the Goats
XNA is a wonderful thing, and what makes it even more wonderful is that it is supported on the Zune....
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/07/2008
Coding in Bed
Today at the lunch table I discovered that I was the only person there not to have done any...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/17/2008
Goat Attack!
In the time it took me to post about XNA Game Studio 3.0, I was able to download and install it, and...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/17/2008
Xbox 360 Price Cut for UK and Ireland
It's a great time to be an Xbox fan: the price is coming down this Friday to 180 Euro, or 160 UK...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/16/2008
Exploring around MS Dublin
This weekend was the first weekend I’ve been in Dublin and left to my own devices. It was also the...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/15/2008
Bug Hunting
Recently I was trying to debug some code, and getting nowhere. So I went for a walk, and within...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/15/2008
GameFest 2008 Content Online
As pointed out by Shawn Hargreaves on his excellent blog, the content from the GameFest 2008...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/03/2008
XNA 101
As part of my new job here in MS Dublin, I’m getting acquainted with XNA and the XNA Games Studio....
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/27/2008
Gamefest 2008 and DIY train tickets
I'm delighted to be able to attend Gamefest 2008 in Seattle this July. I'm looking forward to the...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/08/2008
NEO is dead
Yes, it's true - no more NEO. Now it's "On-Boarding". So, apart from being a hugely ugly word, what...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/07/2008
Whoops, that's gotta hurt. Yes, it did.
I'll tell you something else about Dublin: the roads are surprisingly slippy. This morning I was...
Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/02/2008