Games for Windows Phone 8

[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]

This section contains information on creating games for Windows Phone 8. With Windows Phone 8, you can use Direct3D to render graphics to the screen of your phone app and use Microsoft Media Foundation and XAudio2 APIs to play background audio or sound effects.

Choosing the right project template for your game for Windows Phone 8	There are a few different ways to incorporate Direct3D into your app. You can create a pure native Direct3D app or you can use the DrawingSurface and DrawingSurfaceBackgroundGrid controls to incorporate Direct3D into a managed XAML-based app. Windows Phone SDK 8.0 includes project templates for each of these app types. Which template you use determines which other Windows Phone features you can use in your app. This topic will help you decide which project template is right for your app.
Direct3D for Windows Phone 8	Windows Phone 8 supports a subset of the Direct3D APIs that are available on the desktop. The APIs that are supported on the phone behave according to the feature level 9_3. The feature level is a concept used by Direct3D to describe the support and behavior of APIs on various hardware platforms. This section contains more information on using Direct3D in a phone app, including API and shader support, differences from the desktop platform, and performance optimization.
XAML and Direct3D apps for Windows Phone 8	XAML and Direct3D apps use the DrawingSurface control to display Direct3D content inline in a XAML-based UI. This topic walks you through the XAML and Direct3D app project template that is included with Windows Phone SDK 8.0.
Direct3D with XAML apps for Windows Phone 8	Direct3D with XAML apps use the DrawingSurfaceBackgroundGrid control to display Direct3D content filling the entire screen behind a XAML-based UI. This topic walks you through the Direct3D and XAML app project template that is included with Windows Phone SDK 8.0.
Walkthrough: Using Microsoft Media Foundation for Windows Phone 8	Windows Phone 8 supports a subset of the Microsoft Media Foundation (MF) APIs. This topic walks you through using the MF APIs to render a video stream to a Direct3D texture which is then mapped onto geometry and rendered to the screen.
Native audio APIs for Windows Phone 8	This topic discusses the native audio APIs that are available for playing sound effects and background music in games.
How to create your first XNA Game Studio 4.0 app for Windows Phone 8	With Windows Phone SDK 8.0, you can create XNA games that target Windows Phone OS 7.1 which are compatible with and will run on Windows Phone 8 devices. This topic walks you through creating an XNA-based game.