Michael Klucher, Program Manager – XNA Community Game Platform Team (Microsoft), was nice enough to take some time out to answer some questions with Adult Gaming Enthusiasts. If you ever wandered what the XNA project was about, or why Microsoft is putting so much effort into it, read on. The old days of small developers making their mark in the gaming industry may be back again. It's not just about "go big or go home" anymore.

[AGE] How long have you been working with Microsoft?

[Michael] I'm a fairly recent employee of Microsoft and started back in December of 2005 so I've been at Microsoft a bit over a year now.

[AGE] How and why did you get involved with the XNA project?

[Michael] Before joining Microsoft I worked in the animation and games industry for about six years. Mainly I worked on tools software that made game development easier or provided better ways for artists to get things done. I think that naturally translates to the type of work we're doing for XNA Game Studio but on a broader scale for all users.

[AGE] What is your role with the XNA project? What takes up most of your time?

[Michael] I'm a Program Manager for the XNA Framework Content Pipeline and the XNA Game Launcher on the Xbox 360 Console. A Program Manager is a bit of a unique roll at Microsoft in the sense that we advocate on the customers behalf and try to identify needs and solutions that are a good fit for the customer. This involves working with the other disciplines at Microsoft such as development and test as well as feature design. In addition to that I also help making sure we keep some information up on our team blog http://blogs.msdn.com/xna and making sure that our forum users get answers to their questions.

[AGE] How long has the XNA project been active now? (from first thought, to implementation)

[Michael] XNA as an overall initiative was announced back at GDC 2004 and various components of it have been in development since.. With regards to XNA Game Studio Express we were challenged by our executives in the fall of 2005 to create a set of solutions which would help all game developers, including non-professional game developers, to be successful making games on both Windows and Xbox 360. That winter we had our initial prototype environment based on the .NET Compact Framework running on the Xbox 360. At GDC 2006, we demonstrated several impressive tech demos running on this prototype and the reaction from the community was tremendous. We haven't looked back since and as you may know, we shipped XNA Game Studio Express this past December. So basically, we went from first thought to shipping product in about a year's time.

[AGE] First off, kudos for creating a catering to the many students, hobbyists, and independent game developers that cannot afford to buy the expensive development tools required for making games. I am sure they are very low on the gaming industry's totem pole. Why did Microsoft decide to focus on getting these tools to this group of individuals?

[Michael] Catering to developers is something that is second nature here at Microsoft. Additionally, developing great software and in our case, great games, isn't something that we feel should only be reserved for professionals. There are many great examples throughout Microsoft's history where we've embraced students, hobbyists and small developers to help arm them with tools and resources to be successful. Our offerings for game developers is no different. The entire industry of game developers and consumers stand to benefit with more people contributing unique content, ideas and talent.

[AGE] Many non-programmers have always dreamed of making their own games, but have always been handicapped by their inability to program. Are today's software tools finally at a state where non-programmers are able to create their own games, through friendly WYSIWYG user interfaces?

[Michael] I don't know if were quite there yet but we've certainly helped lower that barrier. If you take a look at TorqueX by our partner GarageGames, which is an edition of Torque Game Builder built on top of the XNA Framework, it get's users even closer to that experience of "drag and drop" game development. I think we're starting to see that shift that has already occurred in the video production space where you needed so much equipment and specialized software that took years to learn to produce any type of video, now users can launch something like Windows Movie Maker and have a professional looking video to share with other users in a short amount of time without a steep learning curve. For us it's about enabling tools that people can use to express themselves through games just like they could with video or music.

[AGE] With all these new, free tools, it seems like a very exciting time in video game development history. Do you see the XNA project changing the video game development landscape? Are we going to start seeing small "Mom and Pop" development groups sprouting up and getting recognized?

[Michael] I think if you ask anyone on our team we say that we certainly hope so. As a person who grew up in a time when a small group of individuals could put together a stellar game and make it in the industry, that was a great time. As technology has increased in our industry we've gotten into a mode where it's perceived that you have to "go big or go home" and while there is always a place for the big budget games that we see now, there is certainly a market aimed at people who want niche games. I think these developers can gather followings that rival big publishers.

[AGE] I read an article recently where Peter Moore stated that XNA was "our first step of creating a YouTube for videogames". When I read this, I was very excited, but at the same time somewhat hesitant. We all know that YouTube is about 99% annoying, uninspired videos of kids doing all kinds of obnoxious things. What steps is Microsoft making to ensure that the "best of the best" of XNA gets noticed? What kind of quality assurance is planned to filter out all the "bad" games?

[Michael] Well, as the old saying goes "One man's trash is another man's treasure", I would challenge that most of the content available today is uninspired. It would be interesting to take a look because I would guess that most of those videos have had at least one rating by someone that's five stars. What I'm trying to speak to is enabling "The Long Tail" of the videogame industry. It's a methodology that states that for every niche product that's available there is someone who is a consumer of this product. It may not be the numbers of users of popular titles but there will still be people who enjoy even the oddest of games and I think that's something we're trying to enable as consumers on consoles don't even get a chance to explore that now. Even with this we fully plan to have some validation in place that ensures that consumers are kept safe on their console and not exposed to content that they may not want to see.

With all that said I fully expect the best content to bubble up and gain followings and again I think consumers will be pleased with avenues that could become available to them if they wanted to pursue future opportunities. As I mentioned earlier I think as you identify stuff that's truly innovative you want to make that available as broadly as possible. If you take a look at our Dream.Build.Play http://www.dreambuildplay.com competition you can start to see some of this happening already.

[AGE] XNA allows developers to trade games with each other, but not with the general public. Right now, the XNA project does not seem to have the ability for independent developers to take their games all the way to distribution through Xbox Live (to the end user), for free or a price. Does Microsoft have any plans to eventually allow this?

[Michael] I think our team identifies that as two separate issues, making your games available to the general public and looking to monetize your game through a system such as Xbox Live Arcade. Sharing of titles based on XNA Game Studio Express is something we want to support and is on our "radar" so to speak. Letting users get their games out to a broader audience is certainly something we're in favor of in the future.

[AGE] Microsoft has done an excellent job at bringing Xbox Live Arcade games into the "main stream" of the Xbox 360 portfolio. Many people, including myself, have spent just as much money on Xbox Live Arcade games as they have on DVD-rom games. Obviously Xbox Live Arcade is a stronger focus for Microsoft this time around (as opposed to the original Xbox). What role does the XNA project play in the future of Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade?

[Michael] I think XNA Game Studio Express will play an increasing role here over time. I can easily imagine having an Xbox Live Arcade title written using XNA Game Studio Express before too long. In fact, enabling this is something we are already looking into. We've been pleasantly surprised by the number of professional game developers who have picked up XNA Game Studio Express and are creating amazing prototypes in very short periods of time.

[AGE] Where do you see XNA a year from now? Do you have any immediate goals?

[Michael] XNA Game Studio Express version 1.0 was a great milestone release and is packed with features. From here, we are focused on further enabling our creators to do more with our product and with the games they create. High on our priority list is to try and tackle the features our customers want most such as easier and broader sharing of games, more resources to assist in learning game development and of course networking support. I don't know if we'll have any or all of this done a year from now but we're certainly doing our best to deliver a lot more value on top of the great product currently available.

[AGE]Thank you for taking the time out of your already busy schedule to answer these questions.

[Michael] Thank you! Again we're very pleased with the support everyone has given XNA Game Studio Express. I encourage anyone who's interested in developing games to give XNA Game Studio Express a try by visiting http://msdn.com/xna