Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Certification tips
Your first stop should be the certification requirements page, which lists all of the cur-
rent requirements your game will be tested for:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib-
There are some requirements that you should take note of, and in this section we'll
take a look at ways to help ensure you pass those requirements.
Privacy
The first of course is the privacy policy. As mentioned before, if your game collects
any sort of personal information, you will need that policy in two places:
• In full text within the game
• Accessible through an Internet link
The default app template generated by Visual Studio automatically enables the Inter-
net capability, and by simply having that enabled you require a privacy policy. If you
aren't connecting to the Internet at all in your game, you should always ensure that
none of the Internet options are enabled before you package your game.
If you share any personal information, then you need to provide players with a method
of opting in to the sharing. This could be done by gating the functionality behind a
login screen. Note that this functionality can be locked away, and the requirement
doesn't demand that you find a way to remain fully functional even if the user opts out.
Features
One requirement is that your game support both touch input and keyboard/mouse in-
put. You can easily support this by using an input system like the one described in this
topic; however, by supporting touch input you get mouse input for free and technically
fulfill this requirement. It's all about how much effort you want to put into the experien-
ce your player will have, and that's why including gamepad input is recommended as
some players may want to use a connected Xbox 360 gamepad for their input device
in games.
