Windows (Phone) 8 C++ support a huge boon for middleware choices

 

Windows Phone 7 was a pretty capable platform that never really took off, especially when it came to game support.  Of course, market share is a big part of the reason was the lack of applications ( although it is easy to get in a chicken and egg argument, whether market share suffered because of the lack of app support, which suffered because of the lack of market share… ).

 

With Windows Phone 8 however, Microsoft have rectified at least one of these problems.  You can now compile native C++ code.  This means a gigantic collection of existing libraries can be ported to or now target the platform.

 

And ported they have been, here is the list to date.  Keep in mind, pretty much every single project that runs on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8 Desktop, so “Windows 8 support” is a pretty meaningless statement.  The following are all products that will support Windows RT, the artist previously known as Metro.  Or in more simple terms, you can use the following to make games for ARM powered Windows 8 devices.

If I have missed any, please let me know!

 

cocos2d-x

http://www.cocos2d-x.org/news/76

Construct2

https://www.scirra.com/blog/99/make-windows-8-games-with-construct-2

GameMaker

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio/multiformat/windows8

GameSalad

http://gamesalad.com/creator/windows-8

Havok

(All products) http://www.havok.com/news-and-press/releases/havok-showcase-full-technology-suite-windows-8-windows-rt-and-windows-phone

Marmalade

http://www.madewithmarmalade.com/press/cross-platform-games-apps-sdk-marmalade-announces-support-microsoft-windows-phone-8-q4-2012

MonoGame

http://monogame.codeplex.com/

Ogre3D

http://www.ogre3d.org/2012/10/30/ogre-now-supports-windows-phone-8

SharpDX

http://sharpdx.org/news/new-version-2-4-0

Shiva3D

(road map only at this point)

http://www.shivaengine.com/developer/2290-the-shiva-2012-13-roadmap

Unigine

http://unigine.com/devlog/2012/07/20/100

Unity

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2012/10/30/unity-windows-phone-8-demonstrated-at-microsoft-build-conference/

Unreal/UDK

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/08/nvidia-brings-unreal-engine-3-to-windows-8-and-windows-rt/

 

 

Somewhat related or slightly less game oriented products that added Windows 8 support

 

Appcelerator Titanium

(Q1 2013)

http://thinkmobile.appcelerator.com/press-releases/bid/236017/Appcelerator-Empowers-the-Mobile-Developer-Community-With-Even-More-Choice-and-Flexibility

appMobi

http://www.appmobi.com/?page_id=453

PhoneGap/Apache Cordova

http://phonegap.com/blog/2012/10/30/announcing-apache-cordova-support-for-windows-phone-8/

Design Programming Engine

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