Drag-and-drop XNA development gets one step closer

XNA and Flash game development is set to become even easier thanks to Japanese media giant Enterbrain – even for the code-phobic.

The company, which publishes Famitsu, also produces a long-running series of game creators under the ‘Tsukuuru’ brand, the most popular of which is its RPG Tsukuuru (known as RPG Maker in the West). And at Microsoft’s recent Gamefest developer event in Japan, the company announced that its latest title, Action Game Tsukuuru, will feature an XNA plug-in to export code and pipeline assets in the appropriate format.

The tool is limited to 2D game creation, but despite its moniker supports various genres of games – including platformer, action adventure, action RPG, shoot-em-up, strategy and puzzle games – with genre-specific wizards to help budding designers get started on their magnum opus. It also contains a vast library of art and audio assets for the less artistically-minded.

Details of the Flash exporter have yet to be released, but a screenshot of the XNA exporter on the Famitsu website suggests that the tool will not only support the Xbox 360 but Zune development as well, as featured in the forthcoming version 3.0 of the XNA Framework. These creations will additionally be compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox Live Community Games service, meaning that creators can then monetise the games they create.

Action Game Tsukuuru launches in Japan on December 12th for 10,290 Yen (approx £52). No western release has been mentioned thus far, but Enterbrain’s two most recent Tsukuuru games were both localised and distributed electronically through Download.com. Develop has contacted Enterbrain for more information.