Sharing and Distributing Your Game

  • Article

When you've created something incredible and want to show it off to fellow XNA Game Studio Express users, XNA Game Studio Express makes it easy by enabling a variety of ways to share and distribute your game.

  • For Windows and Xbox 360, you can use the XNA Game Studio Express Package utility (xnapack.exe) to create a special package that other XNA Game Studio Express users can unpack and play. Using this utility allows you to not expose your source code or assets to other XNA Game Studio Express users.
  • For Windows and Xbox 360, you can choose to share your source code and assets with other XNA Game Studio Express users. This is useful if you would like someone to review or modify your code or assets.
  • For Windows games only, you can make your game available to a wider audience (referred to as independent publishing) by distributing your completed game files, along with a set of prerequisite software, called "redistributables," that make it possible for other Windows users to play your game, even if they are not XNA Game Studio Express users.

The following are the available sharing options for Windows and Xbox 360.

  Sharing Your Game Package Sharing Your Source Code and Assets Distributing Your Finished Game
Windows ...with XNA Game Studio Express users ...with XNA Game Studio Express users ...with any Windows user
Xbox 360 ...with XNA Creators Club members ...with XNA Creators Club members

See the sections below for more information on each sharing and distribution type, including how to prepare your game to be shared or distributed, and how to play a game someone has shared with you.

In This Section

  • Sharing Your Game Package
    Presents information about how to distribute your game to other XNA Game Studio Express users in a package that protects your source code and assets.
  • Sharing Your Source Code and Assets
    Presents information about sharing your game's source code and assets with other XNA Game Studio Express users.
  • Distributing Your Finished Game
    Presents information about how to share your game with any Windows user, even if the user doesn't have XNA Game Studio Express installed. This type of sharing is referred to as independent publishing.