Tip #1 - Check your mail(s) instantly (Windows 8)

Keep your Metro mail application open in background all the time. That way, you'll get toast notifications when you get a mail, and you can instantly check your mail with only one click in the top left corner.
To go back to what you have been doing previously, just click the top left corner again.

Create custom tiles for Windows 8 Metro Screen (Start menu) - OblyTile

You too started finding ugly the icons in the Metro menu which come when you install new application? Well don't worry anymore - OblyTile is the solution to this problem.

Screenshot from the app

With OblyTile you can make beautiful Metro tiles which will fit your Metro theme nicely. You just link a shortcut with an image which is 300x300 in size, and you got yourself a beautiful looking tile.

This is my unfinished Metro screen, and I like it how it looks so far.

(Click to make the image bigger)

I'm planning to finish all the icons first, and release a package with all the tile pictures.

Odium, Global Game Jam Macedonia winner game

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games… while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. Although the event is heavily focused on programming, there are many other areas where people who don’t code can contribute to a game.

- GlobalGameJam

The Global Game Jam in Macedonia took place from 25th January to 27th January. We as a team decided to join, and we had no idea what was it going to be like. 

This years GGJ theme was a heartbeat sound. We were told to interpret the theme as we wish.

17 games were made, where some of the teams had zero game development experience, and actually learned to program during this event. GameMaker, Unity, Flash and some other technologies were used to make the games during the Jam.

We interpreted the theme literally as a heartbeat. Meaning we made a game where you actually play inside of  an organism, and try to overtake the heart, and fill it with hatred, thus the name Odium. We were inspired by one of our team members, who created this short animation for a school project. Six people were in our team, and each one had stuff to do. We did pretty good job in my opinion. 

Our game got most of audience votes, and we won the competition. 

Here is a link to the game: Odium

Link to games made during the event.

Different resolution in .NET System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenWidth

If you are getting different resolution on .NET's

System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenWidth

and

System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenHeight

than your current resolution settings, you might wanna check out your viewing settings.

To do so, go to your desktop, right click, and select "Screen resolution".

Then, click on "Make text and other items larger or smaller"

After this, click on the Smaller - 100% radio button.