XNA Development

I stumbled across a bunch of free time....

George Clingerman — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:50:17 GMT

So the XNA forums are down for a bit of "reconstruction" I just thought I'd do a post to let people know there's no need to panic. The excellent support and help they get via the forums will be available again momentarily. The real question though is what am I going to do with this reasonably large chunk of free time I'm going to have available now that I don't need to troll the forums every minute of the day?

I think I need to start posting some of the projects I've been working on recently. The new XNA 3.0 CTP is incredible and I have been having a blast playing with Zune development and using the new SoundEffect content pipeline type to easily add sound effects to games without XACT.

Yep, tonight I think it's going to be a great time to make some videos and post some demos and samples. Now if the XNA Team can just figure out what's causing my Zune error I can even start sharing some Zune networking code....

XNADevelopment.com - Scrolling a 2D Background (2.0)

George Clingerman — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:22:05 GMT

I have completely re-written and posted the tutorial covering scrolling a 2D background on my site . This tutorial has been upgraded with improved code and art assets and is now completely re-written for the XNA 2.0 framework.

I have also take the time to create a more advanced version of the source code. I tend to target beginners with my site so I don't always make my code as "robust" as it could be. Often, it teaches a concept, but it's not easy to reuse in another project. The advanced version of the code attempts to delve a little deeper into just how you might structure your code in a more object oriented approach for future reuse. Both the simpler and advanced versions of the code are available as separate source code downloads.

Head on over and check out the tutorial on Scrolling a 2D Background.

As always, I'm *BEGGING* for some comments and feedback. Seriously, even if it's just to say "Hi!". I love to hear from people that have read the tutorials and enjoyed them or even from people that didn't enjoy them. If you have some advice to give on how I should improve, I'd love to hear that too. And of course, if they're helping you out, I'd love to hear that as well. Just a couple comments can really make a difference in helping me stay motivated so if you have a few seconds, just take a little time, I really appreciate them!

XNADevelopment.com - Creating a 2D Sprite (2.0)

George Clingerman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:42:39 GMT

I have completely re-written the tutorial covering creating a 2D sprite and posted it to my site at XNADevelopment.com. I'm much happier with it this time around. This tutorial covers displaying your first sprite on the screen and then positioning the sprite. The tutorial then takes you a step further and helps you get accustomed to object oriented development and walks you through creating a "Sprite" class for creating and drawing your sprites on the screen. Teaching you a fundamental step you will take throughout your game development process.

Go ahead and take a quick walk through on Creating a 2D Sprite.

These tutorials take time to create, so if you've benefited from them, let me know and take the time to leave a comment. I appreciate each and every comment and bit of feedback I get. Thanks for taking the time to show your appreciation.

XNADevelopment.com - Adding an Image to the Game Project (2.0)

George Clingerman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:34:30 GMT

I have re-written the tutorial covering Adding an Image to the game project for the XNA 2.0 framework and posted it to XNADevelopment.com. This tutorial covers adding images to the new "Content" folder available in 2.0 projects.

Head on over and check out the tutorial, Adding an Image to the Game Project.

As always, comments are appreciated.

XNADevelopment.com - Creating a new XNA Windows Game Project (2.0)

George Clingerman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:28:40 GMT

Creating a new XNA Windows Game Project has been re-written for the XNA 2.0 framework and posted to my site at XNADevelopment.com. I created this tutorial to make it easier to write future tutorials since I can just point people to this tutorial when I'm talking about creating a new Windows game. The tutorial covers creating your first Windows game and getting that beautiful cornflower blue to show.

Head on over and check out the tutorial, Creating a new XNA Windows Game Project.

Please feel free to leave me any feedback. All comments are encouraged and appreciated.

XNADevelopment.com - Getting Started with XNA development (2.0)

George Clingerman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:49:01 GMT

The complete re-write for this tutorial for the XNA 2.0 framework has been posted to my site at XNADevelopment.com. In this tutorial I cover all that you need to know to get started with the XNA framework and on your way to making your game.

I know I get a bit wordy, so I added a short little bulleted list to the tutorial, just for people that hate to read. (you know who you are!) So head on over and check out the tutorial, Getting Started with XNA development.

As always, feel free to leave me any feedback. I really appreciate your comments, they help keep me motivated and help me to continually improve my tutorial writing process.

Twin Cities XNA User Group

George Clingerman — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:31:32 GMT

The first ever Twin Cities XNA User Group meeting is tonight THURSDAY). Started by my buddy Chris Williams this is an event that if you CAN make it to, you MUST make it to. The event is tonight, THURSDAY THURSDAY THURSDAY, Nov. 15th and starts at 6:00 PM. If you're within driving distance of Golden Valley, MN make sure you block out your schedule for this momentous occasion.

Flying in as the first speaker is the one and the only Zman. The man is brilliant. I recommend you go just to listen and bask in his sarcasm and wit. He's English, so you probably won't get it, plus he's smarter than you, but just laugh and play along. He's definitely worth listening too. He also one of the few, the proud, the brave that have quite their posh jobs to try to strike out in their own as an independent game developer. His story is definitely worth listening to so buy him a few pints and sit back and enjoy his wisdom and experience.

If you're interested in what XNA is all about or have ever thought about getting your feet wet with game development, this would be a great way to get started on that track.

Also, if you have any questions about starting an XNA User Group in your area, feel free to contact Chris and ask him for some advice.

Hope you guys can make it! Let me know if you go so I can hear how it all went. Wish I could be there so I'm going to live vicariously through you. Don't let me down.

If you want to be a rich and famous game developer and live in Melbourne or Sydney....

George Clingerman — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:44:35 GMT

You should definitely check out the upcoming XNA events being held there. I unfortunately will not be attending due to this small bit of water separating myself from my fame and riches, but there will be several notable speakers and XNA community leaders there to help guide the lucky ones on their way.

More than enough knowledge to be gleaned from the experts at this event to get you started on the right track and get you going on your own XNA XBLA title like The Dishwasher: The Dead Samurai.

Head on over and check out the information. If you're in the area you should really make an effort to get out there and check things out. Even if you haven't played with the XNA framework before, this would be a great opportunity to see just what it's all about.

The Road Not Taken: An XNA tutorial covering color key path collision

George Clingerman — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:08:11 GMT

I've posted a new tutorial at XNADevelopment.com. This one covers doing path collision using a color key. This was a really fun project to do this weekend. Really learned a lot so I thought I would share.

I have also added a couple simpler tutorials for both my benefit and yours. I was finding myself repeating certain steps over and over in each tutorial. Particularly walking a reader through creating a new game project and adding images to game project. So in an effort to stop repeating myself, I refactored (you can refactor tutorials right?)

There is now a tutorial specifically covering each of those activities and in the future I will just reference those tutorials instead of saying the same thing over and over. I think they both turned out pretty well and contain quite a bit of useful information. I am hoping this helps speed up both the tutorial process and moving through the tutorials so people can skip steps they are familiar with. So if you need a refresher, here is a tutorial covering creating a new Windows game project and how to add images to a game project.

Well, it is late and it has been a long weekend so that's all I have for now. Let me know what you think of the new tutorial The Road Not Taken. I always appreciate any comments or feedback you might have.

Have fun!

XNADevelopment.com gets a bit of a new look

George Clingerman — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:41:39 GMT

I have been working the past several weeks on giving XNADevelopment.com some updates to its styles. I think that I'm finally done tinkering for now. Nothing major was done. It is still the same super simplistic site with little to no bells or whistles.

I love it.

If you are curious what has changed, I've muted the colors a bit. I think it makes for easier reading. You'll have to let me know if you disagree. I've also tried to make links stand out a bit more too.

The largest change was suggested by a member of the XNA IRC channel (efnet #xna, thanks boki!). I made some layout adjustments to my lists of tutorials and demos. Standardized the flow of the text and added image previews (with rounded corners!) for all of the tutorials and game demos.

I also added some sub-menus to organize the content a bit better. We will see if that makes it a little easier for people to find tutorials, game demos or useful links they might be looking for.

I am currently working on some new content for the site. More tutorials mostly (been doing too many game demos lately and not enough step-by-steps), so hopefully I get those wrapped up soon and posted.

Let me know what you think. I'm always interested by what people have to say and suggest. Many of the changes I did were prompted by emails and comments made in IM or the IRC, so I do listen.

Hope you're having fun playing with the XNA framework! I know I am.