[...]... version of XNA Game Studio and Visual C# Express Edition from the download section of the XNA Creators Club web site (http://creators .xna. com) If you already have Visual Studio 200 8 Professional, XNA 3. 0 will work just fine with that version The examples in this book work in either programming environment ■Note XNA 3. 0 runs with Visual C# Express 200 8 or Visual Studio Professional 200 8 XNA 2 .0 runs with... community for game creators, as well as to establish programs in the academic area to support institutions that wish to create courses using retail Xbox 36 0 consoles These efforts become obvious when you realize that Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3. 0 can be downloaded at no charge from Microsoft’s site (http://www.microsoft.com /XNA) Microsoft also offers free game content, including video tutorials, starter... team toward a PhD degree The goal of the team is to develop a real-time 3D depthsensing camera, and he is responsible for (among other things) the visualization of the 3D data For several years, Riemer has been maintaining a web site with tutorials for DirectX Since the launch of XNA in December 200 6, he has ported all his content to XNA and is helping more than 2 ,00 0 people on their path to XNA success... how simple it is to make a game for the Zune, in this chapter, you’ll create a Rock Rain version that runs on this device Chapter 8, 3D Game Programming Basics: This chapter introduces the fundamentals of 3D game programming You’ll learn how to create a 3D scene, load and manipulate 3D objects, move the camera, and everything else you need to know to start digging into virtual 3D worlds Chapter 9, Rendering... copyrighted by NPD Group, 200 8) Also, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) web site (http:// www.theesa.com), more women over 18 years old (around 33 percent of all game players) than boys under 18 years old are playing games Also, 26 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games in 200 8 This is a huge difference from the early years of video games, when most gamers were males... imaginative, it’s halfway to a total failure Remember to include test time in every game project, even the simpler ones! Enough planning for now In the next section, you’ll create your first XNA project and explore the game programming concepts behind it XNA Game Programming Concepts In this section, you’ll create an empty XNA game solution, and then dig into the solution details to understand the basic... your homemade games! This book has the goal of introducing you to XNA, the cross-platform game programming framework from Microsoft, and also presenting you with basic concepts from the game programming industry, showing how these concepts apply to the XNA world The samples in this book, which include some complete games, will give you the knowledge you need to create your own simple games That said,... the game loop when beginning each game level—but it still provides a good idea about a game s internal details Before XNA, this game structure had to be coded from scratch, so you needed to contend with many details that weren’t directly related to your game XNA hides most of this complexity 7 8 CH APT ER 1 ■ GAM E PLAN NIN G AN D PRO GRA MMI NG BA SI CS from you When you create a new Windows Game. .. chess or solitaire Storyline: Closely related to the game goal, the storyline provides a background that explains and justifies the game goal and is crucial to keep the player immersed in the game When the game has a storyline to be followed (not all games have one), everything in the game must contribute to it The wrong music or a small out-of-place detail in a game would break the illusion as much as... and the means it provides to the players to register their experience are important parts of the game s playability and reward system In long games, providing a way for players to start easily from where they left off, a way to register their high scores and compare their scores to other people’s scores, and even the ability to “take pictures” from the game to present later to their friends might make . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" Beginning XNA 3. 0 Game Programming From Novice to Professional ■■■ Alexandre Santos Lobão, Bruno Evangelista, José Antonio Leal de Farias, and Riemer Grootjans Beginning. Farias, and Riemer Grootjans Beginning XNA 3. 0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional Copyright © 200 9 by Alexandre Santos Lobão, Bruno Evangelista, José Antonio Leal de Farias, Riemer Grootjans All. Director: Tom Debolski Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 100 13. Phone 1- 800 -SPRINGER, fax 201 -34 8-4 505 , e-mail