Learning XNA 4.0: Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7

by Aaron Reed

Overview

Want to develop games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7? This hands-on book will get you started with Microsoft's XNA 4.0 development framework right away -- even if you have no experience developing games. Although XNA includes several key concepts that can be difficult for beginning web developers to grasp, Learning XNA 4.0 shortens the learning curve by walking you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format.

Each chapter offers a self-contained lesson with illustrations and annotated examples, along with exercises and review questions to help you test your understanding and practice new skills as you go. Once you've finished this book, you'll know how to develop your own sophisticated games from start to finish.

• Learn game development from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects
• Delve into high-level shader language (HLSL) and introductory artificial intelligence concepts
• Build three complete, exciting games using 2D, 3D, and multiplayer techniques
• Develop for and deploy your games to the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449302764
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/09/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	540
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Aaron Reed has extensive software development experience and more importantly, experience in software development education. Since 2004 he has taught courses at Neumont Universityin .NET, web development and web services, XNA, systems design and architecture, and more.



Aaron's experience in teaching both DirectX and XNA for several years to university-level students helps him understand what topics are easily understood and which ones need more depth and emphasis. Through experience in the classroom he also has a good understanding of what format and sequence makes the most sense to present the material. This book follows that format and is meant to present game development concepts in the way most efficient and most comprehendible as proven in the classroom.

Table of Contents

Dedication; Preface; Who This Book Is For; How This Book Is Organized; Support; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; We’d Like to Hear from You; Safari® Books Online; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: What’s New in XNA 4.0?; 1.1 Revised Project Folder Structure; 1.2 Develop Games for Windows Phone 7 Series; 1.3 Graphics Profiles; 1.4 Configurable Effects; 1.5 Built-in State Objects; 1.6 Scalars and Orientation; 1.7 Revised Input API; 1.8 Additional Audio API; 1.9 Music and Picture Enumeration and Video Playback; 1.10 Modified and Added Classes and Methods; 1.11 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Chapter 2: Getting Started; 2.1 System Requirements; 2.2 Additional Resources; 2.3 Installation; 2.4 Creating Your First XNA Application; 2.5 What You Just Did; 2.6 Summary; 2.7 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Chapter 3: Fun with Sprites; 3.1 A Look Behind the Scenes; 3.2 Game Development Versus Polling; 3.3 Modifying Your Game; 3.4 Adding a Sprite to Your Project; 3.5 Loading and Drawing Your Sprite; 3.6 Transparency and Other Options; 3.7 Layer Depth; 3.8 Let’s Move; 3.9 Animation; 3.10 Adjusting the Framerate; 3.11 Adjusting the Animation Speed; 3.12 What You Just Did; 3.13 Summary; 3.14 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 3.15 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 4: User Input and Collision Detection; 4.1 More Sprites; 4.2 Keyboard Input; 4.3 Mouse Input; 4.4 Gamepad Input; 4.5 Keeping the Sprite in the Game Window; 4.6 Collision Detection; 4.7 What You Just Did; 4.8 Summary; 4.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 4.10 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 5: Applying Some Object-Oriented Design; 5.1 Designing Your Classes; 5.2 Creating a Sprite Class; 5.3 Creating a User-Controlled Sprite Class; 5.4 Creating an Automated Sprite Class; 5.5 Game Components; 5.6 Coding the SpriteManager; 5.7 Cleaning Up; 5.8 Making Them Move; 5.9 What You Just Did; 5.10 Summary; 5.11 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 5.12 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 6: Sound Effects and Audio; 6.1 Using XACT; 6.2 Implementing XACT Audio Files in Code; 6.3 Using the Simplified API for Sound and Audio; 6.4 Adding More Sound to Your Game; 6.5 What You Just Did; 6.6 Summary; 6.7 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 6.8 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 7: Basic Artificial Intelligence; 7.1 The Turing Test; 7.2 Creating Sprites at Random Intervals; 7.3 Randomly Spawning Sprites; 7.4 Irrelevant Objects; 7.5 Creating a Chasing Sprite; 7.6 Creating an Evading Sprite; 7.7 What You Just Did; 7.8 Summary; 7.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 7.10 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 8: Putting It All Together; 8.1 Drawing 2D Text; 8.2 Randomly Generating Different Sprite Types; 8.3 Adding Some Variety to Your Sprites; 8.4 Adding a Background Image; 8.5 Game Scoring; 8.6 Game States; 8.7 Enabling/Disabling GameComponents; 8.8 Game-Over Logic and the Game-Over Screen; 8.9 Fine-Tuning Gameplay; 8.10 Creating Power-Ups; 8.11 What You Just Did; 8.12 Summary; 8.13 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 8.14 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 9: 3D Game Development; 9.1 Coordinate Systems; 9.2 Cameras; 9.3 Creating a 3D Camera; 9.4 Drawing Primitives; 9.5 Matrix Multiplication; 9.6 Movement and Rotation; 9.7 Backface Culling; 9.8 More on Rotations; 9.9 Even More Rotations; 9.10 Primitive Types; 9.11 Applying Textures; 9.12 What You Just Did; 9.13 Summary; 9.14 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 9.15 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 10: 3D Models; 10.1 Using 3D Models; 10.2 Setting Up the Project; 10.3 Adding a Model to Your Project; 10.4 Drawing a Model Using a BasicModel Class; 10.5 Adding a Model Manager; 10.6 Rotating Your Model; 10.7 What You Just Did; 10.8 Summary; 10.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 10.10 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 11: Creating a First-Person Camera; 11.1 Components of a Moving 3D Camera; 11.2 Moving in a First-Person Camera; 11.3 Rotations in a First-Person Camera; 11.4 Coding the Camera for the 3D Game; 11.5 What You Just Did; 11.6 Summary; 11.7 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 11.8 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 12: 3D Collision Detection and Shooting; 12.1 Creating a Moving Enemy; 12.2 Adding Some Game Logic; 12.3 Firing Shots; 12.4 3D Collision Detection and Bounding Spheres; 12.5 Adding a Crosshair; 12.6 Adding Sound; 12.7 What You Just Did; 12.8 Summary; 12.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 12.10 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 13: HLSL Basics; 13.1 HLSL Syntax; 13.2 Dissecting a Sample HLSL Effect File; 13.3 Applying an HLSL Effect in C#; 13.4 Applying HLSL Using Textures; 13.5 HLSL Effects: Creating a Negative; 13.6 HLSL Effects: Blur; 13.7 HLSL Effects: Grayscale; 13.8 What You Just Did; 13.9 Summary; 13.10 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; 13.11 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 14: Particle Systems; 14.1 Creating a Particle Engine; 14.2 Adding a Particle Effect File; 14.3 Adding Your Particle Engine to Your Game; 14.4 Adding a Starfield; 14.5 What You Just Did; 14.6 Summary; 14.7 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Chapter 15: Wrapping Up Your 3D Game; 15.1 Adding a Splash Screen Game Component; 15.2 Keeping Score; 15.3 Adding a Power-Up; 15.4 What You Just Did; 15.5 Test Your Knowledge: Exercise; Chapter 16: Deploying to the Xbox 360; 16.1 Adding an Xbox 360 Device; 16.2 Converting a Project to Run on the Xbox 360; 16.3 Supporting Gamepad Input; 16.4 Deploying to the Xbox 360; 16.5 Xbox 360 Display Settings; 16.6 The Title Safe Region; 16.7 What You Just Did; 16.8 Summary; 16.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Chapter 17: Developing for Windows Phone 7; 17.1 Setting Up Your Windows Phone 7 Device; 17.2 Creating a Windows Phone 7 Project; 17.3 Resources; 17.4 Digging In; 17.5 Adding a ModelManager; 17.6 Finishing Details; 17.7 What You Just Did; 17.8 Summary; 17.9 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Chapter 18: Multiplayer Games; 18.1 Split-Screen Functionality; 18.2 Network Game Development; 18.3 Network Configurations; 18.4 Writing an XNA Network Game; 18.5 Modifying the Sprite Class; 18.6 Modifying the UserControlledSprite Class; 18.7 Coding Your Game1 Class; 18.8 Adding Update Code; 18.9 Adding Draw Code; 18.10 Adding Biohazard Bombs of Insanity!; 18.11 What You Just Did; 18.12 Summary; 18.13 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz; Answers to Quizzes and Exercises; Chapter 1: What’s New in XNA 4.0?; Chapter 2: Getting Started; Chapter 3: Fun with Sprites; Chapter 4: User Input and Collision Detection; Chapter 5: Applying Some Object-Oriented Design; Chapter 6: Sound Effects and Audio; Chapter 7: Basic Artificial Intelligence; Chapter 8: Putting It All Together; Chapter 9: 3D Game Development; Chapter 10: 3D Models; Chapter 11: Creating a First-Person Camera; Chapter 12: 3D Collision Detection and Shooting; Chapter 13: HLSL Basics; Chapter 14: Particle Systems; Chapter 15: Wrapping Up Your 3D Game; Chapter 16: Deploying to the Xbox 360; Chapter 17: Developing for Windows Phone 7; Chapter 18: Multiplayer Games; Colophon;