http://www.xnaresources.com Latest Files en-us <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/ " width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> XNA 4.0, along with the rest of the Windows Phone Deveopment Tools, has reached the Beta stage. You can download the installation package here: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/launchcenter<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F%A0&itemDate=2010%2D7%2D13+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+Game+Studio+4%2E0+hits+Beta" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F%A0&itemDate=2010%2D7%2D13+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+Game+Studio+4%2E0+hits+Beta" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=132 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/basedefender.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> It is always nice to see someone pick up one of our tutorials and share their own work with the community, and Lance Zimmerman contacted me last week to share a project called Base Defender that he has been working on using the XNA Resources Star Defense tutorial as a basis for an extended game. He has added a radar at the bottom of the screen, terrain features and buildings, new enemies, and is working on different kinds of enemy AI behavior. The source code for Lance's evolving project, as well as his project page, is up at https://sites.google.com/site/gamesbylancezimmermaninxna/ Have a look!<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fbasedefender%2Epng&itemDate=2010%2D3%2D21+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Games+by+Lance+Zimmerman+in+XNA+%2D+Star+Defense+Spinoff" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fbasedefender%2Epng&itemDate=2010%2D3%2D21+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Games+by+Lance+Zimmerman+in+XNA+%2D+Star+Defense+Spinoff" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=131 Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/." width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Ok, so the Steam Holiday Sale (http://www.steampowered.com) hit my free time pretty hard :) I picked up a number of games, and have been enjoying Dragon Age, Borderlands and The Witcher quite a bit since the holidays. That said, I haven't been completely idle on the XNA front. I've got another mini tutorial almost ready to go, and I've been working on a brand spankin' new Tile Engine that supports square, hex, and isometric tile maps. No real timeframe on that, as I still have the upcoming Mass Effect 2 to deal with :)<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F%2E&itemDate=2010%2D1%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=What+I%27ve+Been+Up+To%2E%2E%2E" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F%2E&itemDate=2010%2D1%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=What+I%27ve+Been+Up+To%2E%2E%2E" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=130 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_zunetext.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Better late than never! :) This has actually been hanging around on my hard drive for quite a while, but with upgrading my PC to Windows 7 and other various things that have cropped up over the last few months, I haven't had time to get it properly formatted and posted up as a tutorial. But now here it is. This is the second of my "mini tutorials", and covers a quick project I put together to experiment with both my Text Handling class, and doing things on the Zune. Fair warning: There isn't much of a practical use to this project as is. The tutorial takes you through building an app for the Zune (works on Windows as well... and no real reason it wouldn't work on the XBox) that lets you browse through text files on your Zune device. Due to the restrictions associated with the Zune, however, the only way to get text files on the device is to include them as content objects in your project. That said, there are some useful things covered here, including building a Visual Studio solution that contains a project for both Windows (for testing purposes) and a project for the Zune (for deployment purposes). We do things like add a scroll bar to indicate how far along in the text we are, and save the location we were last at in a file so we can come back to it later using Storage Containers. You can find the tutorial here. On a side note, I've gotten a couple of e-mail questions about tile engines and the like. I do have some newer material on this front, and hope to put some of it together in the near future.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fzunetext%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D12%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Zune+Text+File+Viewer+Tutorial" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fzunetext%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D12%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Zune+Text+File+Viewer+Tutorial" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=129 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_texthandler.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I noted in my entry earlier today that a new tutorial was in the works, and I had some time this evening to do the formatting, so it is up faster than I had expected! :) This code comes from a project I have been working on, for which I decided that I needed a simpler way to handle text output, and especially needed a way to change the font/color of text being output at arbitrary points in the string without using a bunch of different calls to SpriteBatch.Draw(). This tutorial walks through building a C# static class to automate some of the work in drawing text to the screen in XNA, and includes a couple of nifty features like rudimentary formatting codes, a "console"-type printing mode, word wrapping, and automatic font loading. You can find the link on the Tutorials page, or jump there directly. This class should work on Windows, the XBox 360, and the Zune without changes, and is really just the basics of what this class could be expanded to do.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Ftexthandler%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D7%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+3%2E0+TextHandler+Class" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Ftexthandler%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D7%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+3%2E0+TextHandler+Class" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=128 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_zune.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I finally decided to pick up a Zune, and grabbed the Zune 120, with 3.2in screen and 120gb hard drive. I've been playing around with transfering some of my XNA projects to the Zune, and it's kinda fun to see my games running on the portable device. Jason and I have been playing around with a few different projects, including a 3D conversion of Star Defense (which won't run on the Zune, as the Zune supports 2D graphics only) and a tile-based RPG engine that I've been playing with as a PC project. I added a few lines to resize the display and compiled the project for the Zune and it works fine without further changes. I've also been putting together a small new tutorial on building a class to make handling text with XNA a bit easier. The class and tutorial write-up are finished, I just need to reformat the Word document to the format the site uses, so expect it to show up in the next few days.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fzune%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D7%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Zune+and+New+Tutorial+On+the+Way" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fzune%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D7%2D12+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Zune+and+New+Tutorial+On+the+Way" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=127 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_learningxna3.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Recently I decided that I really wanted to delve into 3D with XNA, so I started looking for reading material on the subject. There are a number of good XNA books out there now, but I've had trouble following many of them when trying to work with 3D graphics because they jump right in and start talking about Quaternions and such before giving a good introduction to the concepts involved. (Maybe I'm just dense, but the whole 3D math thing has always made my head hurt). Not so with Learning XNA 3.0 by Aaron Reed. The author teaches game programming using XNA, and the book itself is set up much like a class you would take to learn how to develop games using XNA. There is a measured, built up approach to the concepts that I found very easy to follow while demystifying the arcana of 3D graphics programming. The book starts out covering the basics of 2D rendering with SpriteBatch (ok, I'll admit I skipped those chapters) and then moves on to develop a 3D game throughout most of the chapters. The game includes moving 3D models, a 3D camera, particle explosions, sound effects and music, and combining 3D with 2D overlays and text display. Overall, I found the book to be a great introduction to 3D game programming. So much so that I have started reworking a certain 2D game that appears as a 12 part tutorial on this site in to a 3D game, using 3D models for the objects and particles for the special effects. If you are looking to get your feet wet with 3D graphics in XNA, Learning XNA 3.0 is a great place to start.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Flearningxna3%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D6%2D22+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Good+Read+%3A+Learning+XNA+3%2E0+by+Aaron+Reed" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Flearningxna3%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D6%2D22+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Good+Read+%3A+Learning+XNA+3%2E0+by+Aaron+Reed" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=126 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/xnalogo.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Just a quick note to let everyone know that I'm still here... I've just been a bit busy the last couple of months and haven't had time to do much with XNA development for a while. I have been spending small amounts of time revisiting a few games like Legend of Blacksilver and the Questron series on my Commodore 64. These were some of my favorite games back in those days, and I would dearly love to develop an updated game along these lines. Maybe something like this for the Zune if I can ever get around to getting one :) Anyway, I hope to have some more content in the relatively near future. Until then, keep coding!<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnalogo%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D5%2D3+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Still+Around" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnalogo%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D5%2D3+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Still+Around" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=125 Sun, 3 May 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_spriteengine.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I've uploaded a new five-part tutorial in which I expand the sprite engine we originally created in the Star Defense tutorial. The new features include: Multiple animations per sprite, including looping and "fire and forget" animations Sprite Targets - Sprites that move at a given speed towards a target point Sprite Auto Rotation - Sprites that can rotate based on their current and previous positions Sprite Paths - Sprites that can follow a defined path of points Examples are included, as is a download of the full project at the end of the series. Enjoy! And remember, comments and questions are always welcome. Start with Part 1<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fspriteengine%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D1%2D5+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Expanded+Sprite+Engine+Tutorial" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fspriteengine%2Epng&itemDate=2009%2D1%2D5+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Expanded+Sprite+Engine+Tutorial" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=124 Mon, 5 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/xnalogo.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Merry Christmas! The weeks leading up to the hoiday have been a bit crazy, hence the lack of updates, however after the new year I hope to have some new goodies for you, including some items from my new 2D game project. Happy Holidays! - Kurt<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnalogo%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D12%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Merry+Christmas%21" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnalogo%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D12%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Merry+Christmas%21" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=123 Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense2.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I've run through all of the Star Defense tutorials and found that no changes were necessary for the upgrade to XNA 3.0. I did update the ZIP file in Part 11 with the converted XNA 3 file for simplicity's sake. Additionally, Part 12 is done! In the final segment of the series, we add sound effects to our game events to wrap things up for the project. I'm working on a summary/wrapup post for the Star Defense series that I will post in a few days. I've also started working on a few other projects, one of which will likely end up as my next tutorial series. No details yet, but it combines a rewrite of my old Tile Engine system with some advanced versions of the concepts developed in Star Defense.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D11%2D3+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense%2C+XNA+3%2E0%2C+and+Sound" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D11%2D3+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense%2C+XNA+3%2E0%2C+and+Sound" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=122 Mon, 3 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/xna_news_launch.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Today marks the release of XNA Game Studio 3.0! I've got the download and will be installing in and running through the Star Defense tutorials this weekend, updating them where needed to work with 3.0, and adding the Sound installment as well.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxna%5Fnews%5Flaunch%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D30+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+Game+Studio+3%2E0+is+Live%21" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxna%5Fnews%5Flaunch%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D30+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+Game+Studio+3%2E0+is+Live%21" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=121 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/elite.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Ziggyware is running an article contest from October 12th to November 30th for XNA Development articles to be features at http://www.ziggyware.com. They have some nice prizes too! First Place XBox 360 Elite (USA NTSC) Extra Wireless Controller One Year subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club Milkshape 3D License 1600 MS LIVE Points Second Place One Year subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club Milkshape 3D License 1600 MS LIVE Points Third Place Milkshape 3D License 1600 MS LIVE Points Instructions and rules are available on the site.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Felite%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D19+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Ziggyware+Fall+2008+Article+Contest" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Felite%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D19+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Ziggyware+Fall+2008+Article+Contest" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=120 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense2.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I have uploaded the final pieces of the XNAResources.com Star Defense tutorial, all available from the Tutorials page. In Part 10, we cover adding a game screen overlay to the game and writing text to the screen such as the player's score, lives left, and the like. In Part 11, we add Power Ups to the game, modifying our existing gameplay as the player gathers power up barrels. Part 12 is currently a placeholder for the Audio system. When XNA 3.0 is officially released I'll be updating this section. There will also be a post in a day or so covering suggestions for expanding the game, adding new features, and the like. Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, and questions about the series on this post.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D9+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Series+Completed+%28Until+XNA+3%2E0%21%29" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D9+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Series+Completed+%28Until+XNA+3%2E0%21%29" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=119 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense2.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I had some time to type over the weekend and am happy to say that parts 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the Star Defense Tutorial Series are now availabe on our Tutorials page. In Part 6 we add enemies to our game, giving them a very basic movement system. In Part 7 we add collision detection so we can shoot the enemies out of the sky. In Part 8 we add explosions to our game so we can shoot the enemies out of the sky more impressively! In Part 9 we add a game structure surrounding our code, with a title screen, player death, and game levels. More parts are on the way!<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D7+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+%2D+Huge+Four+Part+Update" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense2%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D7+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+%2D+Huge+Four+Part+Update" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=118 Tue, 7 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> The next installment of our Star Defense tutorial series is now online. In Part 5, we add a Bullet class to our project and modify our game to allow the player to fire bullets all over the place. As always, this segment is available from our Tutorials page. In the next two parts (I haven't decided on the order yet) we will add enemy ships and an explosion class.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D6+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+Part+5+%2D+Lock+and+Load" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D6+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+Part+5+%2D+Lock+and+Load" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=117 Mon, 6 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Part 4 of our continuing Star Defense tutorial series is now up and live. In this installment, we add the player's star fighter to our game, as well as handle player input for movement and how it impacts our scrolling background. <br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D4+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+%2D+Parts+4+is+Up" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D4+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+%2D+Parts+4+is+Up" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=116 Sat, 4 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I found myself up early this morning, so I've uploaded Part 3 of the Star Defense tutorial series. In this installment, we add a multi-layered scrolling background to our game. Check out Part 3 from the Tutorials page. In Part 4, we will be adding the player's star fighter.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D1+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Part+3+is+now+Live" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D10%2D1+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Part+3+is+now+Live" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=115 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> I have just uploaded parts 1 and 2 of my new Star Defense tutorial series. Part 1 covers the design of the game and gives an overview of what we will be coding and what art resources we are going to need. Part 2 begins implementation by putting together an AnimatedSprite class which will handle virtually all of our drawing in the game. Both parts are accessable via our Tutorials page. Give them a look, and please leave comments and or suggestions (especially if you have any troubles with the code) on this blog post. The next several segments are well along in being written up, so expect part 3 in a few days.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D28+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+%2D+Parts+1+and+2+now+Live%21" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D28+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+%2D+Parts+1+and+2+now+Live%21" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=114 Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/blogpic_stardefense.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Just a quick update to let everyone know that the Star Defense tutorial series is progressing nicely, and I hope to put the first two parts up over the weekend. The first installment will be a mini "design document" laying out what we are want to accomplish and what resources we will need. The second will begin to implement our game by setting up our project, a few resources, and putting together an AnimatedSprite class that we will use throughout the game to draw things to the screen.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+Update" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fblogpic%5Fstardefense%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D25+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Star+Defense+Tutorial+Series+Update" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=113 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/3d.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Ok! After getting everything set up nicely and digging back through my old XNA code, I've decided that I'll be putting together a tutorial series on writing a 2D arcade game. I've got the game all in working order back from the Beta 2 days and updated it to the XNA 2. (It runs and everything works, but I need to redo some things to reflect changes to XNA since Beta 2) I'm working on refactoring it into a more managable form and will then start writing the tutorials for it. It will take me a couple of weeks go get the first part up, but here is an overview of the game: Side-scrolling "shooter" game, similar to the old Defender and Stargate arcade games Paralax Scrolling backgrounds Multiple independant "enemies" Power-Ups Better ship handling Faster shots Dual cannons Extra Lives Extra Superbombs Score keeping "Waves" (Levels) "Super Bombs" that destroy all enemies on the screen Title-screen vs Gameplay Screen <br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F3d%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D8+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Upcoming+Tutorial+Series" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F3d%2Epng&itemDate=2008%2D9%2D8+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=Upcoming+Tutorial+Series" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=112 Mon, 8 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST I know it's been a LONG time since we've seen anything around here, but I've recently picked XNA back up and have been playing with it again. It is nice to see the progress that has been made since the pre 1.0 version we were working with. I'm playing around with a couple of new ideas for XNA work (and I even have an XBox 360 now!) and while I can't promise a bunch of speedy updates, I am planning on resurrecting XNAResources and adding some new tutorials and the like.<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F&itemDate=2008%2D8%2D28+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=From+the+Ashes%2E%2E%2E" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2F&itemDate=2008%2D8%2D28+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=From+the+Ashes%2E%2E%2E" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=111 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/xnaupdate.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> The 1.0 refresh is out!!! Jump over to http://www.xna.com and grab it while its hot!!<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnaupdate%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D24+8%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+1%2E0+Refresh+is+out%21" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxnaupdate%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D24+8%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+1%2E0+Refresh+is+out%21" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=109 Tue, 24 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/devtag.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> We have just launched a new feature here at XNAResources.com! After launching our new link directory we have a great opportunity to give users a way to show off their XNA developer credentials! We are calling the new feature DevTags! They were designed to be just like the XBOX Live GamerTag but instead of showing your gaming skills they show your development skills! All you need to start using the new DevTag is to register in our link directory and add links to your resources in our directory... those resources will make up your DevTag! Over time as users rate your listings in our directory those ratings will make up your DevTags rating! We currently have 2 versions of the DevTag available that you can embed on any website... one it HTML based and one is IMG based for areas that don't allow you to post script data... So what are you waiting for??? Go register in our directory and get your new DevTag setup and start showing off your XNA to everyone! If your already registered just login and update your profile and grab your DevTag code!<br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fdevtag%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D4+21%3A45%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+DevTags+Launched%21" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fdevtag%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D4+21%3A45%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+DevTags+Launched%21" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=108 Wed, 4 Apr 2007 21:45:00 EST <img src="http://www.xnaresources.com/images/blogimages/xna_news_windowsystem.png" width="250" height="188" border="0" align="left"/> Aaron over on Aaron's Blog has release the first version of his XNA WindowSystem, a complete GUI toolset for XNA. The system is implemented as multiple XNA Game Components, is skinnable, and features the following controls: Check Boxes, Combo Boxes, Dialogs, Icons, Images, Image Buttons, Text Buttons, Labels, Menus, Context Menus, Message Boxes, Radio Buttons, Radio Groups, Vertical Scrollbars, Text Boxes and Windows. Aaron has release the source code, so head on over and check it out. (And I recognize those tile images from his testing application! :) ) <br /><a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxna%5Fnews%5Fwindowsystem%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D2+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+WindowSystem+Initial+Release" /><img border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?feedUrl=http%3A//www.xnaresources.com/rss.asp&itemLink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exnaresources%2Ecom%2Fimages%2Fblogimages%2Fxna%5Fnews%5Fwindowsystem%2Epng&itemDate=2007%2D4%2D2+0%3A0%3A0&itemTitle=XNA+WindowSystem+Initial+Release" /></a /> http://www.xnaresources.com/blog.asp?action=viewarticle&articleid=107 Mon, 2 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST