PDA

View Full Version : XNA tutorials



Kensei
06-03-2009, 07:40 PM
I know there is a link to various tutorials already in the resources thread but I felt I would create a new thread to specifically highlight tutorials that have helped me.

Firstly, if you want to get stuck in and make a working game in a short time. Try doing George's XNA tutorials on his XNA Development (http://www.xnadevelopment.com/tutorials.shtml) site.
I liked this set of tutorials because he immediately dives into object orientation and how to get a short game concept out. It was a lot less technical than Reimer's tutorial series and is recommended for people such as Gazza_N who doesn't know a lot about programming and just wants to learn how to use XNA without fiddling with the bare bones of XNA

Ziggyware (http://www.ziggyware.com/articles.php?cat_id=6) imo is a godsend for someone like me :p I build my games incrementally and keep adding features as I go along.

Two articles have helped me a lot in recent times, How to create a menu (http://www.ziggyware.com/readarticle.php?article_id=188) which gives you at the end of the tutorial a basic 'menu' object that can be plugged into your game.

And the best one, possibly not the most advisable, but another approach to how to maintain GameStates (GameState's for the rest of us (http://www.ziggyware.com/readarticle.php?article_id=195))
Which, instead of using screens like the official XNA tutorial, uses a switch case - which can then be extended to load and unload content depending on the game state.
I am not sure how resource intensive using a switch statement will be on a large project (XNA gurus, advise plzktnx) but it works wonderfully for my little game :)

So yeah, standard disclaimer, this is in no way the views of a seasoned XNA guru, just an amateur game developer leveraging off her C#.Net experience and applying it to XNA. This post is intended as a 'Hey guys, check out these tutorials'

Also, the 'How to make a game in 60 minutes' tutorial series in the actual Help documentation with Visual Studio is fairly comprehensive and covers everything from Camera rotations to sounds.

Added:
The State of Things (http://www.xnadevelopment.com/tutorials/thestateofthings/thestateofthings.shtml) - shows 3 different ways of creating gameStates in your games

Fruzz
06-03-2009, 08:28 PM
Oooo thanks Kensei. Looks good :)

Insomniac
06-03-2009, 08:52 PM
My XNA bookmark folder thanks you Kensei :)
You haven't found any tuts dealing with switching between levels by any chance have you? I've been going through the Starter Kits to try understand the best way to handle it but would really like a tutorial with a nice clean solution/design pattern but haven't had any luck finding one yet.

Kensei
06-03-2009, 10:14 PM
Not yet unfortunately, Insomniac :(
I will be looking for one soon though since my side scroller needs more levels :P

I wonder if you could possibly use the GameState management and extend it that way

Kensei
12-03-2009, 01:03 PM
Update:

My 'hero' George at XNA Development has just made a tutorial on how to do game state management, it is very easy to understand... except the last part, but that is only if you have not studied things like inheritance and polymorphism (no, not turning things into sheep) - see first post

Elyaradine
15-03-2009, 11:42 AM
Thanks for the tuts. :) I might stick my newbie-fingers in the XNA pie sooner then.