XNA is a game framework by Microsoft that allows deployment for Xbox Live Indie Games as well as Windows Phone 7.
64
votes
7answers
28k views
What is the future of XNA in Windows 8 or how will manged games be developed in Windows 8?
I know this is a potential dupe of this question, but the last answer there was 18 months ago and a lot has happened since.
There seems to be some uncertainty about XNA in Windows 8. Specifically, ...
54
votes
7answers
3k views
What are typical pitfalls when writing games with a managed Language like C#? [closed]
What pitfalls did you encounter when writing games for the PC with a managed Language like C# and how did you solve them?
50
votes
8answers
5k views
2D graphics - why use spritesheets?
I have seen many examples of how to render sprites from a spritesheet but I havent grasped why it is the most common way of dealing with sprites in 2d games.
I have started out with 2d sprite ...
47
votes
7answers
3k views
What are the dangers of self-teaching game development?
I am about to embark upon a journey into game development. Following answers to my last question, I will be using C# and XNA.
However, I don't personally know any other game developers and I don't ...
41
votes
4answers
14k views
How is 2D lighting implemented?
I am wondering what the best way to approach a "lighting" effect in 2D games is. For instance, if my main character is glowing, what techniques can I use to complete the visual effect of the character ...
40
votes
3answers
7k views
Optimizing an XNA 2D game
Does it make sense to implement the logic to skip rendering objects outside the viewport or should I not care about it and let the Framework do it?
29
votes
1answer
3k views
Mouse aim in an FPS
I would like to make a First Person Shooter and move the camera with the mouse. The problem is that when the cursor reaches the limits of the screen, the camera won't turn anymore. How can I keep the ...
28
votes
1answer
5k views
Rendering SVG art directly in XNA
Suppose I have a bunch of 2D art in some vectorized format such as SVG. Is there an easy-ish way to render that directly without having to implement a full SVG renderer myself?
Of course I could ...
26
votes
7answers
6k views
Can you access Kinect motion sensing from XNA?
As of 2010 with the release of XNA 4.0, if I buy an Xbox 360 with Kinect will I be able to access its motion sensing data with the XNA game I'm developing? Or is this only restricted to C++ developers ...
25
votes
16answers
26k views
What are some famous games developed with .NET and/or XNA? [closed]
Are there famous games written in .Net and/or XNA?
25
votes
3answers
3k views
2D water with dynamic waves
New Super Mario Bros has really cool 2D water that I'd like to learn how to create.
Here's a video showing it. When something hits the water, it creates a wave. There are also constant "background" ...
25
votes
4answers
3k views
Proper OO game engine design: how to parcel responsibilities
(note - I don't have the reputation to create new tags, so mod action may be needed to re-tag)
I'm in the midst of developing a 2D sprite-based game for Windows 7 Phone using XNA. The training and ...
22
votes
6answers
4k views
A way to store potentially infinite 2D map data?
I have a 2D platformer that currently can handle chunks with 100 by 100 tiles, with the chunk coordinates are stored as longs, so this is the only limit of maps (maxlong*maxlong).
All entity positions ...
21
votes
10answers
2k views
Effects to make a speeding spaceship look faster
I have a spaceship and I've created a "boost" functionality that speeds up my spaceship, what effects should I implement to create the impression of high speed?
I was thinking of making everything ...
21
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a faster sine function?
I am working on generation 3d perlin noise. The C# Math library seems like overkill for what I need since most of its functions use double percision. I use Math.Sin() in several places to generate the ...
21
votes
3answers
4k views
How can I make this style of 2D “glowing” graphics?
I'm comfortable with the basics of building a 2d sprite based game in XNA, where all my objects are simply .png images that I move around.
What things do I need to learn next to be able to develop a ...
20
votes
11answers
3k views
XNA development tutorials
Can anybody guide me about where can I get the basic starter tutorials for developing using XNA framework?
19
votes
2answers
5k views
How exactly does XNA's SpriteBatch work?
To be more precise, if I needed to recreate this functionality from scratch in another API (e.g. in OpenGL) what would it need to be capable of doing?
I do have a general idea of some of the steps, ...
19
votes
4answers
3k views
Feasibility of an XNA game on PC
A friend and I are doing a 2D XNA game. Thus far, the API seems really cool and performance is acceptable. My question is more towards the release of it though. As other developers how have done ...
19
votes
2answers
1k views
Calculating the rotational force of a 2D sprite
I am wondering if someone has an elegant way of calculating the following scenario.
I have an object of (n) number of squares, random shapes, but we will pretend they are all rectangles.
We are ...
19
votes
3answers
4k views
Am I allowed to sell an XNA game by myself?
I just started the developpement of an XNA game and I'm asking myself if it wouldn't be better to use an open-source alternative since I absolutely want to keep the complete control over my game. I ...
19
votes
3answers
846 views
Making a game as a tutorial?
I am in charge of a game development club at my school and I'd like to work on a project this summer that I could use as a tutorial next semester. I have never done anything quite like this so I was ...
19
votes
2answers
928 views
Weird white outline around model
I'm working on a game in XNA 4 and I recently switched to a deferred shading implementation following this guide. A strange white outline is showing up on my models now and I'm not sure whats causing ...
18
votes
5answers
1k views
What do potential employers look for in a good portfolio?
A buddy from work and myself are wanting to get into the indie scene for game development. I've done a few tech demos demonstrating different ideas and approaches for various problems. Now, I feel ...
18
votes
7answers
2k views
Optimizing gravity calculations
I've got a bunch of objects of varying size and velocity which gravitate towards each other. On every update, I have to go over every object and add up the forces due to gravity of every other object. ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
Can I legally sell an XNA game made with Visual C# Express Edition?
I've dowloaded Visual C# Express Edition and when it starts up it says "for evaluation purposes only." What does this mean?
Does this mean I have to buy the full version to legally sell my game I ...
18
votes
2answers
840 views
Making entire scene fade to grayscale
When the player loses all of their lives, I want the entire game screen to go grayscale, but not stop updating immediately. I'd also prefer it fade to grayscale instead of suddenly lose all color. ...
17
votes
4answers
3k views
Top Down RPG Movement w/ Correction?
I would hope that we have all played Zelda: A Link to the Past, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to emulate that kind of 2D, top-down character movement with a touch of correction. It has ...
17
votes
7answers
3k views
Efficient way of drawing outlines around sprites
I'm using XNA to program a game, and have been experimenting with various ways to achieve a 'selected' effect on my sprites. The trouble I am having is that each clickable that is drawn in the ...
17
votes
4answers
7k views
Is there anything like XNA for c++? [closed]
I love the features of XNA but I want to get into c++ game dev. The problem is that I now have to worry about everything from loading a png file to opening a window. This is a little bit annoying.
I ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Recognizing a hexagonal clickbox
I'm working on a game that is going to involve gasp hexagons.
At present, I have a hexagon image that I am using (all sides are the same length...it fits into a 50px by 50px image).
I am somewhat ...
16
votes
7answers
832 views
Spawning units in a world made by Perlin noise?
There's some issues that I've come across in my Perlin noise-based game. Take a look at the attached screenshot below.
The white areas you see are walls, and the black areas are walkable. The ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
How to deal with corner collisions in 2D?
I'm writing a top down 2d XNA game. Since its my first I'm trying to write the physics and collision stuff myself to learn it.
Whenever my player sprite character attempts to move into a position ...
16
votes
6answers
3k views
Is there any Lua API that works with C# for PC & XBox 360 Development?
I am reading a book on Game Development in which they show you how to make scripts for your game in Lua. They program Lua and use it from C++, but I was wondering if there is a library or API to use ...
15
votes
4answers
6k views
What are the cons of using DrawableGameComponent for every instance of a game object?
I've read in many places that DrawableGameComponents should be saved for things like "levels" or some kind of managers instead of using them, for example, for characters or tiles (Like this guy says ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
Getting started in game development: Is XNA a good choice? [closed]
Long time reader; first time asker:
I've wanted to a part of the games industry for a while, but my resume is 100% all backend work.
I'm a strong C++/C# developer, with no practical game development ...
15
votes
2answers
663 views
Multiplayer Implementation, Can I implement it later if I chose to?
I plan to use XNA to build a game project. I'm not entirely sure at the moment if I want to add multiplayer functionality or not, bearing I have a lot of other problems to solve that I'm still new at. ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
How to colorize certain parts of a model - like RTS games have those team colors?
I am in a need of implementing something we see in RTS games: team colors. Basically, I am looking for a way to colorize certain parts of a model. How would I achieve this? I have no idea where to ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views
Where can I publish my Windows Indie game?
I've just finished an XNA game for the Windows Phone 7 and XBLIG. At the moment, the game is a 'lite' version, so is free, but the next version will have a small price-tag.
I also did a Windows ...
15
votes
2answers
19k views
Error on new XNA 4.0 game project - No suitable graphics card found
Any ideas on how to fix this? According to what I remember about XNA 3 was that when running the application from scratch, I would get a blue colored windows with nothing rendered.
Any suggestions?
...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
How can I create a lighting effect like this?
This is the most beautiful 2d lighting I have ever seen, and I'd like to perform lighting like this too. How do I do it?
I don't care about the physics or how the particles are simulated - I only ...
15
votes
1answer
454 views
Keystone Correction using 3D-Points of Kinect
With XNA, I am displaying a simple rectangle which is projected onto the floor. The projector can be placed at an arbitrary position. Obviously, the projected rectangle gets distorted according to the ...
15
votes
0answers
481 views
Atmospheric scattering sky from space artifacts
I am in the process of implementing atmospheric scattering of a planets from space. I have been using Sean O'Neil's shaders from http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_chapter16.html as a ...
14
votes
4answers
3k views
What are the differences between XNA 3.1 and 4.0?
I have been away from XNA for a couple months and want to get back into it. I had a game I was currently working on, but it was done in XNA 3.1. What are the differences between the two, and is it ...
14
votes
7answers
10k views
What are some known 2D/3D physics engines for XNA?
I'm looking for a physics engine to use in an XNA project (2D or 3D). Because it's for XNA, it needs to fulfill some requirements:
Not necessarily free, but close to it is obviously preferred
...
14
votes
9answers
2k views
How should I go about learning XNA?
I want to start learning how to make games in XNA, but I have no idea where to start! If someone could advise me on what pieces of software I need and some good books or tutorials to look at, that ...
14
votes
7answers
762 views
UI mockups to the code
My UI designer has made a lovely photoshop PSD of the UI and everything pretty. The biggest problem I'm having is converting some of the more elegant fonts used into something renderable in-game. Is ...
14
votes
1answer
2k views
The practical cost of swapping effects
I use XNA for my projects and on those forums I sometimes see references to the fact that swapping an effect for a mesh has a relatively high cost, which surprises me as I thought to swap an effect ...
14
votes
1answer
4k views
Orienting a model to face a target
I have two objects (target and player), both have Position (Vector3) and Rotation (Quaternion). I want the target to rotate and be facing right at the player. The target, when it shoots something ...
14
votes
1answer
4k views
Creating a 3D map for XNA?
Is anyone aware of a nice 3D map tutorial (how to import and use the map) using XNA without any engine but not limited to an external application (like Tiled for 2D maps) ?
I did a search arund here ...
