Product Description

Professional XNA(r) Programming

Building Games for Xbox 360(r) and Windows(r)with XNA Game Studio 2.0, 2nd Edition

This improved and updated edition of the bestseller will get you up and running quickly with building games for Xbox 360 and the Windows platform. Professional game developer and Microsoft MVP Benjamin Nitschke begins by explaining how to install the free XNA Game Studio 2.0 and then goes on to share essential advice for using it in a productive way.

Before you know it, each successive chapter will have you developing small games that increase in difficulty. By using the chapters as building blocks, you′ll evolve from 2D programming to 3D, and you′ll ultimately create a full–blown graphics engine that can be used for more advanced game projects. Plus, you′ll get an inside look at six fully functional games, including the popular Racing Game and the new Dungeon Quest.

What you will learn from this book
∗

Tips for adding music and sound with XACT
∗

Techniques for creating unique visual effects through Shaders
∗

Ways to access keyboard, mouse, and Xbox controllers with XInput
∗

How to write your own XNA graphics engine and create a game engine
∗

How to manage content in XNA
∗

Myriad ways of fine–tuning, debugging, and troubleshooting
∗

How to make sure games run on the Xbox 360
∗

Ways to generate landscapes and tracks
∗

How to take advantage of XNA′s new networking APIs

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to create games on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms. Experience with C# or a similar .NET language is necessary, but previous game programming is not required.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real–world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #252467 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-22
• Format: Import
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 600 pages

Synopsis
"Professional XNA[registered] Programming Building Games for Xbox 360[registered] and Windows[registered]with XNA Game Studio 2.0, 2nd Edition" - This improved and updated edition of the bestseller will get you up and running quickly with building games for Xbox 360 and the Windows platform. Professional game developer and Microsoft MVP Benjamin Nitschke begins by explaining how to install the free XNA Game Studio 2.0 and then goes on to share essential advice for using it in a productive way. Before you know it, each successive chapter will have you developing small games that increase in difficulty. By using the chapters as building blocks, you'll evolve from 2D programming to 3D, and you'll ultimately create a full-blown graphics engine that can be used for more advanced game projects.Plus, you'll get an inside look at six fully functional games, including the popular Racing Game and the new Dungeon Quest.

You will learn from this book - tips for adding music and sound with XACT; techniques for creating unique visual effects through Shaders; ways to access keyboard, mouse, and Xbox controllers with XInput; how to write your own XNA graphics engine and create a game engine; how to manage content in XNA; myriad ways of fine-tuning, debugging, and troubleshooting; how to make sure games run on the Xbox 360; ways to generate landscapes and tracks; and, how to take advantage of XNA's new networking APIs.This book is for anyone who wants to create games on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms. Experience with C# or a similar .NET language is necessary, but previous game programming is not required. "Wrox Professional" guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

From the Back Cover

Professional XNA® Programming

Building Games for Xbox 360® and Windows®with XNA Game Studio 2.0, 2nd Edition

This improved and updated edition of the bestseller will get you up and running quickly with building games for Xbox 360 and the Windows platform. Professional game developer and Microsoft MVP Benjamin Nitschke begins by explaining how to install the free XNA Game Studio 2.0 and then goes on to share essential advice for using it in a productive way.

Before you know it, each successive chapter will have you developing small games that increase in difficulty. By using the chapters as building blocks, you′ll evolve from 2D programming to 3D, and you′ll ultimately create a full–blown graphics engine that can be used for more advanced game projects. Plus, you′ll get an inside look at six fully functional games, including the popular Racing Game and the new Dungeon Quest.

What you will learn from this book

• Tips for adding music and sound with XACT

• Techniques for creating unique visual effects through Shaders

• Ways to access keyboard, mouse, and Xbox controllers with XInput

• How to write your own XNA graphics engine and create a game engine

• How to manage content in XNA

• Myriad ways of fine–tuning, debugging, and troubleshooting

• How to make sure games run on the Xbox 360

• Ways to generate landscapes and tracks

• How to take advantage of XNA′s new networking APIs

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to create games on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms. Experience with C# or a similar .NET language is necessary, but previous game programming is not required.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real–world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Customer Reviews

Steer Clear!
This book is rubbish, I would give this book a wide berth. I am a professional C# developer looking to advance my knowledge of the XNA Framework. The tutorials miss 90% of the code requiring you to download the source code and step through it! The Author has decided writing Unit Tests for the code is more important than the code itself.

RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH! RUBBISH!

Tell me about XNA not Agile Project Management Methods
Pointless book where the author has used it as a soapbox to promote completely unrelated subjects like Agile project management. The text is error prone and hard to follow. Wait for a better book.

Hard to read - keep Google and Wikipedia handy
It's obvious that the author knows what he's doing. The games that he's produced and are described in this book are amazing. There was a real buzz around XNA Racer on the community forums at the start of the year.

However, I buy a book to read offline with occasional keyboard time and as such, I find this book difficult to recommend. There is too little exposition around the key concepts and the book lurches from over-explaining the basics to assuming black belt matrix algebra knowledge.

A few examples:
* This book is about 3D games programming but has way too few explanatory diagrams.
* The author mentions point sprites as an alternative to billboards. OK, so what's a point sprite? What are the pros and cons of point sprites vs billboards? This is a minor example but a good editor would surely have demanded an explanatory paragraph or two.
* Did the author think the book would be published in colour? The text often refers to coloured elements in black and white diagrams.
* The sample code contains too much of the author's own engine library code, making it difficult to incorporate into your own efforts.
* If it's a bad idea (and it is) to use foreach in game loops, NEVER use foreach in code samples.

Probably the most frustrating thing about the book is the prose style that is at times unreadable and occasionally nonsensical. The book also has an extraordinarily high number of mistakes in the text - I'm guessing this was rushed to market to beat the inevitable XNA book rush.

A very talented developer let down by his publisher (and apparent lack of proofreading effort). When does Petzold's XNA book come out?!