Discover how to create exciting and challenging games for the Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio 4.0 and the Visual C# programming language. XNA GAME STUDIO 4.0 FOR XBOX 360 DEVELOPERS provides experienced game developers with a comprehensive overview of the XNA Framework, giving them all the tools, source code, and information they need to develop Windows and Xbox 360 games. You'll find an introduction to programming in XNA, the XNA Framework, and all the new features included in XNA 4.0 to get you started. The bulk of the book focuses on the XNA Framework, in particular the features of the Xbox 360, including the controller, playing audio, and creating graphics. The final part of the book covers the major features of Xbox Live, including creating and rendering an avatar, 3D programming, loading and rendering a mesh using a basic shader, and networking via system link and online. You'll tie together all the skills you've learned in a final game project that demonstrates the networking capabilities of XNA and acts as a rudimentary, sprite-based networked game engine for your own projects. Let's get started!
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About the Author
Jonathan S. Harbour is a freelance writer and game developer. He maintains a forum at http://www.jharbour.com/forum for support of his books and games, and he has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/jharbourcom. He enjoys science fiction, comics, and video games.
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Most helpful customer reviews
By targetOO
Format:Paperback
Was hoping for a in-depth intermediate guide to the XNA framework. The book however is mainly sets of tables listing every class, method and enum. Exactly what Microsoft offer for free on the internet in a much more convenient format.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly a reference book
May 14 2012
By Steve in Knox
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The first 3/4 of this book is for reference. It basically shows you all of the namespaces and classes with a brief description of each. The last 1/4 walks you through the creation of a basic game engine. I'll keep this around for a quick reference, but I cannot recommend it for learning XNA. Check my other reviews for a recommendation of a really good one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Reference for XNA 4.0
Feb 24 2012
By R. Caldwell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Overall, this is a decent reference book for the XNA 4.0 library. In the first third of the book, it mainly just points out the layout of the XNA library in an easy to read and easy to understand way. The part I was most disappointed in was the lack of code examples and coverage of the HLSL. The XNA library is quite extensive and this book would only benefit with more through code examples, especially for some of the more obscure features of XNA 4.0. However if you are someone who has experience with C# and either XNA 2.0 to XNA 3.1, the reference part of the book is excellent for what it is.
However, the real meat and potatoes are in part 3 of the book. This is where the author covers, Meshes, Avatars, Sprites and Multiplayer Networking, in-depth, with the XNA library. In the last chapter, the author has you making a simple multiplayer game engine that can easily be added to for a more full featured multiplayer engine.
In conclusion, you need to take this book for what it is, a good reference to the XNA 4.0 library with some really good examples coming towards the end of the book. If you are experienced with C# and have used past XNA libraries (XNA 2.0/3.1), then this is a good book to have on hand while making a game with XNA 4.0. With that said, this book would have greatly benefited from an extra 100 to 200 pages, in order to include more code examples and maybe even a couple of chapters to cover the HLSL too.
However, the real meat and potatoes are in part 3 of the book. This is where the author covers, Meshes, Avatars, Sprites and Multiplayer Networking, in-depth, with the XNA library. In the last chapter, the author has you making a simple multiplayer game engine that can easily be added to for a more full featured multiplayer engine.
In conclusion, you need to take this book for what it is, a good reference to the XNA 4.0 library with some really good examples coming towards the end of the book. If you are experienced with C# and have used past XNA libraries (XNA 2.0/3.1), then this is a good book to have on hand while making a game with XNA 4.0. With that said, this book would have greatly benefited from an extra 100 to 200 pages, in order to include more code examples and maybe even a couple of chapters to cover the HLSL too.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you are looking for an in-depth book of what XNA can do...this is a great book.
Mar 2 2011
By Programming Teacher
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book started out a surprise seeing the description the publisher was listing was different than what the book
was actually meant to be. Since then, the publisher has fixed its description.
Since then, I have had the chance to read the book and it has some great resources that are not covered in
your typical book...which is great....more meat and potatoes rather than just some of the fluff you get in other books.
It is not meant as a beginner, take you step-by-step book...It is meant for programmers that know the main topics of game development, but it is meant to take you further into game development through using the tools that are not typically covered, but this book does.
Hope this is of help for those people trying to advance their XNA games. BTW-> If you are looking to learn the basics of game development, please check out Jonathan Harbour's (this author) other programming books that do teach you beyond the fluff!
was actually meant to be. Since then, the publisher has fixed its description.
Since then, I have had the chance to read the book and it has some great resources that are not covered in
your typical book...which is great....more meat and potatoes rather than just some of the fluff you get in other books.
It is not meant as a beginner, take you step-by-step book...It is meant for programmers that know the main topics of game development, but it is meant to take you further into game development through using the tools that are not typically covered, but this book does.
Hope this is of help for those people trying to advance their XNA games. BTW-> If you are looking to learn the basics of game development, please check out Jonathan Harbour's (this author) other programming books that do teach you beyond the fluff!
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
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