Game Development

When I was at TechEd 2011 in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of the DevExpress folks and working out some of the details for a series of Windows Phone Development webinars. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

#1 Introduction to WP7 Development with Silverlight and XNA - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev1Webinar

#2 Deeper Dive Into XNA on Windows Phone - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev2Webinar
The source (in C# and VB.NET) for the demos in this talk can be found in my book, or downloaded here.

#3 Deeper Dive Into Silverlight on Windows Phone - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev3Webinar

#4 Building a Scrolling Tile Engine with XNA on Windows Phone - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev4Webinar
The demo code is available here.

#5 Building a Pathfinding System Using Waypoints with XNA on Windows Phone - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev5Webinar
The demo code is available here.

#6 Using the Push Notifications Service in Your Apps or Games - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7PushNotifications
The source (in C# and VB.NET) for the demos in this talk can be found in my book, or downloaded here.

#7 Making Money From Free Apps with the Microsoft Ad SDK - http://tv.devexpress.com/#WP7Dev7Webinar

The feedback on this series has been really positive, with lots of really good questions posted during the webinars (and to my inbox.)

If there are any topics you would like to see that aren't covered by this list, let me know and I'll see about adding it to an upcoming talk or maybe adding additional webinars.

You can also find the complete list of this series here: http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Webinars/series-details.xml?series=WP7 Webinar Series

The randomly selected winner of the Windows Phone (HTC Surround) is Nicolas St-Amour!

Using the Advertising SDK with XNA on Windows Phone 7

Chris Williams — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:08:00 GMT

This is how it should work:

In your game project, set a project reference to Microsoft.Advertising.Mobile.Xna (This will point to whatever folder you installed the SDK to!)

Next, add a using statement at the top of your game:

using Microsoft.Advertising.Mobile.Xna;

Next, add these variable declarations at the class level:

        AdManager adManager;
        Ad bannerAd;

Next, add some constants (also at the class level) to store your Application ID and Ad Unit ID from the pubcenter.microsoft.com site. (You have to have these!!)

        const string AppID = "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"; //use your own
        const string AdUnitID = "xxxxx"; //use your own

In your Game1 constructor, add the following:

adManager = new AdManager(this, AppID);
adManager.TestMode = false; // this part is important if you want to see your ads and not the test ad

            Components.Add(adManager);

Finally, in the LoadContent() method, add these lines:

            bannerAd = adManager.CreateAd(AdUnitID,
                                          new Rectangle(0, 20, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Bounds.Width, 120),
                                          RotationMode.Manual,
                                          false);

You have to use RotationMode.Manual in XNA (which means you'll need to set your own timer and call the RequestNextAd() method at a sensible interval. (Roughly 30 seconds or so)

That's it!

THINGS TO BE AWARE OF:

You need to set up your app and ad units in the Pubcenter website (URL above) in order to get the numbers for the AppID and AdUnitID.
It can take up to 30 minutes for ads to start appearing in your app or game after you create the ad units.
There is a bug that occasionally affects text ads. Since these depend on spritefonts to display, text ads with special characters may not show up properly.

Professional Windows Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4

Chris Williams — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:24:03 GMT

In 24 short days*, my (along with the awesome George W. Clingerman) first book will be released:

Professional Windows Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4
(or as we like to call it, that damned 550 page monstrosity that nearly killed us)

Weighing in at 552 pages and featuring a foreward by the legendary James Silva (Ska Studios, creator of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, I MAED A GAME W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1, and more...) this book gives thorough coverage of XNA 4.0 as it relates to Windows Phone 7.

The book is written in a light, conversational tone, which means (unlike some books) you won't be compelled to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spork after reading the first few pages. At least, that’s the intent. If you do feel compelled to engage in some feats of eye-gouging sporkage, we (the authors of this book) would like to point out that we are not responsible and that seeking the help of a mental health professional might be advised. (We’re not qualified to dispense medical advice either.)

The book is structured to introduce relevant material first, with code snippets and samples of how to use various phone features and XNA concepts, with helpful side notes along the way. After you've been exposed to a few chapters worth of concepts, you get the chance to bring them together by building a game that leverages those features.

This book contains THREE (3!) complete games, including: Drive & Dodge (a racing game), Poker Dice (roll dice to make poker hand combinations) and Picture Puzzle (take a photo and turn it into a jigsaw puzzle.)

Writing this book has been an incredible experience, and we hope reading it will be equally informative for all of you. We’re also happy to announce there will be a Kindle edition available, along with various other electronic media.

Get your copy from Wiley.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and anywhere else awesome books are sold.

*more or less… some sites list the publication date as early march, but the official street date is 2/21/2011

The Great Southern WP7/XNA Tour

Chris G. Williams — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:13:40 GMT

I'm going on tour... talking about WP7 & XNA. (Dates below)

XNA Games on Windows Phone 7

DESCRIPTION
Chris G. Williams will be presenting 'A Tour of Windows Phone 7 and XNA 4.0'. In this talk, he'll cover what's new in XNA 4.0, especially as it pertains to Windows Phone 7. He'll cover phone features, using the emulator and how to take advantage of the various sensors (like the Accelerometer) and features (MultiTouch, Gestures, Push Notifications, etc) in your games. Rumor has it, he may even have a phone with him.

BIO
Chris Williams is a Principal Consultant for Magenic. He is the founder of several .NET User Groups on the east coast, and the author of the upcoming super-mega-bestseller Professional Windows Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4.

He's also a DirectX / XNA MVP, MCT, MCSD (.NET) Early Adopter, MCAD, Director of the INETA Community Speakers Program, freelance game developer, conference speaker, vintage arcade game collector, INETA Community Champion and plays a pretty mean guitar in Rock Band.

When not doing any of the above stuff, he can often be found in a Waffle House. He likes 'em scattered, covered and chunked.

FEEDBACK

"thanks again to @chrisgwilliams for speaking at @agsdevguild last night! Awesome job!"

"Thanks for speaking at our group tonight. I brought up the App Hub issues before the presentation to head off a potential derailing. I was surprised to find that you actually managed to get xxxxxx excited about WP7. In fact, before tonight, he wasn't even interested in XNA, and now he's looking into writing XNA apps! Awesome job!"

"Always the rockstar! Sounds like someone needs a copy of your book when it comes out "

"Watching INETA Community Speaker @chrisgwilliams rock XNA on Windows Phone 7 #wp7dev at @trinug tonight!"

"Didn't realize how much I missed @chrisgwilliams speaking. Loving this #wp7 presentation!"

THE GREAT ~~SOUTHERN~~ WP7/XNA TOUR DATES:

COMPLETED
Greenville, SC: 8/17 www.gspdevelopers.org
Atlanta, GA: 9/27 www.atldotnet.org
Raleigh, NC: 10/13 www.trinug.org
Asheville, NC: 10/21 www.wncdotnet.com
Huntsville, AL: 11/9 ~~www.huntug.org~~ (cancelled due to venue problems)
Columbia, SC: 11/10 www.columbiadevelopers.org
Augusta, GA: 11/18 www.augustadevelopers.org
Roanoke, VA: 12/10 www.rvnug.org
Louisville, KY: 12/16 ~~www.meetup.com/Louisville-DotNet/~~ (cancelled due to weather)
Manhattan, NY: 02/07 www.nypcvb.org
Roanoke, VA: 03/12 www.rvnug.org
Orlando, FL Code Camp: 03/26 www.orlandocodecamp.com
Richmond, VA: 04/07 www.richmonddotnet.org

If you have a user group in GA, FL, NC, SC, TN, KY or VA and you aren't on my list... I'd like to hear from you.

Developing For Windows Phone 7 Series with XNA 4.0

Chris Williams — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:45:56 GMT

I have a talk submitted to the Heartland Developers Conference. It's called:

Developing For Windows Phone 7 Series with XNA 4.0

Here's a description:

Forget Droid, Windows Phone 7 Series is the iPhone killer. If you want to learn to build killer touch-based apps for this next generation mobile device then this is the session for you. We’ll go over phone specific features and how to leverage those features with XNA 4.0 and C#

I need your votes in order to give this talk. Please go here: http://www.heartlanddc.com/?p=273 and give the talk a nice high rating to indicate interest.

Thanks a bunch!!

Take Over The World With XNA Indie Games

Chris Williams — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:08:22 GMT

A while back, I submitted an XNA talk to the South By SouthWest Music/Film/Interactive Conference (also known as SXSW) and it's currently up for voting in the Interactive category.

I'd really appreciate some votes in order for my talk to get selected. You can click this link or the image to the left to go to the site and vote for my talk.

You will need to register on the SXSW site to place a vote, but there's no charge for that and it's quick and easy.

Be sure to leave a comment with your vote so I know where to send the cookies later. :)

Take Over The World With XNA Indie Games

Microsoft's XNA blows open the barn doors to make creating indie games possible on their next generation console (XBOX 360) and a variety of other platforms. Come learn the WHAT, HOW and WHY of making games with XNA in this exciting and entertaining session.

From the SXSW FAQ...

Q: If I submitted a proposal to the PanelPicker, should I encourage my friends to vote for my submission?

A: Absolutely. Rallying your friends and associates to vote for your panel proposal demonstrates energy, motivation and organizational ability. And, all of these skills are important when it comes to organizing a successful panel for SXSW.

RPG in a week? well, no...

Chris Williams — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:52:45 GMT

I'm starting a new RPG project, using XNA and targetting the XBOX 360. I'll be doing the project in C# although I'm leveraging a lot of the code and work I did in VB.NET & Heroic Adventure.

I got some interesting ideas from the RPG in a week page (here: www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2259.asp) though I won't be doing mine anywhere near that fast.

I spent a few hours over the weekend doing some basic design and coding the inital data structures. So far things are going pretty smooth. Some of the things you can expect to see are:

randomly generated dungeons & static dungeons
overland map
towns & villagers / NPCs
quests - some fixed, some generated (by class and/or race, etc)
choice of point driven or "dice" based character development
multiple character class / race combinations to choose from
skill and attribute based advancement - no "levels"
menu system & support for chatpad hotkey commands
magic system - spells and item crafting / alteration
melee and ranged combat
artifact / generated special items
actual graphics, not just ascii characters :)

I'm still on the fence about the combat & skill resolution mechanic. Obviously some form of random number generation will be used, though I'm not sold on a D20 mechanic any more. I've been playing a few different systems lately, including D&D 4e (which IS d20) and a FUDGE based system. (described here: http://members.dsl-only.net/~bing/frp/fudge/) I've got plenty of time before i need to worry about that though.

I may also implement a basic scripting system to handle quests and other content, though this wouldn't necessarily be exposed to players (at least on the 360) but it would make development (especially collaborative development) easier/faster. Although, I kinda like the XML way that the RPG Starter Kit uses... also good for sharing the content creation.

I don't have a name for it yet, that will come later, although I have a few names in mind.

Does this mean Heroic Adventure! is dead? Not exactly, since a lot of it will live on in this new game, but there won't be much new development for it any time soon unless others pick it up on Codeplex.

Math Whiz wanted

Chris Williams — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:41:36 GMT

Are you a math whiz?

Maybe you love Math so much you majored in it in college, or maybe you just really "get" it... Maybe you aren't a math whiz but you know someone who is.

Either way, the Twin Cities XNA User Group could use your help. We'd like someone to come in and give a talk (about an hour, maybe more) on 3D Math as it relates to graphics and game development.

If interested, please contact me.

XNA 3.0 Beta is out

Chris Williams — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:36:40 GMT

http://creators.xna.com/en-us/3.0beta_mainpage

http://creators.xna.com/en-us/3.0beta_mainpage