Customer Reviews

Learning XNA 3.0

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here's my experience before this wonderful book. I have been a hack programmer for close to 30 years (started with the Apple ][, VIC-20 and the Commodore 64.) I've written a few small games over the years in basic and one in C (after reading Andre LaMothe's wonderful books on game programming.) I am pretty proficient in Visual Basic .Net (I write and sell CRM software for salespeople online). I've recently wanted to write some small games again and actually purchased a Mac and IPhone to try to write games for it but found Objective C very cumbersome. So, with that--I--on a whim and after reading reviews--bought Learning XNA 3.0 and what a great purchase it was for me! With my "hack" experience, I just want the facts--here's how you put a sprite on the screen, here's how you move it, here's how you check for collisions, here's how you play a sound. This book was perfect for me. As of right now, I have no interest in 3D programming and have skipped the chapters on that topic but found the 2D programming chapters to be fantastic. I jumped right in and was moving a stupid little sprite around with my xbox controller in no time. I was animating sprites a little later. 3 days later (with no C# experience) I have written a "Kaboom" clone that rocks (remember Kaboom on the Atari 30 years ago?) What a thrill it is to see my little game running on my xbox 360! It is fun and you know what? I plan on fixing it up a little and seeing if I can sell some copies on xbox live! Next in line is a Robotron clone and a clone of the old Odyssey 2 video game U.F.O. This is some fun stuff--my CRM programming is suffering because I am having a blast programming games! Buy this book if you have any interest in XNA programming--you will not be sorry. I'll bet I could program any 70's - 80's arcade game now (when games were a blast!) except for the fact that I am a terrible artist.

Aaron's teaching guide uses what people like to call the onion approach. He starts out teaching simple techniques and slowly builds on them getting more and more advanced. The first couple of chapters feel like busy work, but then it starts to pick up.

Also, for those who have problems finding his source code and images used in his book, just go to his website, he has copies there:

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I've purchased many of the XNA books available on the market. They all offer XNA insight, but this book tops them all.

The author teaches the material, so the book is feels like what you'd get out of a very good class on the subject. It digs in right off the bat in the the first chapter, and never lets up.

Out of every book I have on the subject, I've learned and understood the material faster. The chapters are ordered as you build an application and you build your knowledge step by step. Every new concept is clearly discussed as it gets added.

I recommend this as a first book on the subject for anyone looking to get into XNA programming.

I did not need an introduction to the C# programming language, almost all the books I looked at had this. I just wanted a book that explained the basic concepts of creating games with C# and this book does that and does it very well. It is easy to read and follow. If oyu are new to making games with C# and have some knowledge of C# this is the best book to get.

On a side note every review of any book involving this subject i have seen has included a review by someone saying they are experienced game developers and that particular book sucks. If you are experienced in this how about try to find books that dont have "Learning" or "Beginning" in the title. It will save you some time and money.

This book is a good primer for XNA 3.0 but that is about it. I am a moderately experienced programmer but I would not recommend this book for anyone who is over an introductory skill level. I got this book expecting to cover some intermediate topics but we never even get into sprite rotation here. That being said, if you have never done *any* game programming and have no concept of game concepts, this will get you started. The author is a professor and the book reads like a 101 course in school.

Overall, this book isn't *horrible* but really you could learn the same from the beginner 2d and 3d video tutorials on the XNA website.

"I've purchased many of the XNA books available on the market. They all offer XNA insight, but this book tops them all."

This is an excellent beginner level book for learning XNA 3.0. You'll find all of the important topics covered, like 2D, 3D, HLSL and shaders, particle systems, collision detection, the content pipeline, etc. If you're already familiar with XNA and are looking for something on more than the basics, I would suggest looking elsewhere. However, if you're new to the world of XNA and want to get up to speed to write your first PC, Zune or 360 game, this is a great place to start.

Great book for beginners, focuses on a lot of stuff. Best thing about it is that it gets you programming a small game right away.

I have a shelf of XNA books and bookcases full of other books on game programming. This book deserves to be there. It is well written and particularly suited for the intermediate-level game programmer. I would suggest that you have at least a small amount of programming and/or 3D knowledge before diving into this one.

It gives explicit details of how to use the code in the book (as opposed to some books where the authors do a lot of hand-waving), and it builds logically from beginning to end--resulting in a plausible 3D space shooter that you can build on.

It covers platform-specific issues for PC, Xbox 360 and Zune (including networked & split-screen games), and does so with fun little touches of humor.

It gives you a good introduction to XNA in 2D and 3D, XBOX and Zune deployment. I whould recommend the buy to the people who wants to begin develop games in XNA.