Learning XNA 4.0: Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7 [Paperback]

Aaron Reed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1449394620 | ISBN-13: 978-1449394622 | Edition: annotated edition

Want to develop games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7? This hands-on book will get you started with Microsoft's XNA 4.0 development framework right away -- even if you have no experience developing games. Although XNA includes several key concepts that can be difficult for beginning web developers to grasp, Learning XNA 4.0 shortens the learning curve by walking you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format.

Each chapter offers a self-contained lesson with illustrations and annotated examples, along with exercises and review questions to help you test your understanding and practice new skills as you go. Once you've finished this book, you'll know how to develop your own sophisticated games from start to finish.

• Learn game development from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects
• Delve into high-level shader language (HLSL) and introductory artificial intelligence concepts
• Build three complete, exciting games using 2D, 3D, and multiplayer techniques
• Develop for and deploy your games to the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aaron Reed has extensive software development experience and more importantly, experience in software development education. Since 2004 he has taught courses at Neumont University in .NET, web development and web services, XNA, systems design and architecture, and more.

Aaron's experience in teaching both DirectX and XNA for several years to university-level students helps him understand what topics are easily understood and which ones need more depth and emphasis. Through experience in the classroom he also has a good understanding of what format and sequence makes the most sense to present the material. This book follows that format and is meant to present game development concepts in the way most efficient and most comprehendible as proven in the classroom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 540 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; annotated edition edition (December 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449394620
• ISBN-13: 978-1449394622
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Only the VERY Basics of 2D Game Making August 15, 2011

By Tj

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book for three reasons. First, it was highly rated and well-reviewed. Second, it was the 2nd Edition (Updated for XNA 4.0) and the 1st edition was also highly rated and well-reviewed. Third, it specifically mentions 2D development.

I was not disappointed.

The book reads easily, and has no typo's so fallowing each chapter as written end in completed works with little trouble. The authors sense of humor shows occasionally but with good taste and only to offer added emphasis to points made. So as a whole this is a book full of very little filler, mostly good information. I was happy to have purchased it and very happy after completing it... That is, until I started to take what I leaned in it and apply it to my own game idea(s)... I quickly found that there are a few very specific details that are never touched upon, that many would expect when making a modern PC game.

It is the lack of these details that force me to give this a 4 out of 5 stars...

Cons: (For 2D Games)
- No 2D Matrix Transform lessons. (Manipulating the View Port directly)
- No camera control with mouse. (Grab & Drag, Zoom to Cursor, Click & Center, or even Mouse wheel Zoom)
- No screen selection by mouse. (Individual or group select by L-click and drag)
- No GUI (Graphical Use Interface) lessons, past putting the score & number of lives on screen.
- No tile based world lessons. (Used in nearly every 2D game today, ie: platformers and RPG's)

While this is a relatively small number of issues, and does not take into account 3D development, I still found it necessary to come here and write this review in hopes of better informing anyone looking to purchase this. If you intend to develop 2D games (which is pretty much what you have to do as an independent developer) you may want to consider the lack of some of the more significant features in modern 2D games.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for XNA January 19, 2011

By Jared Hodgkins

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was my first XNA book that I really sat down with and completed. I want to thank the author and editors for making sure the material in this book was extremely straight-forward without error. You can read this book from beginning to end and the author instructs the reader with detailed and specific instructions on how to accomplish the tasks at hand. He explains concepts extremely well and expands on them each chapter with some reflective questions and tests. I would recommend this book to anybody out there that wants to start game development using XNA, or even if they've already started XNA: this book has a lot of useful information.

The book leaves off with the reader wanting more 3D knowledge, but the 3D chapters are adequate for a rough start. I've learned a lot from this book and it will be in my personal collection for quite some time.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars 5-Stars for the book but 1-Star for the Kindle Edition March 17, 2011

By Siff Ibrahim

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've bought the book to read it in my Kindle (and in my HD7 Windows Phone cellular phone) - overall the book is very good!! and it is written in a clear language - the topics it covers are very helpful. I read other books before I bought it and no one of them learn us how to check collisions for example... It is a good book for beginners in game development (like me)... I really wanted to give this book 5-stars because it worth it - but the formating of the eBook is very bad -

* The tables are not shown as tables they appear as one paragraph it WP7 app and also in Kindle you don't know which words are in the same row and which are not.. as the first table in Chapter 1.

(I think the tables should appear as images for example).

* The code snaps are not formatted correctly so different commands appears in the same line: for example, in Location 845 in the Kindle edition we have the following code:
SpriteBatch spriteBatch; public
Ganme1()
{

(I think the code snaps should appear in smaller fonts and different font).

Too sad that the eBook's text formatting is very bad which hurts such a great book.

This is my review for now, I still did not finish reading the books.. so if I will find more issues I will update my review.

Thanks.