XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in XNA) [Paperback]

Riemer Grootjans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2009 | Series: Expert's Voice in XNA

Join the game development revolution today! XNA 3.0 greatly simplifies the development of your own games, lowering the barrier for programmers to get into game development. In XNA, you can start coding your games from the very start, a true revelation compared to other game programming environments. XNA doesn’t sacrifice power for this ease of use—it is built entirely on DirectX technology.

Completely updated for XNA 3.0, expert Riemer Grootjans brings together a selection of the hottest recipes in XNA programming for the Xbox 360, PC, and Zune. Advanced XNA programmers, experienced coders new to game development, and even complete beginners will find XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes an invaluable companion whether building games for fun or as commercial products.

What you’ll learn

This title covers virtually every feature of the XNA 3.0 Framework. It focuses primarily on 2D and 3D graphics programming, but other game programming features such as audio playback, networking, and mobile gaming are also discussed in detail.

These are some of the topics that are being covered in depth:

• How to create 2D graphics
• 3D rendering techniques at various levels of difficulty
• Creating games for the Zune mobile device
• Loading, rendering, and animating 3D models
• How to read input devices: keyboard, mouse, and Xbox 360 Controller
• Using audio to spice up your game
• Adding networking to your game to challenge your friends
• Architectural XNA features, such as GameComponents
• The content pipeline: one of the three major components in XNA game development
• A whole list of HLSL techniques!

Who this book is for

This book is for everyone! Whatever your experience, you will find a recipe to suit your need and skill. Great care has been taken to ensure the easier recipes provide a great deal of detail so they can be followed by readers without much programming experience. Each chapter gradually builds in difficulty so you will be able to progress through it as your XNA coding improves and you move on to more sophisticated techniques.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Riemer Grootjans received his degree in electronic engineering with a specialization in informatics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. He is a member of a research team working toward a Ph.D, and is responsible for visualization of 3D data. For several years, Riemer has been maintaining a web site with tutorials for DirectX. Since the early beta stages of XNA in 2006, he has ported all his content to XNA and is helping more than 1,000 people on their path to XNA success every day. In July 2007 and 2008, he received the Microsoft "Most Valuable Professional" Award for his contributions to the XNA community.

Product Details

• Paperback: 649 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (March 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143021855X
• ISBN-13: 978-1430218555
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, May 4, 2009

By 

NeilUnreal (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in XNA) (Paperback)

When I decided to start working with XNA 3.0, I searched long and hard for just the right book. I needed a book that would zero in on the heart of XNA without dwelling at length on the basics of Visual Studio and C#, or going into too much depth on the matrix math. Something that would get me started specifically on XNA as a graphics programming component of the overall .NET architecture.

I found Riemer's XNA tutorial site and was impressed by the quality of both the code and the writing. I was able to learn a lot in short period of time. I saw that he also had a book in the works covering XNA 3.0 and so I decided to research it. Based on what I found, I saw that the book was an excellent complement to the tutorial site, covering lots of detailed information not found in the tutorials. So I decided to order it.

Wise move. The book is an outstanding resource. And a real bargain in these times of high-priced and bloated programming tomes. I basically like everything about the book, but there are a couple of things I want to mention that I particularly appreciate:

First is the format. The book is organized in a problem/solution recipe format. This works really well because it mimics the way engineers work. It makes it easy to find the solution to a particular problem, but it also makes for fruitful browsing.

Second are the code snippets contained in the book. I find that just the right amount of code and context are included with each example. I have yet to find a sample that is either confusing because of a lack of context or that is unclear because the point of the sample is buried in irrelevant code. (Of course, the full source is available online.)

I can recommend this book without hesitation to beginning and intermediate XNA programmers who have some experience with Visual Studio and C#. (But one doesn't have to be an expert in these technologies; I think a sound hobbyist or student level of familiarity would be enough if one is sufficiently motivated.) Some experience with the general principles of computer graphics and matrix algebra would be helpful too, but I think these things could be learned concurrently.

All in all, max stars, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to use as a reference for cool game dev techniques, August 26, 2009

By 

M. tsouris "give up games" (Astoria, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in XNA) (Paperback)

This book has been very helpful. I was already a little familiar with XNA programming, so this book was a good logical next step. It does not cover game dev from beginning to end, but covers a lot of advanced techniques that you will quickly need to know after you start. I'm building a 3d game and this book has been a very valuable resource for research. Besides examples, i think the explanations are really insightful. Especially when he covers the optimized and non-optimized way of doing things (like billboarding).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - Intermediate level, July 15, 2009

By 

M. Jones (Loma Linda, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in XNA) (Paperback)

Great book.

Good examples, some more advanced than others.

Make sure you have an intermediate understanding of XNA.

Well written, clear concepts, in-depth detail.