Customer Reviews

XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for Windows and the Xbox 360

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I originally bought the book because it was one of two that I was thinking about buying that came with a CD. I've dabbled in C# over the last two or so years (C++ guy turned Java guy - turning C# guy - turning older...) and became curious about the whole XNA hype, so I settled on this book.

I am simply amazed at how easy it is to read, how clear the code base is, and I can't help thinking that the author is sitting next to me eager to show me something new. This is an author who thinks like a reader.

It is my intent to purchase further books by this author. I'm sure they will find a home near my laptop and sit next to the greats like Andre Lamothe.

This book talks about 3D, but it's main focus is 2D. I would have liked to seen some more information on 3D, but obviously you can only fit so many things in a book. This book was released after the 1.0 refresh was out, but it still has it's own font class instead of using the built in font class in XNA. This annoyed me a little, but nothing major.

The author does a great job at explaining most of the code. He has good text information as well. My biggest complaint was all of the "redundant" 2D games. Granted, they are different games but it is really more of the same. This is just my jaded view to wish there was more information on 3D.

If you are looking for only 2D games, this is the book for you. It also has some basic info on 3D that is beneficial, but if you are looking to actually create a 3D game you will want to grab a different XNA book on the market. Check my reviews to see which ones I like. This book gets my second highest review because it is such a good book. The author did a great job ... main reason for the dock of one star is for the lack of 3D content.

The book has updated code and doesn't seem to change to much from what is printed in the book. That is a good thing!

and he presents it in an approachable way.

It isn't dumbed down -- but at the same time it gives an idea of what one is getting into when programming games. Most definitely, a decent understanding of object oriented programming is a huge plus, and of the C# flavor is even better, however, don't throw in the towel if you have neither one...especially if you really love games -- that's the reason Microsoft created this tool. It's worth the effort to learn.

Another good thing about this book, IMHO, is the sense of humor the author displays -- although he still doesn't reveal who Will is. :)

This book is something you'd WANT to read, not like when you HAD to read a novel's CliffNotes, or when you HAD to eat that dry turkey during the holidays to be polite.

Do yourself a favor and at LEAST thumb through it in your local Bookstore.

The difference this book is that it teaches the engine of a good variety of simple games that can be made by amateur programmers.

The only negative point that I thought it was the fact that the examples contained in the CD are in XNA version 1.0, and that to be returned to that version, is a bit outdated.

But in terms of learning, this has an excellent didactic.

Caveat: I have known and worked professionally with the author, Joe Hall, for a few years, and found him to be highly qualified, extremely sharp, laser-focused, and very well-spoken. So naturally I had very high expectations for this book.

I was not disappointed... in fact I was pleasantly surprised!

Joe gives enough information so that those new to game programming can follow along and figure it out, but he does so without boring the more experienced reader. Buy it, read it, do it - it's fun!

I'm sorry to go against the grain here and write a review that doesn't praise this book like the bible, but really, it doesn't deserve the reviews it has gotten thus far.

The first few chapters are easy going enough, no problems there. But then when you get to the actual code, you're in for one hell of a ride.

- The code isn't highlighted in any way, making it hard to read.

- The author doesn't even explain the code- just gives brief summaries on what to expect.

- More irritating (and the reason I rated it a 3/5) is the fact that you won't know where the code goes. At all. The author just gives you the code and expects you to know XNA well enough to know where it should go. (It doesn't even show you where the code should go in correlation with other bits of code). The solution? The CD has the code on it. If you get this book, you will NEED the CD if you want to learn anything at all.

- The CD barely functions under my installation of Vista. The auto-install feature for XNA/C# didn't work, leaving me to find the downloads on my own (which wasn't so bad, really)

- The author's sense of humor is really stale. I pictured the author as one of those dungeons and dragons geeks. If you read this book, you'll know what I mean.

- This book puts a heavy emphasis on math. And guess what: it isn't explained. Be prepared to learn more about trigonometry from Google, because you won't learn it here. (Sine waves functions, radians, functions for degrees, angles, etc etc)

- The author states that the code isn't optimized, since he wants the reader to understand the concepts. This is just an easy way out for him! Not only does he use TRIGONOMETRY where it DOESN'T need to be used, but he does it in a fashion that isn't, in his words, "optimized."

But what I can say about the book is the examples are nice. The code compiles cleanly. I did learn a lot, albeit I needed Google to help explain it.

Overall I'd say I've had more success learning from examples on the Microsoft Knowledgebase and user-created sites. I only look at this book when I need to.

I'm going completely against the grain of the previous reviews and giving this book 1 star. This book had a lot of promise that was unfortunately ruined by a lack of organization and forethought on the part of the author and editor(s).

The book attempts to teach the reader how to program games using XNA however repeatedly skips fundamental concepts (e.g. telling you to load textures into the game without explaining how to import graphic files into Visual Studio for use as a game resource).

This problem is compounded by a lack of thought put into the order the book's content is presented to the reader, which at times is rather awkward (you better understand how to use MathHelper by chapter 4 but sprite fonts won't be covered until chapter 21?).

Ultimately, this book was seemingly written for reader who already understand how to program games in XNA - which rather defeats the purpose of the book.

I found the Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming book from Apress to be a far more useful book. If you're going to spend ~$40 on an XNA textbook, you would be better off with the Apress book than this one.

This book is excellent *IF* you know C#. I rated it 5 stars because I work in C# everyday and am able to find my way around the code. I'm also translating the XNA 1.0 examples into 2.0 examples using the Author's website. The way I approach the examples is to actually load the code that is working in one instance of VS 2005 and then work in another version. I attempt to put the code together, learning along the way, and then look at the finished example. In this manner I learn even more about C# while learning XNA. I own many XNA books and this one is by far the best of the bunch and one I keep close at hand.

If you are brand new to C# this should be your second book after a good basic C# book.

Great for new person to XNA. General OO programming knowledge required, but the basics of game design are there.

I must say this is in my opinion the best XNA 'beginner' book, it starts from the bottom and builds up, it grasp a lot of topics. this book has all the basic. very very nice, i got 2 other XNA books, and this is the best!.