XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (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.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource

By NeilUnreal - May 4, 2009

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... read more

Great book to use as a reference for cool game dev techniques

By M. tsouris "give up games" - August 26, 2009

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).

Great book - Intermediate level

By M. Jones - July 15, 2009

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.