Zune Game Development using XNA 3.0

By: Dan Waters

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Paperback | 27 March 2007

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Welcome to Zune Game Development Using XNA 3.0, a book that was inspired by two of my lifelong passions: games and music. I was introduced to the wonder of PC games with grou- breaking titles such as Doom and Quake in the mid-1990s, and have been an avid gamer ever since. I was also brought up in a musical family. Over time, I have amassed a collection of g- tars, drums, and other musical equipment that has ultimately failed in bringing my dreams of rock stardom to fruition. I have also attempted to write my own games for different platforms with varying degrees of success. Since 1997, I have made efforts to wrap my head around technologies like DirectX and OpenGL to create a real game. I still have books on my shelf covering DirectX 3.1, game engine design, physics, and calculus. In my initial pursuits, I found it too difficult and ti- consuming to learn such technologies with enough depth to be truly effective. Rather than following my most heartfelt aspiration of making millions as a virtuoso g- tar player, I opted for a computer science and engineering education, and became a software developer. I also tabled the idea of creating a real game due to the time investment, which I perceived as unrealistic.

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About the Author	p. xiii
About the Technical Reviewer	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. xix
Getting Started	p. 1
Downloading and Installing the Software	p. 1
Installing Visual Studio 2008	p. 2
Installing XNA Game Studio 3.0	p. 6
Your First "Game"	p. 9
Summary	p. 12
Introduction to XNA Game Studio 3.0	p. 13
The Project Structure of an XNA Game	p. 13
Important Methods in an XNA Game	p. 15
Initialize Method	p. 17
LoadContent Method	p. 17
UnloadContent Method	p. 18
Update Method	p. 18
Draw Method	p. 20
XNA Game Flow	p. 21
Putting It All Together	p. 22
Check Your Knowledge	p. 26
Summary	p. 26
Game Content	p. 27
What Is Content?	p. 27
Types of Content	p. 28
Images	p. 28
Audio	p. 35
Fonts	p. 37
Effects	p. 38
XML Data	p. 38
The XNA Content Pipeline	p. 38
What the Content Pipeline Provides	p. 39
Content Pipeline Architecture	p. 39
Content Stages	p. 41
Loading Content at Runtime	p. 41
Custom Importers and Processors	p. 42
The Content Type Class	p. 43
The Intermediate Content and Reader Classes	p. 46
The Writer Class	p. 48
The Content Processor Class	p. 49
Check Your Knowledge	p. 55
Summary	p. 55
Developing for the Zune	p. 57
Deploying to the Zune	p. 57
Updating Your Zune's Firmware	p. 58
Registering Your Zune with Visual Studio	p. 59
Debugging, Running, and Rebooting	p. 66
Running with Debugging	p. 67
Running Without Debugging	p. 67
Creating Windows Versions of Zune Games	p. 68
Zune Specifications and Optimization	p. 71
Reviewing the Core Zune Specifications	p. 71
Writing Performant Code for the Zune	p. 71
Handling Input on the Zune	p. 73
Accessing the Zune Pad	p. 73
Accessing the Directional Click Buttons	p. 77
Accessing Other Buttons	p. 77
Using an Input Handler Class for Zune and Windows Games	p. 78
Playing Music in Zune Games	p. 93
Using Media Player Component Classes	p. 93
Using the Guide	p. 95
Putting It Together	p. 96
Your First Real Zune Game: OutBreak	p. 103
Designing OutBreak	p. 103
Creating OutBreak	p. 107
Check Your Knowledge	p. 127
Summary	p. 127
XNA Fundamental Game Programming Concepts	p. 129
Math in Two Dimensions	p. 130
The Cartesian Coordinate System	p. 130
Points and Vectors	p. 132
Trigonometric Functions	p. 137
Using Math in Your Games	p. 138
Positioning Screen Objects and Dividing by Two	p. 138
Locating Sides of Objects	p. 142
Creating Bounding Boxes	p. 143
Detecting Collisions with Bounding Boxes	p. 144
Emulating Physics	p. 144
Using Other Time-Dependent Functions	p. 148
Collision Detection Revisited	p. 152
Simple Collision Detection	p. 153
Per-Pixel Collision Detection	p. 153
Simple Game State Management	p. 159
Using Components	p. 162
Bringing It All Together with Monkey Feeder	p. 169
Configuring the Solution, Projects, Folders, and Assets	p. 171
Creating the Components	p. 172
Putting the Components Together	p. 189
Setting Game Properties to Appear More Professional	p. 197
Build, Run, Copious Celebration	p. 197
Suggested Extensions	p. 199
Cleaning Up for Deployment	p. 199
Making Changes in AssemblyInfo.cs	p. 199
Changing the Thumbnail	p. 200
Check Your Knowledge	p. 200
Summary	p. 201
Advanced Techniques	p. 203
Device Status	p. 203
Checking the Battery Status	p. 203
Determining Battery Life	p. 205
Determining If the Zune Is Plugged In	p. 205
Determining When the Power Status Changes	p. 206
Advanced Sprite Batch Techniques	p. 213
How Sprite Batches Work	p. 213
Blend Modes	p. 213
Sprite Batches and Game Performance	p. 217
Games in Landscape Mode	p. 223
Challenges with Landscape Mode	p. 223
Possible Solutions for Landscape Mode	p. 224
Best Practices and Considerations for Mode Support	p. 225
Using Render Targets for Landscape Mode	p. 225
Componentizing Landscape Mode	p. 231
Game State Management with Screens	p. 231
Screen Management Samples	p. 231
Building a Screen Management System	p. 232
Storage on the Zune	p. 234
Advanced Touch Sensitivity on the Zune	p. 239
Graphic Sound Visualizers	p. 243
Check Your Knowledge	p. 249
Summary	p. 250
Final Exercise: Multiplayer Crazy Eights	p. 251
Wireless Networking with the Zune	p. 251
Elements of a Multiplayer Game	p. 252
How Data is Transmitted in Wireless Zune Games	p. 252
The Network API and Tags	p. 252
Robot Tag: A Two-Player Game	p. 253
Game Solution Structure	p. 254
Network Session Management	p. 255
The Robot Object	p. 257
Game Screens	p. 259
Robot Tag Review	p. 268
Multiplayer Crazy Eights for the Zune	p. 268
Rules of Crazy Eights	p. 268
Game Requirements	p. 269
Network State Design	p. 270
Architectural Options (High Level)	p. 273
Screen Design	p. 273
Building the Card Library	p. 277
Building the Screen Manager Library	p. 289
Building Crazy Eights	p. 313
Summary	p. 373
Recommended Resources	p. 375
Blogs	p. 375
Microsoft Resources	p. 376
Creators Club Samples	p. 376
Zune Development Quick Reference Guide	p. 377
Animation	p. 377
Input Handling	p. 377
Gesture Support	p. 378
Forcing Screen Dimensions on Windows	p. 379
Playing Music	p. 379
Collision Detection	p. 379
Changing Game Properties	p. 380
Changing the Thumbnail	p. 381
Checking Battery Status	p. 381
Drawing in Landscape Mode	p. 382
Using Storage	p. 382
Creating Visualizers	p. 383
Check Your Knowledge Answers	p. 385
	p. 385
	p. 386
	p. 386
	p. 387
	p. 387
Index	p. 389
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Zune Game Development using XNA 3.0

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Paperback

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