Book Image

Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook

By : Luke Drumm
Book Image

Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook

By: Luke Drumm

Overview of this book

Microsoft XNA attempts to free game developers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code", allowing them to focus on producing enjoyable gameplay rather than tedious and complicated setup. The Framework has reduced the once steep learning curve for game development, transforming it into something more attainable, and this cookbook will help you to take full advantage of XNA to bring reality into your virtual worlds. "Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook" is the perfect resource for propelling your game development capabilities from the simple 2D demo towards engaging and exciting, professional looking games. With a diverse selection of game-related topics covered, discover how to create rich 2D and 3D worlds filled with interesting characters, detailed scenery and dynamic special effects applicable to PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7 game play. There is no shortage of introductory texts available for XNA, a number of which are fantastic for getting started with simple 2D games, but "Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook"ù will help you take the steps to start producing games that have deeper gameplay, compelling graphics and that little bit of extra polish! The book's recipes will get you up and going quickly with the next level of game features such as 3D graphics, AI, and network play. With this practical cookbook to hand, even the more experienced developer will be better equipped to achieve high level tasks with XNA in a quick and efficient manner.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Modeling triangles


XNA comes with a number of classes to help deal with the construction and use of vertex arrays, but it can sometimes be beneficial to build our own, so we can customize things according to what we need.

In this recipe, we'll be creating what I've called a Geometry Buffer, and a corresponding factory to help with their construction. Geometry Buffers are really just a container for the vertex and index buffers used in communication with the GPU. They can be thought of as a simplified substitute for XNA's Model and Mesh classes.

Getting ready

In order to draw a Geometric Buffer onscreen, an instance of a BasicEffect will be required. Although texture coordinate handling has been included, using BasicEffect without textures should work just as well.

How to do it...

To create a disc programmatically:

  1. 1. Create a new GeometricBuffer class to manage the vertex and index buffers, and add the start of a constructor to populate the various instance-level variables:

    public class GeometricBuffer...