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.

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Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook
Luke Drumm
Jun, 2012 | 356 pages
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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Applying Special Effects
Applying Special Effects
Introduction
Creating shadows within the Reach profile
Creating shadows within the HiDef profile
Implementing lens flare within the Reach profile
Implementing lens flare within the HiDef profile
Implementing smoke within the Reach profile
Creating explosions within the Reach profile
Creating explosions within the HiDef profile
2
Building 2D and 3D Terrain
Building 2D and 3D Terrain
Introduction
Displaying hexagonal maps
Displaying 2D isometric maps
Importing and displaying 3D isometric maps
Generating 3D height maps
Creating block worlds within the Reach profile
Creating block worlds within the HiDef profile
3
Procedural Modeling
Procedural Modeling
Introduction
Modeling triangles
Modeling discs
Modeling spheres
Modeling tori
Modeling trees
4
Creating Water and Sky
Creating Water and Sky
Introduction
Creating water within the HiDef profile
Building skyboxes within the Reach profile
Building skyboxes within the HiDef profile
Cloud generation within the Reach profile
5
Non-Player Characters
Non-Player Characters
Introduction
A* pathfinding
Character state machines
Constructing dialogue
Decentralizing behavior
6
Playing with Animation
Playing with Animation
Introduction
Applying animation with SkinnedEffect
Motion capture with Kinect
Integrating rag doll physics
Rendering crowds
7
Creating Vehicles
Creating Vehicles
Introduction
Applying simple car physics
Implementing simple plane controls
Rendering reflective materials within the Reach profile
8
Receiving Player Input
Receiving Player Input
Introduction
Adding text fields
Creating dialog wheels
Dragging, dropping, and sliding
9
Networking
Networking
Introduction
Connecting across a LAN
Connecting across the Web
Synchronizing client states

Modeling spheres

Spheres tend to a be a popular choice for modeling programmatically, as they tend to appear in a lot of places in games where manually modeling them would be an exercise in tedium, such as particle effects and planetary bodies.

The method demonstrated here is a personal favorite as it generates a mesh similar in look to a geodesic dome, with its surface being built up from a collection of identical triangles woven together as opposed to other techniques, which can result in squashed and irregular triangles near the poles or equator.

Getting ready

This example was written with the GeometricBuffer classes in mind, presented in the Modeling triangles recipe, but should be equally applicable with any mesh building framework.

How to do it...

To create a disc programmatically:

  1. 1. Add a new Triangle class to hold the triangle data during the sphere creation calculations: 

    class Triangle
{
public Vector3 One;
public Vector3 Two;
public Vector3 Three;
public Vector2 OneTexture;
public...
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