DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by zygote

Hello World of Rhino Mocks

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:01:07 GMT

A lot of tutorials on Rhino Mocks are long and complicated. This post gives you just enough basic code to start working with rhino mocks so you can see what is going on.

TDD pt2 Pig Latin

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:31:02 GMT

Part 2 in a Test Driven Development series for the extreme beginner

Do we need to teach the basics?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:16:48 GMT

One mistake that many companies fall into is trying to completely automate certain business processes. Sure there are a lot of business processes that are just screaming to be automated, and some of them seem to have been invented just to be automated, but sometimes a bit of thought should be put into whether or not we should automate them.

TDD Test Driven Development for Beginners pt1

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:31:02 GMT

Part 1 in a series on Test Driven Development for the extreme beginners to Test Driven Development

XNA - Displaying Centred Text

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:13:14 GMT

Here is a couple of quick lines of code that will allow you to display some text on the screen that is centred. When using this sample it will calculate the length of the text, then work out the exact centre of the screen. Then using the normal sprite origin functions it will work out the exact centre of the text and position it on the screen.

Real World Interfaces in C#

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:46:03 GMT

A basic example of how you can use Interfaces

Now Available: XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta)

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:54:28 GMT

Now Available: XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) from the XNA Team Blog has the announcement. The XNA team is pleased to announce the Beta release of XNA Game Studio 2.0! This Beta release is your chance to try out the new features available in XNA Game Studio 2.0, including support for Visual Studio 2005, multiplayer support over System Link and LIVE, and many more features and enhancements, many suggested by you, the community members. If you're an existing XNA Game Studio Express user, you won't have to worry about uninstalling anything - XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) lives comfortably side-by-side with XNA Game Studio Express. Just follow the link below to find out what's new in XNA Game Studio 2.0 and download the Beta, as well as updated sample content you can use with the Beta right away. There's even a multiplayer-enabled starter kit you can use to familiarize yourself with multiplayer programming in the XNA Framework. XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) supports multiplayer gaming over Games for Windows - LIVE. If you are planning on making multiplayer games on Windows that make use of any Games for Windows - LIVE features, you will need an Xbox LIVE Gamertag that has an active XNA Creators Club membership, and a special token. To receive your token, send a message to xnacgp@microsoft.com with the subject "Beta Key Request". Note that you must send this message from the same e-mail address that is associated with an Xbox LIVE Gamertag that has an active XNA Creators Club membership. (Note it may take up to a few days to receive your code in email) If you're not an XNA Creators Club member, you can use the System Link functionality or program against the multiplayer API's without a code. Please keep in mind that the timeframe between this release and our final release will be very short, in fact we've already had a chance to fix some of the larger issues that you may run into during the beta. That said, if you do run into issues I would encourage you to file them through our Microsoft Connect site at: http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=226 XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) Download Page Thank you for your interest in XNA Game Studio 2.0, and we hope you enjoy the Beta!

Procedural Trees in XNA

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:10:21 GMT

Klasker has released an awesome new library for generating procedural trees in XNA. This library should open up many possibilities for your games and will definately be of use to me.

Calling all XNA Enthusiasts in Melbourne and Sydney

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:39:02 GMT

Come and join us for an evening with Pete Isensee from the global Microsoft XNA team. Pete is in Australia for the Game Connect Asia Pacific conference to speak about developing for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms. Join us for an informal evening to hear Pete talk about the XNA framework, Game Studio tools and answer questions about your own XNA projects.

Little Gamers Public Demo

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:46:02 GMT

Epsicode has released a public demo of his awesome XNA game (And Dream Build Play Finalist I might add): Little Gamers. I spent quite some time today playing this game and I can't get enough of it! Be sure to drop by and check it out and say hi to Epsicode while you're at it :)

Dishwasher Dead Samurai T-Shirts on sale

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 02:01:23 GMT

A pointer to some really awesome shirts for a really awesome game built on the XNA framework and destined to come out on XBLA.

Great Resource for Free Sound Effects and Loops

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 04:08:01 GMT

Searching for some sounds today I found a great resource for Free Sound Effects and Loops. This could be a great new Resource for XNA Development. Most of the sounds can be downloaded in mp3, wav and aiff format. Log onto the site and help support it.

XNA Content Update - September

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 08:11:16 GMT

The XNA Guys have released another round of Content Update to the Creators Site. This update includes samples showing Hightmap Collisions, a Custome Model Class, some new Utilities and Images as well as a New Article on 3D Collision.

Project - Xillian

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 01:26:09 GMT

Xillian is an XNA Based 2D Shooter that I have been working on the idea for a while, but recently have decided to take the idea to completion. All of the Artwork for the Game has been created using the Blender system, with some tweaks inside Photoshop.

Vertex Texture Fetch in XNA (VTF)

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:24:15 GMT

Using Vertex Textures in your XNA Games Terrain Rendering Using Heightmaps Terrain Morphing Particle Systems Steps In Snow Conclusions and Future Developments Vertex Texture Fetch in XNA (VTF)

Blender 2.45 Released

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:08:28 GMT

The 2.45 is a bugfix release, to stabilize the 2.4x series. No new feature have been added, but serious effort has been put in tracking bugs and fixing them. Some performance issues have also been addressed.

New Farseer Release in October

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:22:52 GMT

JeffWeber has completed the new (rewritten) version of Farseer 2D Physics Engine for XNA and has scheduled a release for the first week of October.

XNA Arkanoid Clone: Arkanoids

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:37:11 GMT

Very nice Arkanoid clone in XNA with several power-ups. Its still in the early stages but very fun to play even in its current state.

Skybox in XNA using only Two Triangles

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:39:57 GMT

In this sample I create a simple method of rendering a skybox using only two triangles. Using this method you are assured that there are no artifacts on the skybox edges and of course the least amount of vertex data is sent to the video card.

Procedural Backgrounds in XNA

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:08:59 GMT

Often times there comes a need for a simple background image. A perfect example would be the backdrop to a main menu. Most of the times a simple picture will suffice. So you open up your drawing program and whip up a nice 800x600 backdrop for your menu. However this approach of using premade images for backdrops can have drawbacks. ...

Jello Car Update

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 08:40:04 GMT

walaber has released an updated video of the awesome 2D soft body physics based game: Jello Car

XNA Sprite Collision using Vector Bounds

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:35:56 GMT

A simple utility to create collision bounds for sprites as well as a sample demonstrating its usage. I will be creating an article covering the methods used as well however I thought it would be nice to give the community a look at the library and get some feedback first.

XNA Quad Rendering Game Component

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:31:50 GMT

This game component can be used to draw quads on the screen like when doing a full scene pixel shader pass on the screen or a stencil swipe.

Blender 3D - Simple Abstract Model

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:46:02 GMT

Explains how to use Blender3D to do simeple modeling with the intent to use the model in an XNA game.

Deferred Rendering Intro Sample in XNA

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:52:51 GMT

This sample shows how to transform objects from view space into world space. This technique is used in many cool and advanced Effects such as deferred shading.