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Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Game Programming)x$25.05
  (8 reviews)
Best Price: $39.99 $25.05
Would you like to create your own games, but never have the time to dig into the details of multimedia programming? Now you don’t have to! XNA makes it simple to create your own games, which will run on your PC and Xbox 360 console. Even if you don’t know how to program at all, Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional will teach you the basics of C# 2005 programming along the way. Don’t get overwhelmed with details you don’t need to know— just learn what you need to start creating your own games right now! The fast–paced introduction to XNA and the C# language provides professional developers a quick-start guide to creating a commercial product using XNA, as well as offering home enthusiasts or hobbyists everything they need to begin putting together games in their spare time. You’ll discover and understand all the key concepts required to create smooth, professional–looking results in a range of gaming genres. Every reader will come away with a firm foundation onto which they can build more advanced ideas. What you’ll learn - Game Planning and Programming Basics
- 2-D Graphics, Audio, and Input Basics
- Creating Your First 2-D Game
- Improving Your First 2-D Game
- Basics of Game Networking
- Rock Rain Live!
- 3-D Game Programming Basics
- Rendering Pipeline, Shaders, and Effects
- Lights, Camera, Transformations!
- Generating a Terrain
- Skeletal Animation
- Creating a Third-Person Shooter Game
Who is this book for? Anyone approaching XNA programming for the Xbox 360 for the first time About the Apress Beginning Series The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry-level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional”. You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to knowbut without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!
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Customer Reviews
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Excellent introduction
By A3F5IQW8RLSMEN on 2008-05-30
First off, I will say that of the 4 XNA books I own, this one is easily of the best quality. It covers a substantial amount of material but manages to maintain only a small code-base, which is excellent for learning purposes and maintenance.
If you are looking to not only understand 2D and 3D games, but also Live integration, networking, scene management, audio processing and overall project management, it's in here. Really. Some of it is slipped in so subtly that you won't notice you learned it until after the fact. Kudos to the authors.
If you don't know C#, I would highly recommend you go learn a bit about it (particularly in ASP .NET 2.0 or higher, due to the use of generics.) If you don't know the language this uses, you will indeed be lost. Otherwise this is an excellent introduction to the topic, and building your own network-enabled 2D game or your own 3rd-person, Gears of War-style shooter is quite empowering.
Face it, game development is a difficult task that encompasses many areas of required expertise. You can't get a book to help you much more than this one does.
Great learning value!
By A186B0FDADAA73 on 2008-07-03
You should understand C# code before diving into this book. I tried online tutorials and nothing comes close to just reading and using this book! Although there were a few places where I had to use an online resource to figure out exactly what the author was talking about, it still supasses any other online XNA intro.
Amazing Book
By A2I59P4SRNBVMX on 2008-05-26
I recently picked up this book and it's great !!...it's clear, and it's perfect for those people who want to understand the XNA bases, but at the same time, start to create by themselfs.
Even if you aren't a programmer, this book will guide you step by step trough all the process, from a basic game to a complex character animation.
In short, this book is an excellent starting point for people who want to learn XNA and get involved in the videogames world.
Best XNA book on the market
By A1J1NCPG87M84I on 2008-07-10
This is a great book to help you get started with XNA. I like the fact that it's straight and to the point with no fluff. Covers 2D and 3D game programming including skeletal animation. All sample code compiles and runs as advertised and is explained in detail. I had a bad experience with another XNA book so I'm glad I found this one.
A little too to the point.
By A3S13PDOOWLGE9 on 2008-07-21
This book doesn't beat around the bush, which can be a good thing for an already experienced developer. However if you aren't experienced it could easily leave you lost. If you are a "novice" like the book claims to cater too you'll probably never get to them without further reading from other materials.
The QC for this book was very poorly done. There are tons of errors in the spelling and in the code. They completely forgot to explain certain things and then expect you to have figured them out on your own later.
The book covers a decent amount of useful information, but it seems like they just pushed it out a bit too soon. If they had gone through the tutorials and tried them out and made sure all the steps were covered, it would have been a lot nicer to learn with. Instead the tutorials left me lost most of the time. I spent hours trying to figure out what steps they forgot to include.
I think this book could be quite a useful tool if you are already well versed in the .net C# environment. However I would recommend a different approach if you have little C# experience.
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