Game Development in XNA

Charles BihisMicrosoft Student Partner

Outline of Presentation

• Game Industry• What is XNA?• Game Trailer• Modding an XNA Game• XNA Resources• Imagine Cup• Resources/Questions

Why Gaming?

• How many of you…– Play Video Games?– Would like to build a game?– Have built a game?

• What makes video games to fun?– Art– Interactivity– Sound

So what’s the holdup…?

• Why can’t we just start making games?– Games are Complex and Expensive

10 MillionMillion40 MillionMillion

Why so Expensive!?

• What does that money buy?

ArtArt CodeCode BizBiz

Game Development

• Competition is fierce• Most start as Q & A/testers or interns• Many different roles within the Industry

– Designer or Level Designer?– Rigger or Animator?– AI Programmer or Lang-specific Dev?

Opportunities in Game Dev

• Regularly over 400 Game Industry openings posted on www.gamasutra.com alone

• 2006 Avg. $70k/year• Detailed look at salary

– Programmers– Designers– Art/Animation– Q & A/Testers

Is this the only way?

• Traditionally there was only one track…

What if there was something else?

• Who says you have to work for the big boys?

XNA Game Studio Express

Introducing the Future…

So what do you need?

Have the Vision

Create the Code

Create the Art

Make it Fun

A sample of what XNA offers..

• http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?type=wmv&id=14836

How much is it?

Free 99$/yr

Ready to Get Started?

Demoextending a game

XNA Resources

• Beginner DVD• What’s in it?

– Intro to XNA– 2D Game Tutorial– 3D Game Tutorial– Full Source code walkthrough– Demo of how to share/package a game

XNA Resources

• XNA Creators Club– http://creators.xna.com/

• XNA Team Blog– http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/

• TorqueX– http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/x/

Imagine Cup Games4Change

• Imagine Cup—what is it?– http://imaginecup.com/About/WhatIs.aspx

• Benefits of Participation?– Exposure– Jobs– $$

• Games for Change challenge:– http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0611

gamesforchangechallenge.htm

Q & A