Microsoft XNA: Game programming made easy!

Category: Articles/Opinion
Written by: Imad Qamar (on March 06, 2008 - 03:50 PM)

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Most of the Computer Science people out there who took their Data Structures course, must surely be aware of how painful it was to program a game, which most of the time required the use of the DirectX SDK. Gaming industry is a multi billion dollar industry now, and any enthusiast would want him or herself to be capable enough to be a part of such a growing trend, i.e Gaming. But due to the difficulty with which it is done (including 3D Modelling, etc), most of them usually end up developing business applications or any other application at a software house. Microsoft XNA aims right at that problem. With the launch of the XNA framework (and the recently released XNA Game Studio), Microsoft has made life easier for the enthusiast gamers who want to develop their own games.

Microsoft XNA, is a set of tools, complete with a managed run-time environment, which allows you to easily do game development and design for both Microsoft Platforms; XBOX360 and Windows. What does "XNA" stand for? Well, it has a "recursive" abbreviation "XNA's Not Accronymed"; funny, but that's what Microsoft said!

The XNA Framework is based on the .NET Framework 2.0 for Windows, and the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for XBOX360. The framework runs on a version of CLR (Common Language Runtime; a virtual machine component of the Microsoft .NET) which has been optimized for gaming. XNA games can run on any platform that supports the XNA Framework with minimal or no modification. Games that run on the framework can be written in any .NET compliant language, but only C# and XNA Game Studio 2.0 IDE and all versions of Visual Studio 2005 are officially supported. The XNA Framework integrates with a number of tools, such as XACT (Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool), to aid in content creation. These tools can help author the visuals or sounds in the game, and model characters with life-like dynamism.

The XNA Game Studio is an IDE for both amatuer and professional game developers. The latest version is 2.0, which allows the game studio to be used will all versions of Visual Studio 2005, and features a networking API using "XBOX LIVE" (along with "Games for Windows LIVE") on both Windows and XBOX360. Future versions of the tool will feature game development capability for the Microsoft Zune (a music/video player) Platform.

And the best part is, all of these tools are now available for free and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Developer Website; The XNA Framework, XNA Game Studio 2.0, and Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, are the tools which you need to start game developing. Visit the XNA Website at http://creators.xna.com for more info. Happy gaming!

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