XNA Notes 016

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This has been kind of a crappy week for me. Kids are all puking like crazy so I’m up most nights taking care of them. Fun times being a day! (I have 4 kids in case you didn’t know!). And while my kids have been puking, the community has been busy puking too. Puking up a ton of awesomeness! Yeah…probably not the best analogy but I’m tired.

I did want to take the time to point out one thing that resonated loudly with me this week. You’ll see some interviews with Kris Steele by Steven Hurdle. In that interview, Steven brings up a good point. Are we using the wrong hash tags on twitter? Typically when we tweet about our games or Xbox LIVE Indie Games in general, we tend to use the #xna and #xblig hashtags with occasionally the #xbox hashtag thrown in for good measure. But what are the gamers using? Are we really just advertising the games to the people that already know about them? That’s something definitely worth thinking about. And if someone knows the answer to “what hashtags do Xbox 360 gamers from casual to hardcore use?” please let me and the rest of the Xbox LIVE Indie Game community know!

And now on to the what’s happening in the XNA community!

Time Critical XNA News:

• Multi-language games currently in peer review (if you speek another language and are a peer reviewer, these games may need your help!)
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/26091/489801.aspx#489801

XNA Team:

• Shawn Hargreaves is on another blog posting spree, guess MIX must be over!
  • How to re-sample a signal without aliasing
    • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/04/20/how-to-resample-a-signal-without-aliasing.aspx
  • Why sampling a signal causes aliasing
    • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/04/20/why-sampling-a-signal-causes-aliasing.aspx
  • Antialiasing
    • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/04/20/antialiasing.aspx
• XNA Team Blog - Update on Indie Games Ratings
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/xna/archive/2011/04/18/update-on-indie-games-ratings.aspx
• Nick Gravelyn shares an article he wrote a long time ago on the life of an XNA Game
  • http://twitter.com/#!/nickgravelyn/status/60713929697009664
  • http://blog.nickgravelyn.com/2008/11/life-of-an-xna-game/

XNA MVPs:

• Mike (@mikebmcl) shares a tool he remembers @PumpkinGames wrote to help XNA developers see the effects of color blindness
  • http://twitter.com/#!/mikebmcl/status/59814897420210177

XNA Developers:

• DrMistry of MStar Games - XNA - not just for games, not just for Xbox/WP7
  • http://www.mstargames.co.uk/mistryblogmain/35-genblog/189-xna-not-just-for-games-not-just-for-xboxwp7.html
• Richard Williams (@DVMGames) shares an interesting article talking about games and colorblind players.
  • http://twitter.com/#!/DVMGames/status/59802927774187521
  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13054691
• Luke Quinn shares a very quick and basic keyboard textbox using XNA
  • http://twitter.com/#!/QuimbyRBG/status/59841250618130433
  • http://code-bin.homedns.org/1229
• International Game Developers Association of South Africa - Developer Spotlight Justin Southey, developer of The Most Addicting Sheep Game
  • http://www.igda.co.za/index.php/latest-posts/justinsouthey/
• JohnK (@bobthecbuider) posts SunBurn Dev Journal: Reflections and Clipping Planes
  • http://www.synapsegaming.com/blogs/johnk/archive/2011/04/19/sunburn-dev-journal-reflections-and-clipping-planes.aspx
• Kris Steele has been posting his “Fun Infused Friday” which unfortunately I keep missing since I also post my XNA Notes on Friday...so go check them out!
  • Fun Infused Friday 5
    • http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=256
  • Fun Infused Friday 6
    • http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=257
  • He’s also been running a poll to see what feature people would like to see implemented for Xbox LIVE Indie Games
    • http://www.krissteele.net/
  • And answers the question “Is WP7 development harder than XBLIG?”
    • http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=258
• Philippe Da Silva posts a Menu implementation video for IGFv0.5
  • http://indiefreaks.com/
• Eric Cosky posts Farseer inactive object optimizations and other minor features
  • http://blog.boundingboxgames.com/2011/04/farseer-inactive-object-optimizations.html
• Jo De Greef starts a series of tutorials on creating a physics based Windows Phony 7 XNA game
  • http://jodegreef.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/part-1-hello-physics-world/
  • http://jodegreef.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/part-2-sprite-sheets/
• Michael Crump writes about building a better MessageBox for Windows Phone 7 with the help of XNA
  • http://michaelcrump.net/mbcrump/archive/2011/04/19/building-a-better-messagebox-for-wp7-with-the-help-of.aspx
• David Gouveia (@dalgou) shares creating a basic synth in XNA 4.0 - Part III
  • http://www.david-gouveia.com/creating-a-basic-synth-in-xna-part-iii
  • and also wrote what is probably my favorite tutorial on creating a 2D camera with parallax scrolling in XNA
    • http://www.david-gouveia.com/2d-camera-with-parallax-scrolling-in-xna/

Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG):

• Help spread the word of XNA/XBLIG (and Armless Octopus in this case) by up-voting any Xbox LIVE Indie Game articles you find on Digg, Reddit, etc.
  • http://digg.com/davevoyles/submissions
  • http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/gsey4/armless_octopus_get_to_know_your_xna_mvps_part_2/
• Ska Studios - Good Morning Gato #57
  • http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/04/15/good-morning-gato-57/
• Armless Octopus - Get to know your XNA MVPs Part 2 - John Defenbaugh
  • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/04/17/get-to-know-your-xna-mvps-part-2-john-defenbaugh/
  • Octocast Episode 48 - Sidequesting Octocast
    • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/04/21/armless-octocast-episode-48-sidequesting-octocast/
  • Armless Octopus - How to Market your game XBLIG style - Part 1
    • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/04/16/how-to-market-your-game-xblig-style-part-1/
  • How to market your game XBLIG Style: Part 2
    • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/04/20/how-to-market-your-game-xblig-style-part-2/
  • Armless Octopus - Undead Empire Release Contests rewards zombie-killing professionals with a Kinect
    • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/04/18/undead-empire-release-contest-rewards-zombie-killing-professional-with-a-kinect/
• VVGTV VVGindiecast Ep. 3
  • http://vvgtv.com/2011/04/17/vvgindiecast-ep-3-xblig/
  • VVGTV VVG Indie Verse Review - Chaos Shift
    • http://vvgtv.com/2011/04/20/chaos-shift-xblig-vvg-indie-verse-review/
• Writings of Mass Deduction
  • Day 159 Avaglide
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/17/day-159-avaglide/
  • Day 160 Seizonrenda
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/18/day-160-seizonrenda/
  • Day 161 Timeslip
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/19/day-161-timeslip/
  • Day 162 Sol Survivor
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/20/day-162-sol-survivor/
  • Day 163 Dysnomia
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/21/day-163-dysnomia/
  • Kris Steele of Fun Infused Games Interview - Part 1
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/16/kris-steele-funinfused-games-interview-part-1/
  • Kris Steele of Fun Infused Games Interview - Part 2
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/21/kris-steele-funinfused-games-interview-part-2/
  • Kris Steele of Fun Infused Games Interview – Part 3
    • http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/2011/04/22/kris-steele-funinfused-games-interview-part-3/
• GameMarx
  • Tug of Four
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/61/tug-of-four.aspx
  • Flotilla
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/58/flotilla.aspx
  • Delta Energy 2.0
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/59/delta-energy-2-0.aspx
  • Project Gert Moonbreaker
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/56/project-gert-moonbreaker.aspx
  • Maids with Balloons
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/57/maids-with-balloons.aspx
  • The Most Addicting Sheep Game
    • http://www.gamemarx.com/video/trials/55/the-most-addicting-sheep-game.aspx
• AFallenApple shows off Devious Knights an upcoming XBLIG title
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogyuUpILew
• Clearance Bin Review - XBLIG Spotlight Oozi: Earth Adventure Episode 1
  • http://clearancebinreview.com/2011/04/18/xblig-spotlight-oozi-earth-adventure-episode-1/
• Gamergeddon - Xbox Indie Game Roundup - April 19th
  • http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/04/19/xbox-indie-game-round-up-april-19th/
• Darkstarmatryx review Bouncing Avatars
  • http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=327
• SuitzEthis shares the Kinectic Kube S - Shock Trailer
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCytEeEc99M
• Justin Johnson updates us on the progress of his game Whirlygig
  • http://syndicatex.com/projects/whirlygig-endgame-screen/
• The XNA UK User Group (@XNAUK) has recently undergone a complete website redesign courtesy of Martin Caine (@martincaine):
  • http://xna-uk.net

XNA Development:

• Space Invaders in C# with XNA - Tutorial Part 1
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-2DVBpuXB8
• Minecraft: The Story of Mojang 20 minute short. Make what you love.
  • http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/
• UK XNA Developers, list of UK developers who love and use the XNA framework. If you’re not listed, get signed up and share what you’ve been working on!
  • http://xna-uk.net/developers/
• PAX Dev - a min conference that happens before PAX Prime that’s just for developers. No gamers, no press. Just developers talking to developers. Sounds interesting...
  • http://dev.paxsite.com/index.php
• ESRB Using New Automated System to rated digitally distributed control games - Is this going to change anything for Xbox LIVE Indie Games and their developers?
  • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34158/
• XNA for Silverlight Developers part 9 - Navigation and Structure
  • http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/XNA-for-Silverlight-developers-Part-9-Navigation-and-structure.aspx
• Channel 9 - XNA Game Development: The Game Loop
  • http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/The-XNA-Show/XNA-Game-Development-The-Game-Loop

Windows Phone 7:

• Sgt. Conker - Recommendations on Resuming
  • http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/04/recommendations-on-resuming/
• VeraShackle posts - Battle of  Tafalgar for Windows Phone 7, Fake shadows but real name labels
  • http://xna-uk.net/blogs/braindump/archive/2011/04/10/battle-of-trafalgar-for-windows-phone-7-part-4-fake-shadows-but-real-name-labels.aspx
• John Elster of Liquid Electron posts about Gesture Input in his WP7 XNA game Infestation
  • http://www.liquidelectron.com/gesture-input-in-infestation
• Another tester enlisted in the ranks of the XNA UK FREE XAP test service they’re running
  • http://xna-uk.net/groups/xnaukxap/default.aspx