[Postponed] XNA Workshop - Introduction

Jeromy Walsh · 2009-02-06T19:14:34

The proposed XNA Workshop has been postponed. An announcement will be made when a new start date has been chosen and the workshop is to resume.Welcome to the XNA Workshop Introduction ThreadIt's once again time to announce my annual GameDev.net Workshop! Due to public interest and its recent release, this time I will be running the workshop on XNA 3.0! Unlike my previous workshops, this one will require previous C# programming experience. Additionally, a basic understanding of game programming and linear algebra (vectors, matrices, transforms) is highly recommended. XNA Workshop Proposal (Start date: March 30, 2009) Overview: This workshop is designed to aid people in their journey to learn XNA. This workshop is targeted at highly motivated individuals who are interested in learning XNA or who have attempted to learn XNA in the past, but found that without sufficient support and mentoring they were unable to connect all the pieces of this highly complex but powerful Framework. This is a guided workshop. Each student is responsible for taking the time to read the material and learn the information. The community and tutors that arise out of this workshop are here for making the learning process run more smoothly. Because everyone will be working from the same source materials, students may find it easier to get answers to the specific questions they might have. There is no minimum age requirement, however all participants should have at least mastered Algebra, Geometry, and some Matrix/Vector mathematics. Additionally, this workshop does not attempt to defend XNA as a Framework, nor does it attempt to demonstrate that XNA is either more or less useful than other API's for any particular purpose. People who intend to start a discussion about the differences between XNA and ANY other API (except as are relevant to a particular topic), are encouraged to do so elsewhere. This workshop is for educational, not philosophical discussions. "XNA Workshop" Summary: Anyone interested in participating will be asked to Sign Up so I can keep track of who's following along; details of this will be provided in the coming weeks. Anyone interested in participating will purchase a copy of The Complete XNA. Anyone interested in participating will download and install XNA Game Studio 3.0 and Visual C# 2008 Express Edition. (Or another edition) Each week participants are responsible for reading the designated chapters of the assigned text material. As people have questions on a chapter they may post them in our weekly chapter forums, located in the XNA Workshop Forum, to be answered by myself and other members of the GDNet and XNA community. More advanced XNA programmers may post additional questions or exercises to help test the other students' understanding of the material. Each week students should submit their answers to the quiz questions located at the end of the chapters by using our new Workshop Quiz System. Quizzes will be graded, so that I can determine how effectively the information is being conveyed. Every four weeks there will be a programming project due (see below) - designed to test a student's understanding of the previous 4 weeks. Students should complete these projects and upload the source code to our project database for peer review and feedback. C# Workshop Text: The Complete XNA 3.0: An Exploration into the XNA Framework Library After the previous two workshops and our difficulty in finding an ideally suited textbook, I took the community's advice and wrote one of my own. The book will be available early next year and aims to be a comprehensive study of XNA, including what you can and cannot do with it, and the most efficient way to accomplish your goals. As a result, all material for the workshop will be pulled directly from the book, including chapter review questions provided at the end of each chapter. The book is not free, however it can be obtained at a reasonable price from Amazon.com. I am also discussing the possibility of providing it to XNA Workshop participants at a discounted price here on GameDev.Net. Chapter Threads: As with the C# workshop, an XNA Workshop Forum will be created and each week a sub-forum will be added that can be used to post your questions and answers for the current week's reading assignment. People who come late to the workshop can catch up by reading over the previous threads and continuing to post their new questions. The weekly chapter forums will have an introduction thread which will be mirrored (and stickied) in "DirectX and XNA." The first post of each weekly thread will be structured with a brief introduction to the workshop, and provide links back to the XNA Workshop Forum so that people can easily navigate to us from 'DirectX and XNA', and follow the conversation of the current week. Project Threads: Forums will be created for each of the Monthly Projects where the first post outlines the details and requirements of the project. People can then use those forums to discuss the project, get design ideas, and ask questions. While the full details of how this will be accomplished are not yet hammered out, participants will be able to upload their projects for analysis and peer review. Projects will not be graded, however promising projects will receive some kind of notoriety. Timeline: The workshop will begin March 30th, and is estimated to run for 16 weeks (ending July 31st) allowing 2 weeks leeway for any setbacks due to my own schedule, or delays due to people needing more time to complete projects, etc... During the 16 Week workshop we will adhere as closely as possible to the following schedule: Week 1: Hello, XNA The XNA Application Model Week 2: 2D Rendering Techniques Week 3: Basic 3D Rendering Techniques Week 4: User Input Scene Management & Collision Detection Project 1 Due Week 5: Music & Sound FX & Accessing Your System's Media Week 6: The Graphics Subsystem Week 7: Shaders and Effects Week 8: Intermediate Rendering Techniques Project 2 Due Week 9: Models, Skinning, & Skeletal Animation Week 10: File IO & Serialization Week 11: Advanced Rendering Techniques Week 12: Particle Systems and Other Effects Project 3 Due Week 13: Networked Multiplayer Games & Gamer Services Week 14: Multi-Threaded Development Week 15: XNA Within a WinForm Week 16: Debugging & Profiling your XNA Games Project 4 DueAs always, feel free to provide feedback about the XNA workshop proposal within this thread. Specifically, I'm interested in hearing what kind of projects you'd like to see, and how eager you are to start. =) [Edited by - JWalsh on February 6, 2009 7:23:22 PM]

Graphics and GPU Programming Programming

Started by JWalsh November 30, 2008 10:25 AM

65 comments, last by JWalsh 15 years, 2 months ago

deadstar

536

December 06, 2008 11:01 PM

Fantastic looking schedule, bit of a shame it begins just after the first round of the Imagine Cup finishes, the only reason I'm willing to learn XNA :(

I've just about got the basics down, and have a game prototype slowly on its way, but I'll unlikely win any prizes with it. I'll follow your workshop closely and get ready for next year's competition, unless this Dream Build Play one comes round again.

On a side note, it might be worth mentioning that any University students amongst the people following your workshop are likely eligible for a free XNA Creators Club 12-Month Student Trial Subscription, so anything they create from your lessons can be played on Xbox 360 (the title says XNA 2.0 and not 3.0, but it's just the subscription so don't be fooled).

The same scheme also offers free Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, valid for the remainder of your University course.

"The right, man, in the wrong, place, can make all the dif-fer-rence in the world..." - GMan, Half-Life 2

A blog of my SEGA Megadrive development adventures: http://www.bigevilcorporation.co.uk

Phlipp

128

December 08, 2008 03:33 PM

I've just started learning XNA, and find this to be a good opportunity to get some additional instruction on the framework. Count me in.

Benjamin Heath

925

December 09, 2008 03:28 AM

Count me in as well. [smile] When will the book be ready?

Cygon

1,219

December 09, 2008 05:26 AM

I don't have an XBox 360, so I'll only be able to test on Windows.
If that's okay, count me in, too!

Professional C++ and .NET developer trying to break into indie game development.
Follow my progress: http://blog.nuclex-games.com/ or Twitter - Topics: Ogre3D, Blender, game architecture tips & code snippets.

shawnre

266

December 09, 2008 12:11 PM

Clever marketing strategy for book sales, I will give you that!! (just saying, nothing negative meant by the comment, hope no one takes it that way)

Should make to be an interesting workshop, and thankfully I have a limited amount of semester hours for this time frame, so count me in.

Didn't you, JWalsh, have two books in development? Are they both XNA based? Maybe shoot me a PM instead of me hi-jacking the thread. BTW, I would have bought your book even if it wasn't the basis for this workshop!

My Live Space

DriveByBaptism

122

December 10, 2008 03:15 AM

Hey you can def count me in on this.