Mage Defender Remake
Today, we released the newest version of Mage Defender, created in XNA as apart of Thomas Beswicks and my “Creating a game from A-Z” presentation held at Game Camp. Link.
Also available at CodePlex.

Eagle Eye Studios has released a new Version of their Content Compiler.
The Content Compiler allows you to compile Content outside from Visual Studio easily. There’s also a Library for use in Leveleditors.

Grab it from Ziggyware!

Grab it from Ziggyware!

Javier Cantón Ferrero show us how to create 2d static reflections for menus in XNA. In this sample Texture.GetData y Texture.SetData are use with a blur and a gradient in the alpha channel. LINK

Carlos R. Lacayo, a student from the UH AGEP Summer Research Program 2009 from UH downtown. He came to do research in gaming at University of Houston main campus. It took him 2 months to learn how to model, texture and use Microsoft XNA to showcase his new game called SpaceShooter Cadet Simulator. LINK

With the release of XNA Game Studio 3.1, Creators now have the ability to incorporate Avatars into their games.  To assist you with this endeavor, we have created several new content items.  All three are free for XNA Creators Club Premium members.

Custom Avatar Animation Sample
This sample shows how to load and process a custom animation for an avatar by using the XNA Framework Content Pipeline. You will learn how to load a custom animation from an FBX file exported from an avatar rig, and then use a custom content processor to extract the animation data from the exported file and save it as a CustomAvatarAnimationData object. From this point, the animation data can then be loaded at run-time and played back using the CustomAvatarAnimationPlayer.

Five custom animations from the new Animation Asset Pack are included with this sample to demonstrate the playback in action!

Avatar Animation Rig
The avatar rig is a model and animation rig setup for authoring custom avatar animations. We have provided two downloadable versions of this rig, one for Autodesk’s Softimage Mod Tool (which is available for free on the Partners page to premium Creators Club members) and one for Autodesk’s Maya 2008. Each includes a readme file that describes how to properly export your animations as FBX files for use in XNA Game Studio 3.1.

Avatar Animation Pack
21 custom Avatar animations for use with XNA Game Studio 3.1:

• Climb
• Crawl
• Faint
• Jump
• Kick
• Pick Up
• Pull
• Punch
• Push
• Run
• Sit Idle
• Steer
• Strafe Left
• Strafe Right
• Swim Freestyle
• Swim Underwater
• Swing Bat
• Swing Club
• Swing Hammer
• Throw
• Walk

Download all three today! If you’re not a Premium member, sign up at our Membership page.

Demo of shaders using XNA 3.0. Link

Looking for audio assets? Look no further! Take your game to the next level with over 170 audio files including body hits, UI sounds, and ambient outdoor noises. The included XACT project is in version 2 format, which allows it to be used in Game Studio 3.0 projects, or to be upgraded by the user to XACT 3 for use in Game Studio 3.1 projects. SoundLab audio assets are available exclusively to Premium XNA Creator’s Club members. 

Download the SoundLab package today! If you’re not a Premium member, sign up at our Membership page.

Ziggyware has created a categorized system of displaying the XNA tutorials. You will find the list when you click on Articles then XNA Tutorials. The old link still works and will redirect to the new categorized list. Let me know if you would like any additional categories created to help in the search to find tutorials.

Ziggyware XNA Tutorials

VerMan has created a new XNA sample showing how to render stencil shadows using XNA 3.0. In this demo VerMan has dynamic lighting and renders a stencil shadow using the planar shadowing technique.

Read More