Make Your Own Game

For all of you who are avid gamers, have you ever wanted to make your own game? I remember when you had to write your own engine, working with graphics and animation… I tried, so I finally gave up … Since then much has changed and today there are tools for development and much better and much faster computers.

As you know, Microsoft engaged in the development of games (the most popular Halo, Age of Empires and Flight Simulator) and the production of Xbox consoles. But maybe you did not know that Microsoft has published a free environment for developing games that is called “XNA Game Studio Express”. It is a development environment that is intended for hobbyists, students and anyone with a passion for the game, based on an existing Visual C # Studio Express and XNA Framework. XNA Framework is a modified and upgraded. NET Framework with classes that you greatly facilitate the management of all elements in the game (graphics, sound, joystick, AI). What is specific to XNA Game Studio Express is that without major changes to the code of the game can run on Windows and XBOX360 consoles. So you can make a game, burn it to DVD and play it on a console with friends, or simply offer people to download games for free. The game itself can be programmed in several languages (C #, Visual Basic, C + +).

Ever since it came out XNA Game Studio Express has attracted considerable attention and there is a whole community of people who make games and share code between them. To achieve my dream to make simple game, kind like dress up games, but I will give it more sophisticated touch, since I can use much better tools than flash, now seem much more possible than it ever was. With the installation of XNA Game Studio and get something called a “starter pack” ready-made 3D game that comes with a code which you can study it and see how to make a complete game. In the documentation there are tutorials that will walk you through every step, from beginning to end, in making this game. On the Web you can download an additional starter pack. Of course, many people are given free source code of their games so you can see it.

Interested? How to start and what you need?

1st Download Visual C # Studio Express and install it.
2nd Download the DirectX SDK and install it.
3rd Download XNA Game Studio Express and install it.

Site’s that will help you in making the first game:

1st XNA Creators Club Online (the most important site, the club of people who made XNA games on the site there are video tutorials, and there you can download additional starter pack)
2nd XNAtutorial.com (video instructions on making games)
3rd Ziggyware.com (tutorials)
4th Riemers.net (tutorials)

Have a good fun with your first game!