Developing Game-Themed Applications with XNA

Foundation of Digital Games: Pre-Conference Workshop
April 25, 2009

Abstract and Bio: Here is the abstract of the workshop and brief bio of Kelvin Sung.

Download:  This zip-compressed file contains all of the documents referenced by this index file (including this file).

Schedule:

• Section-1: 1:00 - 1:55 Overview and Introduction.
  1. Introduction: slides on background and overview.  
  2. Simple Example: construct and analyze the source code of a bare bone XNA project.
  3. Drawing with XNA: draw a simple image with XNA^*.
  4. Interactive control: interactively control the location of the image^*.
  5. The XNACS1Lib library:
  1. Working with the Library:
  draw and control a circle with the library.
  2. Working with media:
  include file textures and audio effects.
   
• Section-2: 2:00 - 3:25. Build a BlockBreaker game.
  1. BolckBreaker: Design and implementation strategy.
  2. Simple circle again: Trying out the coordinate system and simple circle drawing.
  3. The Ball Class: Extending the library to encapsulate hero appearance and behavior.
  4. The Block and Paddle Classes: Extending the library to encapsulate supporting objects (appearance and behavior).
  5. The BlockSet Class: Abstracting of hero and supporting objects interaction!
  6. BlockBreaker with textures: Cosmetic: include a some file textures to make the game slightly more interesting.
  7. BlockBreaker with audio effects: Cosmetic: include audio effects to make the game (I hope) whole lot more interesting.
  8. Improving the game: in-game logic and interactive graphics (to be done at the very last)!
     • Unbreakable blocks
     • Fix the "ball getting stuck" problem
     • Support for multiple balls
     • Including some winning conditions for the game
     
     
• Section-3: 3:30 - 4:00. Sample XNA based teaching materials.
  
  
  1. Examples for teaching CS1. (Complete material on-line).
     1. Strategy: implement a "game" based on the concept, e.g.: examples for decision structure
     2. Simple set up. The program (does not work).
     3. Simple If statement. The program (only one bound).
     4. Simple If-then-else. The program (all bound, but not paddle).
     5. Multiple nested conditionals. The program (paddles with barriers).
     6. Logical AND operator. The program (paddle, modes, and winning condition).
     7. Logical OR operator. The program (optimize paddle check).
     
     
  2. Assignments for CS1/2 courses. (Complete materials on-line.).
     1. Strategy: faculty-centric!!, support students: e.g., assignment on binary search tree:
     2. For faculty:
     • Summary Page: mapping to ACM Curricula.
     • Pre/Post tests
     • Sample solutions: Console vs. Game
     • Grading rubric: Console vs. Game
     • FAQ
     • Implementation guide for game themed solution
     3. For students:
        • Description of the assignment: Console vs. Game
        • Skeleton starter project: Console vs. Game
     
     
  3. Your own game-themed applications: approach and guide.
  4. Your own game-themed examples: approach and guide.
  5. Your own game-themed assignments: guide.

• This work is based on the results from the "Games-Themed Introductory Programming Project":
  • Game-Themed CS1 examples, and
  • Game-Themed CS1/2 programming assignments.
• Here is a comprehensive guide to working with the XNACS1Lib Library: this guide includes the links to a series of tutorials and implementation guides that show you how to develop game-themed applications based on the XNACS1Lib library.
• Here is the source code to the XNACS1Lib library. Warning: this source code is work in progress, we apologize for the general lack of comments and/or structure. We expect/hope, in general, people will use the library, rather than work on the library.