Top Community Games (by purchases)

This is the list of full versions purchased for the week of 22nd December:

Top Community Games
1 Golden Royal Blackjack (200 points) unchanged 3 weeks
2 Fireplace (400) new
3 Word Soup (400) down 1
4 Snowmans Dilemma (200) down 2
5 Weapon of Choice (400) down 1
6 CarneyVale Showtime (400) new
7 EZMuze Break and House edition (200) new
8 Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp (200) new
9 sin(Surfing) (200) unchanged 3 weeks
10 Dr. Popper (200) new

Other stats:
- This week the 100th community game was added on Xbox live.
- Golden Royal Blackjack has been in no.1 purchased game 3 weeks running.
- Fireplace demo is currently no 1 downloaded CG (Community Game) for the last 7 days

XBox 360 Fireplace

Enjoy the awesome ambiance of a crackling fireplace in your living room. With realistic smoldering embers and flickering flames it sets the perfect backdrop for a relaxing evening.

Turn your TV into a virtual fireplace.

You can try the free demo by downloading it from here directly to your Xbox 360, or you can find it on the NXE dashboard under Community Games.


XBox 360 Fireplace

Farseer Physics Engine

Farseer Physics Engine 2.0 has been released.

Here is a sample video of what Farseer Physics can do (this is based on v1):



Here is a water demo done in silverlight using Farseer Physics.

New Xbox Experience - Community Games video

Check out all you need to know on the new community games channel which is launching in November on the new XBox 360 Experience.

inDuna

Here is a quick preview of the game we submitted for this years Dream Build and Play competition:

New XNA 3 beta coming early next week!

New Features/Changes:

Zune

Compatibility with the upcoming Zune 3.0 Firmware release.
Improved deployment stability.
Support for Zune deployment on Windows Vista x64 Systems!
You can now use the Remote Performance Monitor for Zune games.

Xbox 360

Xbox 360 project templates (You will not be able to develop on the Xbox 360 until our final release. We felt this was important to include so that you could get projects converted over and look at the system, even if you are not able to run the games, yet).
Support for the Big Button Pad.

Framework & Visual Studio Features

Enumerate and play back media on your Windows computer or Xbox 360.
Simple sound effect support on Windows computers and Xbox 360.
Support for Rich Presence (lets friends know what’s going on in your game).
Support for Invites (ask your friends to join you in a multiplayer game) and Join Session In Progress (after you see what your friends are doing, you can join their current session with just a couple of button presses, even if that’s a different game to the one you are currently playing)
Compress your content and save space with the new content compression features!
ClickOnce packaging support for distributing your XNA Framework games on Windows.
Upgrade your project from XNA Game Studio 2.0 using the Project Upgrade Wizard!
Take screen captures of your game running on Zune through the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
Support for .NET language features like Linq
Create multiple content projects and leverage cross project synchronization in Visual Studio.
FBX importer improvements: read materials containing multiple textures, and export custom shader materials directly out of Max or Maya.

Full story on the XNA Team blog

More Free Tools

Good news, trueSpace 7.6 has been released for FREE !

trueSpace is a complete 3D Authoring tool, I haven't tried it yet so can't comment on how good or bad it is for helping with making games.

Here is a video I found on You Tube showing animations:

Sell your games on XBox 360 Community Games!

Finally, Microsoft has announced that this year they will be launching the ability for anyone with a Creators Club Membership to upload and sell there games on XBox 360.

Microsoft will give you up to 70% of the revenues and send you a cheque every quarter.

Fur more detailed info and a list of FAQ check out the creators club website over here.

NVidia Tools

NVIDIA Shader Debugger has been released

It a fully-featured pixel shader debugger that allows shaders to be debugged just like CPU code. A free license for non-commercial use is available.

FX Composer 2.5 has also being released.

FX Composer 2.5 Overview:


FX Composer New Features:


New Features:

# Cross-API Support
* New! DirectX 10
# New! Support for Shader Debugger plug-in
# New! Particle Systems
# New! Visual Models and Styles
* Ability to create, define, and export multiple looks for a model
# New! Remote Control Service over TCP/IP
# New! Shader Perf with GeForce 8 Series Support
# New! Improved User Interface
* Unified project model
* Reduced user interface clutter
* Single-device operation
* Enlarged icons with captions
# Full-featured Code Editor
* New! Automatic, Customizable Code Snippets

Dream Build and Play

This years Dream Build and Play has been announced !

There is $ 75 000 in prizes up for grabs.

1st Prize: $ 40 000
2nd Prize: $ 20 000
3rd Prize: $ 10 000
4th Prize: $ 5 000

And you have until the 23rd September 2008 to submit your entry!

New XNA Creators Club Online almost here

Looks like we can expect the new XNA Creators Club website to be launched sometime in the next few days.

Currently the website is "closed for a while" you can check out the message here.

In other news....

Blender 2.46 (also known as the Bunny release) has just been released.

"This version supports a new particle system with hair and fur combing tools, fast and optimal fur rendering, a mesh deformation system for advanced character rigging, cloth simulation, fast Ambient Occlusion, a new Image browser, and that's just the beginning."
Check the extensive list of features here.

X-File exporter support for 3D Studio Max 2008 and Max R9

Version 1.3 of the kW X-port has been released, this allows you to export models from Max in X file format, as well as Animations.

Probably the best tool to use at the moment. Also has the ability to name and set your animation when exporting which is really handy.

You can get the release from here.

Physics Editor requested changes

I've stopped using my physics editor for the time being as I have moved onto a new project which requires a different type of editor.

If there is anything you would like to see changed or fixed with the Physics Editor the drop me a comment and I'll have a look at it.

XNA Game Engine Development

Found a pretty good series of articles all about building an Engine using the Microsoft XNA Framework.

Here are the links:

# Part I: Basic engine skeleton
# Part II: An FPS counter GameComponent
# Part III: Applying TDD (Test Driven Development)
# Part IV: ShaderManager GameComponent
# Part V: TextureManager GameComponent
# Part VI: Input GameComponent
# Part VII: ScreenManager GameComponent (game state + GUI)
# Part VIII: Adding multithreading to GameComponents
# Part IX: SceneGraphManager GameComponent
# Part X: CameraManager GameComponent
# Part XI: Static meshes
# Part XII: Culling and chase camera
# Part XIII: Oclussion & Frustum culling
# Part XIV: Adding Physics
# Part XV: Adding WinForm Support, step 1 to World Builder
# Part XVI: Skydome
# Part XVII: Hoffman Atmosphere

XNA WinForms Physics Editor Tool

Recently I put together a WinForms XNA Physics Editor for a project I was working on.

Not all the buttons work yet... and there are bugs all over, the animation section doesn't work at all, its currently a work in progress. If there is anything you really want fixed or changed, drop a comment. Let me know if its of use to you.

The tool can be used to test your Physics ideas as it allows you to experiment quickly with Joints and Springs.



Included is a sample jeep file to load (As seen above).

You can download it from here.

If you hit F11 it hides the physics helpers.
To create an new object just Right Click and select the option.

The editor also builds your images into xnb files for you.

Note!
The Custom objects are a bit dodge, use the mouse to place vertices down, and use SPACEBAR to complete the object. It may take a few seconds once SPACEBAR is pressed before the editor completes the building process, the Custom objects is still buggy, but does work.
The "Multi-Part Object" button is buggy, so dont use it.

The following is fully functional:
- Revolute Joint
- Fixed Revolute Joint
- Angle Joint
- Angle Limit Joint
- Fixed Angle Joint
- Fixed Angle Limit Joint
- Angle Spring
- Linear Spring
- Fixed Angle Spring
- Fixed Linear Spring

Democratizing Game Distribution: The Next Step

Gamasutra have a 7 page article describing just how the new game distribution system will work in the beta of XNA 3 coming this Spring.

The article can be found here.

Something to note... the beta only supports the American region :(

Community XNA Games on XBox Live

Major Nelson also anounces 7 Community Games coming to XBox Live today for free.

Here is the post.

Latest news from GDC

Microsofts GDC Keynote !

This is the bit I like most about the Keynote:

"It's changing today. For the first time, community games will be distributed through Xbox Live."

'Xbox Live Community Games' will give creators a huge audience to share their creativity with. Game distribution will be democritized, allowing the community to control the content. Create, Submit, Peer Review, Play are the four key steps." "We want creativity to flow through this pipeline,"

"Your creator identity is not too different from a gamertag -- it has a history of your developed games. You'll inform users what's in your game, using descriptive sliders. On a scale, how violent is it? What sort of game is it? There's prohibited content, of course, but ti's up to peer reviewers to evaluate the game. "now, 10 million people on Xbox Live get to play your game."

The 2008 Dream-Build-Play Warmup Challenge finalists

The 2008 Dream Build and Play Warmup Challenge finalists are here, the links will take you to the site with a download for each game:

Conquerator 1.0 Released



Hive





iSheep



Orblast



Specimen

XNA and NVidia PerfHUD 5.2

To get NVidia's PerfHUD to work with XNA you will need to create the event in your game constructor:

this.graphics.PreparingDeviceSettings += new EventHandler(graphics_PreparingDeviceSettings);

and add the following:

void graphics_PreparingDeviceSettings(object sender, PreparingDeviceSettingsEventArgs e)
{
foreach (GraphicsAdapter curAdapter in GraphicsAdapter.Adapters)
{
if (curAdapter.Description.Contains("NVIDIA PerfHUD"))
{
e.GraphicsDeviceInformation.Adapter = curAdapter;
e.GraphicsDeviceInformation.DeviceType = DeviceType.Reference;
break;
}
}
}

Then build the game, and drag and drop the exe onto the NVIDIA PerfHUD 5 Launcher icon.

To see more about what NVidia PerfHud is all about watch this video:

More Video Tutorials

Today I stumbled upon some great quality free video tutorials for XSI, here are some of the tutorials that may interest you for creating games in XNA:

Intro
- Assigning Glows to objects in XSI
- Selection Properties in XSI
- Selection Explorer
- Palettes
- Creating a Custom Toolbar
- Render Regions
- Using Glows
- Using the Texture Layer Editor
- Get Started with the Jetbike
- Modifying the Engine on the Jetbike

Animation
- How To: "Tag a Rig" in XSI in order to apply Motion capture data to it.
- Using the Animation Editor and the Keying Panel
- Project overview for XSI Character Enveloping training kit
- Project overview for XSI Character Rigging training kit
- Using GATOR
- Quick Stretch Deformer
- Devices
- Pose Constraints
- Shapes 101
- Cycling Curves
- Ghosting
- Context and Construction Modes
- Basics of Enveloping
- Basics of Keyframing
- Setting Keyframes

Modeling
- Extracting and repurposing geometry
- Project Overview for the Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI training kit
- Adjusting Pivot of Components
- Trimming Surfaces
- Merging Polygons
- Lofting
- Extruding Faces without Merging
- Converting NURBS Surfaces to Polygons
- Proportional Modeling
- Deforming with Weight Maps
- Using the Text Tool to make 3D Text
- Range and Loop Selections
- Revolution Tool
- Merging NURBS curves
- Extruding with Curves
- Extruding and Beveling Vertices
- Splitting Polygons
- Extruding Polygons
- Extruding Along a Curve with Polygons
- Displaying the Triangle Count
- Using Booleans
- Components in XSI
- Moving Around in XSI

Here is the link.

Building a 3D Game in XNA From Scratch - Free Video Tutorial Series Now Available!

Here is the link to a blog by former C# dev and Microsoft Academic Developer Evangelist, Dan Waters, he takes you through creating a 3D game called GuitarMatey and it uses a regular Guitar Hero style controller. (Free Video Tutorials)

GameDev AI

Here is a great website on GameDev AI which has some great articles of current games and upcoming games and how AI was used in them: http://aigamedev.com/