How to use XnaContent XML Files

There’s a couple methods to working with XML documents in the XNA games. First, you can just serialize and deserialize your class files at run-time.
Why use XML files for game development?
By saving data outside of your executable, you can keep your data and code separate. With external data, you can make updates to the [...]

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XNA Game Development

Well, I’m back trying to make my XNA game again. It feels like forever ago, when XNA was just in beta and I was messing around with it. And it feels like even more forever ago, that I was working in C++ trying to get my game finished.
Today, I don’t get much free time to [...]

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How to load a Google SketchUp model into a XNA game

For casual 3D modelers, Google SketchUp is a good alternative to more complicated and robust software such as Blender and Maya.
For developers who prefer to get decent looking models up and spend their time writing code, then SketchUp could be used to assist in visualizing their concept.
You can use the free version of Google SketchUp [...]

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How to create a heightmap and skydome using Terragen for XNA

In this example, I’m going to use the Generated Geometry Sample provided by the XNA Creators Club as the code base, so we can just focus on creating heightmaps and the skydome.
Terragen is a great scenery generator and best of all, it’s free for personal (non-commercial) use. However, the unregistered version has some limitations such [...]

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Democratizing Game Development

I’ve long been a fan of games and game development. I created my first game over 20 years ago and saved it to a cassette (remember those things we used to have in cars before CDs?) on my Coleco Adam computer.
I also remember creating numerous text driven games for my Apple IIc Plus using Applesoft [...]

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