Skip to main content
GameDev.net gamedev.net
🔒 Locked

[XNA] NeHe Style XNA tutorials with XNA 4.0

OpenGL
Started by JWalsh Apr 14, 2010 at 12:54 PM 21 replies 23.4k views
Original Post
JWalsh
JWalsh
Hi All! Back in 2007 when I was first learning XNA I adapted the first 10 or so of NeHe's OpenGL tutorials to XNA 2.0 and posted them here on GameDev.net. They got A LOT of attention. However, since then a lot has changed in XNA, with XNA 4.0 having tons of breaking changes. So I've decided to re-visit the NeHe tutorials, in addition to writing some of my own. You can find the NeHe tutorials written in C# with XNA 4.0 on my brand new blog Game Developedia. (Yes, after 10 years of being active in the GameDev web community I'm finally starting a real blog) These tutorials are more than just a re-write of the NeHe tutorials, however, as I highlight some of the key differences between XNA 3.1 and 4.0 as I work through the code samples. So if you're interested, check out the blog. Cheers!
Flimflam
Flimflam
Great to see you finally got a blog going :)
Alpha_ProgDes
Alpha_ProgDes
Quote:
Original post by JWalsh
Thanks! I'm going to try and get 1 tutorial a day done for a while. So tutorial #2 should be up tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers!

**Did you ever know that you're my heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero....**
Beginner in Game Development?  Read here. And read here.  
Alpha_ProgDes
Alpha_ProgDes
I have VS 2008 and XNA GS 3.1, can I still follow your tutorials with this setup or will I have to download a whole new set of IDE and SDKs?
Beginner in Game Development?  Read here. And read here.  
JWalsh
JWalsh
Alpha,

The tutorials are for XNA 4.0, which is built on Visual Studio/C# Express 2010. The good news is there's only a single download you'll need, and you can get the XNA 4.0 CTP here.

XNA 4.0 had lots of breaking changes. The project download files and source code on my blog will not work with XNA 3.1.

Note: This is just a CTP. XNA 4.0 isn't officially out yet, but a number of people wanted to get a jump on WinPhone 7 development, so they released the CTP. In spite of the download name (Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP), you can use it to build XNA 4.0 apps for PC, Xbox 360, and yes... WinPhone 7.

Cheers!
emforce
emforce
I think that you shouldn't go down the same route as everyone else with the tutorials. I reckon you should take us by hand through the creation of different types of games.

Like for instance an RPG:

1 - get the project set up
2 - get the camera working
3 - get a model loaded and moving
4 - get some npc's loaded and implement picking for interaction etc...

or a FPS and just get all the basics covered to make an incredibly simple FPS.

I think it would be far more beneficial to the community if you went down these lines. But thats just my opinion :) It would probably take quite a bit more work, but in the end newbie programmers like myself would go back to a site like that time and time again to learn how to make their own games.

Tell me what you think! :)
Game Development Tutorials - My new site that tries to teach LWJGL 3.0 and OpenGL to anyone willing to learn a little.
Valeraine
Valeraine
Quote:
Original post by emforce
I think that you shouldn't go down the same route as everyone else with the tutorials. I reckon you should take us by hand through the creation of different types of games.

Like for instance an RPG:

1 - get the project set up
2 - get the camera working
3 - get a model loaded and moving
4 - get some npc's loaded and implement picking for interaction etc...

or a FPS and just get all the basics covered to make an incredibly simple FPS.

I think it would be far more beneficial to the community if you went down these lines. But thats just my opinion :) It would probably take quite a bit more work, but in the end newbie programmers like myself would go back to a site like that time and time again to learn how to make their own games.

Tell me what you think! :)


That reminds me a lot of the Wrath Lands video tutorials (http://www.rdxgames.net/projects/wrathlands/index.html), where he went over how to make a text-based RPG in C++. I would absolutely love it if you would do something similar to this with your blog tutorials. Then again, I'm pretty content with waiting to see what your Level-Grind Online project has in store for me as well. :D
JWalsh
JWalsh
emforce, valeraine,

Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan to do some "whole-game" tutorials on Game Developedia in addition to the smaller, topical tutorials.

I'll probably bring back the old project I did here on GDNet in 2002 called "Old Games: Making Games from Old to New", where we worked our way through implementation of several old games, getting closer and closer to modern games. So thanks for reinforcing the idea.

Tutorial 3 will be available later today. In tutorial 3 we add vertex and material coloring!



Cheers!

[Edited by - JWalsh on April 27, 2010 3:22:37 PM]
Moe
Moe
May I make a recommendation for tutorial 8? How about how to use effect files and the creation of a really basic vertex shader (no lighting, no texturing, just diffuse). Then for tutorials 9, 10, 11, etc. you could add directional lighting, texturing, per-pixel point lighting, and so on.

I suppose you could do it as a separate series of tutorials, but I do like the idea of covering shaders in relation to XNA.
JWalsh
JWalsh
Moe,

As stated in tutorial 1, ALL of the tutorials I do will use shaders. I refrain from using BasicEffect, etc... Tutorial 2 included a very basic shader which only transformed the vertices into projection space and returned the color white.

In tutorial 3 I add vertex coloring. In tutorial 6 I add texture mapping, and in tutorial 7 I add diffuse and ambient lighting.

So while there probably won't be a tutorial on HLSL/shaders (unless there's enough interest), each tutorial does cover it as a natural part of the tutorial.

Cheers!
Moe
Moe
Quote:
Original post by JWalsh
As stated in tutorial 1, ALL of the tutorials I do will use shaders. I refrain from using BasicEffect, etc... Tutorial 2 included a very basic shader which only transformed the vertices into projection space and returned the color white.

Ah, excellent. As you may have guessed, I haven't actually read the tutorials yet (just browsed the list of them, as well as this thread).
Daaark
Daaark
Quote:
Original post by Moe
I suppose you could do it as a separate series of tutorials, but I do like the idea of covering shaders in relation to XNA.
There is a whole series of XNA Education items on Shaders. There is also a Shawn Hargreaves developer talk that eases you into writing HLSL code. Getting Started With Custom Shaders. And Catalin Zima's HLSL Crash Course. (Just posted for the convenience of the any random posters reading through here...)

JWalsh, why are you titling all your tutorials as 'NeHe'? :) You're doing a great job on your own, you shouldn't have to model your site after a dead OpenGL one.
JWalsh
JWalsh
Daaark,

I'm titling the ones which mirror NeHe's projects as NeHe. It's just one of the tutorial series' I plan to run. I'll be running an "Earth, Air, Water, Fire" (EAWF) series, as well as an "Old Games" (OG) series. Those will be labeled accordingly.

I'm not trying to borrow from NeHe's success or failure, I just figure if I'm taking the idea of the tutorial from a specific source, I should credit the source, ya know?

Cheers!

Topic Locked

This topic has been locked by a moderator. New replies are not allowed.

Sign in to reply to this topic.