14 DAY TRIAL // Are you looking to start building your first game for Xbox 360, Windows, or Zune and need a little help? Then you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft has made available for download a range of resources centered on the XNA Game Studio and designed to offer an introduction into the fundamentals of C# programming. At the bottom of this article you will be able to find links to the documentation offered by the Redmond company through the Microsoft Download Center. According to Microsoft, the resources have been tailored to students with no computer science background. Of course, all the downloads are offered completely free of charge.
“Here is a quick overview of the first item in the list. Learn the underlying skills and principles of software development – as you design and build your first games for Xbox 360, Windows, and Zune. Designed specifically for students with no computer science background, this curriculum teaches the fundamentals of C# programming and the XNA Game Studio framework – for skills you can apply to game programming and beyond,” revealed Alfred Thompson, the K-12 Computer Science Academic Relations manager for Microsoft.
Users who want to start learning about gaming development via the curriculum will of course need XNA Game Studio. Version 3.1 of XNA Game Studio has been made available for download since June 2009. Just as the documentation, XNA Game Studio 3.1 is also available for free, and it will permit developers to create games that will run not only on Windows PCs, but also on Xbox 360 and Zune digital media players.
From the documentation, future game devs will learn to “write code to create and control game behavior; build the game display – color, graphics, text; create multiplayer features; capture and cue sounds; and process input from gamepads and keyboards,” Thompson promised.
XNA Game Studio 3.1 is available for download here.
· Introduction to Programming Through Game Development Using Microsoft XNA Game Studio