The Incredible App Store Hype

The hype surrounding the iPhone App Store continues to persist.  It’s been called a gold rush, and stories of one man teams making hundreds of thousands of dollars almost overnight abound.  But what does that mean for you, if you want to get into the game?  Let’s look at the reality. Read more

Building an XNA Skybox with Blender

While you’ll find a lot of skydome tutorials on the net, sometimes you just want a simple skybox. Here’s how to build one in a few minutes in Blender. Read more

A Reusable XACT Component

This isn’t a how-to article, it’s more of a let’s discuss article. Sound and music often take a back seat when we’re developing a game, and maybe we want it to stay that way. How would you go about creating a reusable XACT wrapper class that would suit just about any purpose? Here’s how I did mine. Read more

Intro to Effects and Post-Processing

Let’s learn how to use effects in our game to achieve a highly stylized, unique look to our game. Read more

Understanding the Model class in XNA

Microsoft has really gone out of their way to provide a ton of cool sample code for you to look at. Nevertheless, it can all be a bit intimidating for someone just getting into game development (even though XNA is definitely your best bet!).

Let’s take a look at the Model class, as that’s the first thing you’re going to need to understand if you want to get your game off the ground. Read more