It helps having everything in one room

Well I've since made sure all my work to this point is useable in XNA 3.0. That didn't take much time and all is good!

However, I program on my Desktop... then turn on my laptop, folder sharing and bring it to my living room where I run tests with the xbox... then back to the office to try and fix things to test again. This process sucks. It doesn't take too long but still it is very much a burden.

I've remedied that situation (or will next week). I picked up a free 17" computer monitor, and since I had a spare VGA connector for my 360, (I use component to connect to the HDTV) I will now be able to move the Xbox into the office for easy testing/programming!

Next week things will speed up. I've also got a whiteboard in the office now to track my things to do list easier.

Orginization is Key

Well, got started... again. So i guess mini-confession, I made a small PC game using XNA GS 1.0 for my Comp Sci Master's Thesis (I passed.) Then my friend and I decided to make our schmup so I've gutted the master's brought in what I can use and am working with that code.

So the thing is right now I'm terribly unorganized. I have ported what code I think I want to use into XNA GS 3.0. But now I'm in a dilemma of what to do next. I've done some rudimentary tests... put some sprites on the screen... let the controller move the sprites.

I'm thinking I should look into some sort of Game State Management next, but I'm not sure if that is where I want to go just yet. I also need to look into Safe Area management, so that the game will run and look fine on both HD/SD/Widescreen/4:3 etc... I also need to delve into Sprite Sheets to help keep some loading/processing/whatever you'd like to call it times down.

So after organizing all the stuff I had from XNA GS1.0 and 2.0. I'm now trying to organize my thoughts into how to truly attack the project. I need a big whiteboard for my office... that would help I bet!

Hello Blogger.com

Hello Blogger.com and any of you other readers who stumble onto this blog. This post will be short and to the point... I hope... a lot of my other posts, probably not so much.

After creating a small Robotron 2048 type game for my Master's final thesis, I decided to give game design and programming another try. So I have started a small project, Project GGOT. Since I am terrible at Art I have enlisted the help of a friend, James, to handle all things art related for me. I will be doing 90%+ of Game Design 100% of Programming.

This blog is a way to try to keep my motivation level a little bit higher for a project I am working on to help me learn Microsofts XNA framework, specifically 3.0. The end goal is to have a XNA game up and available for download through Xbox360's Community Games feature. I will list basic features in this post and the following posts will either detail, Game Design, Programming or Art.

The end goals are very lofty. 1-4 Players. Leveling Up systems. XboxLive compatibilty & networked play etc. But to start, we are going to attempt a 1-4 player, non-networked game. The rest will have to wait and see.

Current Game Title: Project GGOT
Genre: Horizontal-Scrolling Schmup (think Gyruss, Ikagura etc...)
Built in: XNA 3.0 using C# 2008 express edition.