Tonight me and a couple of the guys attended a Microsoft Student Partnership XNA game development conference tonight. It took place in the cybertorium and as well as giving out free things a lot of information about the basics of using XNA for game development were reviewed. I picked up a copy of the XNA package and have started to look at it, though Source will always be number one in my heart.
Microsoft also hosts an international Imagine Cup which offers students the ability to showcase their works in a competition which could mete them both professional respect and tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. Check it. Anyone interested in creating a student group to pursue this? Be nice to hear if anyone wants to look into it.
XNA as a game development package works for a couple of reasons:
1. Object oriented nature is built into C# but the language retains the universality of C++
2. Common game functions are encapsulated in the package to save on coding
3. Free to develop on the PC, cheap to develop on the 360
4. Immediate access to licensing (opposed to the Source engine's license which must be purchased from Valve)
5.????
6. Profit
Warning: above link highly inappropriate
Comments (1)
I really wanted to go to this meeting, but I had other stuff going on at the time. Using this package can really give you a lot of hands on experience with game programming.
Posted by Matt Maisel | December 13, 2007 5:30 PM
Posted on December 13, 2007 17:30