ZiggyDraw - 2D Zune Graphics Library for XNA 3.0 CTP

ZiggyDraw - 2D Zune Graphics Library for XNA 3.0 CTP - Circles, Lines, Squares, Ellipse, etc

ZiggyDraw - 2D Zune Graphics Library

Ziggyware Summer 2008 XNA Article Contest

Ziggyware Summer 2008 XNA Article Contest

Start date: June 2'nd 2008
Ending Date: June 30'th 2008. (Midnight CST)

Contest Subjects

• Write an XNA related tutorial for XNA developers
(see examples)

• Write a useful tool for XNA like a generic editor for land/sprite layout/3d object placement or any other type of tool that could help in the process of using XNA
• Feel free to suggest more subjects in the forum listed below

Important: Read How to create an article for Ziggyware - Entries are subject to approval and may be disqualified per disgression.

Prizes

• First Place
• Custom engraved Ziggyware XNA Zune - 8GB
• Second Place
• Four month subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club or Choice of Halo3, Mass Effect, Project Gotham Racing 4 or Crackdown for Xbox 360 (USA - NTSC)
• Third Place
• Four month subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club

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Questions?

Ask on the Forums

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Participants must be at least 16 years of age with verifyable form of identification. Submitted entries become property of Ziggyware and must not contain any form of license. Residents of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and the following countries are ineligible to participate: Cuba; Iran; Iraq; Libya; North Korea; Sudan; and Syria. The Promotion is void in these geographic locations and where prohibited or restricted by law. Winners outside the continental United States must pay shipping charges in excess of 30 USD.

Prizes, rules and eligibility subject to change.

Cell Shading example

Javier Ferrero has a new Cell Shading (Toon Shading) sample available on codeplex. This sample comes complete with source for XNA 2.0.

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XNA Effect Compiler and Disassembler

The instruction limit has released an XNA Effect Compiler and Disassembler to help with the management of XNA Effect resources. This tool can help if you are having problems with fxc.exe when compiling effects.

I really think of disassembled shaders as an essential tool in HLSL programming because it allows you to see how the compiler has been able to optimize your code, and how many instructions you have left. With "Debug" ticked as a compiler option, you can see which lines and files are refered by which instructions, and so keep track of the compiler's line of thought.

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GraphiXNA Shader Library v1.4

Mahdi Khodadadi Fard has updated his XNA Shader Library: GraphiXNA.. This new update has a new architecture allowing you to more easily create and use the awesome array of effects in the library. GraphiXNA contains 21 post processing effects and is Xbox 360 and Windows compatible. Mahdi has packaged a sample showing how to use the library as well so you can get off the ground running.

GraphiXNA Shader Library

Biology Battle XNA Game

Novaleaf has released a new XNA game for Xbox 360 with a Windows version coming soon. This game is a wicked overhead shooter with several game modes to keep you occupied. In testing this game I quickly became addicted and love the graphics and atmosphere of the game. Biology Battle is not just another home brew game, the professional feel brings a tremendous amount of life to the game and gets you hungry for more. Novaleaf has made this release of Biology Battle with a nice Ziggyware splash screen as well to top it off! Check it out and keep an eye out for more from Novaleaf.

Download Biology Battle

Building an Asynchronous Content Manager

John Sedlak posted a new article on Building an Asynchronous Content Manager in XNA. This article covers the implementation of a content loading system using event handlers and asynchronous invoke methods.

Building an Asynchronous Content Manager in XNA