Using XNA Game Studio 3.0, any programmer can master the art of game development and begin selling games to millions of Xbox 360 users worldwide. Now, there’s a practical, comprehensive guide to game development with Microsoft’s powerful new XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the entire XNA Framework. In Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 3.0 Unleashed, XNA expert Chad Carter covers the entire XNA platform, presents extensive sample code, and explains that code line by line. Carter walks you through the entire process of game development, including installing XNA, creating objects, handling input, managing and extending the content pipeline, optimizing game performance, and creating both 3D and 2D games. Carter presents sophisticated coverage of using XNA’s high level shader language; creating physical effects; and endowing characters with realistic artificial intelligence. A case study section walks through the entire process of planning and coding a game, improving it, and putting on the finishing touches that make it marketable. This edition contains nine new chapters, including all-new sections on creating networked games, programming games for the Zune handheld, and preparing and submitting games to Xbox LIVE, where accepted titles will reach gamers worldwide. Plan your games to deliver solid performance on the platforms you’ve targeted Understand essential XNA Framework concepts, including object creation, cameras, input handling, libraries, game services, and managing and extending the content pipeline Create a 2D game that will run across 3 platforms (Windows, Xbox 360, and Zune) with a single code base Create a Visualizer media player for the Microsoft Zune Use the High Level Shader Language (HLSL) to communicate directly with graphics hardware Bring realistic physics to your game action and realistic artificial intelligence to your characters Create sophisticated 3D effects that use advanced texturing and a particle system Build networked games, including multiplayer demos, turn-based games, and real-time network games Create 4 full games–2D parallax side scroller, 3D shooter, multiplayer turn-based 2D card game, and a multiplayer real-time 3D game Discover best practices for creating Xbox LIVE Community Games Sell your finished game on Xbox LIVE Marketplace CD-ROM includes: All C# examples and source code presented in this book.

Provides information on using Microsoft XNA to create games for the Xbox 360 and for Microsoft Windows.

This end-to-end deep dive into Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional will help working developers squeeze maximum productivity out of Visual Studio 2010’s extraordinarily rich toolbox, whether they are writing code for the Web, Windows, Silverlight, or Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing environment. The authors combine authoritative and detailed information about Microsoft’s latest IDE, with extensive insights and best practices drawn from decades of development experience. Developers will learn how to use Visual Studio 2010 Professional to take full advantage of the entire .NET platform, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) for rich client development, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for building dynamic service-oriented solutions, and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for structured programming around business processes. The authors also present extensive new coverage of Microsoft’s powerful new tools for unit testing, application instrumentation, and code analysis. By focusing entirely on Visual Studio 2010 Professional, the authors have gone deeper into Microsoft’s core product than ever before. Throughout, their focus is relentlessly practical: how to apply Microsoft’s tools to build better software, faster. Detailed information on how to... Work with solutions, projects, browsers, explorers, editors, and designers Write better macros, add-ins, and wizards Save more time with Visual Studio 2010’s updated productivity tools Instrument, analyze, and test your software Refactor code for greater robustness, maintainability, and performance Share code with team members and the larger community Write powerful ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight web applications Implement robust service oriented architecture (SOA)–based applications Efficiently consume services with WCF Write advanced Windows applications with Windows Forms and WPF Construct data-centric applications with LINQ and Entity Framework Create and host workflow-based applications with WF Write applications for the Azure cloud Extend Visual Studio with the new Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) and the Automation Object Model Build better object-oriented VB or C# software, and use new dynamic language features

Want to develop games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7? This hands-on book will get you started with Microsoft's XNA 4.0 development framework right away -- even if you have no experience developing games. Although XNA includes several key concepts that can be difficult for beginning web developers to grasp, Learning XNA 4.0 shortens the learning curve by walking you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format. Each chapter offers a self-contained lesson with illustrations and annotated examples, along with exercises and review questions to help you test your understanding and practice new skills as you go. Once you've finished this book, you'll know how to develop your own sophisticated games from start to finish. Learn game development from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects Delve into high-level shader language (HLSL) and introductory artificial intelligence concepts Build three complete, exciting games using 2D, 3D, and multiplayer techniques Develop for and deploy your games to the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7

The #1 WPF Book--Now Updated for WPF 4.5! Thorough, authoritative coverage, practical examples, clear writing, and full-color presentation make this one of the most widely acclaimed programming books of the last decade. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the recommended technology for creating modern Windows desktop apps. Whether you want to develop traditional user interfaces or integrate 3D graphics, audio/video, animation, dynamic skinning, touch, rich document support, speech recognition, or more, WPF enables you to do so in a seamless, resolution-independent manner that scales from small tablets to large TVs. WPF 4.5 Unleashed is the authoritative book that covers it all, in a practical and approachable fashion, authored by WPF guru and Microsoft architect Adam Nathan. Covers everything you need to know about Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) Examines the WPF feature areas in incredible depth: controls, layout, resources, data binding, styling, graphics, animation, and more Delves into topics that aren’t covered by most books: 3D, speech, audio/video, documents, effects Shows how to create popular UI elements and leverage built-in controls such as the new Office-style Ribbon Demonstrates how to create sophisticated UI mechanisms, such as Visual Studio-like collapsible/dockable panes Explains how to create first-class custom controls for WPF Demonstrates how to create hybrid WPF software that leverages Windows Forms, DirectX, ActiveX, or other non-WPF technologies Explains how to exploit desktop features, such as Jump Lists and taskbar customizations, and the same toast notifications used by Windows Store apps

This book is a guide to the expanding world of indie gaming. It helps readers to understand why indie games are so important to so many people in the entertainment industry. The book covers puzzlers, platformers, beat 'em ups, shoot 'em ups, role-playing, and strategy.