XNAGameStudio.github.io

XNA Tutorial using C# and HLSL Series 4 – Overview

Welcome to this 4th instalment of my XNA Tutorials for C#. In the first series, we’ve seen how to create a terrain. This Series we’ll go over that again – only this time using a totally different approach. Since we’ve learned (a bit beyond) the basics of HLSL in Series 3, let’s put that knowledge to good use.

How excellent your latest idea for a new game might be, you’ll hardly impress anyone if you can only move some self-drawn crosses or dots over a 2D board. In this Series, we’ll be creating a terrain that you can use immediately as a start for your game. As this series relies heavily on HLSL, you will like to go through Series 3 before you start reading on this one.

Because a terrain looks a lot nicer fullscreen that it does in a window, you can have a look at this fullscreenshot or at this one. And yes, the water moves and the clouds change shape ;) So, in a nutshell, what will be covered in this series?

First-person mouse camera
Multitexturing with high resolution textures close to the camera
Realistic, moving water with reflections-refractions
Bump mapping
Specular reflections
Perlin noise
Shape-changing clouds
HLSL cylindrical billboarding
Region growing

During this series you will need to download the following resources: Starting code: Series4Effects.fx Starting code: heightmap.bmp Textured terrain: grass.dds Multitexturing: sand.dds Multitexturing: rocks.dds Multitexturing: snow.dds Skydome: dome.x Skydome: cloudMap.jpg Ripples: waterbump.dds Billboarding: bbEffect.fx Billboarding: tree.dds Region growing: treeMap.jpg

Before you move on to the first chapter, you can find a few more screenshots below.

Overview

XNAGameStudio.github.io

XNA Tutorial using C# and HLSL Series 4 – Overview

Chapters