What was lost - What was Missed

Well I’ve been remiss for a while (as with a lot of my fellow colleagues of late here on XNA-UK) due to work constraints, holidays and sheer numbness of endless projects and secret sauce.

On returning to the world from a non stop journey of excitement (well for the kids at least) to the wonderful resort of Disneyland Paris (EuroDisney?), I return exhausted and to a pile of paper behind my Front door and an almost endless stream of the electronic kind on my return to work, as is always the case.

Now I find myself on the other side of that and my concerns turn back to the wonderful world of Windows Phone 7 and XNA (with some obvious Silverlight overtones thanks to Mango) and I find myself researching additional material for a project I’ve been called to answer to (willingly of course) and found myself perusing the Education content on the AppHub.

!What a surprise!

Not what i was expecting because there has been little announcement (either that or I was sleeping) about the wrath of new content added to the hub especially with Windows Phone 7 in mind, I seem unable to find reference, tweet or notification about when or how this content was added but by golly it is truly amazing.

In short here is the headlines (and by no means all of) the new content on the App Hub, which if you are making or thinking of making games for Windows Phone 7 you should absolutely take note of:

PEGI Express Rating Tool Information

Area

marketplace & submission

Description

pegi express is the name of a newly developed version of the pegi (pan european game information) rating sytem that allows games for windows phone to get an age rating.

XNA Game Studio or Silverlight: Which Product is Right for Me? (Updated for Mango)

Description

this article will help developers make an informed decision when choosing between the two.

Silverlight XNA Game Components (Mango, C#/VB)

Area

games: data management, games: gameplay

Description

this sample provides an implementation and demonstration of a gamecomponent system for use in games leveraging silverlight and the xna framework.

Paddle Battle (Mango, C#/VB)

Area

games: 2d graphics, games: gameplay, games: graphics,user experience

Description

this sample shows a very basic game written on top of the new silverlight/xna framework application model.

Model Viewer Demo (Mango)

Area

controls, games: 2d graphics, games: graphics, user experience

Description

this sample showcases a complex application built on top of the integrated silverlight/xna framework application model.

Migration Guide: From the Game Class to Silverlight/XNA (Mango, C#/VB)

Description

this document explains why and how to move your windows phone game to an architecture that integrates silverlight with the xna framework.

Dynamic Menu

Area

user experience

Description

this sample demonstrates how to develop a dynamic user interface, which can be layed out in code or in xml, or a combination of both.

Bing Maps for Games with Pathfinding

Area

games: artificial intelligence

Description

this sample expands on the bing maps sample by using road data to allow a tank to travel to markers while driving on the roads.

Music Management for Windows Phone 7

Area

games: audio

Description

this sample implements and demonstrates the usage of backgroundmusicmanager, a class that helps your windows phone 7 game play music and reliably respond to external events that affect music playback.

Yacht

Area

games: 2d graphics, games: gameplay, games: graphics,input, touch & gestures, networking & web services

Description

this is a complete wi-fi supported multiplayer dice game for windows phone.

Tilt Perspective

Area

games: 3d graphics, input, touch & gestures

Description

this sample uses the accelerometer to estimate the orientation of the phone’s screen relative to the user’s eyes, and renders a 3d scene corrected for that viewpoint in order to create an illusion of depth.

As you can see there is a lot of really cool new stuff and even more located on the AppHub educational content section, so i suggest you get yourself over there and check out this fantastic wealth of information.

Just remember it is there to learn from or build your games using the code within (fell free to cut and paste all you like).

Now I must again sleep!

Simon (darkside) Jackson

Simon (darkside) Jackson

Engineer, industry executive, research enthusiast. Avid learner with diverse interests in coding, game development, Mixed Reality (AR/VR/XR) and reinforcement learning. 25+ years of experience working in multinational corporations and startups.

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