Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Game Programming) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Alexandre Santos Lobao, Bruno Pereira Evangelista, José Antonio Leal De Farias
Publisher: Apress
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $25.05
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 13177
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 456
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7 x 1
ISBN: 1590599241
Dewey Decimal Number: 794.81526
EAN: 9781590599242
ASIN: 1590599241
Publication Date: April 28, 2008
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Product Description
Would you like to create your own games, but never have the time to dig into the details of multimedia programming? Now you don’t have to! XNA makes it simple to create your own games, which will run on your PC and Xbox 360 console. Even if you don’t know how to program at all, Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional will teach you the basics of C# 2005 programming along the way. Don’t get overwhelmed with details you don’t need to knowa just learn what you need to start creating your own games right now! The fast–paced introduction to XNA and the C# language provides professional developers a quick-start guide to creating a commercial product using XNA, as well as offering home enthusiasts or hobbyists everything they need to begin putting together games in their spare time. You’ll discover and understand all the key concepts required to create smooth, professional–looking results in a range of gaming genres. Every reader will come away with a firm foundation onto which they can build more advanced ideas. What you’ll learn - Game Planning and Programming Basics
- 2-D Graphics, Audio, and Input Basics
- Creating Your First 2-D Game
- Improving Your First 2-D Game
- Basics of Game Networking
- Rock Rain Live!
- 3-D Game Programming Basics
- Rendering Pipeline, Shaders, and Effects
- Lights, Camera, Transformations!
- Generating a Terrain
- Skeletal Animation
- Creating a Third-Person Shooter Game
Who is this book for? Anyone approaching XNA programming for the Xbox 360 for the first time About the Apress Beginning Series The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry-level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional”. You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to knowbut without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you thereait is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Great reference guide August 9, 2008
First off this book is not for a beginning programmer. You must have at least some knowledge of object oriented programming before using this book. A basic knowledge of C, C++, or C# would also help a lot. Along with that, a slightly more-than-basic knowledge of the .NET framework is necessary.
If you have all those, this is a great book. The explanations of XNA code and corresponding programs is easy to follow. If you read the code and try to understand it without blindly copying it, you will learn a lot from this book.
There are some errors throughout the book, but most of them are minor; if you have a programming background, you can get through most of them with little trouble.
Overall, this book is for someone who is a beginner at XNA, not at programming all together.
 Good book of XNA July 29, 2008
It's a good book, however it has many pages of code. In despite of that I recommend the buy.
A little too to the point. July 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book doesn't beat around the bush, which can be a good thing for an already experienced developer. However if you aren't experienced it could easily leave you lost. If you are a "novice" like the book claims to cater too you'll probably never get to them without further reading from other materials.
The QC for this book was very poorly done. There are tons of errors in the spelling and in the code. They completely forgot to explain certain things and then expect you to have figured them out on your own later.
The book covers a decent amount of useful information, but it seems like they just pushed it out a bit too soon. If they had gone through the tutorials and tried them out and made sure all the steps were covered, it would have been a lot nicer to learn with. Instead the tutorials left me lost most of the time. I spent hours trying to figure out what steps they forgot to include.
I think this book could be quite a useful tool if you are already well versed in the .net C# environment. However I would recommend a different approach if you have little C# experience.
 Best XNA book on the market July 10, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a great book to help you get started with XNA. I like the fact that it's straight and to the point with no fluff. Covers 2D and 3D game programming including skeletal animation. All sample code compiles and runs as advertised and is explained in detail. I had a bad experience with another XNA book so I'm glad I found this one.
Great learning value! July 3, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
You should understand C# code before diving into this book. I tried online tutorials and nothing comes close to just reading and using this book! Although there were a few places where I had to use an online resource to figure out exactly what the author was talking about, it still supasses any other online XNA intro.
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