May 2007 - Posts

• Rare Examples Fixed

  Thanks to the Z-Man for pointing out that the Rare downloads weren't working for most of you. I've now fixed the problems and they should all be working. My apologies to those that tried and failed. 

  Posted May 31 2007, 06:59 PM by leaf with 1 comment(s)

• Rare Examples

  When Microsoft released version 1.0 of the XNA Framework they had a couple of parties, one of them here in England. If you were there then chances are you got hold of some of Rare's XNA tests that they coded up. If you weren't there then now you can.

  We have several new downloads available, from simple examples to full-on 3D platformers with in-game editors. There's loads of good code to pore over. You can get them in our downloads section. Oh, one thing most of them are setup for the Xbox 360, but the code is still good for Windows.
  

  Posted May 31 2007, 01:46 PM by leaf with 2 comment(s)

  Filed under: examples, rare

• How Time Flies

  Hey, all of you who are entering, or are thinking of entering, the competition - there's not long to go now. The individual art and sound categories are due in by the 12th June, less than two weeks away.

  We'll be providing an upload page closer to the time but if anyone has any teasers that they'd like me to post let me know (via the contact page, or private message).

  Posted May 30 2007, 06:17 AM by leaf with no comments

  Filed under: competition

• Making Games Easier

  The XNA Framework does a great job of simplifying access to DirectX (or the Xbox 360 graphics API) but it's still pretty low level and requires a bit of work to make a 'game' framework on top of. So if you are struggling a little with that you might want to have a look at a couple of game frameworks that are already available.

  TorqueX is GarageGame's conversion of their C++ based game framework to managed code and the XNA Framework. The framework itself is a free download and the level editor TGB is available for a 30 day trial, and quite cheap anyway. Using TGB games can be designed and created by basically working within a drag&drop interface. I've only played around with it myself but it looks pretty easy to get going.

  The other game framework I wanted to mention is Flat Red Ball, this framework has been around for some time using Managed DirectX but has recently released a new version based on XNA. They have plenty of documentation for the beginner and a lot of enthusiasm for a well honed framework. They have also been receiving some help and guidance from Joel Martinez who is a good guy and knows a lot about the XNA Framework. One to watch.

  Posted May 30 2007, 05:53 AM by leaf with no comments

  Filed under: garagegames, torquex, flat red ball

• Syntax Highlighting

  I've added a client-side syntax highlighting module. It's based on this module and uses this JScript highlighting code. You can make use of it, in both forum and weblog posts, by using code tags.

  There are currently 3 valid languages: "c#", "py" and "html" (also works for XML). I can add more but those should do for now.

  Posted May 21 2007, 09:47 PM by leaf with no comments

  Filed under: site

• Web Hosting Problems

  Our apologies if you've had any trouble connecting to this web site lately. Our web hosting providers have been having some trouble with their database server. There was some downtime early this morning while they replaced hardware, so hopefully we will be back to normal service now.

  Posted May 20 2007, 04:05 PM by leaf with 1 comment(s)

  Filed under: site

• Competition Announced

  Ok, so we're all open and ready for the UK's XNA users to come flocking in but how do we let them know about us and entice them into joining? By hosting a competition, sponsored by Microsoft, with loads of great prizes!

  That's right, it's yet another XNA competition. This one is slightly different though. Sure, we're looking for people who can program games but we also want to encourage artists and musicians to show us what they can do - no programming required. You can get the full details of the competition here and we'll be posting more details about submitting your entries soon.

  Remember, this competition is only open to members of the XNA UK User Group. So join up now!

  Posted May 16 2007, 04:51 AM by leaf with no comments

  Filed under: competition

• First Pass on the theme

  We've made a few changes to the theme - got the logo up and played with the colours. Community Server is quite flexible, all the changes were done within the administration interface. 

  Posted May 04 2007, 02:18 PM by leaf with 1 comment(s)

  Filed under: theme, site