XNA UK User Group

As we're just getting started and to help break the ice, I've started this introductions thread. Post here and let us know who you are, how you found us, etc.

I'll start. I started this user group with Robin (and some friends from Microsoft). I've been using/playing/working with the XNA Framework since it was released, before that Managed DirectX and before that native DirectX. I've worked in the games industry for several years mainly on the tool applications and frameworks side (hence lots of C# programming, which is nice).

Cheers,
Leaf.

"Hello world" - this is Robin - Leaf's partner in crime in setting this wonderful thing up.

I'm also the product of a good few years in the UK games industry, having worked in lots of art roles since 2000. I now own and run an art outsourcing studio, and am known to start eulogising obscure foreign films at the drop of a beret.

I've always dabbled with programming - right back to the days of hacking together C64 and Amiga demos, when graphics and code were pretty much tied together. Things haven't actually changed that much (as anyone who has had exporter/importer issues will know), and it was in my last job as Technical Artist for EA that I got into XNA, while learning C# to tackle similar issues for next-gen games.

Seeing my code running on the Xbox360 filled me (and my gamer mates) with childlike amazement - and brought back the joy of bedroom coding in a flash.

Hopefully we can build a new community here to share this joy. Leaf and I have a bunch of great ideas to share - more on those in the near future - but we're both really looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to.

And so... It's over to you lot : )

Hi my name' Nico, I'm the ex pres of the Warwick Video Game Design Society, [plug]www.warwickgamedesign.co.uk[end plug]. We've done a few 48 hr competitions in the past and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in on this one. Warwick will probably be putting forward a handful of teams, but theres not much collective XNA experience, so it should be a bit of a learning journey.

I like the ocean odyssey theme, its a bit more inventive than the stuff we usually end up doing (robots, ninjas and pirates), it should result in some original games. 

I'm a Biology 3rd year at Warwick Uni, I'm planning to get into the games industry in some respect after graduation, hopefully with the help of my games Avian Apocalypse and Criminal Capers which should be "gold" by the end of june (hopefully). I'm not a coder or artist, so I'l be relying on my awesome collegues in the society to help me out.
 

Hey, our first non-founding member. Welcome Nico. We should get you a badge or something.

This competition isn't strictly speaking 48 hours. There will be a run up period before the 48 hours start and we release the mandatory elements. You, as a game designer, should be able to design most of your games mechanics before hand and then it should just be a matter of cramming in last minute changes in those 48 hours. Think of it as simulating typical commercial game schedules...

Cheers,
Leaf.

I'm Jonathan, I'm also from the Warwick Game Design society and I'm taking over command from Nico for the next academic year.  Me and my housemates have played around with XNA to produce small games, nothing spectacular, but it has a lot of potential.  Seeing my MSPaint handwriting scrawled across our TV screen made me laugh!

If only I could find the time around exam revision...

Hi Jonathan. Yeah, we found it very exciting to see things running on a retail xbox in the living room - even with access to dev kits.

Cheers,
Leaf.

Hello All,

 I'm Charles and I've only recently took interest in Microsofts XNA. I've been interested and participating in Hobby Games Development for many years now, mostly using 3rd party languages like Blitzbasic/Blitz3d or Dark Basic and also several attempts using Borland's line of products Namely Delphi. Right now I'm mostly just coming to grips with the C# language which isn't to much of a departure from Object Pascal so its been pretty easy to pickup thus far. I only have one main game idea in mind for myself but have no intentions of starting on it till i complete the normal "beginner" games (pong,tetris,etc) so i can solidify myself with C# and the XNA framework
 

Hello Charles,

Welcome etc. Funny you should mention the usual 'beginner' games like pong and tetris. I was just thinking about these games being seen as a necessary stage in a beginner's development. I've never programmed a pong game in my life but recently saw this screenshot and have since had a strong urge to program a more than two player pong game. It would at least be something to add to the downloads on this site.

By the way, can I ask how you heard about this site? The Warwick Uni folks were half expected but I'm guessing from your Glasgow location that you are not at Warwick.

Cheers,
Leaf.

Hey!

I'm Adam (aka A of T) and I'm a 3rd year Computer Science Student at Bath Uni, currently doing a placement year at a software company in Bath. I've been playing with XNA since the beta first came out and Managed DirectX before that and I'm currently working on my entry for the Dream Build Play competition. I've been playing with game creation for about 20 months - started off with C++ and GDI+, then moved onto C#.NET with Managed DirectX and (now) XNA.

Oh, and I heard about this site from a Microsoft Student email newsletter which mentioned the Ocean Odyssey competition and linked to this site.

Good Guess, i am not from Warwick, i stumbled upon this website Via the link in todays issue of  MSDN Flash, "UK MSDN Flash 17 May 2007: MIX07 Highlights" where they mentioned some sort of contest for XNA, initially i was just looking to check out any screenshots of entries. But i was suprised to find a UK XNA usergroup. so i signed up. With the link being in there i'd probably expect a lot of traffic in the next few days.

Multi player pong though, always an interesting diversion. For me these types of games give me and solid foundation in the language/API from game states to simple scoring systems, right though the data types etc, which is always the hardest part of learning a new language personally. And mix it in with they're all games which you can make in a day or so. so instant gratification while learning. It seems to be things that the XNA team themselves have forgotten about too though. I've looks at both the spacewars and the racer starter kits. and while i can understand the code and whats happening, Thats a whole lot of code in both projects that if i tried to learn from would just swamp me under.

 

Hiya, my name is Sean and I'm an American ex-pat living in Glasgow and working as a Senior .Net Developer for Barclays Wealth.  I've been developing enterprise-level financial applications for 7-8 years using .Net, C++, VB, etc. In my spare time I write freeware and try to keep busy with other projects. I always intended on being a programmer, but never really picked a sector.  I ended up in financial code, but always wanted to develop games.  I've done some game mods, utilities, and small-scale beginner games. I'm a real good programmer, but I don't have much experience with game development.  I hope that being a member of the XNA UK group will help me out.
 

Hi all - thanks for your introductions, and welcome to the user group! Sounds like we're going to get a good spread of people and experience - and we're going to have lots to talk about.

Nico and Jonathan - I still get jitters around June every year, so nice one for taking time out of your revision to join up.

Charles - being into homebrew and Blitz, I'm assuming you occasionally nest over at retroremakes. We're planning on introducing ourselves over there in the not too distant.

Adam - how's the DBP entry going then? I'm only about... oooh...  4 months behind schedule with mine - gah!

Sean - great to have you here geezer : )

I'm Deano,

I'm a designer/programmer type person... developed XNUA, which is a version of Lua for XNA. I've been in the games biz for about 10 years, currently Lead Programmer on Heavenly Sword for PS3.

I use XNA outside work to develop and prototype various game designs bouncing around my brain. So thats why i'm here.

walthergropius:

Sean - great to have you here geezer : )

 Thanks, but for the record, I'm 27!  Is that a geezer in the video game world?
 

Ahh, wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geezer - I never knew geezer meant 'old geezer' in the US.

...err...

"My bad" : )