What would YOU like to see covered in an XNA book?

[J. Harbour]

Please share your suggestions for the content of this new book. If you consider all of the XNA books on the market, all of them dated earlier than 2008 are completely obsolete, which cuts down the available references to just a handful. Are there any topics in XNA, Windows, Xbox 360, development that you always wanted to learn about but could not find information on?

The premise of this book is currently in flux but my intention is to build a 3D engine for turn-based hexagon map wargames with an editor. If this ends up being the direction taken then it will feature a random terrain system with a hexagon overlay and model transform editor as well as hex editor... So, for instance, you have a tree you want to add to the scene: load the tree mesh and adjust its orientation, position, and scale so it looks right, then those transforms are saved with the game level. That tree would then be saved in a model palette for use in other maps. The same would be done for tanks, buildings, soldiers, etc., and then gameplay logic can be built with script code. But is any of this interesting to an intermediate-advanced XNA programmer?

[Lostdragon]

I am interested in hex grid tile games (with map editing tools) using XNA.

I think interest in hex grids will increase after the new Civ game comes out.

[nintendo4life]

I'm interested in Iso views, maybe a RTS game book, there is only one out that I know of.

[Machaira]

Given that it's an XNA 4 book, I'm assuming coding with Windows Phone 7 in mind would be covered, since that's the only thing that's officially supported so far. There is no XNA Connect to test on the 360 and won't be until after the release version is done.

A turn-based hex wargame would be perfect for a WP7 game.

[J. Harbour]

Not covering WP7, it will just be on hold until 4.0 is released.

[J. Harbour]

Hmm, this is such a niche product (WP7) that I wonder if anyone would actually bother to read a book just on WP7. This Complete XNA book is going to be average length of < 500 pages so I don't know if I have room to cover the mobile devices. It is targeting intermediate-advanced readers so I can skip all of the usual hand-holding and get right into the code. I'm just not sure if one chapter on WP7 would be sufficient. Perhaps just one good example and point out the differences with the mobile platform? I'll have to give it some thought after more chapters are developed. At this point, I'm just finishing up chapter 1, and I like the direction it's taking already, comparing XNA code with DirectX code and demystifying some of the common misconceptions about XNA.

The first full Windows platform beta has been released in the July version of XNA 4.0, which is still not ready for prime time yet, and does not support Xbox yet. I'm not going to install it until the final release. I suspect the changes will not have warranted the whole new version... this is WP7 marketing trying to get early developer support for a product that cannot compete in a saturated market. I wish the XNA team all the best, because I believe they've been forced to make it work without seriously screwing up XNA...not an easy job.

[Valentin]

I'm more intrested in DX/C++ programming but i might buy it if it covers topics like Shadow Mapping, Post-Processing Shaders(motion blur etc) and most importantly multiple specular reflections and refractions. A cool particle system would be nice as well, like having a particle editor and being able to create particlesystems.

[Machaira]

Sounds like you want a graphics programming book, not something on the XNA Framework.

[J. Harbour]

Valentin, give this book a try: Game Graphics Programming by Sherrod. I do not recommend any of the ShaderX books... they're a good read if you're already an expert just looking for some new trick and don't need a working example (i.e. the type of coder who can write up a solution after hearing theory).

[Valentin]

Valentin, give this book a try: Game Graphics Programming by Sherrod. I do not recommend any of the ShaderX books... they're a good read if you're already an expert just looking for some new trick and don't need a working example (i.e. the type of coder who can write up a solution after hearing theory).

Little too late, ShaderX7 arrived yesterday
And Machaira is right, i don't really care about XNA(looks like easy mode), just want to learn some new stuff with working examples.
Thanks for the tip, ill get Game Graphics Programming

[xByteCode]

I am not sure if you are still taking suggestions for this, but you stated in your first post that you were thinking of developing a 3D, hexagon based game with an editor. Could you cover the development of the editor for the game? I have not read many game programming books that cover game tools development, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace. Not that it needs to be super detailed or anything, but maybe it could be covered in a chapter or two.

[J. Harbour]

NO, change of plans, no hexagon based game. I am putting more effort into building a two-player networked game, where the networking code trumps gameplay & graphics, so whatever the example game ends up being about, it will be more important to demonstrate networking on LAN and on Xbox Live rather than gameplay. I'll try to make it an interesting game though.

If you want to learn about tools, VB for Teens 3E, currently in development, covers a level editor in C#. (I know, VB book, C# editor.. but for a good reason).