Learning XNA 3.0

Summary

• Choosing the best type of camera for your game is often as important as creating great graphics, exciting plots, or any other aspect of the game.

• Certain cameras rotate differently (e.g., a 3D space simulator typically has complete rotation in all directions, a helicopter has some limited yaw and roll capabilities, and a land-based camera typically will always yaw around the Y-axis rather than the up vector).

• When moving a camera in 3D space, the projection matrix typically won't change, but the view matrix changes to reflect changing positions and rotations.

• While the rest of us build cameras to rotate and move in 3D space, Chuck Norris doesn't need to do that when he writes games in XNA. Instead, the world and all objects move and rotate around Chuck's camera in XNA. This is done to mimic real life, where Chuck actually never moves or rotates—everything and all of us instead rotate and move around Chuck Norris.