Learning XNA 4.0

Preface

I’ve taught DirectX and XNA game development courses at Neumont University for the past several years, and I’ve been repeatedly frustrated by my inability to find the right book for these classes. There are numerous books on the subject, but none that I felt fit the goals of my classes (introductory college-level game development courses targeted to an audience familiar with C#) or that presented the material in a style and sequence I felt was appropriate.

Many books required too much previous game or graphics development knowledge. Others assumed too little knowledge of nongame-related development concepts. Still others relied too much on third-party libraries, or presented the material in a sequence that would be counterintuitive to a reader who is new to game development.

I found myself jumping around from Chapter 3 in one book to Chapter 18 in another, then back to the original book for Chapter 7 and Chapter 9, and so forth, while filling in gaps with slides, code samples, and documents I created on my own.

Eventually, I decided to take the content I had developed for my XNA game development course and write some material on the subject for use in the classroom. Initially, I was going to simply create some papers and essays to give to the students. I then realized that a large audience outside of the university would probably benefit from the material as well. I contacted O’Reilly about the book, and the rest is history.

Through my experience teaching XNA game development, ...