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While at school today I was thumbing through Game Informer, then I saw it! It was a page talking about a revolutionary new game generator. This is not, I mean NOT a cheap cut and paste program to make a crappy game. This is the result of indrustry wide effort (led by microsoft) to cut down on game development costs, and the reasult is... XNA a professional game studio which in the near future, game developers like Havoc and valve will be using to make their games. With this they can put together small pieces of code and script to make a game (kinda like legos on a large scale). Resulting in cheaper, faster game production which is good for us in the form of cheaper and better developed games!

Wait there's more...

They are making a consumer version of this software, XNA Game studio Express. Which they already realesed two betas for FREE download. With this people can create any game they want driving, adventure, FPS, TPS, RPG, in 2D and even 3D. You can even play your home brewed game on the Xbox 360.

they are going to realese the full version at the end of this year, for FREE!

I know what you are thinking this has to be too good to be true... Well, not really,

Since this is the consumer version less options will be avalable and probably it'll be less powerful, but there is still a lot and i mean a LOT of room to be creative, and also you have to pay a yearly subcription of $99.00 to what is called the creator's club, to play it on the Xbox 360 and access to options and material that'll be usefull in your game creation.

There is still some know how to be learned, but that is easily fixed. Sence the realese of the first beta version, a subcutlure was born instantly! The first game that was published was created 24 hours after it was realesed. revolving around the XNA Game Studio Express. Already before the full version is even realesed, hobbiests have started sites filled with tutorials, starter packs, for the XNA world.

Here's an article of the XNA Game Studio Express i found on the internet.
http://www.playfeed.com/index.php/playf ... o-express/

Here's one talking about the professional version
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/pres ... nchPR.mspx

Here's a gallary of screen shots that XNA is capable of
http://www.firingsquad.com/media/gallery_index.asp/853

*Takes a deep breath*

Man, i'm sorry for sounding like a comercial. I'm just excited that now smuks like me that say "I can even make a better game than that!!" right after beating a VERY disapointing game. I can actually follow through with that now.

And for us werewolf enthusiasts that are just as disapointed with werewolf games and with werewolf movies. We can make our own werewolf game, for real, because the some of the problems with us making a game is the software needed is too expensive and complicated, and we don't have any one here that is a game scripter or programer. But now with XNA those big ones are gone, We just need artists which we are NOT short on and a commitment from the development team.

So lets get this party started!

*Cracks knuckles*
Let's see what this baby can do.

that i wouldn't mind screwing around with

here is where you can down load the beta
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/than ... layLang=en

So, who wants to figure this thing out and make a werewolf game?!!!

Edit: It needs Visual C Express, but don't worry... it's free

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/expre ... /download/

i may have to try this out, you guys...

it sounds like lotsa fun!

maybe whatever kinda werewolf game we make can be like the "freeborn" of games... made by the werewolf fans...

I had a thought, Why not a werewolf MMORPG linked in a way to freeborn, set in modern day Dallas?

I don't know about MMORPGs, it sounds cool but i don't know if XNA Game Studio could do that, but for right now we should do some thing simple, like a side scrolling game or an adventure game or RPG simular to the Super Nintendo's Zelda.

We can't go THAT far... at lest not yet. 3D games like we play today on the Xbox, Nintedo, or the Playstation. Those are way too complicated for beginners like us who know next to nothing on game creating, and programing with Visual C. Like they saw you must learn to walk before you can run.

We can't go as far as halo, but we could make a game that everybody could enjoy with good story telling, great game play, and make it long enough so it won't end when the player just got into it.

NOTE: I found some promising looking video tutorials on-line that could help teach us the basics of Visual C and teach us how to use XNA GS but i won't post the site until i look through it.

well for the non watered down version(but that most likeley costs alot), and hell we could do a CL game too

Sigh...

No one really has ever heard of Blender3d have they?

Blender3d is not only used to model stuff, but it can double as a game creation application. The neat thing is, your game can be run on a plethora of platforms (especially linux, Mac Os X, and Windows). You should really check out their game demos at their home page... http://blender3d.org

The price to make your werewolf game would then be a grand total of... $0.00

One notable commercial game that was created with blender3d is called Club Silo. google it up sometime ^_^

I just down loaded it... man... i' am way over my head.

*Takes out a foot think Visual C manual*

If some body knows how to do Visual C that would might like to help us game disgning n00bs, could ask him/her? That would be very apperciated!

And psiguy it's too advanced for us. We are not going to do a 3D game, We are understaffed and we don't have the knowlage to make a 3D game.

Anubis - click on the following link...
http://blender3d.com/cms/Features.155.0.html

Then go to the section that says "Realtime 3D/Game Creation" and say "WOW!" ^_^

Once you are done with that go to this link...
http://blender3d.com/cms/Stand-alones.162.0.html

After that, go check out some of the stuff on that page and go "WOA!" ^_^

I know i just found it and fixed my last post.

I found THE perfect sorce for people to learn C or C++ for game programing. It goes from the uber basics and the professional adavanced! It has written materials that tell us in detail about the programming world. They have pogramming quizes for us to do, to help us learn the language of C and C++ and IT"S FREE!

For those who wants to learn to make video games and make one and learn a skill that could benefet us in the years to come, here is the link.

http://www.cprogramming.com/

Ooh! A shifter(maybe include were-cats *hint hint*) MMO would make my life complete!

Is blender3d, Free? And this is awsome! I cant believe Microsoft is just handing this out for free.

Shadow wulf - yes, Blender3d is free to download and use.

Anubis - Good luck coding the thing from scratch. But at least you have found some documentation and resources.

Let me ask you this psiguy? how easy is it for some one to learn to program game logic and graphics on? I don't have any training in C or C++ and i can't make heads or tails out of it.

EDIT: What the hell, I'll give it a shot.

I understand that not everybody can comprehend programming languages. I would have to say that you'd really get stuck trying to learn C and C++ as your first language for programming even the most rudimentary games. I had such a hassle with wrapping my head around microsoft's windows 32bit Api for the C and C++ languages I somewhat gave up the language alltogether. But if I were to chose between C and C++, I'd use C++ for the sake of Object Oriented design. That, and also the fact that C++ is just C with added functionality.

But if I were to really reccomend a programming language for you, I'd reccomend using Visual Basic .Net or C#. These programming languages are user friendly and can put less stress on your brain compared to that of C and C++. (Unless of course, you have fun managing memory allocations, pointers to who-knows-what, reading pointers to pointers that point to who-knows-what, and many other weird-but-powerful features of C and C++) And luckily, I have somethig for you that can allow you to compile VisualBasic.Net and C# code. It is called SharpDevelop. This is an open-source Vb.Net,C#,and Boo language compiler with a graphical R.A.D toolkit compareable to that of Visual Studio.Net. Here is the link to its home page...

http://www.sharpdevelop.com/OpenSource/SD/

and here is a link to what Wikipedia has to say about SharpDevelop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SharpDevelop

Now if you are going to program in C# or VisualBasic.Net, you might have to browse some sites and forums on the web related to those languages.

Also, with all computer programming languages, try and understand a few concepts of a computer related application.

- comments
- variables
- Operators
- If, Then, Else statements
- Switch statements
- While loops
- For loops
- exeption handling
- event handling
- functions
- subroutines
- classes
- private,public,static statements

There might be more for you to learn about programming in general than what was described above. But once you learn the "ABC" 's of programming, you can be shure to tackle more than one programming language at a time. And over time, You can be as literate in some programing language as you are reading and writing in your own language.

It's always best to start early... so I give you a POP-Quiz!

What does this segment of C# code do?...
Bonus points if you can tell me why you were able to understand that....

Whoops... sorry i forgot to hit "quote" button.

i was asking about blender3d, is it easy to make a game engine on it? and if you know how, can you teach me?

Personally, I'm used to basic game editors like RPG Maker 2000 and The Games Factory. Heck, the last real-ish coding I'd used was DOS.
On the other hand, you guys have piqued my interest, so I might take a look.

if some one could figure out on how to make games on blender3d i think we might have something going.

Well, I could point you to the manual a friend of mine found (he's been playing with it some), but there might be a problem with the fact that it's a 8.5"x11"x8" binder. Full.
(And even then, I think it's for the normal blender, not 3d, though that doesn't mean that it can't be done, just really difficult. )

I know a bit about programming in Delphi, but I have never used C or C++.

Also, if you want to learn to program games, try starting small.

For example - you could try to program simpler games such as O's and X's, Mastermind, Crosswords or something a bit harder like chess or scrabble.

Anubis and others- If you really want to be proficient with Blender3d, I would reccomend reading "Blender3d: Noob to Pro" found on Wikipedia.

Link: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

This was how I got started creating 3d. By reading from start to finish, you will get a hang of its supposed "complicated" interface (actually, I find it to be intuitive and can use it off the top of my head). The tutorials it provides will help you gain the skills neccesary to model the 3d aspect of your games.

And once you have mastered the art of 3d modeling, consider going to these places...

- http://blenderartists.org/forum/ (community forum)
- http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11430 (forum game tutorial links)

I hope this is what you are looking for... And good luck in your endeavor. ^_^ No one ever said it was easy.

I wish you all the luck in the world Anubis.