Code Download Structure

You can download all the code from the book. You can also download other important files that were discussed in the book; for example, in Chapter 2, the concept for the first game is discussed. (The information can be found in a PDF file.) To make your life even easier, I’ve included executables, which let you start the game or sample code. If you don’t have .NET, DirectX, or XNA installed, please use one of the game installers, because they will automatically install all of the files for you. You can also install everything yourself from the Setup folder.

Here’s a list of items that you can download:

• Readme.txt - Contains additional information about the sample code.

• Setup folder - This folder contains all the setup for the frameworks used in the game, namely .NET 2.0, the current DirectX version, and the XNA Framework Redistributable as well as XNA Game Studio Express. If you have not installed anything yet, this is the order you have to install these tools:

  1. Install Visual C# Express from the Internet Shortcut file in the Setup folder first, which will also install the .NET Framework automatically for you.

  2. Install XNA Game Studio Express, which will install the XNA Framework for you also and notify you if you need an updated DirectX version, or just use the Internet Shortcut in the Setup folder.

• Executables folder - This directory contains all the precompiled samples and games from all the chapters. For the source code please look at the Chapter 1–14 directories, where all the other content (help files, concepts, textures, sounds, and so on) is located.

• Games folder - All games that are presented in the book can be installed through the installers located in this directory. You can also just start the games from the Executables directory, but it often makes more sense to install the games and keep them on your PC.

• Folders for Chapter 1 to Chapter 14 - Contain all the source code and samples from the book including all the content files (textures, sounds, fonts, music, and so on). You might also find several additional files like concepts or links that are used in the chapter.

Please note that you can start all projects in either the Windows mode or in the Xbox 360 mode. Because XNA Game Studio Express does not allow switching the project type dynamically (because different assembly references are used) I have created two project files for all projects in this book. The normal project (.csproj) file is always for the Windows platform output, and the projects ending with Xbox360.csproj are used to allow you to deploy and test projects directly on the Xbox 360 console. Both projects actually use the exact same source files and if there are any differences they are marked with the XBOX360 keyword in the source code files, which are used as #if XBOX360 #endif blocks.

For more information and updates you can check the official website for this book at http://www.wiley.com.

You can also check out my blog for more information at http://abi.exdream.com.