I thought it would be cool having 3 computers. Boy was I wrong. I have been spending the last few months consolidating all my files down to a more manageable level. I just got a new HP nx9420 laptop and am trying to move all my files from my three old computers over to it. Little did I know I had about +500,000 files to transfer. Yikes. Not to mention I had numerous duplicate files and trying to sort through the old duplicates from the new is a serious time waster, but at least I can start to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I have also posted a new image browsing application on the projects page called xImageSV. It's not actually new, I have been using it for some time but I have decided to post it on the site in the off chance anybody wishes to use it.

I have just uploaded the third release of my still in progress Zider game engine for XNA. You can find the download on the Zider page.

Features or changes for R3

• Updated the xGameConsoleXNA library so commands now have an array of string arguments and a new "usedAsFunction" boolean parameter. usedAsFunction when set to true means that the command is being used as a function and allows the command logic to be aware of that.
• Added Actor support
• Added a SceneManager to the
• Added an abstracted "UserInputService" service (Work in progress)
  
• Full 360 controller support added. So virtually everything can be done using just a gamepad controller.
• Added layering support, so a map can have multiple layers.
• The zider project is no longer a standalong exe, it has been change into a class library.
• Added SMLOP: Heroes which is a game that is being developed by me that uses the zider engine to run it.
• The engine now makes use of the content pipeline for loading game files

I have fixed the link to the XMLDOCContentProcessor content processor tool. It was giving a strange no access allowed error.

I also posted a new content pipeline tool called StringBuilderContentProcessors.

It seems XNA and GSE (Game Studio Express) does not ship with a simple string importer and/or processors, so you can use text files as a game asset. The TextFileContentProcessor library allows XNA developers to use regular text files as game assets using the xna content pipeline, and returns a StringBuilder object containing the text data.

I called the project TextFileContentProcessors because I intended to include StringCollection and string[] array support in subsequent releases.

I have also added a new game project I am working on called Kabombulator. It's still kind of in the prototyping phase.

Yet another xna based project that I have added to the XNA page is the XNAContentCode pre-build utility.

I am still working on release 3 of my Zider Game Engine. I have not written any code for it lately because I am taking time to think about how to proceed further with it's design and functionality, as well as taking some time to do some code refactoring.

Well I just uploaded Release 2 of my Zider game engine. You can download the source code from the Zider page. I have also posted xFripperyXNA Release 1, xGameConsoleXNA Release 1, and AxiomXNAControllers Release 1. These three libraries are used by the zider engine and are included in the Zider Release 2 download.

I have also posted a introductory video for the xGameConsoleXNA library that you can watch here. Now that the preliminary zider engine is working, I will try to spend some time making a series of video tutorials that will walk through how to use the zider engine as well as the related projects that zider makes use of.

And just to change the subject, a few minutes before posting this I had started watching the first 20 minutes of National Lampoon's Pledge This! ... Good god, that series of flicks has gone down hill. I'm glad I only wasted 20 minutes of my life (that I'll never get back), rather then watching the whole movie. Wow,... I didn't think they still made movies that bad.

I have not made any blog posts in the last week or so. I have been working on getting some minor issues worked out of the Zider engine. I am planning to make availible release 2 some time very soon. I also have been getting my xFripperyXNA and xGameConsoleXNA projects converted and up and running so I can post the first releases of each library.

I am also starting to make a few tutorial videos that will walk through some of the various aspects of each of these projects. Stay tuned for more details...

I have just made public a new project that I have started called the Zider game engine. The Zider game engine will be a 2D/3D hybrid game engine focusing on 2D side scrolling, and top down game play styles.

Below lists the current status of the various features that are either currently working or on the drawing table.

Working features

1. Load/Save Maps in xml format
2. Edit map blocks with left and right mouse buttons
3. Can pan the map to expose other parts just by moving mouse near edges of screen or use WSAD keys on keyboard
4. Supports full screen and windowed modes
5. Basic, easy to use GUI system with anchoring support like in windows forms
6. Texture selection, and block selection so user can choose specific blocks to use for drawing with

Features on the drawing table

1. Layering. Currently Zider only supports one map layer.
2. Moving platforms (elevators, falling platforms)
3. Particle system using the Mercury Particle Engine
4. Ability to erase blocks
5. Characters, Actors, Items etc
6. Move over all sprite based drawing to full 3D geometry primitives.
7. Animation systems
8. Implement Farseer Physics Engine for physics, or develop custom phisics implementation. I may have come up with a superfast way of doing 2D Collision detection/response in the works.
9. Possibly an in game console. I already have one written but it's in VB.NET and MDX so it will have to be converted to C#.
10. Purchase a XNA creators club subscription and get code working on 360.
11. Keep all data files in xml format for easy of use and ease to editing. Notepad!

The Fart Sniffer tutorial will walk you through creating a number of flies that will fallow a scent trail, that you draw on the screen using the mouse. It will be designed to show how easy it is to code AI to achieve simple path finding / fallowing "fly like" behavior.

I added 2 more simple XNA example projects to the xna page.

• Top down character movement
  Some code that demonstrates top down character movement. View Screenshot
• Guns a blazin
  A small project that demonstrates top down character movement, with the ability to shoot 2 different weapons.. View Screenshot

I have been starting to dabble in XNA the last couple of days, and have posted the code for 3 example projects I created.

I have to say that I can read and under stand the C# language and have converted a number of C# projects over to vb.net in the past. Some were small some were large, but this is the first time I have actually written, C# code. I am a vb.net only developer. I have to say, it's an annoying language to write code in. Really annoying. Particularly with case sensitivity, and method calls that don't end with () brackets. If they wanted to create a easy to use platform for making games they should have used vb.net. I am certain first timers, non programmers people who see xna as a chance to get into programming for the first time would not have found the vb language syntax as annoying and finicky as C#.

But any way I am finding it much easier to write C# code then I had expected. But hopefully the XNA team makes good and releases a vb.net flavor of XNA game studio, for us vb'ers out there.

I have setup a page just for XNA here.

Wow it's been almost a month already since my last blog entry! I am still working, at my job. The local sawmill shutdown and I got hired on as a laborer pulling electrical wires and stripping them for the copper. The other day four of us stripped over 11,000 pounds of copper wire, in one day! Which earned out boss about $22,000 CAD dollars. But it looks like this Thursday is going to be my last day working there, so I should have more free time to do things like make blog posts!

Anyway I have been starting to play around with the Axiom Rendering Engine again these last few days, and it seems to be going good so far. I am actually finding that I can get the engine to work fairly easily as compared to my previous attempts at trying to get it to work. I am also thinking I might start posting some content on the Axiom wiki whne I find the time as it seems to be in need of user submissions.