XNA GPA - XNA Tutorials

Welcome to my the XNA Tutorials page on my site XNA Game Programming Advenutres. I will be writing other tutorials on game programming with XNA that do not have to do with my role playing game tutorials. I will be posting those tutorials on this page.

Simple Tile Engine

The first set of tutorials that I am working on is on creating a tile engine with XNA Game Studio. I will be making a game library for the tile engine so if you like the tile engine all you have to do is just add it to your project and add the refernce to it in your game. On the right there is the output from the tile engine that I have started working on. I didn't use the 32-bit tiles that I used for the role playing game. The tiles were from a tile set that I found on the internet. It will be an easy process for you to add the tiles that you would like to use in the engine. I am gonig to try and make a very functional tile engine. You will be able to scroll the map using the arrow keys or the numeric key pad.

Space Raptor

The other tutorials series that I will be working on is creating a state manager for your games. Managing the state of game can be a hard thing to do. I do have a method that makes it much simpler though. I am using the basic idea in my role playing game tutorials but it is a simple matter to create a state manager that you can use to handle the different states of the game. When I'm talking about states what I mean is you have the introduction state, possibly a splash screen or the screen I used in the role playing game. Then you have your main menu where the player chooses what they want to do. If you are writing a multiplayer game you might have a lobby where the players will wait to join the game. Then you have the actual game play to handle.

Tile Engine Tutorials

I have added the first three tutorials on my series on creating a tile engine to my web site. I have them available in PDF format so you can view them easily in your web browser or you can download the tutorials in ZIP format and open them later.

Tutorials in PDF Format

Tile Engine Tutorial 1
Simple Tile Engine
Tile Engine Tutorial 2
Scrolling the Map
Tile Engine Tutorial 3
Adding a Camera Class
Tile Engine Tutorial 4
Increasing Efficiency

Tutorials in ZIP Format

Tile Engine Tutorial 1
Simple Tile Engine
Tile Engine Tutorial 2
Scrolling the Map
Tile Engine Tutorial 3
Adding a Camera Class
Tile Engine Tutorial 4
Increasing Efficiency

You can find the latest version of the Tile Engine at this link.
Tile Engine Source Code

Screeen Management

These tutorials will get you started on handling screen management with your game. When games get larger with many screens they can become hard to manage. If you start out with a screen management system you will be able to better organize your code and your game will be easier to manage.

Tutorials in PDF Format

Tutorials in ZIP Format

XNA Screen Management Tutorial 1
Creating the Menu
XNA Screen Management Tutorial 2
Creating Game Screens
XNA Screen Management Tutorial 3
Xbox 360 Game Pad Support
XNA Screen Management Tutorial 4
Creating Pop Up Screens

I will also be working on other shorter tutorials that I think might be helpful.

Good luck with your XNA game programming adventures.

Jamie McMahon

Latest News

February 9, 2010
2 new XNA tutorials!

February 4, 2010
47th XNA RPG tutorial!

January 28, 2010
46th XNA RPG tutorial!

January 25, 2010
45th XNA RPG tutorial!

Check out the news page for more details.

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