DAVID WELLER SAYS "WE ARE HIRING!"

Dave's latest post informs that there are 5 opening jobs in the "XNA Developer Connection" organization, so if you're interested and think you qualify just follow the links included in his post to submit your resume.

Good luck!

[When will be the day when only C# is requested? ... C++ is still a must ... also, what about "tele-working"? ... ok, let's stop the daydream ... back to the ultracave!]

AREN'T "THEY INCREDIBLES"?

If you happened to read some of my previous posts you may have noticed that I'm quite a fan of comics books, superheroes films and animations.

If you did, you may have also noticed that I'm a fan of the animated movie "The Incredibles", but the video you are going to watch is way too much, so relax and ... enjoy??

Having watched this, only one question remains: what's next?

"XNA WEEKLY ROUNDUP 12-03-07 TO 18-03-07"

Mykres has published his "Weekly Roundup" which covers source codes, projects, games, new blogs/sites, tutorials and game releases from March 12, 2007 to March 18, 2007.

From Mykres' post: "... Ok, that's it for this week; remember if you have anything that you would like added please post. Also one more thing if you have any questions on the XNA Framework, Game Studio Express or any other game development question you can drop over to http://creators.xna.com. Or you could jump onto the IRC and talk with us all live, we are currently living on Efnet under the Channel XNA, hope to see you there. ...".

Watch this space!

DO YOU NEED SOURCE CONTROL WITH XNA GSE?

I guess you do, so go head onto Dave's latest post and read on for details on the options available to ease your versioning needs.

From Dave's post: "... While it's true you could spend a whopping $595 (retail) for the full version of Visual SourceSafe 2005, you might instead look at alternatives. One such product that I heartily recommend (not as a Microsoft employee, but as an individual) is SourceGear's Vault. ..."

Downloading it right now ...

MACHAIRA'S MVP SUMMIT SUMMARY

Machaira has published a day-by-day detailed summary of this year's Microsoft MVP Summit.

From Machaira's post: "... The sessions today were all about DirectX and XNA. Good stuff. The future of XNA is looking incredible is about all I can say. The team is dedicated to making it the best possible tool for game development that they can. They're all great guys too. ...".

Browse to this site to read the full post.

THE NIGHTMARE OF PROGRAMERS: DOCUMENTING SOURCE CODE

Let's face it! There are some tasks that most programers avoid doing and leave them as a "sticky" ToDo entry, and one of them is to document all the software elements in the source code they are working on: classes, structs, properties, operations/methods, etc.

Why can't any programer take the proper time to execute this task? The quick answer: because it's too boring ...

... and please bear in mind that we are leaving out any references to other aspects of the task, like how hard is to find common rules to follow (and learn them by heart) and, of course, writting the proper words or explanation so that any person (including yourself at a later time) can understand what is going on with that particular piece of code.

Well, exactly a week ago Eric ("TehOne") and I exchanged a couple of messages about tools that make your life easier when you want to document source code (by the way, having read the code of his mouse component, one realizes the great benefits of properly commenting source code).

There used to be an open project called "nDoc" (I bet you know it) which never reached a beta stage for v2 (which would support the whole .NET Framework 2, once released the final build).

Unfortunately, the project was abandoned on the alpha stage. But luckily, Microsoft came to the rescue with "Sandcastle": a console application that builds documentation from the xml files that the Visual Studio IDE generates by request (even in the express editions).

"Console application"? Yes, you've read it. And I know what you're thinking: "Why things have to be so complicated?". Well, to answer that let me tell you that there exists some open GUI projects that will ease the task, being -in my honest opinion- one of the most useful and easy-to-use applications: the "SandCastle Help File Builder".

The beauty of it is that it really works and does a great job with any XNA-based programs, but there are some things that you must know though:

• The process verifies any dependencies for the assemblies you want to document, so you have to specify whether you want to include the documents of these dependencies in the final help file or not. In case of the latter, you have to manually add the assemblies to the dependencies' collection in the GUI.
• Sometimes, when you want to open the "Namespaces" form -so as to tell the GUI which namespaces must be documented and which ones must not - you may find that that an exception is thrown by the application and not all the namespace or none are listed. If that is the case, you can edit with the notepad the project file (".shbf"), adding the missing namespaces:

<namespaceSummaries>
<namespaceSummaryItem name="NamespaceRoot.MyNamespace1" isDocumented="true">This is an example.</namespaceSummaryItem>
<namespaceSummaryItem name="NamespaceRoot.MyNamespace2" isDocumented="false" />
...
</namespaceSummaries>

Now, you may say "Ok, but I still have to type the whole comments, explanations and links to all those "see" and "seealso" references (like, say, complete namespaces)" in VS IDE. Right. But there's exist an add-on for Visual Studio that -even though it does not miracles in some cases- makes the task a lot easier: "GhostDoc". I must admit that never used this add-on, but for what I can see and read in this site it seems to be a great tool. However, it does not support express editions ... :(

To sum up, take your time to comment the code, find the method that suits you, but don't leave the task as an "never-ending" ToDo entry; just believe me you won't regret it.

Take my case for instance, it took me two days to properly comment the source code of my Warm-Up Challenge entry! (And yes, I'm still working on it -on my sparetime- even though the challenge is over ... Why? Becuse it helps me learn and implement my-own "best practices" on designing and implementing a game with XNA -either for the main compo or any other compo to come). And by "properly" I mean the way I want to see the comments on the final documentation.

So remember: do as I say, not as I do ... or did, actually ... ;)

BTW, if someone happens to know any program like GhostDoc that works with VS Express editions please drop a comment (and or message to my email address). Ditto for any free application/add-on that helps building Design Class Diagrams of .NET applications.

'till later.

XNATUTORIAL.COM: "NO MORE WEEKLY UPDATES"

Since XNA GSE started we have enjoyed for months of every "Weekly Update" reported by XNATutorial.Com.

Today, Joran has announced that due to an increase in his workload, he has no time left to spend in order to bring more weekly updates to the XNA Community.

It's sad to hear this news. However, at the same time, after reading his post, it's completely understandable.

But not everything is bad news: "... On the upside, this means I should be able to get back to making tutorials. Although, with the increased workload, I doubt there will be one per week, like during last year ...".

So let's thank Joran for all the efforts he made in order to bring  this invaluable resource week by week and wish him luck in his new "split" of activities.

GAMERZINES: FREE MAGAZINES FOR GAMERS

Gamerzines? What's that? Glad you ask.

It's a set of e-magazines written by UK game reviewers that anyone in the world can download for free. Yes, for free!

But what is so special about this magazines? Well, not only you will find previews, reviews, interviews, and contests, but also as the magazines are dispatched as PDF files there's lots of multimedia content included, like demo videos and trailers of brand-new game releases and upcoming games.

The magazines comes in this four different flavors:

• 360Zine: for XBOX 360 gamers.
• PCGZine: for PC gamers.
• HGZine: for Sony PSP and Nintendo DS gamers.
• PESFanzine: official "Pro Evolution Soccer" e-magazine.

So, what are you waiting for, go and get them now!

BTW, 360Zine #3 includes an exclusive interview with Larry Hyrb, Microsoft's Xbox Live Director of Programming, also known as "Major Nelson".

Enjoy!

GDC UPDATE: "DUNGEON QUEST - DAY 2"

Benjamin Nitschke has posted a brief update for the second day of development of the XNA-Challenge's game "Dungon Quest".

Looking that good, in only two days ...

Thumbs up!

CAPTAIN AMERICA DIES?

Steve Rogers meets his end by a sniper shot as the hero leaves a courthouse. This was announced yesterday and today here, there and everywhere (and of course at Marvel's site).

So it must be true ... :( ... but is this really the end for "Captain America"? We shall see ...

Godspeed in the afterlife Steve!

GDC UPDATE: WE'VE GOT VIDEOS!

As we wait for Andy's and or Benny's updates about their journeys into the GDC's madness, Coding4Fun's Weblog brings a breath of fresh air by directing us to Joystiq's blog.

Joystiq shares a lot of interesting information from GDC, including four posts with exclusive videos of these ongoing XNA Challenges:

• "Dungeon Quest" by Benjamin Nietschke and Cristoph Rienacker,
• "Simian Escape" by Jonathon Stevens and Patrick Glanville,
• "Abdux" by Andre Furtado, and
• "Final Stand" by Josh Butterworth.

Enjoy!

GDC UPDATE: WE'VE GOT NEWS!

Yes! News are comming directly from the source:

• TheZMan has some news to share with us, which range from "vague" to "not heard before", including "pie in the sky ideas", and
• Benny comments on creating "Dungeon Quest" (Day 1) as well as posts some pictures of GDC and San Francisco.

Will Andy find a better place to connect to the Internet and post updates? Will Benny's team meet the main goal on time?

Let's keep our fingers crossed and stay tuned to their blogs ...

IMPORTANT NOTICE: XNA FORUMS MOVING ON

David Weller has posted the following news: "Very soon, these forums will no longer permit new posts. The XNA team has moved their forum support over to the new XNA.com site, including the new site for community discussions and headlines, http://creators.xna.com.

We apologize in advance if this creates an inconvenience, but we are very excited about the new opportunities this will offer to our entire community.

We look forward to seeing you there! ..."

I know what you're thinking "LetsKillDave", right? ... ;)

NEED OBFUSCATOR FOR .NET? - PART 2

Remember this post?

Well, on XNA GSE's forums there's a new thread -regarding the same matter- where Jim Perry has posted a very useful link to a site with a list of available obfuscators for .NET (as well as discontinued ones).

The beauty of the site is that for each obfuscator listed, you will also know which versions of the .Net framework it works with (included the compact framework), whether there's a free version to download, when it was last updated, the vendor, etc.

Hope it helps, bye!

[BTW, I have tried to find a comparison chart in the Internet (independent from any vendor) with no success so far ... :( ]

PROBLEMS TO DOWNLOAD CONTENT FROM THE XNA CREATORS CLUB ONLINE?

Ok, first rule: don't panic!

As correctly informed by Lori Ada Kilty (after I asked for help through the XNA Creators Feedback), there is no need to be logged in to get to any content.

So, if you happen to find that when you try to download, say, the "Simple Animation Sample" zip from the site, a page pops up asking you to create a GamerTag and then re-log in, just pay no attention.

Instead, clean you browser's cache, and re-try the download request; you will see that it just works great ...

Of course, if your country is listed on the registration page, don't be a lazybones and create a GamerTag.

'till next time ...

I DID MY HOMEWORK ...

... so what about you?

The ZMan is calling for "burning issues" related to DirectX and XNA.

The reason: he'll be attending the upcoming MVP Summit so he's kindly offering, for those of us that cannot be present, his help to make sure that your questions reach the DirectX and XNA teams. Of course, the abovementioned help is subject to availability of time.

From ZMan's post: "When I return from GDC I have the pleasure of attending the MVP Summit. This is a chance for all the MVPs (and a few special guests) from around the world to meet up (some of us only know each other via email) and get some face time with the product groups. Most of the internal discussions will be under NDA so don't expect any big announcements. However I do get a chance to have Q&A with the DirectX and XNA teams. So if you have any burning issues then send me an email and if I have time I may be able to bring it up. I think I know all the MVPs who will be up here, but if you are coming and want to have a beer then also drop me a line and we can arrange to meet up.".

As I say, I did my homework and sent 11 "burning" questions ... at least, for my concern.

Well, Zman, thanks a lot and enjoy those beers!

HOW TO DEAL WITH A CLUELESS PRODUCER

The guys from Cartoon Brew have posted a link to a mp3 clip of a funny situation in a voice recording session (from "The Howard Stern Show").

Enjoy!

THANKS TO THE BLOGGER SUPPORT TEAM

I'd like to thank the Blogger Support Team for resolving the bug that had been recently affecting the "Blog Archive Widget" (at least, in my case).

If you'd tried to browse my post from the "Blog Archive" panel located at the right side of this page, you should have noticed that the labels were mixed up a little bit.

Well, everything is fine now, so I believe I must express my gratitude to the Team: "Thanks guys!" ...

;)

NEED OBFUSCATOR FOR .NET?

Do you remember the second part of the series "Deploying Games To The 360 Without Sharing Source Code" -related to obfuscation of .NET assemblies?

Well, if you're not interested in the subject just skip this post. Otherwise, read on ...

I have searched the Internet for some obfuscators and this is what I've found so far:

• BitHelmet
• Eazfuscator.NET
• .NET Reactor
• {smartassembly}
• CliSecure
• CodeVeil
• dotNet Protector
• Dotfuscator for .NET
• Salamander .NET Obfuscator
• Skater .NET Obfuscator
• Spices.Obfuscator
• Xenocode

Some of the vendors' sites do include comparison charts but unfortunately I couldn't find "user-made" comparison charts. Thus, like usual we all end up in a "try the demo-before-you-buy" scenario to get the one that properly fills our needs for code protection.

BTW, the list above is meant to be as a "dynamic" reference, so if I happened to miss one obfuscator -sorry about that, just let me know and I add it to the list a.s.a.p.

Also, if you know well one/some of these apps -because you use or used it/them- and want to share your thoughts you're welcome to post your comments.

Hope this helps!

XNA TEAM ASKS: "GDC '07 - WILL YOU BE THERE?"

The XNA Team wants to meet "the people that use XNA Game Studio Express" at the Game Developers Conference, which will be held this year in San Francisco (March 5-9, 2007).

What is more, given the success of the XNA Game Studio Express launch party (open-house) the Team is considering hosting another informal event in San Francisco.

So, will you be there?