OH MY ...

I was sad these days because my quite old crappy animation didn't make into Aniboom's finals (... not really ...) but I've been recently awarded with the "XNA Community Pimpage" by Sharky.

Thanks man ... ;)

NEW VISUAL STYLE FOR MY BLOG

As you can see, the style of my blog has changed.

As a result, all my previous posts have been automatically regrouped by year/month but both fields are displayed wrong (year-1, moth-1) even though the date of each post is correct ... weird!!!

Since I'm using the beta version of Blogger -which seems not to include "republish index/site" options- I'm contacting google support team now ...

Anyway. I hope you like the new look.

Bye.

I'M BACK ...

Yes, it's true. Please don't cry: you knew I would continue to terrify you with my "regular" posts ... :)

My short holidays are now gone, so back to work, filtering email messages, daily worries, and, ... well, you all know ... :(

Anyway, it was good while it lasted ... ;)

What has been going on in the XNA world? A LOT! At least, according to XNAtutorial's Weekly Update: new sites, new source codes and new tutorials. The list is impressive.

In other news: Shawn Hargreaves' has yesterday announced that a new blog from another XNA-Team member has kicked off, Dean (Johnson)'s XNA Blog, with an opening article that discusses the math to rotate 3D objects (a great way to start, IMHO).

Also, I must tell you that the week before I started my holidays I was checking a couple of sites with tutorials worth following:

• The Ramblings of a Hazy Mind: you'll find quite handy articles about 3D, scene management and XNA -not only for starters. Michael's has posted his 11th tutorial for a Complete Octree Functionality in XNA, and
• Riemer's XNA Tutorial: great series of articles from the grounds up now mainly related to XNA; you will still find the old ones for C# and Managed DirectX (as well as for C++, and VB). Also, pay a visit to Riemer's forum for news, corrections, suggestions, questions and general topics.

Remember one of my last yearend's posts "XNA: COUPLE OF NEW FRAMEWORKS"? Well, people in the XNA Community is now becoming aware and or starting to pay more attention to 'XNA Magic'. Told ya, the demo videos catch one's attention, indeed.

Any news regarding the "Dream, Build, Play" contest? I have checked the site but there's no additional info yet about the exact starting date of the contest, deadlines, prizes, rules, etc.

Well, that's pretty much it, don't you think? A lot to check & read, so I better start a.s.a.p.

'till next time!

[BTW, thanks Lawrence (a.k.a. 'Sharky') for your support to my blog ... ;) ]

I WILL BE OUT FOR A WEEK ...

Yes, don't be sad. I'm taking a week off.

Having worked on a project so hard lately (not related to videogames) that I need to some holidays.

See ya in a week. Don't miss me!

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007 ...

Well, the same as last week: I won't be publishing any new posts till next Thuesday so I just want to wish you all have a Happy New Year 2007 !!!

See you next 2007 ... ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS ...

Well, I won't be publishing any new posts till next Thuesday so I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas !!!

Let's hope Santa brings peace and prosperity to those in the world who need them ...

MY FIRST GRAPHIC AD: REALM CRAFTER

Wow! I'm excited ... I have witnessed the appearance of a graphic ad in my blog: "Realm Crafter - Make Your Own MMORPG". Sometimes it shows up at the top-left corner of the side bar.

It's very difficult to get those kind of ads even if you set "Only graphic ads". Believe me ...

This blog is going up in the world ... ;)

Anyway, Realm Crafter is a framework that helps you create a Masive-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Until this year-end (December 31st, 2006) you can buy the current version for only $65 and get the upcoming version 2 for free.

If you want to know more about this promotion visit RC's site as well as check out the public portions of its forums to see some screenshots and read some news related to version 2.

Later.

WELCOME

Wow! This is my first post on my own blog ... I'm really excited !!!

For those of you who happen to find this blog, let me tell you what I will be talking about ... Mainly, game development and programming with C#, from the viewpoint of an "newbie-indie" (please repeat).

I consider my-self a "rookie" in what game development and programming relates, even though I have an advanced knowledge in general programming. But, let's face it! One thing is programming an "app" -no matter how difficult the task, and other very different is entering the game-programming world.

If you want to become a "pro", the first thing that you have to notice is that everything that you have learned in your life as an application programmer/designer/architect/etc., is just the lower base and no more than the lower base of knowledge that may help you start dealing with the new challenges ahead in the game industry.

Unfortunately, this is something that you learn by "trying an error" since on one hand you find that every game-engine developer says "Use our SDK, game development was never easier before!" and on the other hand, no one warns you about the risks of following a light that shines so hard that if you don't take it slowly you could end up trapped in a dead-end alley.

Don't you feel that every book, forum, or blog about games development/programming out there assumes that you already have a certain amount of experience in whatever topic they cover? And at the same time they don't say where to find information for newbies? Take shaders for instance, now we are approaching to the 4th model. But, what is a shader? Where can one find info from the grounds up? Or take techniques on lighting/shadowing: are light-maps and shadow-maps the same?

Don't panic! There are a lot of places that offer very good examples and articles on how to get started -which sometimes are very difficult to find even by doing a [place here the name of the first search engine that you think now] search.

So, where to start? I will be soon providing information regarding every topic related to game development -links to pages, articles, other blogs and why not? my own comments- so that you can get on the right track, right away!

Enough for my fist post and remember, do as I say but not as I do ...

Watch this space!