XNA Diaries

A log of my (where me="Gary Kacmarcik") explorations with the XNA Framework, focusing on the creation of my game (don't we all have one) using the framework.

Game over...

This blog is officially closed and will no longer be updated. New posts will be made to my new blog....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/02/2006

Status of XNAExtras

I have been working with the legal in Microsoft to see if it is possible to convert XNAExtras into a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/02/2006

Leaving Microsoft...

My apologies for the lack of any real content on this site for the past month or so. I've been...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/01/2006

XNAExtras update

This is a minor update: Beta2 update (ContentManager)Minor bug fix with TextBoxes not deleting their...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/01/2006

BMFontGen update (1119)

I had a request to add an option to expand each glyph with padding pixels, and I'm finally getting...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/19/2006

BitmapFont update for beta2 (Finally!)

As you've probably surmised from the last post, I seem to be somewhat loose in my interpretation of...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/18/2006

XNA Extras and Beta2

This is a heads-up that the current release of XNA Extras requires some changes before it will work...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/02/2006

Colliding sprites in XNAExtras

The latest release of XNAExtras added support for sprite collisions, and allows the collision...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/24/2006

XNAExtras build 0923 release

Major addition for this version: collision detection has been added to XSpriteManager. Both bounding...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/24/2006

Mixing Natural Language into Games

[I had intended to write up a small post about my project earlier, but didn't get the chance until...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/23/2006

Creating UI border elements in XNA

The XNAExtras.Border class provides a general border mechanism for UI elements. While currently only...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/17/2006

XNAExtras build 0916 release

This release includes a bunch of small enhancements and bug fixes. The only major class addition is...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/16/2006

"But I don't want to have to worry about sprite depths..."

Well, you don't have to really. Or maybe you're already dealing with depth and you don't realize it....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/14/2006

The cost of SpriteBlendMode.AlphaBlend and the SpriteSortOptions

The SpriteBatch.Begin method has a couple of parameters that control how the sprites are rendered on...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/10/2006

Don't mix ClearType with your game fonts

The ClearType text rendering hint (option: -trh ct-grid) tells BMFontGen to apply ClearType...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/09/2006

360 Controller Demo

Don't you hate it when you have a little demo that you're thinking of releasing and someone comes...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/01/2006

Creating and using bitmap fonts in XNA

As mentioned in a previous post, there is a clear need for a bitmap font generator that provides...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/30/2006

Creating Bitmap Fonts using bmfontgen

Author: Gary Kacmarcik (garykac@microsoft.com)Revision: 14 September 2006 Introduction The BMFontGen...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/30/2006

Finally...

Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express (Beta) is now available!

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/30/2006

One Codepage to rule them all : Unicode, C#, XNA & Fonts

We're all familiar with the time-worn verse: Three Codepages for the Elven-kings under the sky,...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/29/2006

XNA Framework Content Pipeline

Michael (another PM on the XNA team) has followed Mitch's lead and bypassed his blog to add a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/29/2006

First XNA Sample Code

Mitch (PM on the XNA team) has been doing a bunch of writing lately it seems - not on his blog, but...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/26/2006

Rico's Talk from Gamefest

While the slides and recordings from Gamefest are not yet available on the conference website, Rico...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/26/2006

Three Hundred and Sixty Controllers on Windows

Being able to use real controllers for my Windows games is a big deal for me. When I first hooked up...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/24/2006

XNA Week 1 Summary : What we've learned

There's been a flurry of activity on the XNA forums and websites. Here's a brief summary of what...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/21/2006

What's this all about?

By now you've all probably heard about the announcement earlier this week about the XNA Framework...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/18/2006