Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New look for the RPG tutorial web site

Welcome back!

I haven't had time so far today to do much on the project. Last night I did make some changes to the web site that hosts the tutorials for creating a role playing game in XNA 3.0. I'm trying for something, clean, simple, easy to navigate and hopefully attractive. You can visit the web site at this link:

XNA 3.0 RPG Tutorials

I'm thinking about also getting the site it's own domain name and server. Time will tell if I will be able to do that.

I hope you will keep on coming back because I will be adding new stuff to here and the web site as often as I can.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, June 29, 2009

New tutorial, and screen shots!

Welcome back!

Well, I finished another tutorial today and I've uploaded it to my web site. You can find the tutorial and the project on this page:

XNA 3.0 RPG Tutorial - Eyes of the Dragon

Here are a couple screen shots of what I've added to the game. I think it looks a lot nicer than before. I will be updating the character generator soon as well. So, keep coming on back and I will keep you up to date on what is going on with these tutorials.

Help Screen Screen Shot


Start Screen Screen Shot



Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, June 28, 2009

New RPG Tutorial available on my web site

Welcome back!

I have just finished upload a new tutorial to my web site on creating an RPG in XNA 3.0. Below is a screen shot of the updated tile engine. In this tutorial I've add a new game component to the project, a sprite component. This component is meant to be inherited from not used by itself. I create a small class to test the component by adding 10 chests to the map. The chests will scroll with the map, not just float on top of it. You can find the tutorial and the project at these links:

Tile Engine Sample


Tiles made with help of Genetica Viewer 3 by Spiral Graphics.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, June 27, 2009

What I'm working on today

Welcome back!

Today I'm working on adding a sprite drawable game component to the XNA role playing game. I want to use it as a base class and inherit specific sprites from it. For example, an item in the game will be a sprite. It will not have the same functionality as an NPC who may be animated for example.

I'm hoping to have it up on my web site very soon.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, June 26, 2009

Newest XNA 3.0 RPG Tutorial is online!

Welcome back!

Well, I've just uploaded the latest tutorial on creating a role playing gamie in XNA 3.0. You can find the latest tutorial at this link:

XNA 3.0 RPG Tutorial 6 - PDF

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Modified the story a little and posted it on my site.

Just a little update. I modified the story. It was a little unclear. I've also posted it on my web site in the news section.

Graynar, the great stone dragon, stood over the village of Hartsward, protecting the village from the hordes of monsters that lived to the east. The stone dragon would animate during times of crisis. A daring thief has stolen the precious emeralds that were the dragon's eyes. With out them Graynar can not animate. A hero has be dispatched to find the lost gems before the monsters that live to the east gather and crush the village.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Given the project a name!

Welcome back!

I was going to make a poll on my web site on what I should name the xna rpg tutorial project but I've decided to go with Eyes of the Dragon. I'm going to make the story line of the game this:

Graynar, the great stone dragon, stood over the village of Hartsward, protecting the village from the hordes of monsters that lived to the east. A daring thief has stolen the precious emeralds that were the dragon's eyes. A hero has be dispatched to find the lost gems before the monsters that live to the east gather and crush the village.


I think this will be a pretty good place to start. I'm going to create some nice screens based on this. I will be continue to post updates and let you know what is going on with Eyes of the Dragon.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Giving the project a good name...

Welcome back!

I've decided that New2DRPG is a pretty aweful name for the project. I'm trying to come up with a bit nicer name. I think I'm going to pick a few and add a poll to my web site. When I have a good name, I will come up a nice title page and help page. A few that I'm thinking of are:
  • Gryffin Quest
  • Broken Crsytal
  • Thundert Heart

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Been updating my site

Welcome back!

I have been working on the web site that hosts the tutorials for creating an RPG in XNA 3.0. I'm trying to make the news a little more accessable and creating an RSS feed for the site.

I have also been working on the tile set for the game. I've created 16 base tiles using Genetica Viewer 3 by Spiral Graphics. You are free to use them for non-commercial work if you do use them in a commercial project you must buy a license or have a credit to Spiral Graphics in your game or documentation.

These are the base tiles:


Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, June 22, 2009

New page on my XNA web site

Welcome back!

I've just added a new page to my web site. It is a page on general XNA 3.0 tutorials. It is an index to PDFs that I will be creating on XNA tutorials that will be of interest such as GUI controls, screen managers and getting started with 2D and 3D game programming. The RPG will be my main focus.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, June 21, 2009

New tutorial available on my web site!

Welcome back!

Just to let you know, there is a new tutorial available on my web site on creating a role playing game in XNA 3.0. You can find it at this link: XNA RPG Tutorial 5(PDF)

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Working on scrolling the map

Welcome back!

For the next tutorial on creating an RPG in XNA, I will start with scrolling the map. I'm going to do things a little strange though. I'm going to only allow the map to scroll in cardinal directions: up, down, left and right. If you followed Nick Gravelyn's tile engine video tutorials, he did some interesting things on scrolling the map. Later on I will get into doing stuff like that.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Updating the sister site of this blog

Welcome back!

I've been working on my web site for createing a role playing game in XNA 3.0. I've added a new page of XNA web sites. I will be updating it regularly. I will keep posting here on the project and what I'm doing.

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, June 19, 2009

Next tutorial is online and site improvements!

Welcome back!

Well, I just thought I would let you all know that the latest tutorial on creating a role playing game in XNA 3.0 is available on my web site. You can find it at this link:

Open Source Role Playing Game Tutorial 4(PDF)

Visit my home page and check out everything:

http://www.jtmbooks.com/rpgtutorials

Jamie McMahon
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Crystal Caverns...

Welcome back!

I'm going to be adding a new project to my Open Source XNA Role Playing Game web site. This is a new XNA project that I'm working on called Crystal Caverns. It probably won't be on for a little while but I'm hoping that soon it will be ready to go.

I will be adding a new screen to my role playing game in XNA 3.0 as well. I'm going to create the action screen which will be the starting point of the game. Please, keep checking back, I will have new updates as often as possible.

Jamie McMahon

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, June 18, 2009

New tutorial available on my web site!

Welcome back!

Well, there is a new tutorial on creating a role playing game using XNA on my web site. You can find all of the role playing game tutorials here:

I'm working hard on the textbox control too. I'm making a sort of virtual keyboard for it, as well as allowing to accept keyboard input, so it can be used with a game pad for the XBOX 360. Any way, I will keep you up to date on the project, so keep on coming back and I will try and have all sorts of good stuff!

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Finally back home...

Welcome back!

Well, I just got in from my father's place. While I was there I didn't have as much time as I thought I would to work on things. I did manage to work on the sister web site of my blog to host the actual tutorials on creating a role playing game using XNA.

It should be uploaded soon. I will keep you up to date.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Update

Welcome back!

I have been getting many visits, both here and my website on this project. In interest of getting the game going faster, I'm going to switch from a skill based character system to a class based character system. I think many people like a class based character role playing game more than a skill based role playing game. The attributes of the character will stay the same. I will also try and add support for a party later.

If you didn't know, there is now a version 3.1 of XNA. I haven't had a chance to download it yet, as I am still at my father's house after the death of my mother on June 13th, 2009. I may stick with XNA 3.0 though, I don't think anything that I want to do will not be available in XNA 3.1. Anyway, right now there are a lot of guests here so I can't really add anything more. I will keep you updated as to what I am doing and I will have updates on my website as well.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, June 15, 2009

Update abuot textbox control

Welcome back!

I am still at my father's house but I have been looking through my logs and see that many people here are interested in creating a textbox control in XNA. I will make a tutorial on the subject and have it available on my web site as soon as I can. Since many may want to do something special with it I'm actually going to make two textboxes. One that you can type the characters and one that you can select letters using the arrow keys and the space bar. (I do not have and XBOX game pad but it would be easy to add support for the game pad if you wanted to use it for the XBOX.)

Well, I can't post much more today, there is so much to do about my mother's wake and funeral.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Short update

Welcome back!

I have a few minutes to myself and have access to the computer at my father's house so I thought I would just make a quick entry. I'm hoping to be back home in Ottawa in the next few days. Until then I will try and do what I can on the role playing game in XNA 3.0. I will try and add something again tomorrow, however things are quite hectic here and can't make any promises. What I am planning to do is start working on a new screen, the action screen where the game will take place. I have a few ideas on what I want to do so I will get started with it. I will be updating the tileset using Gentica Viewer 3 from Spiral Graphics. They have an excellent tool for creating tile textures.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Busy until Thurday

Welcome back!

I will try and keep in touch but my mother passed on this afternoon. I will have limited Internet access but I will try and work on things.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, June 12, 2009

What is going on

Welcome back!

Well, like I said yesterday, I had to leave for my father's house. My mother is on her last legs and is expected to pass on at any time now. I am working on new tutorials and I hope to have them on my site soon. Not entirely sure how I will be able to but I am going to try.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Leaving until Monday...

Welcome back!

I have to leave for the weekend. I will not have the ability to post new tutorials on my website. I will be able to write them and work on the project. I just hope you all realize that creating an RPG is a comlicated things. It takes many hours to do it well. I will keep you updated so please keep on coming back!

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Big news!

Welcome back!

I just wanted to let you know, I finished the second PDF for the project. I've uploaded it to my website. I made a few changes to the first one, not the content really just add a few things. Well, I will be posting here regularly. You can find a list of all the tutorials for this project on my website. The site is still pretty much under construction but it does work. (It doesn't quite work in Chrome, the colors are a little off.)

You can find the tutorials at:


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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Welcome back!

Well, I have noticed sifting through my logs that many are looking for the text box control. I will start writing one and try and have a tutorial ready soon. I am also getting a lot of hits on my PDF about the project. I'm going to create a home page for the tutorials and post a link to it here shortly. Please keep coming back, I will try and have new content ready often.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Simple Character Generator

Welcome back!

I've done a little programming on the project. I created a simple character generator. For now all it will do is select from a small list of random names, change gender and difficulty level.

This is a small screen shot: (The capture is a little blurry, sorry.)


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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Just returned home...

Sorry I haven't posted the past few days. I had to go to my mother's place and I can't really get onto the Internet while I'm there other than for a few minutes to check emails. I also can't really do much in the way of programming so I didn't get much accomplished this weekend. Please bear with me through this difficult time.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, June 5, 2009

Trying to get back to this...

Welcome back!

Well, I've been trying to get back to this. I haven't had as much time as I would like to get into this. If been having to make frequent trips to the hospital to visit my mother. I can do somethings while I'm away but can't really do much on this project. Things have calmed a little so I'm gonig to try and get back to work on this. I really want to help you create a role playing game using XNA 3.0.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code