Well, just saw this thread and like many others, there's just something missing. The starter kits are good,  but complex and difficult for newbs to understand how it all works together sometimes.. The basic template is just basic.. Something like what was being talked about would be awesome, and it sounds like Glen has done it, I just havent checked it out yet. There's a wealth of info out there on xna, but like it was said earlier, it jumps from moving 2d sprites on the screen to 3d .. I dont want to mess with 3d just yet, let me get comfortable in 2d.

Anyways, time to go check out glens game framework.. sounds like just what I am wanting.. Help showing me how to put it all together. I can do my menu's and states and all in c++, but OOP has always been an evil word in my vocabulary and trying to figure out how the classes all work and fit together to play nicely can be a challenge. =)

 

I do think a simple starter kit like pacman, frogger, tetris or something simple like that would be excellent.

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Development site: CDX Games
Release site: Work In Progress

A Starter Kit of a 2D/3D sidescroll games like Earth Worm Jim, Mario or Megaman. The Starter Kit can compose of simple platforms of that side scroll w/ one level or stage. It can really help games to map their stages and it can make a a good tutorial for array of tiles rather than a moving and a looping background.

how about an rpg, like dot hack or fable

I had started an RPG starter kit, but got sidetracked with other projects. I'm still hoping to get it out there some time.

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Jim Perry
Here's what I'm up to.

Machaira:

I had started an RPG starter kit...

So, would that make it an RPG Starter Kit Starter Kit? ;)

 

I too would be very interested in an RPG starter kit, just because one would teach me so much. How to use tile sets, saving and loading functions, inventory management, etc etc.

On a related note, thank you to all the people nice enough to spend your time using your talents to help the community. Without all the tutorials and starter kits and such floating around, noobs like me wouldn't be able to learn anything. Or, we probably would, but it would be a much slower, much more painful process. :)

I'm also throwing my hat in for that "beginner template" everyone is talking about. I'm completely lost in XNA right now, even though it's an amazing framework and handles so much background code for us already. I'd also like to see tiny starter kits. Things like "Animation Starter Kit: Play a Sprite, and Control its Frames Per Second!" (I'm having trouble with this right now, heh.), or "Build an Inventory!", or "How to Save!" Really small things. Starter kits that preform only one simple function. The Starter Kits out now are great, but kind of (very) daunting to people who have absolutely no programming skills (like me). Really small, heavily commented Starter Kits would be amazing. If a starter kit came out that was 30% code and 70% comments on said code, I'd cry tears of joy. ;)

I think an RPG starter kit would be great, and appropriate. There have been lessons on picking, camera angles, but what I want to see a tutorial/sample on before that is generated terrain collision, that would make life SOO much easier. I have heard of the GJK and Simplex methods, but I'm not good at incorporating such things into my apps. An RPG starter kit would be a lifesaver, even if it's not something complex, maybe just picking and moving the picked character.

-chris

Jam:

I'd also like to see tiny starter kits. Things like "Animation Starter Kit: Play a Sprite, and Control its Frames Per Second!" (I'm having trouble with this right now, heh.), or "Build an Inventory!", or "How to Save!" Really small things. Starter kits that preform only one simple function. The Starter Kits out now are great, but kind of (very) daunting to people who have absolutely no programming skills (like me). Really small, heavily commented Starter Kits would be amazing. If a starter kit came out that was 30% code and 70% comments on said code, I'd cry tears of joy. ;)

It's probably nit-picking, but I believe starter kits are meant to be complete games, not just pieces. I think you're talking about samples. :)

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Jim Perry
Here's what I'm up to.

Machaira:

It's probably nit-picking, but I believe starter kits are meant to be complete games, not just pieces. I think you're talking about samples. :)

Heh, you're probably right. In that case, I'd love to see more samples out there! As far as starter kits go, an RPG one would be helpful I think, as I already metioned, because it'd teach how to keep track of a complicated game world.

This is a great idea for a starter kit, I am anxiously awaiting it!

One thing I'd love to see is a simple animation demo. By animation, I mean loading a simple humanoid model and make it blink, smile, wave, or walk.

If it must be 2d and a full game, I'd like to put in my vote for a street-fighter style fighting game. It sounds like that type of game would cover a lot of ground on how-tos.

Aside from that, any tile based game would be great too.

Nonstick Monkey:

Aside from that, any tile based game would be great too.

Old style 2D isometric games have always been a  favourite of mine. Syndicate, what a totally amazing game for it's time!

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There are a lot of people who are dead while they are still alive. I want to be alive until the day I die.
-= Paulo Coelho =-

I would love a First person shooter so i can mess with it to learn what does what

I'd like to say thanks to Jim and the team for the Great SHIP game starter kit, goes just far enough and leaves the door ajar for loads of potential enhancements.

 

SO I suppose this thread will have to start again now.

Going off the previous comments, my vote goes for either:

• A 2D tile scroller - possibly using the free tiles sets recently released
• An RPG 1st/3rd person walker with basic NPC interaction and some (1 or 2) magic spells and an inventory

Again if these were in a style like the SHIP game, basic implementations and lots of hooks, then they should be a winner.

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Darkside
http://thegamedevspace.spaces.live.com/

I relaize this thread is about starter kits.
But I think showing new game developers like myself how to actually get started, and understand the many concepts would be of greater service.
I struggle just understanding model orientation, quaternions, etc. Without understanding this, and how it all fits together, all the starter kits in the world aren't of much help. We really do need more cohesive, thoroughly explained information. It's all so scattered out right now, and expect various levels of knowledge. I believe XNA has what it takes to make awesome games, but it really needs a solid, powerful site where everyone can go to see how to get there. Thanks to some awesome people here, I'm finally wrapping my brain around some very basic concepts. How many others have the same struggles, and don't know where to find the info that makes it click?

But...since this thread IS about starter kits...I greatly appreciate them, they show the beginnings of a type of game, which is very nice. Personally, I think it would be awesome if you could go to the store, choose any type of game, and find a start kit for XNA.

I'd love to see a basic First Person/Third Person Shooter just to get a feel for the concept.

I second this. Games like Master of Monsters, Battle Chess etc. 2D isometric - turn based - and tile based. Some code sample code for creating a X,Y map and having sprites move for square to square. No collision detection, physics, etc. needed. Then how to tie these sprites floating around on the map to the various game entities: Unit, MapSquare, Players. Ideas for how to handle interrupting a players turn to do something.

how about a starter kit that focuses on the application architecture and provides a template for expanding upon.

Basically a template that focuses on what is discussed in this thread:
http://forums.xna.com/thread/5232.aspx

It would definitely help clarify a few things about xna best practices from an MS point of view.

In other words a "Starter" kit :)

I understand that it's a bit late and you are working on something now, but I'd like to also chime in...I think a 2D platformer start up kit would be very handy.

I say this because it demonstrates how to accomplish:
-2D animation
-simple 2D physics
-tiled scrolling backgrounds
-enemy paths
-different gamestates (multiple levels and the like)

From this it would be trivial to make a 2D shooter, or perhaps a 2D RPG.  The Platformer encompasses all of these other genres, and much more, from a technical perspective.

Another reason why I think it should be pursued is due to the fact that these sorts of games are selling if you look at Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii.  Perhaps by creating this engine, you can see an influx of high quality 2D platformers for XBLA. 

And lastly, the best reason to do this is due to the fact that there aren't many resources out there for 2D development on XNA, at all.  I've tried scouring the net on info on the best ways to create a scrolling background for a platformer, and they are extremely limited or ineffecient. 


I am sort of biased, I love 2D titles and grew up on them.  But I do think that if you take previous 2D titles, add in high definition visual, pixel shading effects, 16 player multiplayer (16 player Super Mario Bros...heheh), analog controls (analog movement has never been done in the 16bit days) and all these great things the 360/new PCs offer, the end product will be exciting and new, despite being "old skool".

The starter kits are awesome, but it would be nice to see some of the examples from the XDK ported over to XNA. The HDR sample would be an excellent one to start with since everyone seems to ask about how to handle that type of thing.

nrXic:

And lastly, the best reason to do this is due to the fact that there aren't many resources out there for 2D development on XNA, at all.  I've tried scouring the net on info on the best ways to create a scrolling background for a platformer, and they are extremely limited or ineffecient.

Have you check out this sample? You can also check out many of the community sites. Before the 1.0 Refresh came out a majority of the people were doing 2D work. You could start here and here. There's tons of resources out there if you know where to look. :)

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Jim Perry
Here's what I'm up to.

I'd like to second (or third or fourth) the notion of an RPG starter kit.  I just started getting into XNA development and I'd love to see some different game examples.  The ship starter kit and the car starter kit are both outstanding, and if we could get something like that for an RPG I'd be extremely pleased.

Just wanted to chime in.  I'm pretty excited about XNA seems and am looking forward to doing some more indepth development in the near future. :)

If you've seen the XNA European Tour presentations, it appears an RPG starter kit is in the works.

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Jim Perry
Here's what I'm up to.

I am familiar with some of those links, but not all...there's some real valuable info there.

Thank you very much!  I know this is a late reply, but at the same time I truly appreciate it.

I'm new at xna but I have an experence on blender game engine and 3d game studio. I think like many people said a basic stuff would be the best thing to let new comer ( as me ) get in xna developpement. Like many people said before there is too much to know before seeing his own game on the screen and for the proposal I think a 3d platformer would be the best thing to do. From such a stater kit you can do platformer, rpg tps, fps, and you can learn how to manage collision and key input. But it has to stay simple as possible. like jump and run, maybe hit but nothing more. Because additionnal stuff can be learn on web. But displaying a character animating it ( two animation no need more) , set up a camera and create collision is the basic for building any sort of game.

So for new comers and even intermediate develloper it's seems to me to be the best way to start