Xona Games - 2D Game Development Tutorial

2D Game Development Tutorial - C#/XNA

Thursday, March 17, 2016
By: Matthew Doucette

Here's how we make games for Windows PC, Xbox 360, Windows Phone, PlayStation 4*, and Xbox One*.

This is a quick tutorial that shows how to develop 2D video games using the same technologies that we have used to produce all of our award-winning games, including our current Score Rush Extended heading to PS4.

*NOTE: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms only support C#/XNA via Mono/MonoGame. For now, learning C#/XNA is a great start heading in the right direction to eventually using the Mono/MonoGame cross-plaform technologies to port your game to these next-gen platforms. This is how our Score Rush (Xbox 360) was ported to Score Rush Extended (PS4). Also, Mono/MonoGames can be used to create Andriod and iOS titles.

Background: Brilliant Labs - Kids Make Games:

This project is closely tied to the Kids Make Games project that Xona Games is working on with Brilliant Labs, where we teach students how to development video games directly in our public schools! Please follow that link to learn more about it.

2D Game Development Tutorial:

Here is the series (still under construction):

2D Game Development Tutorial - Part 1 - Installing the Software
2D Game Development Tutorial - Part 2... (on hold)
2D Game Development Tutorial - Part 3... (on hold)
2D Game Development Tutorial - Part 4... (on hold)
...

You can continue by using the Microsoft 2D XNA Tutorial below:

Microsoft's 2D Game Development Tutorial:

Microsoft's 2D Game Development Tutorial with XNA Game Studio.

For now, you can continue by using the Microsoft 2D XNA Tutorial. This is where we started, and we still use this tutorial to tutor students today:

http://xbox.create.msdn.com/en-US/education/tutorial/2dgame/getting_started (offline; see web archive below)

Installation Notes:

For all versions of Windows, install Visual C# 2010 Express and XNA Game Studio 4.0 (rather than Windows Phone Developer Tools).
When you attempt to install XNA Game Studio 4.0 -- after installing Visual C# 2010 Express -- you will get an error. To address this error, you need to install Games for Windows as explained in Aaron Stebner's WeblLog before you install XNA 4.0.
These install issues are also addressed in Part 1 of my 2D Game Dev Tutorial:
2D Game Development Tutorial - Part 1 - Installing the Software.

2019-JAN-01 UPDATE:

Since the Microsoft 2D XNA Tutorial is now offline, you will have to resort to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (aka Web Archive):

Thanks to Jason Doucette for compiling these links for us.

That is all.

About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.