Learn to write C# the fun way! In this introductory webcast we provide an overview of the topics covered throughout this webcast series. Beginning with an introduction to game programming concepts such as game loops and main game components, we then examine the basic elements of working within the Microsoft Visual C# programming environment. You will also have a chance to catch a glimpse of "Star Trooper" the game project we will build over the course of this series.

May 03, 2005 75 minutes

You have already seen an overview of what will be covered, in this series, during the first webcast. Now we will provide you with a foundation of general programming concepts, as well as focusing on specific programming elements in Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition in the second webcast of this series. Topics being covered include variables, expressions, statements, operators, functions, flow control, classes, arrays, structures and C# types.

May 05, 2005 69 minutes

Building upon the basic programming concepts presented in the previous session, the third webcast in this series focuses on specific game issues including graphics, player input, sound and networking. The discussion covers elements such as 2D/3D graphics, vector versus bitmap graphics, the use of keyboards/mouse/force feedback, audio formats, 3D audio, networking protocols, multiplayer, and peer-to-peer versus client/server networking models.

May 10, 2005 78 minutes

After briefly touching on graphics in the previous webcast, the fourth webcast in this series will focus on a specific graphical element called "sprites." Many games utilize sprites for everything from characters to game meters. This portion of the series looks at how the creation and implementation of animated sprites are incorporated into the game project, including background art production, view ports, definition of frames, frame delay, transparency, and alpha-blending. We then apply these concepts to implement the "main" and "enemy" characters of the game project.

May 12, 2005 74 minutes

Building on the concepts of working with animated sprites introduced in the previous session, this webcast focuses on how to make the sprites move. This webcast looks at topics such as translation, scale, rotation, velocity, and collision, and shows how to use these techniques how to move the "enemy" character in the game project.

May 17, 2005 73 minutes

You learned how to make the sprites move in the previous webcast, this session focuses on how a video game handles player input to create and move a sprite. Learn how to incorporate keyboard input, vector direction, and position into the game project's implementation of main character and enemy movement as well as "shooting bullets."

May 19, 2005 67 minutes

Audio is unquestionably an important aspect to any video game. This session builds upon the previous webcasts and examines the development issues surrounding the implementation of background music and sound effects that are essential to great video games. In addition to these incidental audio elements, you will learn how to implement the score feature into the game project.

May 24, 2005 57 minutes

Continuing the discussion of sprites from the previous sessions, this final webcast in the series goes into more detail regarding sprite behavior and collision detection. Learn how to apply these concepts to the game project's control of enemy behavior as well as bullet behavior.

May 26, 2005 67 minutes

This initial webcast provides an introduction to the 3-D pipeline, including 3-D technical terms and the different stages and algorithms to use. Learn how to use projection and ray tracing methods, too.

January 16, 2006 60 minutes

This session on the 3-D engine is split across two webcasts that cover 3-D game element issues such as game loop, input, collision, behavior, rendering, and sound. Participants set up the Microsoft Visual C# project and learn how to use the 3-D C# template while the instructor describes the 3-D engine structure.

January 17, 2006 60 minutes

This session on the 3-D engine is split across two webcasts that cover 3-D game element issues such as game loop, input, collision, behavior, rendering, and sound. Participants set up the Microsoft Visual C# project and learn how to use the 3-D C# template while the instructor describes the 3-D engine structure.

January 18, 2006 60 minutes

This session is split across two webcasts that cover background display, camera control, object animation, and object control. At the end of these two webcasts, the user should be able to display a background and a character, add and control the camera, and also add and control characters or objects.

January 23, 2006 60 minutes

This session is split across two webcasts that cover background display, camera control, object animation, and object control. At the end of these two webcasts, the user should be able to display a background and a character, add and control the camera, and also add and control characters or objects.

January 24, 2006 60 minutes

This particular webcast explains how to handle object/background and object/object collision in your game.

January 25, 2006 60 minutes

This webcast focuses on handling artificial intelligence (AI) in your games. Simple artificial intelligence (AI) based on Dx/Dy and time, and also shortest path AI based on a graph is presented to control characters in the provided game example.

January 30, 2006 60 minutes

In this webcast, participants create additional skill levels for their games and learn about how to make the main character jump using a table-based approach and a physics-based approach.

January 31, 2006 60 minutes

In this webcast, participants are introduced to game play tuning elements for the project, including character game variables such as lives and speed, and also enemy variables such as respawning and speed. This webcast focuses on handling game play in your game.

February 1, 2006 60 minutes

This webcast focuses on developing your game’s user interface (UI). Find out how to implement a menu system for your game that contains the standard options such as Play, Instructions, and Exit.

February 6, 2006 60 minutes

This final webcast in the series provides an introduction to effects used in games including blending, shadows, lighting, and sound. We also focus on handling the miscellaneous effects in your game.

February 7, 2006 60 minutes

A. The basic language constructs
B. What types of applications can be built
C. Overview of this webcast series

11/13/2006

A. Visual C# Express is a free download from Microsoft that allows you to develop C# applications
B. Learn about the powerful IDE features like Code Editor, Compiler, Intellisense and the Debugger.
C. The project system that allows us to build a collection to keep all the files related to our program together.

11/20/2006

A. Class Libraries

11/27/2006

A. What is C# and how are programs written in C# structured
B. How the "main" function is defined
C. Basics of the language
D. How C# assembles the lines of code  into something meaningful at runtime.

12/4/2006

A. Specific C# language features
B. Types
C. Variables
D. Constants
E. Statements

12/11/2006

A. Iterators
B. Loops
C. Branching

12/18/2006

A. Classes
B. Objects
C. Instantiation

1/8/2007

A. The different kinds of operators and how to use them.

1/15/2007

A. Debugging
B. How the IDE allows you to see what is going on inside your application while it is running.

1/22/2007

A. Arrays
B. Collections

1/29/2007

A. Creating and Manipulating Strings
B. StringBuilder class.

2/5/2007

A. Exception Handling
B. Try-Catch blocks and how to correctly handle the different types of exceptions

2/12/2007

A. Delegates and Events allow us to build applications that can let others know that some type of interesting thing has happened within our application.
B. Multiple listeners responding to a single event

2/19/2007

A. Inheritance allows one to create objects that are "like" other objects.
B. Advantages of Inheritance and Polymorphism: reduces the amount of code and makes it much easier to understand.

2/26/2007

A. ASP.NET and how it relates to C#
B. How we can build web pages and controls that allow us to reuse our code

3/5/2007

A. Building basic ASP.NET controls in C#.
B. Code reuse can significantly reduce our development time
C. User Controls - not compiled into separate assembly
D. Custom Controls- compiled into separate assembly

3/12/2007

A. Building basic Windows Applications
B. The basic window class we use in C# is the Form.
C. System.Windows.Form object

3/19/2007

A. Advanced features of Windows Forms development, such as GDI+ that allow us to tailor the user interface to exactly what our applicaiton needs.

3/26/2007

A. How to take advantage of Windows Vista's new presentation system, Windows Presentation Foundation (aka WPF) with C#.
B. WPF allows our applications to include stunning graphics (2-D, 3-D, animations, and more) and enhanced user experience functionallity that was unatainable in the past.
C. XAML

4/9/2007

A. How to include data access features in your applications
B. How to integrate SQL Server 2005 database functionality directly into your web and Windows based applications
C. C# allows us to programatically get direct access to SQL Server data
D. SQL Server 2005 and other data sources.

4/16/2007

A. XNA Game Studio Express.
B. XNA is a gaming framework available for Windows as well as for the XBox 360.
C. How XNA Game Studio and Microsoft Visual C# Express allow one to develop stunning 3D games with ease.

4/23/2007

A. Deployment options

4/30/2007