XNA 5? Why Not Sunburn?!

As most of you probably know, XNA in its current form is dead. Although several alternatives exist such as Monogame and Unity, people seem to either not know about or consistently fail to mention SunBurns relatively new and completely free Platform framework.

It offers an API very similar to XNA's and has a lot of the same features, with the added support for many, many more platforms including:

 

• Windows Desktop
• Windows Store
• Windows Phone
• Android
• Linux
• Mac OS

With more still coming! What's even better is, you can share most of your code across all platforms without any changes; no more #if statements!

 

SunBurn allows you to do this by separating your game into three types of project: the Content Project (same as XNA), the Game Library and the Platform specific project:

 

http://www.synapsegaming.com/wikis/using_sunburn/sunburn-platform-layer-overview.aspx

http://www.synapsegaming.com/wikis/using_sunburn/project-layout.aspx

http://www.synapsegaming.com/wikis/sunburn_1_0_docs/portable-development-working-outside-the-sandbox.aspx

 

If all this wasn't enough, the team behind SunBurn are constantly answering the communities questions on the forums, as well as responding and fixing any bugs which have been found. They truly offer the best support in the business!

 

If you want to find out more, the SunBurn website has a lot more information:

 

http://www.synapsegaming.com/products/sunburn/framework/

 

I hope to update all of my old tutorials to use the new SunBurn Platform, so stay tuned!

Lane Defence

Are you bored of all the cloned tower defence games out there? Introducing, Lane Defence!

A unique tower defence game in the style of the old Warcraft 3 Line Tower Wars map; you work to build a maze of towers which will stop the 40 waves of enemies from reaching the bottom of the lane!

This is how a tower defence is meant to play; No longer will enemies walk through each other like ghosts or conform to a set path, you are in control.

Create choke points to take full advantage of your splash towers, or encircle the high damage towers to get optimum attack time; the smarter your maze is, the easier the game will become.

You will be defending your lane against 5 types of enemy:

Normal - Nothing special.
Fast - Moves much faster than his friends.
Immune - Will not be slowed by any tower.
Air - Laughs at your mazes as he soars over them.
Boss - Lonesome, but very tough to kill.

To aid you, you will choose two unique 'speciality' towers from:

Ice - Slow's enemies.
Fire - Fast with average damage.
Tech - Very slow, but awesome against bosses.
Earth - Slow with a large splash damage.
Lightning - The bane of air enemies

Each have their strengths, but which combination will work best for you? Can you achieve the ultimate goal and beat the game using all of the combos? You can track your progress with the built in medal system!

Perfection must be achieved!

Download the demo (free) from:

Google Play: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=englishguygames.lanedefence.demo
Amazon Market: amazon.com/gp/mas/dl/android?p=englishguygames.lanedefence.demo

Download the full version ($0.99):

Google Play: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=englishguygames.lanedefence
Amazon Market: amazon.com/gp/mas/dl/android?p=englishguygames.lanedefence

Lane Defence: Coming Soon

Enjoyed the tutorials...? Ever wondered what would happen if you carried on developing...?

COMING SOON TO GOOGLE PLAY STORE!

(TESTERS WANTED)

Platformer Starter Kit: Ramp Example

If anyone is interested I have modified the platformer starter kit so that it can handle ramps by using SAT:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9ekhfpf0gt7zehg/PlatformerWithRamps.zip

3D Level Editor

Have you ever wanted to build your own game levels but don't have the time to create you own editor?

2D Collision Series : SAT Part 1

In this series, I will be giving a very brief insight into the world of 2D collision detection and response. Normally during collision detection there are two phases, Broad phase and Narrow phase.

This series will focus on the Narrow phase.

Coming Soon...