Welcome to Our User Group!

The Little Rock .Net Users Group (LRDNUG) has been meeting on a monthly basis for over 5 years. Each year it keeps getting better. We have had several technology expos with great speakers from across the country as well as many local and regional presenters. We invite anyone who is in the area and interested in using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET to come to a meeting and see for themselves the benefits of interacting with other central Arkansas software developers.

Next Meeting:
Monday, July 12
Mixer @ 6:00pm / Talk @ 6:30pm

Game Development with XNA Studio (Part 2 of 3)

Synopsis:
Summer is here and the good folks at Little Rock .NET User's Group are making sure this one is a scorcher! Come out and get hands-on experience in .NET game development using Microsoft XNA Game Studio! Our very own Richard Broyles will be presenting a three-part series on XNA framework development, the same framework that can be used to develop games for Windows, Zune, and XBOX 360. Richard will go from game theory and basic mechanics, all the way up to a working end-product by the end of the third session. If you’ve ever been interested in video game development (…and you know you are) then this is the series for you.  You do not want to miss three part series on game development right here in Little Rock, AR! Seating will be limited on a first come, first serve basis. So, bring a friend and get ready for what promises to be a fantastic night of food, fun, and game development good-ness!

1) Part I - a brief introduction to video game history (not everyone knows this), introduction to the XNA framework, and how DirectX was involved.  I will then move on to introducing the game design process, from the game design document to game psychology.  After that, there will be probably the first break and then I will go on to introducing what game the group will help me write.  The game will similar to the pong game that you did in Silverlight.

2) Part II - Interactive session!!!  This session will be interactive as people from the audience will help me write the code for the game.  I will introduce what happens when a XNA project is created in VS 2008 (I will NOT be using VS 2010), what files are created for you, what assemblies are used (Microsoft.Xna.Framework, etc.) as well some basic coding ideas for writing the game.  (Hint:  Generics will have a big part of the project, so it will be helpful to know something about generic types).

3) Part III - Interactive session continued!!!  Whatever did not get done in the last session will be done here.  I will also go over the future of XNA (i.e. XNA Game Studio 4.0) and how the audience can publish the games on the XBOX Live Marketplace and get paid for it.  I will give a preview for designing games for Windows Phone 7 using the CTP preview of XNA Game Studio 4.0 (I will use VS 2010 here).  After that, I will take questions from the audience about game design process and how people can get involved in the game industry (a $30 billion/year industry).

Bio:
Richard Broyles is a senior at UALR studying Information Science with a minor in Information Assurance and will be graduating in May 2011.  An avid gamer for almost 30 years, he has seen everything in video games from Pong to Mario Bros. to World of Warcraft.  His passions are game design, web design, and web security.

AS AN ADDED BONUS:
Not only are we going to show you the ropes of XNA so that you can begin your .NET powered game development journey, one lucky soul will walk away from the third session with the hardware to run it on. That’s right, one lucky winner will take home a brand new XBOX 360 250GB (yup... the new one) gaming system, plus a 6 month XBOX LIVE GOLD membership! Each time you attend one of the game development sessions in June, July, and August, you’ll be entered into the grand prize drawing at the August meeting. So don’t sit on the sidelines, come to the meetings, learn, laugh, and with some luck, you just might walk away with the gear!

(One entry per person per meeting attended… MUST BE PRESENT @ AUGUST MEETING TO WIN)