Creators Club Communiqué 27

This past week there has been much to do on the XNA Creators Club forums. I’m excited to see lots of new faces helping out with Playtest and Peer Review, but some people need some pointers on what is a failing issue and what isn’t. Remember, Peer Review only works if we all respect the rules and the #1 rule is that Peer Review is NOT a subjective process. This means your opinion of the game has no place there. Playtest is the forum where that sort of feedback goes a long way. If you are a Premium Creator submitting a game – be sure to take it through Playtest first. You can avoid a ton of headaches in Peer Review by being open and receptive to the feedback you get during Playtest. The MVPs have two threads that you should certainly bookmark if you’re going to Peer Review: The “Evil” Checklist and the Not so “Evil” Checklist. They answer a ton of questions and provide a great jumping off point for Creators new to Peer Review! As always – if you have questions search the forums for the answer if you cannot find the answer you are looking for then ask! We’re here to help!

Speaking of help – these posts from around the web should be helpful to anyone who uses the XNA Framework! Luminance offered a very helpful post about changing constants at runtime while making your game. Similarly, Shawn Hargraves shared insights into Tweakables in XNA Game Studio on his blog.

Petri Wilhelmsen has an extensive XNA Shader series that is worth checking out!

Bittermanandy shared his thoughts on the rather sticky problem of camera in 3D games. Perhaps you can learn something from what he picked up while working on Kameo.

Finally, we’re approaching the busy and exciting summer season and for us that means events like E3 and PAX! Happily, this year’s PAX 10 Competition is accepting CC.game files! Find out more info on this from this XNA Creators Club Forum thread.

xxoo

~kathleen sanders

XNA Community Manager