XNA Curriculum Materials

Rob Miles in the Very Silly Team is presently working on some curriculum materials so that anyone teaching programming can use XNA, C# and a bit of silliness to get the message across. The content is presently in production but will be available for limited review in a few weeks. It will be based on the book and will take the form of Powerpoint presentations and some structured practical work to go alongside.

We are starting a mailing list for anyone who wants to register an interest in the content to keep you informed of progress (note that this will be strictly used for this purpose and no other).

If you want to be kept informed of curriculum developments, send an email to curriculum@verysillygames.com and we will add you to the list.

Money from XNA

The XNA Creators Club (where you can publish your XNA games) is now open for business. You can post your games for other Xbox owners to play with and there are even moves to allow you to get cash for your creations. Find out more here.

Simple Simon Part 2 Now Available

The second part of the Simple Simon game development is now available for download. This version of the game is not yet complete, but it does have the main game state machine present, along with the code that will produce the sequence that the player needs to copy.

There are also some questions that you can have a go at in the Simple Simon discussion forum. Take a look here.

Very Silly Video on Channel 9

If you want to see Rob Miles being silly (and who doesn't) then take a look here:

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Rob-Miles-Very-Silly-Interview/

Silliness on the Road

Rob Miles, one of the movers and shakers behind the Silly Games enterprise, is on the road at the moment giving XNA sessions. You can find out how things are going, and what happened when he told his first joke to the audience, here.

Wear the Dream (or drink from it)

You can now get Very Silly Games T shirts and mugs. These are decorated with stylish (perhaps) and unique (definitely) logos, all of which were generated by an XNA program. With very little help from me.

Follow the link at the side of the page, or go here.

Facebook Group Launched

In a vain attempt to be hip and cool I've launched a Facebook group for Very Silly Games (actually it was Craig's idea). If you want to take part you can find out more here.

I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a video for GamePad racer. The first one with something halfway decent on Facebook gets a signed copy of the book.

Madness at Microsoft

Microsoft seem to have caught the silly bug, in a most wonderful way. Thanks to a new initiative called DreamSpark, students can now get their hands on free versions of Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2005, Expression Studio and.... wait for it.... XNA subscriptions.

Yes, if you are a student who wants to write silly games for your Xbox 360 you can now get a one year Creators Club membership for nothing. Oh to be young again....

You can also catch an interview with Bill Gates about DreamSpark here.

Silliness at GDC 08

I wrote an XNA Program that does nothing but print this. Silly eh?

Very Silly Games is at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. If you want to meet up with the silly person behind all this, send an email to gdc@verysillygames.com with your contact details and we could meet up for a silly chat.

Update on 2008-02-26 16:55 by Rob

I'll be recording a tutorial on how I made the silly banner, complete with silly sound effects. Once I've recovered from the jet lag....

Sample Book Chapters Now Available

Two complete chapters of the book Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now! are now available from this site. You can also get hold of the sample code projects for these chapters and use them to turn your PC or Xbox 360 into the biggest and grooviest mood light you have ever seen.

You can find them here.

An Apology

I feel that I must apologise for the new "Silly Ideas" section. Read some of the game ideas and find out why...

First Content Available

The first batch of content is now available for download. New games will be available on a weakly basis. And yes, I do mean weakly.

Welcome

Welcome to a world of silliness. Ever wanted to race your Xbox 360 gamepads? Indulge in silly sixteeen player button bashing madness? Discover the joy of "Zero Graphics Gameplay"? Learn how to program in C# using your Windows PC and even your Xbox 360? This is the site for you.

Over time we are going to build up a "Library of Gameplay silliness" from which you can pull down fully working XNA games you can play instantly on your computer or, once you have joined the XNA Creators Club, on your Xbox 360.