3501 #1: A tiny game

Assignment 1: A tiny game

Due date: Wednesday, Sept 22

To get started with XNA, we will use one of the simplest pieces of XNA: 2D graphics using sprites. Your task will be to build a tiny game. The assignment is intended to give you some practice coding in XNA and learning your way around. It also lets you try out a simple game idea you may have had.

Part 1: getting started

Make sure you have XNA Game Studio Express 3.1 running on your computer.
Run it and start a new project (a Windows game).
Start coding!

Part 2: the sprites

Add a sprite and a sprite font to the content of your project.
Add the necessary variables and use Content.Load to load your sprite image and sprite font.
Using the SpriteBatch, draw the image and some text on the screen.
Test your program to make sure that the drawing is working at this point.

Part 3: basic interaction

make a Vector2 variable to hold the sprite's position. Also make a Vector2 variable to hold the current direction of motion of the sprite.
In the Update method, update the position by incrementing it by the direction vector.
Also, modify the direction vector according to the key pressed. (For example, you might have I=up, J=left, K=right, M=down.)
In the Draw method, use your sprite font to display a message on the screen.
Test that everything works.

Part 4: A tiny game

Now that you have got the basics down, use them to build a tiny game. This could be a version of a classic game such as Asteroids or Pong, or it could be a design of your own invention. Remember that you have only a week so keep it simple. Your game can be pretty much anything as long as it meets these basic criteria:

Has some movement. (At least one thing on the screen has to move around.)
Has some player interaction. (There must be something that the player controls.)
Has some environment interaction. (There must be at least one object onscreen to interact with besides the player; such objects might be obstacles, enemies, hazards, or treasure.)
Has some status update in text. (This could be a score changing, warning messages, or anything that is appropriate for your game.)

Part 5: bonus

For a bonus of up to +5%, add a sound effect to your game, triggered by some event that happens. If you like, you can have looping background music instead to fulfil this task.
For a further bonus of up to +5% more, find a sprite sheet online and have your sprite cycle through frames of the animation.

Handing it in

Hand in your project using WebCT. The easiest thing to do is to create a single zipped folder and submit that, rather than all the individual files. It might take a while to upload, so be prepared to take a little break while the files are in transit.