Game-Programming Exercise Tutorial
for Secondary and High School Students
Game-Programming Exercise
Introduction
The Game-Programming Exercise is part of Microsoft Switzerland’s
«You Make IT Smart: Code – Play – Win» campaign. Microsoft
Switzerland is giving away up to 150 Xbox 360® Arcade consoles
to inspire full-time students of Swiss educational institutions
under public law to get hands-on experience of games develop-
ment with Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio and practice technical
or artistic skills in competitions and other activities.
Students have four chances to win an Xbox 360 Arcade console
under the «You Make IT Smart: Code – Play – Win» campaign:
1. Complete the XNA Game-Programming Exercise,
2. Compete in Imagine Cup 2010,
3. Participate in selected Microsoft Switzerland events
for students, and
4. Do an IT Academy course and get professional Microsoft
Certification as defined in the campaign rules.
Up to 120 Xbox 360 Arcade consoles will be awarded to students
completing the Game-Programming Exercise. This tutorial pro-
vides details of what the exercise involves, what resources are
needed to complete the exercise and how the exercise can be
submitted.
Completion of this Game-Programming Exercise will help people
gain the required knowledge on how to use Microsoft XNA Game
Studio 3.1 to program real Xbox games. By completing this exer-
cise you will learn the fundamentals of this software and create
your own spaceship battle game. You will be able to play your
created spaceship battle game with Xbox 360 console. All the
software needed to complete the exercise is freely available and
the only hardware required is a PC.
The Game-Programming Exercise is divided into two parts
In the first part, called Requirements & Downloads, you will first
have to install the software needed for the exercises. You will also
need this same software if you start programming other Xbox
games in the future. During the first part you will learn the funda-
mental ideas of XNA Game Studio. The tutorial provides you with
links to the required information and downloads.
The second part for secondary and vocational school students
contains one exercise; Part 1: Implement Game Level 1. You have
to be one of the first 120 students to solve the exercise and sub-
mit your programmed game including the game level 1 to us to
be able to win an Xbox 360 Arcade console. This tutorial provides
you with all the data you need to complete this exercises and
complete your own spaceship battle game. To be able to pass the
Game-Programming Exercise, the game you program must work
without any problems when we test-play it and must include all
the features defined in the instructions. After you have completed
the exercise, you must send the files containing your work to us
by e-mail, following the instructions in the Submission section of
this document.
We estimate that the total time required for a novice XNA game
developer to complete this exercise is approximately 15–20 hours.
If you are familiar with the required software and tools, we
estimate that you can complete the exercise in approximately
8–10 hours. Please note, however, that completion times vary
from person to person and you don’t have to complete every-
thing all at once.
Part 1:
Requirements & Downloads
Before you can start solving the exercises you need to ensure that
you have the latest software downloaded to your PC and a funda-
mental knowledge of how to use the software provided. In Part 1
of this tutorial, we will provide you with all the information
needed to get started.
Software Download and Installation
As a first step you have to install Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1,
and Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 or Microsoft®
Visual C#® Express 2008 to your PC. We recommend the
installation of Visual Studio 2008.
If you are a student at a Swiss university, you can download
Visual Studio 2008 Professional via the MSDN Academic Alliance
(MSDN AA) portal of your university. Here you find a list of all
institutions at which MSDN AA is available to students. Several
Swiss Universities of Applied Science and other educational
institutions also have access to MSDN AA, so we recommend
that you first see if the institution you are studying at is on the
MSDN AA member list. If your institution is an MSDN AA mem-
ber, you can simply follow the instructions provided on the
MSDN AA portal to download and install the required software.
If you don’t have access to MSDN AA or you prefer to use
Visual C# Express 2008 you can find the latest software here.
Secondly, you need to download the Microsoft XNA Game
Studio 3.1 and install it on your PC. If you have access to the
MSDN AA via the educational institution at which you are
studying, you will find it in the download list. If you don’t have
access to MSDN AA, you can download it here. XNA Game
Studio will provide you with the required gaming tools, libraries,
services and documentation.
When you have finished this part, you are ready to start with the
Gaming tutorial. If you have any questions or problems with one
of the installation steps, simply send us an e-mail.
Knowledge and Tutorials
On the http://creators.xna.com website you will find a lot of
information and tutorials on the subject of game development.
In this part we list the most important information that you need
in order to work through the exercises. So let’s get started and
work through the following tutorials:
Gaming in 2D – Basics
In this first 2D game tutorial you will learn the basics of game
development. There are different sections which are explained
in videos. When you go through it step by step, you will have a
nice experience of «learning by doing». Please note that you
have to complete this tutorial as a part of the exercise as you
will be creating the basic 2D spaceship game template while
going through this tutorial.
Click here for the XNA 2D Gaming Tutorial.
Gaming in 2D – Extra Tutorials
At the end of the 2D game tutorial you can find a section
called «Extra Credit – Community Tutorials». It’s up to you to
choose which of these tutorials you want to do; just note that
they can help you a lot to solve the exercises in the next part.
Click here for the Extra Tutorials
Gaming in 3D
Here you can do some practical training in 3D game program-
ming. This tutorial is the next, more advanced step in game
programming, but is not necessary to complete this Game
Programming-Exercise.
Click here for the XNA 3D Gaming Tutorial
Part 2: Exercises
Now that you have downloaded the required software and
acquired basic knowledge about the subject of game program-
ming, it is time for you to start with the exercises. Please note
that you must have finished the basic tutorial for 2D game pro-
gramming and use it as a template for the following exercises.
If you encounter any problems that you cannot overcome or
solve on your own, please contact us by e-mail at
swissarm@microsoft.com and explain what part of the
programming exercise you cannot solve. We will provide you
with some tips and tricks to help you overcome the problem.
Implement Game Level 1
In this section you will add some nice functionality to the basic
game of the 2D game-programming tutorial. For some functionality
we define in detail what you need to implement for a game,
whereas for other functionality we specify fewer requirements,
thus giving you the chance to be creative (e.g. if we advise you to
program a cannon to be movable, you can decide how it moves,
or if we advise you to add new UFOs to the game, you can decide
what they should look like). Some of the functionality can be
implemented by following tutorials available online. In these cases,
we will provide you with a tip of the related tutorial in brackets.
To complete Game Level 1, please implement the following
functions for the basic game:
1. Implement a scoring system for the game so that the player
gets points when shooting UFOs (see tutorial).
2. Program UFOs to explode when they are hit by the player
while shooting them (see «Adding 2D Particles and
Explosions» tutorial).
3. Program the cannon such that it can be moved by the
player.
4. Program UFOs to drop randomly exploding bombs, which
damage the player’s cannon. The player should have 100
energy points to begin with, and each hit of the bomb
should damage the player’s cannon by 10 points. Program
the game to end if the energy level falls to 0 points
(see «Attacking Enemies and Shields» tutorial).
5. Add new UFOs to the game that have a new outlook and
give the player more points if he hits them while shooting.
6. Implement a functionality such that if a player kills 10 UFOs
in a row without letting one escape, an icon falls from the
sky and the player gets a laser pointer for his cannon for a
limited period of time.
7. Program a way for the player to pause the game.
Tips and Tricks
If you encounter problems that you cannot overcome during
C# programming or if you are looking for information about
the Visual Studio 2008/ Visual C# 2008 features, check out the
MSDN page about Visual C#. Especially the «How Do I in C#»
section is very helpful if you don’t know how to complete certain
tasks with Visual C#.
If you are a Java programmer, you might find this Java (J2SE 5.0)
and C# comparison useful. It will help you to think in C#.
And finally, if you encounter any problems that you cannot over-
come or solve on your own with the help of our provided tutorials
and links, please contact us by e-mail at swissarm@microsoft.com
and explain what part of the programming exercise you cannot
solve. We will provide you with some further tips and tricks to
help you overcome the problem.
What Do You Have to Submit?
To pass this exercise you must submit your Game-Programming
Exercise by e-mail. When you have finished, create a zip folder
named xna_your-lastname_your-firstname.zip (ex. xna_meier_
hans.zip) and send it to swissarm@microsoft.com* following
the submission instructions provided in the General Participation
Rules & Submission Instructions section of this tutorial. If you have
any questions or if you come up against problems you cannot
solve within a reasonable time, you can send an e-mail to the
same address.
General Participation Rules & Submission
Instructions
Microsoft Switzerland is giving away up to 120 free Xbox 360
Arcade consoles to participants in the Game-Programming Exer-
cise as defined in these general participation rules. To participate
in this exercise for a chance to get an Xbox 360 Arcade, complete
the Game-Programming Exercise with Microsoft XNA Game
Studio 3.1 in accordance with the instructions provided in this
tutorial and submit your work to swissarm@microsoft.com*.
in zip format (named xna_your-lastname_your-firstname.zip)
for evaluation, stating your full name, your postal address
and the name of the institution at which you are studying.
Please note that you must submit your entry to us from your
personal e-mail address at the school at which you are studying.
If you are studying at a vocational, high, secondary or primary
school and your school hasn’t provided you with a personal
e-mail address, you may submit your entry from your private
e-mail address, but you must also send us a scanned copy of
your student card.
If you have performed the game exercise correctly, completing
the predefined tasks as defined in this tutorial, and you have
e-mailed your entry to us as one of the first 120 students passing
the exercise, we will award you a free Xbox 360 Arcade console.
Please note that the number of Xbox 360 Arcade consoles is
limited and only the first 120 students submitting correct solu-
tions to the exercise (in order of receipt of the e-mails, on a
«first come first served» basis) will be awarded one console each.
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. All above mentioned products are either registered trademarks or trade-
marks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned
herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Subject to change.
The Online Game-Programming Exercise is open to everyone
studying in Switzerland regardless of their educational level
(employees of Microsoft and their family members excluded).
The submission period will begin on September 15, 2009 and end
when we have distributed the 120 Xbox 360 Arcade consoles, or
at the latest on May 30, 2010. Please see www.academiczone.ch
if you want to find out whether the submission time ends before
May 30, 2010.
Submitting a solution does not give the competitor any entitle-
ment to a game device. Microsoft holds the sole right to judge
the submitted exercises and will contact each student receiving
an award in person**. If we discover that you have copied your
solution or parts of it from other participants (outside of pub-
lished tutorials), Microsoft reserves the right to refrain from giving
you a prize and disqualify your participation in the campaign.
Additional Prize of 10 Xbox Games to the
Game Programmer with the Most
Innovatively Customized Game
We encourage you to take your game one step further – why not
add additional features or levels to the game, or create stunning
visuals? We will be evaluating all the games submitted to us by
the closing date of the campaign and awarding an additional
prize of 10 Microsoft Game Studio Xbox games for the game
programmer with the most creatively customized game. Microsoft
holds the sole right to judge the submitted exercises and will
contact the student receiving this additional award in person via
e-mail**.
* We will process the personal data and/or communication data provided by you in order to run and
handle the competition and in conformance with our General data privacy rules (English). We may
make the personal data provided/disclosed by you available to other companies of the Microsoft
Group for the aforementioned purposes, as well as to subcontractors within and outside of your
country of residence, including countries which do not provide for a level of data protection
equivalent to the one of your country of residence. Please ensure that any personal data that you
provide to us is accurate. You are entitled to correct any errors in the personal data held by us
about you and to request a copy of the information. In the event of any queries, please contact
swissarm@microsoft.com. By submitting your work and personal data to Microsoft by e-mail, you
confirm your consent to the processing of your personal data, in the manner described above, and
your acceptance of these terms.
** Microsoft has no obligation to disclose any results, reasons, names or any other information
connected with the competition (no correspondence). Competitors have no entitlement to
reimbursement of any expenses they may have incurred in order to take part in the competition
or to any remuneration whatsoever against Microsoft.