Yes, multi-threading in XNA/C# can be that simple!

Multi-threading is often causing problems for multiple reasons: synchronization, deadlocks, concurrent access to memory… But with my recent experience with multi-threading in XNA/C#, you can really do simple and efficient optimizations. While looking for possible performance improvements in Spring Up Harmony for Xbox 360 (PC), I have seen a simple situation really suited for multi-threading.… Continue reading Yes, multi-threading in XNA/C# can be that simple!

On-screen profiling for XNA

A few days ago, I read an article called Among Friends: How Naughty Dog Built Uncharted 2. The interesting screenshots on the third page gave me the urge to create what I call an “on-screen profiling” tool for Spring Up XNA. I talked before about profilers and how to use them to find which sections… Continue reading On-screen profiling for XNA

First Run on Xbox 360 : Problems and Solutions

I decided about a month ago to start working on the Xbox 360 version of Spring Up in April. I think it can be interesting to share my experience about that. Part 1 : XNA Creator Membership Basically, you just need to pay creator membership (99 € for one year in Europe), launch XNA Game… Continue reading First Run on Xbox 360 : Problems and Solutions

Measuring game performance : framerate is not everything

I am currently having a few problems with performance in Spring Up XNA. I have two features that are too expensive in processing power : the background effect and the computation of the preview trajectory of the ball. I know these features are not usable at this cost because as soon as I activate one… Continue reading Measuring game performance : framerate is not everything

Video : Dynamic level demo and background effect update

The development of Spring Up XNA has been going pretty well last week. Here is a new video, please note that it is still not the final art, just placeholders for now : You can see the following: New ways of using the physics engine in the levels (joints, gravity…) Small improvements on the background… Continue reading Video : Dynamic level demo and background effect update

NProf : A Simple, Efficient and Free XNA Profiler (3.1 and 4.0)

Update: I have many visitors coming here from search engines. So here is a quick update if you want to use NProf with XNA 4.0. When you run NProf with your game, if the UI of NProf stays empty after running your game, it’s because you are running a XNA 4.0 game. There is a… Continue reading NProf : A Simple, Efficient and Free XNA Profiler (3.1 and 4.0)

Box2D.XNA : a great 2D physics engine

Box2D is a 2D physics engine created by Erin Catto. On Win/Mac, I used a very early version of Box2D (it was released nearly two years ago!). I just made a few specific changes for the game. Of course, as I told in a previous article, XNA games must be made in C# and Box2D… Continue reading Box2D.XNA : a great 2D physics engine

Spring Up! XNA : first try at background effects

I spend some time trying to create an interesting visual effect in the background of Spring Up! XNA. The backgrounds of the PC/Mac versions are not really nice. I tried to do something more abstract and animated depending on the flow of the game. Geometry Wars 1 and 2 did a very good job at… Continue reading Spring Up! XNA : first try at background effects