3 Simple Tips to Avoid Memory Allocations with XNA/C#

Long time without posting. I’ve spent a lot of time working on the game, contracting art, buying sound effect and music assets, designing the levels… New screenshots/video should come very soon. Anyway, back on topic: when developing from C++ to C#, I found out very strange that you can allocate memory but you cannot free… Continue reading 3 Simple Tips to Avoid Memory Allocations with XNA/C#

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