‘ello all!
The Indie Stone has been going for about a month or so now, and we’re constantly (well, not constantly, but ‘more than once’ at least) adding new tutorials on various codey and arty things, some of which you can read about below!
Code:
Game Flow and State Machines in C# / XNA - A nice and easy method to create game-flow in your XNA game. Using the provided classes you will be able to easily connect sections of your game together, from title-screens, game modes, bonus levels, credits, menus, mission flow, game logic flow etc.
Simple C#/XNA Timer system - A simple XNA timer system that allows you to easy add timed events to your game, and also is incredibly useful in creating slick animated UI elements that slide about, or change size and colour over time.
C# / XNA Design Patterns Part 1 + Part 2 - First two parts of a series of tutorials detailing some clever coding systems called ‘Design Patterns’ that are handy for lots of coding problems, starting with a primer on interface based class design, and then exploring three ‘Creational Patterns’ designed to make handling creation of objects easier and more powerful: The Singleton, The Factory Method and the Abstract Factory.
Art:
Making XBox Button Icons in Photoshop - Need UI elements for a console game? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to make funky pad icon buttons using Photoshop’s Layer Effects.
Using Gradient Maps - Gradient Maps are among Photoshop’s trendiest features. This tutorial shows how to use them, and some of the snazzy effects which can be achieved from their use.
Avoiding Pixel Pitfalls - Making a 2D sprite-based game? This simple guide highlights some of the things you should watch out for when creating pixel art.
Head over to our forums for more tutorials and general banter!
