The June CTP version of Karvonite has been released. Karvonite is a free persistence framework for the .NET Framework (including XNA) that lets you easily serialize/deserialize objects.

Karvonite June 2008 CTP

Catalin Zima has released a new sample focusing on Voxel rendering in XNA. This sample runs on the Zune and PC.

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Bruno Evangelista has released an updated XNAnimation XNA Skeletal Animation Library. This new version includes support for up to 80 bones, Normal, Diffuse, Specular maps, performance improvements and more.

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I have decided to extend the Ziggyware Summer 2008 XNA Article Contest until July 14'th (Midnight CST) to help get more entries submitted into the mix.

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Contest Subjects

• Write an XNA related tutorial for XNA developers
(see examples)

• Write a useful tool for XNA like a generic editor for land/sprite layout/3d object placement or any other type of tool that could help in the process of using XNA
• Feel free to suggest more subjects in the forum listed below

Important: Read How to create an article for Ziggyware - Entries are subject to approval and may be disqualified per disgression.

Prizes

• First Place
• Custom engraved Ziggyware XNA Zune - 8GB
• One Year subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club
• Second Place
• One Year subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club
• Third Place
• Four month subscription to the Microsoft XNA Creators Club

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Questions?

Ask on the Forums

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I needed the ability recently to compile content outside of visual studio and modified the Microsoft Creators Club Content Pipeline in Winforms Sample to be able to be used relatively easily. This is written for XNA 2.0.

Ziggyware XNB Content Builder Assembly

I've been working on a utility library to help in a project I am focusing on lately. This library contains many helper functions that make life a bit easier when coding in xna: Camera's, Custom Vertices, Device Utility helpers, Drawing Helpers, Game Helpers, Model Helpers, Service Helpers, and alot more.

Ziggyware XNA Utility Library

I recently had the need to get access to the texture file names within an XNA based application and found it to be quite challenging. After MANY hours of googling I had not found a good solution so here is a little snippet I wrote up to set the textue file name to the Texture2D.Name field using the Content Pipeline. You could use this same technique to set any data wherever you want in the Texture however the Name property was a good place for me.

Accessing Texture File Names

Microsoft has released a new Mini Game for XNA Creators Club Premium Members. This new game features some impressive graphics and a great starting point for your own first or third person shooter game. Be sure to check this out.

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Mahdi Khodadadi Fard has released his XNA Gif Animation Library for XNA 3.0 CTP. Source code and sample application of this library is available on the project homepage.

XNA Gif Animation Library.

LDXNA is a Content Pipeline library compiled for XNA 2.0 which allows you to use LDRAW model files natively into your XNA project. LDRAW is an open standard for LEGO CAD programs that allow the user to create virtual LEGO models and scenes.

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Shawn Lehner created a cool tool that shows how to generate a convex hull given a list of points. This tool is very useful for creating collision bounds for various objects and is well worth a look at.

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Got a mobile device and want to stay in touch with the latest Ziggyware XNA News? Check out the new Ziggyware Mobile site. Please send comments, feedback and functionality requests to the Ziggyware Mobile Forum

Visit Ziggyware XNA Mobile Website

Mindshifter released a simple XNA Camera Library featuring a LookAt Camera, Orbital Camera and Quaternion Camera implementations.

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Mindshifter has released a sample Console Library for XNA complete with source code and binaries.

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Michael Klucher wrote a nice article on how and why the Zune devices run at 30 and 60 frames per second. Following the rules set in this article you will learn how to get the best battery life from your zune and keep your audience happy.

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Read Related by Nick Gravelyn

Chase's Techo Rants and Raves has a new article up showing how to use the Audio API in XNA 3.0 CTP. This tutorial show you step by step importing audio assets and play them in your games.

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Alex Urbano has released a new XNA sample showing a simple and fast bubble shader. Full source code included.

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Watch Video

Javier Canton Ferrero has released a new sample about water. This example uses a reflection and refraction map to draw the water. Full source code included for XNA GS 2.0.

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Watch Video

The Microsoft Creators Club website has been updated, addressing bug fixes and new features for the forum, Game Submission and Review process and several other site changes and fixes.

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Intel and Gamedev.net started a joint venture with the opening of the Intel Software Network Developer Zone. This portal features selected resources from Intel's Visual Computing Developer Community and contains information relating to 3D graphics, animation, multi-threading and media application development.

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