XNATouch: Microsoft XNA Games Running On The iOS Platform

http://monogame.codeplex.com/

Rendering, Graphics and Game Engines

• Synapse Gaming SunBurn Engine 2.0 – Nice Game Engine loaded with features and the Best Support & Community Ever
• Digital Rune Engine – Great Game Engine  (physics, animation,  math, multi-threading and more)
• Xen Graphics API for XNA – rendering tools and much more
• Ploobs Engine – loaded with shader effects , deferred rendering, lighting, soft shadows, the works.
• XNA Final Engine – rendering, post screen effects, and more
• Engine Nine – includes, animation, post fx, AI, custom materials, scene management,  deferred lighting and more
• Hilva XNA Graphics Engine – Rendering Engine, Animation, and more
• Indiefreaks Game Framework - Incredible Addition for SunBurn Engine Users
• Jemgine - An extendable 2d Game Engine with an level editor
• Deferred Rendering – Roy Triesscheijn updated Catalin Zima’s Tutorial to XNA 4.0
• Jcoluna XNA Samples – If you’re trying to make your own engine, start here.  (Shadows, SSAO, Lights, culling…)
• Tomato Renderer – Open Source Engine with light pre-pass, ssao, depth of field and more (includes user interface)

Character Animation

• Digital Rune Animation – Support 2D and 3D animation, Incredible skinned animation pipeline (RECOMMENDED)
• SGMotion Animation Library – XNAnimation Library integrated with SunBurn
• Communist Games Animation Library – Animation blending, shared skeletons, and more
• XNAnimation Library – Too many features to list.
• XNA Animation Component Library – one of the first animation engines, still awesome
• Skinned Model with Extensions – learn something from this tutorial
• Engine Nine – has an easy to use animation system, for skinned and non skinned models.
• Merge FBX Animation Files –  hate XNA FBX only uses 1 Take? here’s the solution

Physics

• DigitalRune Physics –  A module from DigitalRune Engine - Physics with lots of features,  (fast & Xbox, $300)
• Bepu Physics – Nice Physics engine with many features, (fast,  FREE)
• Jitter Physics –  Physics Engine by the author of JigLibX  (fast,  FREE)
• Matali Physics -fast with lots of potential (fast on PC, average on Xbox 360, $130 – $260)
• Henge 3D Physics – Lot of Features and multi-threaded (okay on PC, slow on Xbox 360, FREE)
• JigLibX – old physics enigine (not multi-threaded)  (slow, FREE – use Jitter instead… )
• Farseer Physics Engine – a 2D Physics Engine
• Box2D.XNA – C#/XNA port of Box2D

Audio

• EasyXnaAudio – easy interface to load, play, and manage songs and sounds
• XNA Final Engine – Audio engine included in framework
• Creators Club Audio Examples - this is all you need for audio in XNA

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Engine Nine – has a Path Finding and steering behaviors included
• SharpSteer – I found a million and 1 uses for this…
• State machine-based behavior models -  Good Article, sample old..
• Steering Behaviors,  Obstacle Avoidance – good Example (in spanish)

Particles

• DPSF (Dynamic Particle System Framework) - tested and approved
• Mercury Particle Engine – great engine, has lots of potential
• Nuclex Framework- multi-threaded particle system
• XML Particle Sample for XNA Creator Club – still one of my favorites
• DigitalRune Particles – Very Nice.…

Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) / Level Editor Tools

• DigitalRune Game UI – Basically Neoforce Controls on steroids, part of  the Digital Rune Engine
• Neoforce Controls - my Second Favorite tool for Interfaces (now open source)
• Nuclex Framework- skinnable interface included
• 3D XNA Gizmo- you may need this for level editing…
• XNA and Windows Forms – this article explains the best

GameState Management

• Xna Screen Manager – clean, simple and easy to use
• Nuclex Framework – game manager included (nicely done)
• GameStateManager from Creator’s Club – great starter  to build your own

Multi-threading

• ParallelTasks Threading Library-  makes it easy to multi-thread your game
• Multi-threading your XNA Game – great article and example
• Designing the Framework of a Parallel Game Engine – just read it
• DigitalRune Engine – Threading Library Included in Engine (RECOMMENDED)

Useful Extras and Services

• DigitalRune Math and Geometry Libraries-  This comes with the DigitalRune Engine (RECOMMENDED)
• XBuilder 2.0 – This lets you preview your content assets right in Visual Studio
• NShader 1.1 – Syntax Highlighting for your HLSL files
• StitchUp – Generate Shaders from HLSL Shader Fragments
• Mixamo – need Animation for your Characters?
• CMU Mocap Database -  need the largest collection of free Mocap available?
• HyperDuck Music Studios – need custom music for your game?
• Font Squirrel –  need Free Commercial-Use Fonts for your game?

Articles, Blogs and Tutorials

• Game Developedia – Nice Beginner XNA 4.0 Tutorials
• Tutorials by Robot Foot Games – nice 2D sprite Tutorials
• XNA 4.0 Class Diagrams – extremely useful for programmers
• RoastedAmoeba Projects – Awesome XNA 4.0 Projects
• TileMap and Camera System Tutorial  - good article
• XNA Content Pipeline Debugging – helps you figure old those pipeline problems
• Dot Net Perls – Best resource for looking for c# snippets and samples
• Eliminate Garbage with CLR Profiler – optimize you game…
• Gimbal lock free Arcball camera – nice camera tutorial
• How to use Farseer in platform game – Platform Physics Tutorial
• Parallax Starfield – great example of parallax scrolling
• MVC in Games – Model View Controller advantages
• XNA Questions – You may find your answer here
• Sgt. Conker – Lots of News and Resources for XNA
• Communist Games Blogs – Lots XNA 4.0 Code Snippets and practices
• Shawn Hargreaves Blog- He Knows XNA 4.0 PersonallyNot XNA Exclusive Articles, but Handy
• General Game Networking – learn more building online multiplayer games
• Game User Interfaces – What players wants
• Nucleus High Level Engine Design – Great Design notes

XNA 4.0 Books

• XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beginner’s Guide
• 3D Graphics with XNA Game Studio 4.0
• XNA Game Studio 4.0 Programming: Developing for Windows Phone and Xbox Live
• Learning XNA 4.0
• The Complete XNA Game Studio 4.0: An Exploration into the XNA Framework Library

Are you trying to convert XNA 3.1 projects to XNA 4.0?

• XNA 3.1 to XNA 4.0 Cheat Sheet – Loaded with example of how to convert projects
• Breaking changes in XNA Game Studio 4.0 – things you should know before converting
• 3D XNA 3.1 game to XNA 4.0 – an example -pixel shaders ,xap files,  DepthStencilBuffer (fixes)
• XNA 3.1 to XNA 4.0 – RenderTarget2D, renderstate, effectpass, vertexdeclaration (fixes)
• Coverting Between Texture2D and Image – Texture2D FromFile (fix)
• SpriteBatch and custom renderstates – SpriteBatch, SpriteBlendMode, SaveStateMode (fixes)
• Rendertarget changes – RenderTarget2D, GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget (fixes)
• SpriteBatch and custom shaders – SpriteBatch Improvement (update details)
• ResolveBackBuffer and ResolveTexture2D - Where are they?
• Effect API Changes - effect.Begin(), passes.Begin() (fixes)
• Effect Interfaces –  BasicEffect updates, Built in Types (fixes)
• SpriteBatch and renderStates – fix 3D graphics drawn incorrectly when 2D objects on Screen
• Vertex Data – VertexDeclaration, VertexElements, SizeInBytes, VertexBuffer (fixes)
• Point Sprites – Where are they?
• State Objects – SaveStateMode, SaveStateBlock, RenderState, BlendFunction, (fixes)
• ElapsedRealTime and TotalRealTime – understanding the time changes (update details)
• DrawIntancedPrimitives – mesh instancing, state batching, shader instancing (update details)
• Rendertarget formats – details on backbuffer formats and rendertarget formats
• Reach vs HiDef – things you should know
• New Effects built-in Content Pipeline – BasicEffect, SkinnedEffect, EnvironMapEffect and more
• Viewport Tweaks – Updates to Viewport Objects and properties
• Color constructors – updates to Color

*Most of the articles above are from Shawn Hargreaves Blog, posted here to make them easier to find.

Sites that promote and review Xbox Indie Games

• Indie Gamer Chick – If she likes your game obviously you did something right. Brutally Honest Indie Game Reviews.
• Kobun’s Xbox Indies Page – Xbox Indie Games Recommendations and Reviews
• Armless Octopus – Xbox Indie Game Reviews
• Indie Nerds – Games worth playing
• GameMarx –  A site dedicated to Xbox Indie Games (news, reviews, podcasts and more)
• XboxHornet – Loaded with Reviews and Xbox Indie Game Related Articles
• Writings of Mass Deduction – Everyday A New Game Review (seeking the best games)
• 8 Bit Horse - Where 2D Lives
• Indie Game Uprising –  Look for High Quality Xbox Indie Games released every season
• Kotaku XboxIndies – Lots of review and Indie game trailers
• GameTrailers Xbox Indie Games –  Lots of Xbox Indie Game Trailers
• SFX-360 – Some Xbox Indie Games reviews (not many)