create barcode c#.net s GAME PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING BASICS in Font

Painting ECC200 in Font s GAME PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING BASICS

The Content Pipeline streamlines the processing of all game content so you can deal with it easily. It comprises a number of steps, which include importers to read the content and generate a well-known format, a processor that reads this format, a content compiler that generates the ready-to-use content, and finally the content manager. Figure 1-3 presents a high-level view of the Content Pipeline.

One interesting thing about the Content Pipeline is that it is based on content you effectively include in your C# project. That means that when the project is built, the content is transformed into a recogizable format and moved to a known directory, so the program will always know where to find the content and how to read it. When including content in your XNA program, you use one of the content importers provided as part of the framework. These importers normalize the content data, putting it in a format that can be easily processed later. The importers support the following file formats: 3-D file formats: X (used by DirectX), FBX (transport file format, originally created by Autodesk and supported by most commercial and many freeware tools). Material file formats: FX (effect files, which can be used to describe 3-D model rendering details or add effects to the 3-D scene). 2-D file formats: BMP, DDS, DIB, HDR, JPG, PFM, PNG, PPM, and TGA (the most commonly used image file formats). Font description: SPRITEFONT (XML files used by XNA, which describe how to generate a texture map from a specific font type size. The game then uses the images on the texture map to write text onscreen). Audio file formats: .XAP (generated by the XACT tool, which imports most of the audio file formats). After the importers process the content, the processors will read this content and generate an object the game can handle at runtime.

Finally, the game uses the content manager to read such objects so they can be easily used. You can extend the content compiler to include new processors, and you can also extend the Content Pipeline with new importers, so you don t have to stick to the predefined formats.

Looking back at the game logic pseudocode, you can see that before entering the game loop you have to do the needed initialization and load the game resources. Besides the class constructor, seen in the previous sections, in XNA such initialization is done in the Initialize and LoadContent methods. For now, all you need to know is why there are two initialization routines; in later chapters you ll see details and examples for each of these methods. The Initialize method is called once when you execute the Run method (described in the beginning of this section), just before the game loop starts. This is the right place to include any nongraphical initialization routines, such as preparing the audio content. This method also includes a call to its base method, which iterates through a GameComponents collection and calls the Initialize method for each of them. That means that you can create game components that the Game class will also call, when you re creating more sophisticated games. But don t worry about this detail right now: we ll get back to it when creating our games. The graphics are loaded in a separate method because sometimes the game needs to reload the graphics. The graphics are loaded according to the current device settings to provide maximum performance. So, when these settings change (such as when you change the game resolution or when you go from windowed to full screen mode), you need to reload the graphics. The LoadContent method is called every time the game needs to load or reload the graphics.