Your First Game XNA Game Studio in 2D

Follow these steps to create a simple spritebased game by using XNA Game Studio. This sample code works on all platforms, including Windows Phone.

Note
A sprite is a simple 2D graphic such as a bitmap that is displayed on the screen using a call to SpriteBatch.Draw.
Step 1: Install Your Software
Step 2: Create a New Project
Step 3: View the Code
Step 4: Add a Sprite
Step 5: Make the Sprite Move and Bounce
Step 6: Explore!

The Complete Sample

The code in this tutorial illustrates the technique described in the text. A complete code sample for this tutorial is available for you to download, including full source code and any
additional supporting files required by the sample.
Download MyFirstGame_Tutorial_Sample.zip.

Step 1: Install Your Software

Before you begin, make sure that you have installed all the necessary software, including a supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio tools and XNA Game Studio.

Step 2: Create a New Project

1. From the Start menu, click All Programs, click the XNA Game Studio 4.0 folder, and then click your supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio tools.
2. When the Start Page appears, click the File menu, and then click New Project.
A dialog box appears with a tree list on the left pane, marked Project Types.
3. Select the XNA Game Studio XNA Game Studio 4.0 tree node underneath the Visual C# node.
A set of available projects appears in the right pane.
4. In the right pane of the dialog box that appears, click Windows Game 4.0, and then type a title for your project such as "MyFirstGame" in the Name box.
5. Type a path where you'd like to save your project in the Location box, and then click OK.
After creating a new project, you'll be presented with the code view of your game.

Step 3: View the Code

Some of the hard work has already been done for you. If you build and run your game now, the GraphicsDeviceManager will set up your screen size and render a blank screen. Your game
will run and update all by itself. It's up to you to insert your own code to make the game more interesting.
Much of the code to start and run your game has already been written for you. You can insert your own code now.
The Initialize method is where you can initialize any assets that do not require a GraphicsDevice to be initialized.
The LoadContent method is where you load any necessary game assets such as models and textures.
The UnloadContent method is where any game assets can be released. Generally, no extra code is required here, as assets will be released automatically when they are no longer
needed.
The Update loop is the best place to update your game logic: move objects around, take player input, decide the outcome of collisions between objects, and so on.
The Draw loop is the best place to render all of your objects and backgrounds on the screen.

Step 4: Add a Sprite

The next step is to add a graphic that can be drawn on the screen. Use a small graphics file, such as a small .bmp or .jpg file. Be creativeyou can even make your own. You can even skip
ahead a bit and make a sprite that "hides" parts that should not be seen such as edges or corners so that it looks even better.
Once you have a graphic picked out on your computer, follow these steps.
1. Make sure you can see the Solution Explorer for your project on the right side of the window. If you cannot see it, click the View menu, and then click Solution Explorer.
When it appears, you will see files associated with your project in a tree structure. Inside the tree, you will see a node named Content.
2. Rightclick the Content node, click Add, click Existing Item, and then browse to your graphic.
If you can't see any files, make sure you change the Files of type selection box to read Texture Files.
3. Click the graphic file, and then click Add.
An entry for the graphic file will appear in Solution Explorer.
4. Click the entry for the graphic in the Solution Explorer. If you do not see the entry, ensure the Content node is expanded by clicking the small plus sign + to the left of the node,
and then click on the entry that appears underneath the Content node.
When you add a graphic file, it is added automatically to the XNA Framework Content Pipeline. This allows you to quickly and easily load the graphic into your game.

In the Properties window below Solution Explorer, look for the "Asset Name" property. Note the name; you'll use it in your code to load the graphic so it can be displayed in your
game.
5. If the Properties window is not visible, press F4, or click the View menu, and then click Properties Window.
Now, you must write code that loads and displays the sprite on the screen.
6. Back in the Code view of your game, find the LoadContent method, and add the following lines in and above the method so it looks similar to this:
C#
//Thisisatexturewecanrender.
Texture2DmyTexture;
//Setthecoordinatestodrawthespriteat.
Vector2spritePosition=Vector2.Zero;
//Storesomeinformationaboutthesprite'smotion.
Vector2spriteSpeed=newVector2(50.0f,50.0f);
protectedoverridevoidLoadContent()
{
//CreateanewSpriteBatch,whichcanbeusedtodrawtextures.
spriteBatch=newSpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
myTexture=Content.Load<Texture2D>("mytexture");
}
The Content property of the parent Game class offers the ContentManager class through which your game assets can be loaded.
Make sure the call to Content.Load is using the "Asset Name" you saw in the Properties window in the previous step. This code will load and prepare your graphic to be drawn, and
will reload your graphic if the graphics device is reset such as in the case of the game window being resized.
7. Now, add code to the Draw loop so it looks like this:
C#
protectedoverridevoidDraw(GameTimegameTime)
{
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
//Drawthesprite.
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront,BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(myTexture,spritePosition,Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
base.Draw(gameTime);
}
This code draws the sprite on the screen each frame.
Notice the parameter passed by the Begin method, BlendState.AlphaBlend. This parameter tells the Draw method to use the alpha channel of the source color to create a
transparency effect so that the destination color appears through the source color.
8. Build and run your game.
The sprite appears.
Now, it's time to give it some motion.

Step 5: Make the Sprite Move and Bounce

Change the lines of code in the Update method to read this way:
C#
voidUpdateSprite(GameTimegameTime)
{
//Movethespritebyspeed,scaledbyelapsedtime.
spritePosition+=
spriteSpeed*(float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds;
intMaxX=
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.WidthmyTexture.Width;
intMinX=0;
intMaxY=
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.HeightmyTexture.Height;
intMinY=0;
//Checkforbounce.
if(spritePosition.X>MaxX)
{
spriteSpeed.X*=1;
spritePosition.X=MaxX;
}
elseif(spritePosition.X<MinX)
{
spriteSpeed.X*=1;

spritePosition.X=MinX;
}
if(spritePosition.Y>MaxY)
{
spriteSpeed.Y*=1;
spritePosition.Y=MaxY;
}
elseif(spritePosition.Y<MinY)
{
spriteSpeed.Y*=1;
spritePosition.Y=MinY;
}
}
This adds a little bit of logic that will move the sprite around each frame and cause the sprite to change direction if it hits the edges of the game window.
Build and run your game.
The sprite moves across the screen and changes direction when it encounters the edges of the game window.

Step 6: Explore!
From here, you can do just about anything.
Here are some more ideas to extend this sample:
Add a second sprite, and use BoundingBox objects to detect collisions.
Use Keyboard, Mouse, or GamePad to make the sprite respond to movements of an input device. See Overview of User Input and Input Devices.
Create some audio events so that the sprite makes sounds as it moves. See Adding a Sound File XACT and Playing Sounds from an XACT Project.
Get more ideas and resources at App Hub.

See Also
Software Install Requirements
Getting Started with XNA Game Studio Development

Community Additions

Missing code in instruction step 5

This code:
// Move the sprite around.
UpdateSpritegameTime;

Needs to be added just above:

base.UpdategameTime;
}

And the code listed in step 5 should be added here.

StachowskiK
12/15/2014

Code in VB.net

Dim mytexture As Texture2D

Dim spriteposition As Vector2 = Vector2.Zero
Dim spritespeed As Vector2 = New Vector250.0F, 50.0F
Protected Overrides Sub LoadContent
spriteBatch = New SpriteBatchGraphicsDevice
mytexture = Content.LoadOf Texture2D"mytexture"

End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub UpdateByVal gameTime As GameTime
If GamePad.GetStatePlayerIndex.One.Buttons.Back = ButtonState.Pressed Then
Me.Exit
End If
spriteposition += spritespeed * gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds

 Dim MaxX As Integer = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width mytexture.Width

Dim MinX As Integer = 0
Dim MaxY As Integer = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height mytexture.Height
Dim miny As Integer = 0
If spriteposition.X = MaxX Then
spritespeed.X *= 1
spriteposition.X = MaxX
ElseIf spriteposition.X < MinX Then
spritespeed.X *= 1
spriteposition.X = MinX
End If
If spriteposition.Y > MaxY Then
spritespeed.Y *= 1
spriteposition.Y = MaxY

ElseIf spriteposition.Y < miny Then

spritespeed.Y *= 1
spriteposition.Y = miny
End If
MyBase.UpdategameTime
End Sub
bye from Bilbao
josederio
12/30/2012

Missing an important instruction step!!

The "motion" part of this tutorial is incomplete. Following these instructions exactly as written produces a sprite that doesn't move.
I got it working by calling UpdateSpritegameTime at the end of the Draw method. Not sure if this was the correct thing to do, but like I said, it works now.

No, this is not correct. You should call UpdateSpritegameTime inside the Update method look for the Add your update logic here comment.

Petr Kadlec
10/18/2012

ERROR
Sir,

I am using xna3.0 using visual studio 2008 in win XP.

whiledebugging a game in my pc i got an error at

"GraphicsDevice.ClearColor.Navy;".

It shows the error as "This property requires a graphics device

service in the game service container."

What is the reason for this and send me the remedy for this error.

Umasankar3259
8/16/2012

"Content" node
in my version of visual studio the "Content" node is actually called "<name of the project file>Content Content". So if my project was called "WindowsGame3" the folder would be called
"WindowsGame3Content Content".
chenjesu
2/2/2012

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