Synopsis for This Magnificent Puzzle Piece That Is XNA!

This presentation is focused on using Microsoft’s XNA in game development curriculum. This presentation is an updated version of presentation previously given nationally and internationally. The last presentation was given in May 2008 in China. Since that presentation several developments have taken place, including public release of XNA 3.0 in October 2008

XNA is widely used by several schools to teach various game development concepts. One of the major goals of this presentation is to inform what portion of the game curriculum puzzle XNA can and can not fill. This includes a discussion about XNA vs C++ code, the language that is still the gold standard in the game industry.

The NHTI AGGP Department is highly experienced in this area as we’ve been working with the XNA since its first public release in 2006. A look at the decisions made regarding XNA in the AGGP curriculum includes an overview of how XNA was originally intended. This will be matched up against how XNA is actually used. The short answer is that XNA is used much than originally planned and in ways never expected either! While that is true, XNA is not the solution to all of our curriculum needs.