I mean, thanks for putting tutorials online! It's well described and everything, but for a noob like me it's not possible to finish this tutorial with all this mistakes in the .pdf! Not to mention that the source-code provided by you differs A LOT from the .pdf!

There are some little mistakes, like missing _ in the variablenames or like 48 and 53

Page 48:

public void Update()
{
if ((position.Y <= 0) || (position.Y >= 800))
velocity.Y *= -1;
if (position.X <= 0)
{
//Computer gets a point
Reset();
}
else if (position.X >= 600)
{
//Player gets a point
Reset();
}
position += velocity;
boundary = new Rectangle((int)position.X, (int)position.Y, 10, 10);
}

Page 53:

public void Update()
{
if ((position.Y <= 0) || (position.Y >= 600))
velocity.Y *= -1;
if (position.X <= 0)
{
//Computer gets a point
Reset();
}
else if (position.X >= 800)
{
//Player gets a point
Reset();
}
position += velocity;
boundary = new Rectangle((int)position.X, (int)position.Y, 10, 10);
}

but there are also some major mistakes and I read carefully the whole tutorial over and over again and I coudn't figure out what to do!

Page 29:
ScreenManager.cs

protected override void LoadContent()
{
....
spriteFont = Game1.content.Load("basic");
....
}

and

Page 51:

GameScreen.cs

public void LoadContent()
{
pixel = Game1.content.Load("singlePixel");
}

Game1.content is marked because Game1. only provides "Equals" and "ReferenceEquals"!

I tried to take your source code for help, but there is not even a LoadContent() in both ScreenManager.cs and GameScreen.cs!

So, what should I do? Do you need more information?

The links to the videos seams to be down....

How do I make it where I can press Escape in the game and it will take me back to the main menu.

Whiplash,

Your tutorial is really good. I got the source code up and I'm trying to get gamepad controller to work - in place of the keyboard. Is there a tutorial for this available, or source code? I'm familiar with C++ but this is my first go around with C#.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Ernest

Thanks for a great tutorial. This was the first thing I have done in C# and with my C++ knowledge I could understand most of what was going on. There are a couple of minor mistakes in the document, but by the end I think most(if not all) are sorted out. Thanks again!

Hi, I've been following the PDF tutorial and I'm having some trouble with the black/yellow menu selection highlighting. I was debugging a little, and the selection variable is increasing and decreasing when you press Up and Down, but there is no actual highlighting going on. Your document has some major issues with Text.cs, mainly the fact that early in the tutorial you declare Colors aColor, bColor and sColor, but never just "color", and sColor is never used. That confused me for a bit so I replaced it, but "sColor" was assigned to Yellow and the drawString is calling that, which makes everything yellow upon creation. Setting it to aColor makes it black, but there's never any Yellow coloring.

Anyway, your Text.cs in the source code download is quite a bit ahead of where I actually am so I can't make comparisons with it.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
using PaddlesTutorial.GameScreens;

namespace PaddlesTutorial {
class Text {
string text;
Vector2 position;

public Vector2 Position {
get { return position; }
set { position = value; }
}

Color aColor, bColor, color;
bool active = false;

public bool Active {
get { return active; }
set { active = value; }
}

public Vector2 Size {
get { return ScreenManager.spriteFont.MeasureString(this.text); }
}

public Text(string text, Vector2 position) {
this.text = text;
this.position = position;
this.aColor = this.bColor = Color.Black;
this.color = Color.Yellow;
}

public void Update() {
if(this.active && this.color == this.bColor)
this.color = this.aColor;
else if(!this.active && this.color == this.aColor)
this.color = this.bColor;
}

public void Draw(SpriteBatch spriteBatch) {
spriteBatch.DrawString(ScreenManager.spriteFont, this.text, this.position, this.aColor);
}
}
}

Here's the MenuScreen class if it makes any difference.


using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;

namespace PaddlesTutorial.GameScreens {
public enum MenuState {
Main,
Help
}

class MenuScreen {
List menuEntries, helpText;
MenuState mState = MenuState.Main;
int selection;

public MenuScreen() {
selection = 0;

#region Menu Items
menuEntries = new List();
menuEntries.Add(new Text("Play Game", new Vector2(30, 80)));
menuEntries.Add(new Text("Help", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
menuEntries.Add(new Text("Quit", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
#endregion
#region Help Items
helpText = new List();
helpText.Add(new Text("Help", new Vector2(30, 80)));
helpText.Add(new Text("Up Arrow - Move Up", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
helpText.Add(new Text("Down Arrow - Move Down", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
helpText.Add(new Text("Escape (In Main Menu) - Quits the game", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
helpText.Add(new Text("< Press Backspace to go back to the Main Menu", new Vector2(30, 5.0f)));
#endregion
}

public void UpdateTextPositioning() {
#region Menu Items
for(int i = 1; i < menuEntries.Count; i++)
menuEntries[i].Position += new Vector2(0, menuEntries[i - 1]
.Position.Y + menuEntries[i - 1].Size.Y);
#endregion
#region Help Items
for(int i = 1; i < helpText.Count; i++)
helpText[i].Position += new Vector2(0, helpText[i - 1]
.Position.Y + helpText[i - 1].Size.Y);
#endregion
}

public void Update(GameTime gameTime) {

#region Main
if(mState == MenuState.Main) {
if(ScreenManager.keyboard.Down) {
if(selection < menuEntries.Count - 1)
selection++;
else
selection = 0;
} else if(ScreenManager.keyboard.Up) {
if(selection > 0)
selection--;
else
selection = menuEntries.Count - 1;
} else if(ScreenManager.keyboard.PauseOrQuit)
ScreenManager.isExiting = true;
for(int i = 0; i < menuEntries.Count; i++) {
if(i == selection) {
if(!menuEntries[i].Active)
menuEntries[i].Active = true;
} else {
if(menuEntries[i].Active)
menuEntries[i].Active = false;
}
menuEntries[i].Update();
}
}

#endregion
#region Help
// help area
#endregion
}

public void Draw(SpriteBatch spriteBatch) {
#region Main
if(mState == MenuState.Main) {
foreach(Text t in menuEntries) {
t.Draw(spriteBatch);
}
}
#endregion
#region help
else {
foreach(Text t in helpText) {
t.Draw(spriteBatch);
}
}
#endregion

}
}
}

I haven't quite finished the tutorial yet, but I keep getting a NullReference error on the ScreenManager.cs page.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;

namespace Pong.GameScreens
{
public enum GameState
{
Menu,
Play
}
class ScreenManager:DrawableGameComponent
{
public static GameState gameState = GameState.Menu;
public static Keyboard keyboard;
public static SpriteFont spriteFont;
public static bool isExiting = false;
MenuScreens screen_Menu;
GameScreens screen_Game;
SpriteBatch spriteBatch;
public ScreenManager(Game game)
: base(game)
{
screen_Game = new GameScreens();
screen_Menu = new MenuScreens();
keyboard = new Keyboard();
}
protected override void LoadContent()
{
spriteFont = Game1.content.Load(@"Content\basic");
base.LoadContent();
}
public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
spriteBatch.Begin(); <----- (right there)
screen_Menu.Draw(spriteBatch);
base.Draw(gameTime);
spriteBatch.End();
}
public override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
{
base.Update(gameTime);
}
}
also, if i delete the begin and end thing i get it here:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
using Pong.GameScreens;

namespace Pong
{
class Text
{
string text;
Vector2 position;
public Vector2 Position
{
get { return position; }
set { position = value; }
}
Color aColor, bColor, color;
bool active = false;
public bool Active
{
get { return Active; }
set { Active = value; }
}
public Text(string text, Vector2 position)
{
this.text = text;
this.position = position;
this.aColor = this.bColor = Color.Black;
this.color = Color.Yellow;
}
public void Update()
{
}
public void Draw(SpriteBatch spriteBatch)
{
spriteBatch.DrawString(ScreenManager.spriteFont, this.text, this.position, this.color); <------ (right there)
}
public Vector2 Size
{
get
{
return ScreenManager.spriteFont.MeasureString(this.text);
}
}
}

}
but once again, that is only if i delete the begin end part. PLEASE HELP! Awesome tutorial so far though.

Hey Whiplash,

Thanks for all your prompt responses!

I just finished the tutorial about an hour ago and decided to start fully understanding what was going on. I think the first thing I wanted to try and understand was the GameScreens idea... it was actually what I really needed as my last game didn't do that... it started out rendering the game and finished with it.... no title, menu, anything :P so I decided to try to understand the game by making a new IntroScreen class... so basically what it does is display a logo when the game starts and waits for enter to be pressed, then it goes to the MenuScreen as per your demo... i also edited the ball and paddle to have separate custom sprites, and changed the ball to 20x20 and the paddle to 20x80. This, is for me to learn more about XNA and your method of programming. Even though I have completed the tutorial i stil don't 100% get all of it... probably 85%+... I plan to fiddle with it as much as I can so I know what it is all about. When I feel it's a bit more funky, I will post a YouTube video of it for other to see what can be done with your tutorial.

I had a few questions and comments:

- I noticed that the ball only travels in 45 degree angles( i think) ? such as NE, NW, SE, SW... is there anyway to make it so that these angles are 'random'...
for example if the ball hits my paddle coming SW, it can bounce off either SE, or NE... and the angle can be slighty different or random every time... obviously as u had suggested, this cannot be a straight line (or could it lol)...
i was also thinking of implementing an idea that bounce of the paddle can be turned in to a user controller SHOT ... for example.. if the user is holding down the Y button, then the ball will always bounce north(e/w), if it is the A buttom, the ball will always bounce south (e/w).... and if the B button is held then perhaps the ball is hit straight (but faster), or something like that I don't know... I bet I could implement this... but I am a total newb when it comes to angles. When I made my own Pong clone is C++/Allegro I made it ust a regular 45 degree bouncer... 4 diagonal directions basically. Other clones I saw had angles based on a sense of randomness... and not based on the whole 45 degree thing. Could you perhaps give me advice on this math ? If you can help me with this, perhaps I could "add" to your tutorial with this idea of a "user SHOT" that would add more control and chaos to a regular pong game... and enhance the learning experience.

- Also... if you do have time, please take a look at my Platformer Scroller that I coded in C++ and Allegro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlX25SDE5ps&feature=channel_page
It is currently being worked on on the side.... my main focus now is learning XNA, C# and proper programming practice so that I can learn to re-create my platformer and make it even better on XNA... and then move on to a 3D platformer. Would you ever consider doing a basic tile-scrolling or object-based platformer? If you do I would love to be involved as I do have some experience doing that, however, using your methods of the GameScreen and better understanding of C# and OOP, it can turn out to be a much more flexible engine, and a greater learning experience.

Anyway, sorry If I'm a bother, but all this is so much fun, and there is nothing better than learning to program games and helping others do so as well,

Cheers to u and ur efforts man!!!

Keep up the GREAT work.