1)  Join our Steam Group and invite your Friends!  Then comment below:  What is your favorite medieval weapon and why?

2)  Enter through Steam Gifts Private Giveaway

3)  Enter through Steam Gifts Public Giveaway

That’s it!  Best of luck.  As we are doing weekly giveaways this one will end on Sunday the 26th sometime in the PM.

Medal of Honor - Matt Lucky Kinswater

“The man that against all odds, went in to save a comrade that everyone gave up on. That is a true hero.”

Crusader Kings II (Airborne Gamer) - simas

“It was a campaign by the pope to gain more power over the European rulers and to improve the position of the church as a powerful secular entity.

The crusades was also a sign of pope becoming more powerful than the Patriarch of Constantinople, which had been a strong competitor for the position of the unquestionable ruler of the Christian faith”

Crusader Kings II (Steam Gifts Private) – HERE

Crusader Kings II (Steam Gifts Public) – HERE

Enjoy your free games everyone!  Next giveaway starting up tomorrow!

Before I get into trying to teach anybody anything via the tutorials, I want to ensure that everyone understands what XNA is and how it is structured. A good understanding of what you are working with is key to how well you will utilize it.
This is more for the straight up beginners of games programming, but you will need some programming experience in order to understand what is going on. I would highly recommend making some basic programs in C# before you come anywhere near XNA, or any other languages for that matter.
If you think you have got what it takes, I aim to make this as informative and easy to understand as possible.
I also must stress that any code I ask you to write in these tutorials are actually written by you. Copying and pasting will do nothing for you, you need to type it up, it sinks in better that way. I would also suggest you type up the comments as well, for future reference.

I won’t be including any screenshots for this part as it is unnecessary, everything is straight forward and “see-able” on your screen.

What is XNA?
XNA is not a programming language as you may suspect. It is purely a library created by Microsoft within the C# language (that’s why I suggest you learn some of it). It purely takes things that are already imbedded deep within C# and C++ and makes them easier for the user to manipulate.
XNA introduces a whole bunch of new commands that you will probably have no idea about, therefore knowledge is key. The more tutorials you follow, the more you will learn of and the broader your knowledge will become.

It is used for the creation of Xbox Live Indie Games, as well as some full releases. Terraria is one of the more popular examples.

There is nothing holding you back with XNA (only performance based things that C++ is needed for). 2D and 3D games are both possible to make. A word of warning, do not even go anywhere near 3D until you have mastered 2D. I don’t even bother with 3D, primarily because I am rubbish at making models and textures!

How do I get XNA?
XNA is accessible through Visual Studio. I am using XNA 4.0 (the latest as of writing) and I suggest you do the same. Visual Studio 2010 is available for free through the DreamSpark program (https://www.dreamspark.com/), so I suggest you go that route, if not you can get the express edition, free of charge.
If you install all the updates and such, XNA should be available, if not. A little Google search will lead you to the download. Alternatively, you can just download the Windows Phone Tools (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13890) XNA 4.0 is included.

Setting up a new Project
1. Open Visual Studio
2. New Project
3. C#
4. XNA
5. Windows XNA 4.0 Game

Done!

Just make sure you name your project something suitable!

Game1.cs
You will now come to the coding screen, first of all you will be greeted by Game1.cs. This is the base XNA class for handling your game.
It may seem like a bit of an overwhelming mess, considering you have not even done anything yet, but it is simple enough.
You have 5 functions, Initialize(), LoadContent(), UnloadContent(), Update() and Draw().
In Initialize() you place initialization logic, this is what you want to happen when you start the program. So this would include things such as screen resolution.
In LoadContent() you are loading in the textures, sound, objects and anything else that needs to be put in the game.
In UnloadContent() you are removing the objects that are no longer needed.
In Update() you are defining what you need to update, this would be things such as the position of objects and collision detection.
In Draw() we are taking our content and drawing it to the screen via the spritebatch.

You do not want these 5 functions to be clogged up, so we often keep classes for each of our objects and keep the code within the class and then just define it within these functions. It keeps everything cleaner. I will explain this further in our game tutorial.
It may seem rather complex at the moment, but when you start seeing things happen, it will be a lot easier to understand.

What’s Next?
Ok, so now that you have a very basic understanding of XNA (Better than before you read the above right?). We can move onto the tutorials. The game I have chosen to mimic is Space Invaders (this is a challenge for myself as well!) We will try to flesh it out as much as possible and make it a complete game. I will supply all of the graphics and such.

Obviously, the problem is that I need to create the game and get my code in line before making a tutorial. This will take time. Hopefully I can get it done quickly and then drip-feed the content whilst I make a new tutorial, so that constant information is being passed, as oppose to massive gaps!

If you have ANY questions about XNA or how to do something within it, please just ask. I would be glad to try and help and possibly educate myself in the process!

Game Giveaway!

The lovely folks at Paradox Interactive are sponsoring a giveaway for the newly released Crusader Kings II.  We have 3 Steam Codes to giveaway this time.  I know this is not Monday, think of it as a mid-week treat because you gamers are the ones who allow publishers to do what they do, deliver righteous games we can get lost in for hours.  You can enter 3 ways and you have 3 different chances to win!  Read below on how to enter:

1)  Enter here at AirborneGamer.  Comment below.  What is the reasoning behind the European Crusades?

2)  Steam Gifts Group Giveaway

3)  Steam Gifts Public Giveaway

The giveaway will wrap up this Sunday in the PM around the same time as our current giveaway, Medal of Honor is warping up.  And all 3 winners will be randomly chosen, good luck!

Here is a little bit about Crusader Kings II:

• Start a game at any point between 1066 and 1337 and play until 1453
• Pick a Christian lord and make sure his dynasty survives as you play a succession of his descendants through the ages
• Gain Prestige for every successive character you play, furthering the glory of your Dynasty
• Expand your feudal domain – and keep it from falling apart
• Unravel the plots of your courtiers and vassals, each with their own opinions and agendas
• Take up the Cross and fight the Moor, the Heathen and the Heretic.
• Defend against the onslaught of the Mongol Horde
• Struggle with the Pope for control of the bishops
• Relive the Middle Ages with up to 32 other players in a competitive multiplayer mode

America, Fuck Yeah

In case you’ve been spending all your time with Skyrim or MW3 Multiplayer you may be curious as to just what all the Steam Achievements for MW3 actually are.  Well I’ve scalped the internet and found them (of I could have looked in my steam library and at the achievements there too) but who wants to do that?  Getting bored with life, want to unlock some achievements for COD:MW3 just for bragging rights?  Well don’t miss out, read below to see what achievements you can get.

1. Back in the Fight: Start the Single Player Campaign on any difficulty.
2. Too Big to Fail: Destroy the Jamming Tower. Complete “Black Tuesday” on any difficulty.
3. Wet Work: Take back New York Harbor. Complete “Hunter Killer” on any difficulty.
4. Carpe Diem: Escape the mountain safe house. Complete “Persona Non Grata” on any difficulty.
5. Frequent Flyer: Defend the Russian President. Complete “Turbulence” on any difficulty.
6. Up to No Good: Infiltrate the village. Complete “Back on the Grid” on any difficulty.
7. One Way Ticket: Make it to Westminster. Complete “Mind the Gap” on any difficulty.
8. Welcome to WW3: Save the US Vice President. Complete “Goalpost” on any difficulty.
9. Sandstorm!: Assault the shipping company. Complete “Return to Sender” on any difficulty.
10. Back Seat Driver: Track down Volk. Complete “Bag and Drag” on any difficulty.
11. We’ll Always Have Paris: Escape Paris with Volk. Complete “Iron Lady” on any difficulty.
12. Vive la Révolution!: Reach the church. Complete “Eye of the Storm” on any difficulty.
13. Requiem: Escape the city. Complete “Blood Brothers” on any difficulty.
14. Storm the Castle: Discover Makarov’s next move. Complete “Stronghold” on any difficulty.
15. Bad First Date: Find the girl. Complete “Scorched Earth” on any difficulty.
16. Diamond in the Rough: Rescue the Russian President. Complete “Down the Rabbit Hole” on any difficulty.
17. The Big Apple: Complete “Black Tuesday” and “Hunter Killer” on Veteran difficulty.
18. Out of the Frying Pan…: Complete “Persona Non Grata”, “Turbulence”, and “Back on the Grid” on Veteran difficulty.
19. Payback: Complete “Mind the Gap”, “Goalpost”, and “Return to Sender” on Veteran difficulty.
20. City of Lights: Complete “Bag and Drag” and “Iron Lady” on Veteran difficulty.
21. The Darkest Hour: Complete “Eye of the Storm”, “Blood Brothers”, and “Stronghold” on Veteran difficulty.
22. This is the End: Complete “Scorched Earth”, “Down the Rabbit Hole”, and “Dust to Dust” on Veteran difficulty.
23. Who Dares Wins: Complete the campaign on any difficulty.
24. The Best of the Best: Complete the campaign on Hardened or Veteran difficulty.
25. Strike!: Kill 5 enemies with a single grenade in Single Player or Special Ops.
26. Jack the Ripper: Melee 5 enemies in a row in Single Player or Special Ops.
27. Informant: Collect 22 Intel Items.
28. Scout Leader: Collect 46 Intel Items.
29. This Is My Boomstick: Kill 30 enemies with the XM25 in “Black Tuesday.”
30. What Goes Up…: Destroy all the choppers with only the UGV’s grenade launcher in “Persona Non Grata.”
31. For Whom the Shell Tolls: Destroy all targets during the mortar sequence with only 4 shells in “Back on the Grid.”
32. Kill Box: Kill 20 enemies with the Chopper Gunner in a single run in “Return to Sender.”
33. Danger Close: Take down a chopper with an AC-130 smoke grenade in “Bag and Drag.”
34. Ménage à Trois: Destroy 3 tanks with a single 105mm shot in “Iron Lady.”
35. Nein: Kill 9 enemies with A-10 strafing runs in “Scorched Earth.”
36. 50/50: Complete a Special Ops Mission Mode game with the same number of kills as your partner.
37. Birdie: Kill 2 enemy helicopters without getting hit in a Special Ops Survival game.
38. Serrated Edge: Finish a Juggernaut with a knife in Special Ops.
39. Arms Dealer: Buy all items from the Survival Weapon Armory.
40. Danger Zone: Buy all items from the Survival Air Support Armory.
41. Defense Spending: Buy all items from the Survival Equipment Armory.
42. Get Rich or Die Trying: Have $50,000 current balance in a Special Ops Survival game.
43. I Live: Survive 1 wave in a Special Ops Survival game.
44. Survivor: Reach Wave 10 in each mission of Special Ops Survival mode.
45. Unstoppable: Reach Wave 15 in each mission of Special Ops Survival mode.
46. No Assistance Required: Complete a Special Ops Mission Mode game on Hardened or Veteran with no player getting downed.
47. Brag Rags: Earn 1 star in Special Ops Mission Mode.
48. Tactician: Earn 1 star in each mission of Special Ops Mission Mode.
49. Overachiever: Earn 48 stars in Special Ops Mission Mode.

And last but not least…

50.  Be Bobby’s Bitch: Buy MW3, all the DLC and take one in the ass from Activision

1)  Like us on Facebook HERE, and comment below.  Name something you think someone could (or could have done) do to earn the Medal of Honor?

**Make sure to comment through the new comment system with Facebook guys, if you’re using a cached version of the site and commenting the old way your comments are not showing up to everyone else!

Best of luck, the contest will wrap up with a random winner on Sunday 2-19 sometime in the afternoon.