Microsoft XNA Framework is a free package with tools and a managed runtime environment needed to run games developed by XNA Game Studio for Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox 360 platforms and distributed by Microsoft.

XNA Framework can be considered analogous to .NET Framework for developing simple games with Microsoft DirectX support running on various Microsoft platforms. XNA is the primary platform for Xbox Live Indie Games. This software is available for Windows, so we will tell you more about it.

What is this program?

Microsoft XNA Framework for Windows is a package of system libraries and components for initializing applications and games. This package provides a simplified process of development and adjustment of game applications.

The versatility of the XNA suite is its specific feature. It allows you to run new games on all kinds of platforms with support for XNA Framework. The main task of XNA creators was to ease routine tasks while forming code for computer games. Now it is much easier for programmers to write game application code. There is no longer a need to write template code because the XNA Framework package has an extensive library of game creation kits.

All these Framework advantages allow you to concentrate more on the detailed drawing of virtual worlds and bring them closer to the actual physics of the processes.

What is this software used for?

Microsoft XNA Framework is based on .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for Xbox 360 and .NET Framework 2.0 for Windows. It is designed to simplify game development by providing a set of ready-made tools and classes. It allows you to spend less time learning and writing code for different graphics adapters and to maximize code reuse during development on the target platforms.

It is most useful for novice developers because it allows them to focus on game content and gameplay instead of dealing with compatibility issues. You can quickly study the features of the framework using the so-called Starter Kits, which include the simplest video games and code templates used for creating applications.

The normalized API interfaces provided by XNA Framework for all supported platforms help avoid most compilation errors during game porting. For example, using an API store allows data to be stored and assessed similarly regardless of the platform used.

Technical features

There are several primary XNA Framework namespaces:

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork handles mathematical calculations and calculates collisions;

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork.Graphics defines the level of the graphics adapter and works with two- and three-dimensional graphics;

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork.Audio processes audio streams;

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork.Input interacts with peripheral equipment for data input;

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork.Storage performs data operations on media;

• Microsoft.XNA.FrameWork.Game runs the game stream.

The components of the XNA Framework can be divided into four levels of abstraction:

• The Platform layer has platform-dependent APIs, such as Direct3D, DirectX, and other similar components;

• The second, platform-independent Core Framework layer is responsible for graphics, sound, input devices, and mathematical calculations;

• The third layer, the Extended Framework, can be called a universal game engine consisting of high-level classes;

• The application under development is the last layer.

On Windows-based systems, XNA sets function through DirectX, and the library classes have significantly improved. At the same time, Framework provides game creators with high-level access to processing texture models and audio data to make the work of programmers much more straightforward.