CIS 3000: Introduction to Computer Game Design

Demos

On this page we have provided several demos illustrated various technical challenges in game development. These demos include many examples that are commonly requested in this course. All of these demos come with source code. You are allowed to use the code here as reference or directly in your own games.

Unfortunately, the shift to XNA 4.0 is a fairly major one, and it has broken some backwards compatibility with earlier versions of XNA. We are still reviewing some of our demos for compatibility before we post them, and so this list is still a work in progress. Furthermore, if you find a bug, would like to update one of the demos, or would like to add a new demo, you are more than welcome. In that case, contact the course staff with your contribution.

Ship Demo
Demonstrates image drawing, rotation and scaling, sound effects, background drawing from an image, and simple mathematics for physics.
Sample Level Editor
This is a sample level editor, based off the one used for the CIS 3000 game Bounce. This source code should give you some idea how to construct your level editor. As will probably be the case in your game, the level editor and the included game share a substantial amount of code.
Parallax Scrolling
This is another example of a side scrolling background. However, this example introduces parallax scrolling in order to give your game some feeling of depth. Parallax scrolling does not actually give you 3D game play, but it does make the game look nicer.
Game State Management
This example demonstrates how to manage multiple gamestates such as menus and gameplay. It includes examples of fading transitions and layering gamestates.