Solar Energy Sector In India General Studies Essay

Solar Energy Sector In India General Studies Essay India with abundant sunlight, unutilized manufacturing potential, readily available labour and significant demand for power, is one of the most promising markets for solar energy. The country is currently the seventh largest producer solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and ninth largest producer of solar thermal energy. Most parts of the country receive 4-7 kWh of solar radiation per square meter per day. There are 250-300 clear, sunny days in a year. This puts countrys solar potential at around 600TW per year. Still, solar energy is not the most popular source of renewable energy in India. Wind at 9,522 MW, continues to dominate the renewable energy sector , accounting for over 70% of total renewable capacity of 13,451 MW as of Sept, 2008. This sectoral report tries to cover the niche sector of solar energy in India which is still in nascent stage with very few detailed reports available. The sectoral report covers the size and growth of this sector various government initiatives taken to ensure the growth momentum considering the fact that solar power is still quite costly as compared to conventional sources of power. Thereafter the various key success parameters in the form of various issues challenges which decides the growth in this sector are covered like managing high cost, policy hurdles, environmental concerns, low land availability, power evacuation hurdles, profitability problems, entry barriers for new manufacturing facilities etc. Next the key enablers to sustainable success of solar energy sector in the form of technological innovations is discussed based on various factors. Here the focus is on various upcoming technologies in the solar sector like crystalline silicon, thin film, solar thermal/ CSP etc . Sectoral Report also give a brief overview of the key initiatives in the solar sector taken by a company which made it a leading company in solar sector. Finally the growth projection for the solar sector as a whole is being highlighted. Size and Growth of Solar energy sector in India The government of India started focusing on the solar energy segment when Ministry of New and renewable Energy (MNRE) launched a countrywide solar PV programme as a part of its renewable energy programme. It aimed to provide remote village electrification through decentralized distributed generation(DDG) using solar technologies and promote such technologies for urban, industrial and commercial applications. India has since transformed into a low cost hub for manufacturing solar PV cells and modules, a large proportion of which is exported to other countries. For instance, according to a 2008 study on solar PV industry by Indian Semiconductor Association, India produced 335 MWp of PV products during the period 2002-07 of which 225 MWp was exported. The annual production of solar PV cells increased from 9.5 MW in March 2000 to 110 MW in March 2000. The production of solar PV modules grew from 11 MW to 135 MW over the same period. In 1982, the government launched the national solar thermal energy programme to promote solar technologies such as parabolic troughs, parabolic dishes and solar power towers for generating grid-interactive power. The programme involved increasing awareness about the use of solar thermal energy as well as encouraging the manufacture of solar thermal equipment. The government even subsidized solar thermal products like water heating systems and solar cookers. Since then, Indias solar thermal energy collector area (a solar thermal collector absorbs sunlight to convert it into heat energy) has increased significantly from 119,000 square metres to over 1.66 million square metres as of March 2007. However the number of solar thermal installations (comprising parabolic troughs, parabolic dishes and solar towers) per 1000 people is still very low at 0.52. The MNRE has targeted installing 5 million square metres of collector area by 2012. In terms of end-use, there was area of solar water heating systems and 0.62 million box-type solar cooker units as of Dec, 2007. Recent government initiatives In June 2008, the prime minister launched the National Action Plan for Climate change (NPACC), which categorically targets an increase in solar based generation in country. As part of the plan, the government has approved the creation of national solar mission on the lines of the Atomic Commission. The mission has a target of adding 1000 MW of concentrated solar power in the next 10 years. Also as part of governments plan for solar energy segment is the launch of a major research and development programme which would enable the creation of more affordable and convenient solar power systems, and promote innovations for storing solar power for sustained, long term use. International cooperation would be an important part of RD programme. The US government recently sent a delegation including fourteen US-based solar energy companies on its first trade mission on solar energy in India. Till date the union government has made various concessions for solar energy development in India. The MNRE in an effort to promote large sized grid-interactive solar power generation projects, recently introduced a generation based incentive (GBI) of Rs 15 per kWh for solar PV and Rs 13 per kWh for solar thermal projects. Solar PV power generation plants with minimum installed capacity of 1 MWp per plant are eligible for the incentive. However, the incentive is available only for maximum cumulative capacity of 10 MWp of grid-interactive solar PV power generation projects in a single state, with the overall project size being limited to 50 MWp. Further, no single entity can achieve GBI for projects of more than 5 MW. The industry has been demanding the removal of the total capacity and per plant limits but, so far , no steps have been taken by the government in this regard. The government has also sanctioned the Development of Solar Cities Programme for the Eleventh Plan Period. The programme will extend support to municipal corporations for preparing and implementing the plan to set up 60 solar cities at investment of Rs 5million, which will enable a minimum of 10 per cent reduction in total demand conventional energy by 2012. The Forum of Electricity Regulators, headed by the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, is working on the road map to achieving the NAPCCs target of sourcing 5% of total power generation from renewable sources. Key Success Parameter for Solar Sector Growth: Handling Issues Challenges Despite these efforts, the solar industry still faces a plethora of issues including high production costs, lack of land, inadequate financing options and rising environment concerns. Moreover, despite the government offering many incentives, the industry is demanding more in order to be commercially viable. Policy Hurdles According to project developers, further policy action is required on the solar energy front. There is still a cloud of confusion surrounding the policy framework. Developers have cited issues as lack of clarity regarding the clearances required to set up operations. Others complain that it takes excessive time to obtain the multiple clearances required. Many developers have also faced problems with state governments as the latter have not adhered to the power purchase agreements. There is also strong demand for removing the cap on MNREs GBI. High Costs Despite costs coming down over the years, power generation from solar PV is still four to five time more expensive than fossil fuel-based generation. The estimated cost of generation from solar PV and solar thermal sources in India is Rs 12-20 per KWh and Rs 10-15 per KWh respectively. On the other hand, power from conventional sources can cost as little as Rs 3-4 per KWh. According to industry estimates, the current tariffs for initial 10-year period are not sufficient to make solar projects viable. This combined with project financing at 12-14 per cent with a loan tenor of seven-eight years result in internal rate of return (IRRs) of 6-10 %. Attractive IRRs have been the single most important factor for growth for the solar PV industry in Europe, with developers receiving at least an incremental return of 4-6 per cent over the capital/ financing cost. Several factors have contributed to this trend. With respect to crystalline solar PV-based power production, one of the most significant cost components is the high cost of energy, which constitutes around 11% of the total production cost (for a vertical integrated plant). Energy costs borne by solar power developers in India are especially high as industrial consumers are typically charged higher energy tariff to cross subsidize domestic and agricultural consumers. Interest cost and depreciation are two other important cost components, comprising 15% of production cost. According to a presentation by Rajeewa Arya, Chief Executive Officer, Mosaer Baer Photo Voltaic , project financing for solar power developers is usually granted at an interest rate of 12-14% for a loan tenor of seven-eight years, making solar PV projects ‘unviable. Thin film based solar PV technology is a cheaper alternative to mono or polysilicon based solar PV technologies as it costs less to manufacture thin film modules. Thin film modules are created by coating entire sheets of glass or steel with thin layers of semiconducting materials, which obviates the need for large quantities of semiconductors, thus lowering energy inputs and, consequently, the cost of production. With thin film modules, there is also added opportunity of locally sourcing raw material. The current cost structure of thin film silicon-based modules varies from Rs 50 to Rs 64per watt peak (Wp) depending on the efficiency (6 to 8.5%) of the module compared to Rs 88.7per Wp for silicon crystalline modules. Entry Barrier against Competitors for Manufacturing Process Solar PV cell manufacturing is a technology-intensive process requiring sophisticated expertise and know how. The technological landscape is changing rapidly. Moreover, as it is challenging for new entrants to replicate the success of companies having a long standing in solar PV market, competition is reduced to an extent. Environmental Concerns Some of the raw materials used for producing solar PV cells, like cadmium , are hazardous. Other raw materials, like plastics are non-biodegradable. Although some of the wasted generated during the manufacturing process is recyclable (for example silicon), not all materials are recyclable . As a result disposal is challenge. Low Land availability Solar Power plants require large areas of land 35-40 acres for a 5 MWp installation. However suitable tracts of land are not always available and land acquisition is sometimes subjected to local resistance. Power Evacuation In the past, it has been often seen that a transmission line is required to be drawn from solar power plant site to the nearest substation, which is usually 4-5 Km away. The concerned power utilities generally insist the line be drawn by the promoter of solar project. Setting up a transmission line is not only unfamiliar work for solar project promoters or engineering, procurement and construction contractor , it also adds substantially to the capital costs incurred. For conventional power plants, the respective transmission or distribution companies set up the line and purchases power from premises of the generating station. This is because TD companies have the experience and legal support to tackle socio-political issues that arises while setting up transmission lines across land owned by multiple landowners. Profitability In addition to raw material and project financing costs, Indian solar PV manufacturing companies face the problem of achieving profitability, as most companies are partially integrated. This means that they either buy wafers and convert them into cells , or buy cells and convert them into modules. In the value chain, 60% of value addition lies in the polysilicon and wafer manufacturing segments. In India, however cell and module manufacturing is largely carried out domestically, leaving polysilicon and wafers to be imported. This leads to a substantial loss in margins, increases the cost of the solar panel, and thereby increases the cost of the energy generated from solar power. If it is assumed that both the partially integrated manufacturer and vertically integrated manufacturer can sell the module at around Rs 145( based on international pricing of a crystalline silicon module), this gives the vertically integrated manufacturer a margin gain of 42 percentage points over the partially integrated one. There are however , several technical limitations as a result of which partial integration is more feasible than vertical integration. These include unavailability of technology and raw material. A key reason for this is high capital requirement for setting up such manufacturing capacities. In light of this , capital subsidies could boost vertical integration and reduce cost of production. Solar Thermal Advantages of Solar Thermal Power Solar Thermal power exhibits a different set of dynamics from solar PV as energy storage is much easier in the former. Solar thermal power plants have systems for heat storage and , consequently , generate power even after sunset . Solar thermal technologies have the additional advantages of being able to generate electricity right after the construction of collector (in other technologies, there is usually a gap between plant construction and production of electricity , which increases the interest cost to investment made). Limitations of Solar Thermal Technology On the flip side, however the technology has two key limitations. First, while PV systems can be installed in proximity to customers , thereby decreasing transmission and distribution costs, concentrated solar thermal systems require optimal solar conditions and large open spaces, which are only available at a great distance from customers. The second reason, as is explained in a report by McKinsey Consulting, â€Å"The ability of concentrated solar thermal power to cut costs further may be limited because it relies on conventional devices such as pipes and reflectors whose costs will probably fall less significantly than those of materials used in semiconductor-based PVs†. Issues Challenges- Going Forward Overall, solar energy costs can be expected to decrease significantly in the future. Capital costs have already declined over the past two decades, bringing down the cost of solar PV and solar thermal. Costs are projected to continue reducing to eventually compete with fossil fuel prices. With economies of scale and development of new technologies, the industry is targeting to achieve a level of Rs6-8 per kWh in three to five years. Analysts have further advocated that developers undertake cost cutting measures such as sharing operational resources, and building the plant closer to consumers to save on transmission expenses etc. Moreover, a carbon tax on coal based generation could provide a significant boost to CSP technology. Breakthroughs in nanotechnology also promises a significant increase in solar cell efficiencies from current values of around 15% to over 50%, which could subsequently reduce the cost of the solar energy produced. Key Success Enabler for Sustainable Growth in Solar: Growth in Technological Innovations Crystalline silicon The development of crystalline silicon technology took shape in 1976 when the government launched a five year programme focusing on indigenous commercial production of solar cells and modules based on crystalline silicon. Advantages of Crystalline Silicon Crystalline silicon technologies have several advantages. They are tried and tested and relatively more widely available in the Indian market, thus familiarity among groups and producers. Consequently, most applications for solar PV use have been designed on the basis of silicon-based PV characteristics. The technology also has relatively high conversion efficiencies of 15 to 18% for the polycrystalline versions and 17-18% for the monocrystalline version. Hence, they are ideal for locations with space constraints as the size of the panels need not be very large. Issues with Crystalline Silicon On the flip side , however , crystalline solar PV technologies are heavily dependent on pure solar grade silicon which has limited supply. Though accessing high quality of sand for manufacturing silicon is not a constraint in India, production of refined metallurgical silicon is costly , complicated and energy intensive. Crystalline technologies are also expensive, costing $2.4 and $2.15 to produce a 1 Watt monocrystalline and polycrystalline cell respectively. Crystalline technologies consume 8-9 grams of silicon per watt. However, silicon is a scarce commodity in India and these costs end up constituting a large part (40-50%) of the module costs. Over the years though, silicon usage in crystalline technologies (in terms of grams per watt) is expected to reduce. Future outlook of Crystalline Silicon The future of crystalline silicon technologies will be driven by technological advances that will establish new benchmarks in solar PV cell efficiency using materials that can trap a higher proportion of incident spectrum and convert it into useful energy and reduce cost by developing less energy intensive techniques of production and benefiting from decreasing polysilicon prices , and reduces waste. In the future, though other emerging technologies are likely to gain prominence , industry experts expect that solar PV systems based on crystalline silicon will dominate the off-grid applications segment with small rooftop-based installations. Though crystalline technologies monopolize the solar PV market at present, they are expected to slowly be replaced by more cost-effective technologies such as those based on thin film. By 2011-12 , the market share of silicon crystalline is expected to decline to 65-70%. Thin Film Thin film-based solar PV technology is a low cost alternative to crystalline silicon. The market share of thin film technologies currently stands at around 8% but is expected to go up to 35%in the next few years in India. In contrast to silicon crystalline technologies, thin films are expected to be especially important for on-grid applications in India Advantages of using Thin Film The key advantage of thin-film technologies is that they are more cost effective than other crystalline-based solar PV technologies as they require fewer materials and energy. Issues with Thin Film However thin film-based technologies are still at research and evolution stage and have relatively lower conversion efficiency compared to silicon crystalline technologies. There are other future challenges. Although thin film technologies have revealed long-term stability, some degradation has been observed. This is yet to be properly understood and dealt with. Moreover, in the long term , the availability and price of tellurium ( a key raw material in the production of thin films) are likely to become a bigger concern when the production capacity level reaches tens of gigawatts. Solar thermal/ CSP In addition to solar PV, solar thermal technology is also gaining traction in India. For on-grid applications, concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. This technology is commercially available with over 12 billion units of operation experience. The one drawback it faces is its use of an oil based heat transfer medium, which restricts operating temperature to up to 400 C , resulting in stream of moderate quality. This technology is again suited for grid connected plants but with high temperature process heat requirement. The highest capacity achieved until now for a single unit with this technology is 10 MWe. This technology is ideally suited for stand-alone, off-grid power systems or clustered to larger grid-connected dish parks. The highest single unit solar capacity achieved with this technology is 25 kWe. In some recent designs, a unit size of about 10 kWe has been claimed. However projected mass production goals and costs are yet to be achieved. Status of Solar Thermal in India The cumulative collector area of solar thermal thermal energy in India has grown steadily from 119,000 sq metres in 1989 to more than 2.6 million square metres in December,2008. Though this is substantial increment , the absolute number of solar thermal installations per 1000 people is very low at 0.52. In terms of end-use, there are 2.6 million square metres of collector area of solar water heating systems and 640,000 box-type solar cooker units as of January, 2009. Issues with spread of Solar Thermal The key disadvantage with all concentrated solar power systems is that the hours of power production coincide theoretically with hours of sunshine. However, with some adaptations , such as energy storage , it is possible to control the hours of power production. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , India has a gross potential of about 30 million square meters of collector area. In fact , in its draft policy , it has target of installing 5 million square metres of collector area till 2012. However, given the current status, a lot of distance is yet to be covered. However there are several key issues that needs to be addressed. Solar thermal power developers have to incur a high initial cost of equipment. Solar thermal equipment also requires a large quantity of space compared to conventional electric equipment. Currently , the number of equipment suppliers, spare part manufacturers and service providers for solar thermal equipment is limited. According to industry players , there is an urgent need for developing supply chain that can bring efficiencies to the system , from design to delivery. Concentrated Solar PV systems In order to tackle the above challenges, the industry is experimenting with concentrated solar PV-based systems, which use mirrors or lenses to focus light onto solar PV cells to produce electricity. This is in contrast to concentrated solar power using parabolic troughs or dishes that use heat from sun to produce steam, which turns an electric generator. Concentrated solar PV systems are so far at an experimental stage. Spanish firm Solfocus is working on a 3 MW concentrated solar PV power plant in southern part of the country. Future Growth Projections of Technological innovations in solar Substantial research is being undertaken to come out with more cost-efficient and conversion-efficient versions of solar power technologies. Researchers are targeting conversion efficiencies between 30% to 60% , while using similar low-cost materials and manufacturing techniques. In the solar PV field, new and emerging technologies are being designed to overcome the shortcomings of thin film such as poor electrical performance while maintaining low production costs. New solar cells made of nano materials are reportedly the next big advancement in the solar PV industry. Nano materials exhibit superior properties , such as high strength and flexibility , and trap more energy than conventional solar PV cells. Leading Companies in Solar Sector Applied Materials Inc.: Key success factors Future Growth projections Applied materials creates and commercializes nanomanufacturing technology that helps produce virtually every semiconductor chip and liquid crystal flat panel display in the world. Applied materials built on that expertise to enter PV cell manufacturing equipment industry and become the number one supplier in 2008 (Source: VLSI Research, Inc.) For crystalline silicon, they have the best-in-class tools with a focus on thinnest wafers , highest productivity and higher efficiency . The Precision Wafering System division offers MaxEdge â„ ¢ using the dual wire concept to enable cutting large loads with thin wire along with wire saw systems for cropping and squaring. The Baccini â„ ¢cell division offers the industry-leading solution in line metallization and test that can handle ultra-thin wafers. Further the companys Aton â„ ¢ offers the highest productivity and cost benefits for ARC deposition and passivation in cell manufacturing. For the thin film market, Applied has developed the SunFabâ„ ¢ Thin Film production line , the worlds first line capable of producing 5.7 square meter solar modules. As PV manufacturers seek to build highly automated , efficient plants, Applied Materials ability to commercialize innovative solar technologies and its unmatched global resources and service network bring the promise of a cleaner, brighter energy future. Future Growth Projections in Solar Energy Sector According to analysts and financial consultants, there may be temporary slowdown in the solar energy sector due to the current economic crisis. Funds have become restricted and companies are looking for safer investments. However the situation is going to turn around with increased government focus. According to industry estimates, the total annual demand for solar energy (including solar thermal systems) in India will rise from current 30-40 MW to 700 MW by 2012 due to falling costs of solar systems. The MNRE is targeting a solar energy capacity of 500 MW by the end of the eleventh plan period. However, this target is expected to be surpassed. By 2017, the MNRE expects Indias solar capacity addition is expected to rise from current 30-40 MW per annum to 70 MW by 2012, driven by decreases in the prices of solar PV. Around 50% of capacity addition is expected to come from solar PV based grid-interactive generation. Solar based generation for the grid is expected to be 25 MW, 50 MW, 75 MW and 100 MW in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The increase will be partially drawn by generation based incentive, which has already led to companies such as Reliance Industries and Moser Baer expressing interest in setting up grid-interactive solar PV plants worth over 1000 MW. All in all , the Indian solar energy industry is looking at busy times ahead. List of References: http://mnes.nic.in/ http://www.powermin.nic.in/ http://www.projectsmonitor.com/ http://www.indiasolar.com/ren-india.htm Datamonitor- Online Library Resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_India http://www.solarpowerindia.com/ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ multiple news related to solar power sector http://www.cercind.gov.in/ http://www.crisil.com/research/ Based on Three years of work-experience in power sector related industry contacts Study of various textbooks literature regarding solar energy while I was doing Post Graduate diploma course in Thermal Power Plant engg from an institute under ministry of Power

Development Using XNA Game Studio

Development Using XNA Game Studio Chapter 1: Preface Over the past few years where two dimensional and three dimensional graphic has been utilized consecutively for developing computer games and console games. Two dimensional graphic games have been very popular since the beginning of 1940s and thats where it all started at the first place. It started with 2D games at first which is developed for the use of arcade mainframes and console machines, followed by the development of computer games for mainframe computers. Through the innovation development of dimensional graphic games, 3 dimensional games were to emerge as the most popular game genre which started in the late 80s. But despise all the development of 3D games in the games software industries, 2D games are still being developed in the new market. This is because 2D games are still being preferred by many people in the world, and due to this point, games software vendors are still taking account of 2D games development. In the past few years, starting from the year 2000, 2D games starts to become widely know and played by many users with the development of mobile games and internet web based games. There have been rapid development of 2D technology to create new application games for the growing internet network, more and more website incorporate web based 2D mini games, online games and puzzle games. Its been proven that 2D games are getting more and more popular compared to the years before year 2000, and with more websites trying to incorporate 2D games towards their web as the 3rd party application. Such website is like the ever popular facebook.com incorporating hundreds and even thousands of 2D games as the 3rd party game application to attract more and more people towards joining the social web network. Few years back, Microsoft introduced the XNA Game Studio software distributed across the internet to enable software programmers to develop new games for windows platform and also the new XBOX 360. The XNA game studio is licensed software, but with the MSDN help, the author as a student get to have the chance to obtain a tryout of this Microsoft XNA game studio. According to Microsoft, XNA game studio will need to be incorporated with Microsoft Visual Studio to enable references to be added in the system coding. If we were to look back few years before, developing a game even for a two dimensional game would took probably months and even years, a simple personal computer would not even be sufficient to run the system codes, execute the game, and debug the system. And even with the availability of the development tools, it would surely require serious experts to come out with a game system coding, due to the complicated level of programming language available during the urban times. In other words there are almost none development tools available to reach in the hands of the student, or internet users to develop their own games by themselves. And by looking at the games development now, and comparing them, it is a breakthrough for the games development. As I foresees the development potential for two dimensional games, I am sure that two dimensional game will have plenty of development potential in the future, as its been proven development of two dimensional games did not stop although three dimensional games been around for quite a long time, it didnt manage to replace the two dimensional games market its technology. There are quite a few reasons why two dimensional games are still around developing, which mainly are because of its cheap development cost, simple development process, easy for users to understand and well played. Its one of the reasons why Microsoft, the top player in IT industry is still in for two dimensional games development and searching for the breakthrough for it by creating development tools to support the development of two dimensional games. Chapter 2: Development Tools Introduction This chapter was designed to elaborate the use of each development tools which is related towards developing the XNA BubbleBall Attack 2D game. In order to produce this game system a set of software development tools need to be installed on the developers machine to enable full support to the game system. All identified developing tools which is related in the development process includes DirectX SDK (DirectX Software Development Kit) a set of application programming interfaces designed to handle tasks. It is a development tool containing all DirectX software required to build and produce cutting-edge, rich media interactive applications. Microsoft .NET Framework is required for its library reference of coding solutions to common problems and local machine to manage execution of code written programs specifically for the Microsoft framework. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is the development tool used to write for the game system coding. This application is used to build up the game system code, code debugging process, system appearance design, execution of game system, it is mainly the key development tool used in this project. Microsoft XNA Game Studio is utilized by me the system programmer to design the animation, sound, and the entire multimedia enhancement required for the game system. This tool is required to be included in this process to enable the coding languages to add references in its library files and to execute the library files in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Without this tool, the coding language will never be executed because failure in retrieving the coding files from the library files. Adobe Photoshop C3 is used by the developer to create image file as the two dimensional graphic to be presented in the system. All animation that present in the system is created by this tool and included in the system as the two dimensional graphic. DirectX SDK DirectX SDK is developed by Microsoft with the objective of allowing the creation of application for a certain software package, software framework, hardware plat form, computer system, video game console, operating system or any other similar platform which supports DirectX. DirectX SDK comes in a set of development tools which contains of all the DirectX software needed for a game developer to create DirectX based application using the Visual Basic.Net, C or C++, and C+ coding language which was developed by Microsoft. The reason why DirectX SDK is so powerful was mainly because it was made up from many different system tools which some of the main components includes: DirectX headers and libraries DirectX system runtime components DirectX Application Programming Interfaces Documentations Additional application and source code developed using DirectX compliant Various powerful tools and utilities integrated to the DirectX SDK This development tool allows me to take a complete advantage of DirectX technologies for creating excellent games and graphic applications. DirectX SDK allows developers to utilize its latest technology in hardware innovation for developing powerful games. DirectX SDK will receive update in its version releases to keep up with the latest technology enhanced within the DirectX software this is necessary to boost the codes, tools, library files and the documentation for every Microsoft Platform SDK. Microsoft DirectX SDK comes with an important feature which is the D3DX library acts like a toolkit which provides developers with high level functionality to help create DirectX applications. This feature helps to optimize low level routines so as to obtain the best performance out of Microsoft platform. Incorporated with basic features such as math calculation and texture loading routines, updated technology in art manipulating content including tangent frame generation, mesh optimization and Precomputed Radiance Transfer. DirectX SDK come with many other features such as D3DX effects framework, High Level Shading Languages, Shader Debugger, PIX for Window Platform. These technologies will help developer in all way developing their game system accordingly. DirectX SDK will be able to integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio .Net to enable developers to code their system using it. Pipelining feature will be enabled with the integration of DirectX SDK towards Microsoft Visual Studio .Net, these enable developers to code for pipelining structure for their game application. Certain samples will be included within DirectX SDK to help developers to understand the technologies used in DirectX. In other words DirectX SDK will help developers by providing technical solution, best suitable graphic rendering outcome, graphic localization, code implementation, library files, better and simple developing experience, and also how to render and produce most from interactive audio. Microsoft DirectX SDK comes with all the features and tools needed for the graphic rendering, audio rendering, and visualization for game developers to make use of in order to create powerful DirectX based applications either for a simple game or a complicated game development. Microsoft .NET Framework Microsoft .Net Framework is a platform or so what people called a development environment to seamlessly create applications that accessible through developers computer from all across the world. It is an application adopted to comply with open standards such as eXtensible Markup Languages, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and Simple Object Access Protocol in order to interact with applications that are available in other platform. .Net Framework is platform independent and language independent system which allows the developer to use different programming languages such as VB.Net, C#, Jscript, VBscript, C and C++ to run applications on different platform such as Unix, Mac, Linux, and Window. .Net Framework enables developer to use various libraries to help in developing and application faster, easier and cheaper. As for now, .Net Framework is identified to be able to support over 20 different programming languages. There is a reason for why .Net Framework is built to support multiple different types of programming languages is explained by the concept of Common Language Runtime engine. CLR engine compiles the code into Microsoft Intermediate Language. The MSIL is a set of instructions used to translate the codes into native codes making .Net Framework capable of language and platform independent. CLR is also responsible for run time services such as language integration, security enforcement, memory process and thread management. In addition, .Net Framework provides wide infrastructure to create web applications and non web applications. As for the time being, Microsoft has claimed .Net Framework comes in two different categories which is CLR and .Net Framework class library. Common Language Runtime is responsible to provide common runtime services to all .Net based applications. As for more CLR reduces the developers time to code for an application by utilizing its feature like life cycle management, strong type naming, cross language exception handling, and dynamic binding designed to turn application development software into reusable components. As for .Net Framework class library, it appears that this system consists of predefined sets of functionality that developer can freely utilize to enhance their application. The class library consists of three major components which are: ASP.NET Windows Form ADO.NET Well for this game application project, I will be using CLR and also .Net Framework class library as VB.NET and Window Form will be use for my game application as the two key component. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 was released in 19 November 2007 replacing the older version of Visual Studio with the newer enhanced version of Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2008 is focused based on the development for Window Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 system and web applications. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET Framework 3.5 to run properly and to process compiles assemblies. Visual Studio 2008 will possess the ability to chooses and utilize different .NET framework version depending to the developers choice. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 delivers on Microsofts vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create new applications without ignoring the quality of the application with accounted rich user experiences. Visual Studio 2008 comes with the ability for the developer to capture and analyze information to help make effective decisions. Packed with the ability for developer to rapidly create secured, manageable, and reliable applications is the strongest advantage of using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio 2008 promised to be able to deliver key advances for developers in three primary pillars which are: Rapid Application Development Effective team collaboration Breakthrough user experiences Visual Studio 2008 has received a many users feedback and most of them are identified to be positive. Based on the three pillars, users feedbacks are mostly related to those of the three with different technology area. They are categorized into seven technology areas Focused on Smart Client Application Development Microsoft Office Applications Integrated Window Platform Applications Integrated Enhanced Productivity in Data Handling Enabling New Web Experiences Improved Overall Developer Experience Enhanced Application Lifecycle Management It is the most effective smart client development to begin with good application design. Able to integrate UI designers into development process by supporting most of the popular languages such as VB.NET, C++, C#, Jscript, and many of others. The first reason that I find to use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 in my system development are mainly because it has a very good system development tools which is capable of rapid application development and the easy to understand .NET code languages, which is the language I preferred the most among all other programming language. Microsoft XNA Game Studio Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a set of game development tools designed based on supported versions of Microsoft Visual Studio tools that allows developers to build up games supported by Window platform, Microsoft XBOX 360 game console, and Microsoft Zune. XNA Game Studio will require both Microsoft DirectX SDK and Microsoft .Net Framework to run correctly when integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. This tool comes including the XNA Framework which acts as same as Microsoft .Net Framework. The XNA Framework will integrate XNA library files onto Visual Studio 2008 to enable XNA graphic and audio coding to get executed. XNA Game Studio is seamlessly integrated with supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio tools, this integration will enable developers to use new coding structure to develop two and three dimensional games easily due to new library files added to the Visual Studio base library, developers will have a new experience in learning new codes which only works with the XNA Game Studio integration. XNA Game Studio provides three main features which are: Game component models New framework library designed to support Microsoft Windows, XBOX 360, and Zune game development Integration with XNA Framework Content Pipeline. Microsoft XNA Game Studio has become popular since it has been launched years ago, the reason why more and more people are utilizing it is because if new technology in game development breakthrough, the rapid application development, and the game quality produced. Adobe Photoshop C3 Adobe Photoshop is simply an advanced graphic editing program designed and published by Adobe Systems. Adobe Photoshop managed to rise up as the graphic development software after years of competing in the market. Now, Adobe Photoshop is considered to be the top in its market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation software. Furthermore, Adobe Photoshop is known to be the flagship product in its company and the main development focus of the company. Adobe Photoshop is developed to be a software targeting the graphic professional industry, its name has been around the graphic development tool industry for years. For so it gained the fame and popularity through time. Adobe Photoshop is consider to be the best, rated as a killer application for both MAC and Window OS. Adobe Photoshop were born out from its first generation program named ImagePro in 1987. Developed by the Knoll Brothers, Thomas Knoll and John Knoll. The first published Photoshop program managed to sold at 200 copies which is considered a good outcome. And soon, in the following year, after the Adobe is established, the Knoll brothers purchases Adobe Photoshop distribution license to begin distributing Adobe Photoshop worldwide. The reason Adobe Photoshop is used in the project development were mainly to develop image files which serves the purpose as two dimensional graphic rendered to the system. Image files are designed and edited in the Photoshop so that it could be added later to the system as the active two dimensional graphic. Chapter 3: Research on the technology related to 2D games and game systems programming Two Dimensional Graphic Two Dimensional games know as 2D computer graphic games are a computer based graphic images. These images are made up from 2D digital images, 2D texts, and 2D geometric models. Images can vary from image compositions, pixel arts, digital arts, photographs, and texts. 2D graphics are frequently used most in the graphic industry because of its conveniences and simple rendering. Nowadays almost all of the websites incorporates 2D graphic content into its webpage, those graphic content may vary from a tiny graphic image file to a fully functional 2D games. Therefore 2D graphic plays an important part in the information technology field. Two dimensional graphic have certain advantages which makes it to be superior when compared with three dimensional graphic. The three main differences which makes 2D graphic to be superior are: Able to render faster than 3D graphic This point makes developers to choose 2D graphic for low bandwidth consumption. And also why means rendering it also means that 2D graphic is produced faster when compared with 3D development. Thus 2D graphic can be developed with rapid application development tools. Creating simple games such as puzzle, card, and board games where high degree of realism is not required. 2D games are categorized as a simple graphic structure which can be easily developed, thus it does not require the graphics to be truly realistic. Games that is developed using 2D technology will be simple looking, not too complex, and depends a lot on the graphic coloring. Supported by all of the operating system 2D graphic technology is used heavily on the appearance of an operating system to increase system load efficiency. Thus OS such as Window, Mac and Linux implements lots of 2D graphic objects which increases the loading speed and reduces CPU workload in rendering OS graphical interface. Two dimensional graphic started back during 1950s using vector graphic devices. Soon enough raster based graphic technology was introduced and manage to take over the usage of vector graphic. Vector Graphics Vector graphics uses mathematical relationships between points and the paths connecting them to shape the image. Vector graphic emphasizes much more on the quality of the image compared with the raster graphic. Thus raster graphic are usually used to represent photographic images because of the quality it possess. Vector graphic are made from smooth quality images which do not suffers from loss of image quality even after resized. This is the main key point why people prefers vector over raster graphics. The Figure 3.1.1.1 above shows the differences of the vector and raster graphic when the image is displayed in magnified condition. The left side of the picture is represented with vector graphic, the magnified image is displayed which total quality of the source image, produced with full quality of smoothness. Where else raster graphic, is represented at the right side with a bitmap image, which suffers great loss of picture quality due to the source image is produced with arrays of pixels. In other word when judging an image quality, vector based graphic image wins fair. Vector graphics possess four main key advantages that makes it superior graphic which is: Complete Scalability A vector graphic image allows picture resizing without suffering any quality loss. This applies to any size of picture whether it is at a size of a poster or business card. This is the key advantage of vector graphic. Compatibility for both web and print Due to the image quality is always high, for this reason vector images are always compatible with printing specification and also web images. Unlike raster bitmaps which has a limited graphic resolution minimum of 300 dpi to be able to display the image in the paper and also in webpage. Completely editable using imaging tools Vector graphics is completely editable using both vector and raster graphic editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Images can be resized, skewed, rotated, reshaped, combines with other vector model, and other functions that is supported by both vector graphic and the imaging tools. Supporting Background Transparency Vector graphics will support all types of background, with any color or pattern, either it is with another raster graphic or vector. Vector graphics when displayed in computer display will produce results of grids of small rectangular cells called pixels, vector graphics are composed of tiny pixel dots far smaller than raster graphics. Raster Graphics Raster Graphics is a type of graphic in which the image of it is separated into matrix of picture elements which is known as pixels. An image with the present of pixels in the image file is made up by rows and columns of pixels lines up forming an image in the picture. Each of the pixels will be assigned with different or same color which serves the purpose of creating color depth of an image, this is often referred as number of bits needed to encode all the colors. Raster graphics are usually coded in typical bits depth with are used nowadays in: Black and white ( Two Colors ) : 1 Bit Color shades of gray ( Four Colors ) : 2 Bit 16 Colors : 4 Bit 256 Colors : 8 Bit 65, 536 Colors ( 65K High Colors ) : 16 Bit True Color : 24 Bit True Color ( Improved ) : 32 Bit In a raster graphic image, the numbers of row and column determines the image resolution, in other words the more pixels presented in an image the higher the resolution. Image resolutions are calculated using total pixels present in the first row multiplied by total pixel present in the first column. If the image is presented in certain physical size, then the size will combine with the number of pixels resulting with number of Dot Per Inch (DPI) in the image. DPI is a measurement of an images resolution. A high resolution image will present in higher DPI with smaller dot, this makes it harder to be spotted as individual spot in the image. Raster Graphic is much more convenient when compared to vector graphic. They are resolution independent, thus it happens that raster graphic can be used to represent a photo realistic images in a short amount of time. But because of certain limitation in raster graphic, it makes the quality of the image to be vary from different source of quality. Pixels tend to get arranged in a regular pattern, resulting weird shaping pattern displayed in the screen of a computer monitor. Rather if the pixels are assigned with wrong color, the whole image might get displayed weirdly with all the color mixed. If a resolution is too low and the contrast is too high, certain pixels will stand out leaving the image with jaggies. Figure 3.1.2.1 is a raster graphic image which shows clearly the pixel resolutions of the image. As the image shows the rectangular array of dots which is large enough to be identified using the eye of a human, these rectangular are call pixels. The image is displayed by drawing the pixels sequentially in a fixed order either from the left to right or top to bottom. The image of a fish is made up using plain white and blue color which is assigned to each of the pixel dots. Usually a raster image is made up from high resolution in which pixel dots are not visible from humans eye sight. But the above image is a low resolution raster image, thus pixels are visible. Raster graphic are presented in digital file format usually in JPEG images, Bitmap images, GIF images, TIFF images and PNG images. The usage of raster graphic has been popular since the rise of World Wide Web in the internet. This is because raster graphic presents huge advantages when it is utilized within the web network. Advantages of raster graphic are: Widely used in personal computer in displaying images. Most of computer operating system nowadays supports raster image display as the basic image file distribution. Digital images are used widely in operating system as the main graphic image display. This is the strongest advantage of raster graphic. Web standard for image uploading, display, image file distribution and file download due to the small file size. Its one of the main reason raster image is widely distributed across web. Resolution image independent, able to display all resolution types of image file. Can be edited using image developing tools. Throughout all the advantages may be excellent in a point of view, but raster graphic image easily suffers from quality loss due to its pixel dot independent resolution. Most of the image file used to display raster graphic image have a limited color support which disadvantages in image color displayed in the monitor. Raster graphic images that are distributed across the network may be compressed to reduce its file size, this is a drawback as compressing the image file usually will reduce its image quality. Benefits from Two Dimensional Games Programming Over Three Dimensional Games Development Cost This point is obviously correct and without doubt, 2D games development is really cheaper when it is compared to 3D games development due to the difference of content creation. The move towards hi-definition graphic content has brought 3D games a breakthrough in the games technology, but at the same time the cost of development has also double up because of using new developed engines which is expensive. Most 3D games development faces high development cost and they are still in researching of new game engines to cut down the development costs. Unlike 2D games engines, they are sold cheaper than most of the 3D game engines in the market. This point is based on the logical assumption that 3D is a newer technology which need more resources for development and 2D is a traditional game technology which is developed even before existence of 3D, thus making it to be considered not as complex as 3D games development Graphical Processing Performance 2D games development uses lower processing speed and power compared with 3D development. In the old days where personal computers are still not as advance as nowadays, it is impossible to commence development in either 3D or 2D games development. But considering the advance of technologies nowadays which makes most of those not too complex games development of 2D and 3D graphic possible. In the old days personal computer lacks of the processing speed and memory capacity to run the system process. The reason why 2D games requires less graphical processing performance is because 2D games uses less graphical animation which would requires heavy framerate processing with fast processing speed. Shaders capabilities in 2D graphics All thanks to the shaders technology used in the 3D technology, 2D graphics can now implement of shaders. 2D graphics can be enriched with a soft look to the entire scene, bloom effect, glowing effects and graphic effects. Shaders enable 2D graphic animation to improve its quality and technology. Although shaders brings lots of new effects to the 2D graphic, but its still in experimental stage where its relatively unexplored concept that has a lot of potential. Real time audio synthesis 2D games once uses midi and redbook audio for its audio sound effects, its the only available audio technology that is supported by the 2D graphic games. But that was during the old days. With the help of VST instruments, real time synthesis of audio can be implemented towards 2D game development. Music in games can expand beyond playback into performing dynamic arrangements and dynamic synthesis. The game can be implemented with audio music that is suitable with the nature of the game type accordingly. With the advanced processing power, a complete real time audio track can be implemented using VST effects in the form of compressors, equalizers and mixing tables. With this technology, 2D game nowadays could experience rich enhancement to bring new breakthrough. 2D Multiplayer Online Games Despite 2D multiplayer games are being made in application program, there are publishers that release 2D online games which has gained quite the fame among online users. Despite the simple concept of 2D programming, new technologies enable the developers to actually implement 2D online games into website. Incorporating both the 2D engine and game program directly into web browsers nowadays. This is a very convenient and brilliant way into marketing 2D games online as no setups and download are required. This new technology has helps 2D games to be once again gain popularity in the world. Programming Language Programming language is the all time famous programming instructions which are created by developers since late 40s until today which is to serve the purpose to create applications. The so call programming language is actually a set of languages which composed of words, symbols, and numbers which is made up to be algorithms that each type of language differs. In other words Programming Language is actually a set of instructions that constructs the logic of the system, instructs every action of the system and performs of functions. As human language are too difficult for a computer to understand, thus commands of programming language are used to replace human language so computers will understand the way it was designed for the same purpose. In game development, programming process is inevitable, the functional process in the system is fully dependent to the programming code which is written in its way. The way game system reacts will turn out running according to the programming code structure in which the programmer designed it to be. So far in the game development coding technology, only certain programming languages are capable in developing 2D and 3D game system. And most of the p Development Using XNA Game Studio Development Using XNA Game Studio Chapter 1: Preface Over the past few years where two dimensional and three dimensional graphic has been utilized consecutively for developing computer games and console games. Two dimensional graphic games have been very popular since the beginning of 1940s and thats where it all started at the first place. It started with 2D games at first which is developed for the use of arcade mainframes and console machines, followed by the development of computer games for mainframe computers. Through the innovation development of dimensional graphic games, 3 dimensional games were to emerge as the most popular game genre which started in the late 80s. But despise all the development of 3D games in the games software industries, 2D games are still being developed in the new market. This is because 2D games are still being preferred by many people in the world, and due to this point, games software vendors are still taking account of 2D games development. In the past few years, starting from the year 2000, 2D games starts to become widely know and played by many users with the development of mobile games and internet web based games. There have been rapid development of 2D technology to create new application games for the growing internet network, more and more website incorporate web based 2D mini games, online games and puzzle games. Its been proven that 2D games are getting more and more popular compared to the years before year 2000, and with more websites trying to incorporate 2D games towards their web as the 3rd party application. Such website is like the ever popular facebook.com incorporating hundreds and even thousands of 2D games as the 3rd party game application to attract more and more people towards joining the social web network. Few years back, Microsoft introduced the XNA Game Studio software distributed across the internet to enable software programmers to develop new games for windows platform and also the new XBOX 360. The XNA game studio is licensed software, but with the MSDN help, the author as a student get to have the chance to obtain a tryout of this Microsoft XNA game studio. According to Microsoft, XNA game studio will need to be incorporated with Microsoft Visual Studio to enable references to be added in the system coding. If we were to look back few years before, developing a game even for a two dimensional game would took probably months and even years, a simple personal computer would not even be sufficient to run the system codes, execute the game, and debug the system. And even with the availability of the development tools, it would surely require serious experts to come out with a game system coding, due to the complicated level of programming language available during the urban times. In other words there are almost none development tools available to reach in the hands of the student, or internet users to develop their own games by themselves. And by looking at the games development now, and comparing them, it is a breakthrough for the games development. As I foresees the development potential for two dimensional games, I am sure that two dimensional game will have plenty of development potential in the future, as its been proven development of two dimensional games did not stop although three dimensional games been around for quite a long time, it didnt manage to replace the two dimensional games market its technology. There are quite a few reasons why two dimensional games are still around developing, which mainly are because of its cheap development cost, simple development process, easy for users to understand and well played. Its one of the reasons why Microsoft, the top player in IT industry is still in for two dimensional games development and searching for the breakthrough for it by creating development tools to support the development of two dimensional games. Chapter 2: Development Tools Introduction This chapter was designed to elaborate the use of each development tools which is related towards developing the XNA BubbleBall Attack 2D game. In order to produce this game system a set of software development tools need to be installed on the developers machine to enable full support to the game system. All identified developing tools which is related in the development process includes DirectX SDK (DirectX Software Development Kit) a set of application programming interfaces designed to handle tasks. It is a development tool containing all DirectX software required to build and produce cutting-edge, rich media interactive applications. Microsoft .NET Framework is required for its library reference of coding solutions to common problems and local machine to manage execution of code written programs specifically for the Microsoft framework. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is the development tool used to write for the game system coding. This application is used to build up the game system code, code debugging process, system appearance design, execution of game system, it is mainly the key development tool used in this project. Microsoft XNA Game Studio is utilized by me the system programmer to design the animation, sound, and the entire multimedia enhancement required for the game system. This tool is required to be included in this process to enable the coding languages to add references in its library files and to execute the library files in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Without this tool, the coding language will never be executed because failure in retrieving the coding files from the library files. Adobe Photoshop C3 is used by the developer to create image file as the two dimensional graphic to be presented in the system. All animation that present in the system is created by this tool and included in the system as the two dimensional graphic. DirectX SDK DirectX SDK is developed by Microsoft with the objective of allowing the creation of application for a certain software package, software framework, hardware plat form, computer system, video game console, operating system or any other similar platform which supports DirectX. DirectX SDK comes in a set of development tools which contains of all the DirectX software needed for a game developer to create DirectX based application using the Visual Basic.Net, C or C++, and C+ coding language which was developed by Microsoft. The reason why DirectX SDK is so powerful was mainly because it was made up from many different system tools which some of the main components includes: DirectX headers and libraries DirectX system runtime components DirectX Application Programming Interfaces Documentations Additional application and source code developed using DirectX compliant Various powerful tools and utilities integrated to the DirectX SDK This development tool allows me to take a complete advantage of DirectX technologies for creating excellent games and graphic applications. DirectX SDK allows developers to utilize its latest technology in hardware innovation for developing powerful games. DirectX SDK will receive update in its version releases to keep up with the latest technology enhanced within the DirectX software this is necessary to boost the codes, tools, library files and the documentation for every Microsoft Platform SDK. Microsoft DirectX SDK comes with an important feature which is the D3DX library acts like a toolkit which provides developers with high level functionality to help create DirectX applications. This feature helps to optimize low level routines so as to obtain the best performance out of Microsoft platform. Incorporated with basic features such as math calculation and texture loading routines, updated technology in art manipulating content including tangent frame generation, mesh optimization and Precomputed Radiance Transfer. DirectX SDK come with many other features such as D3DX effects framework, High Level Shading Languages, Shader Debugger, PIX for Window Platform. These technologies will help developer in all way developing their game system accordingly. DirectX SDK will be able to integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio .Net to enable developers to code their system using it. Pipelining feature will be enabled with the integration of DirectX SDK towards Microsoft Visual Studio .Net, these enable developers to code for pipelining structure for their game application. Certain samples will be included within DirectX SDK to help developers to understand the technologies used in DirectX. In other words DirectX SDK will help developers by providing technical solution, best suitable graphic rendering outcome, graphic localization, code implementation, library files, better and simple developing experience, and also how to render and produce most from interactive audio. Microsoft DirectX SDK comes with all the features and tools needed for the graphic rendering, audio rendering, and visualization for game developers to make use of in order to create powerful DirectX based applications either for a simple game or a complicated game development. Microsoft .NET Framework Microsoft .Net Framework is a platform or so what people called a development environment to seamlessly create applications that accessible through developers computer from all across the world. It is an application adopted to comply with open standards such as eXtensible Markup Languages, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and Simple Object Access Protocol in order to interact with applications that are available in other platform. .Net Framework is platform independent and language independent system which allows the developer to use different programming languages such as VB.Net, C#, Jscript, VBscript, C and C++ to run applications on different platform such as Unix, Mac, Linux, and Window. .Net Framework enables developer to use various libraries to help in developing and application faster, easier and cheaper. As for now, .Net Framework is identified to be able to support over 20 different programming languages. There is a reason for why .Net Framework is built to support multiple different types of programming languages is explained by the concept of Common Language Runtime engine. CLR engine compiles the code into Microsoft Intermediate Language. The MSIL is a set of instructions used to translate the codes into native codes making .Net Framework capable of language and platform independent. CLR is also responsible for run time services such as language integration, security enforcement, memory process and thread management. In addition, .Net Framework provides wide infrastructure to create web applications and non web applications. As for the time being, Microsoft has claimed .Net Framework comes in two different categories which is CLR and .Net Framework class library. Common Language Runtime is responsible to provide common runtime services to all .Net based applications. As for more CLR reduces the developers time to code for an application by utilizing its feature like life cycle management, strong type naming, cross language exception handling, and dynamic binding designed to turn application development software into reusable components. As for .Net Framework class library, it appears that this system consists of predefined sets of functionality that developer can freely utilize to enhance their application. The class library consists of three major components which are: ASP.NET Windows Form ADO.NET Well for this game application project, I will be using CLR and also .Net Framework class library as VB.NET and Window Form will be use for my game application as the two key component. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 was released in 19 November 2007 replacing the older version of Visual Studio with the newer enhanced version of Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2008 is focused based on the development for Window Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 system and web applications. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET Framework 3.5 to run properly and to process compiles assemblies. Visual Studio 2008 will possess the ability to chooses and utilize different .NET framework version depending to the developers choice. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 delivers on Microsofts vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create new applications without ignoring the quality of the application with accounted rich user experiences. Visual Studio 2008 comes with the ability for the developer to capture and analyze information to help make effective decisions. Packed with the ability for developer to rapidly create secured, manageable, and reliable applications is the strongest advantage of using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio 2008 promised to be able to deliver key advances for developers in three primary pillars which are: Rapid Application Development Effective team collaboration Breakthrough user experiences Visual Studio 2008 has received a many users feedback and most of them are identified to be positive. Based on the three pillars, users feedbacks are mostly related to those of the three with different technology area. They are categorized into seven technology areas Focused on Smart Client Application Development Microsoft Office Applications Integrated Window Platform Applications Integrated Enhanced Productivity in Data Handling Enabling New Web Experiences Improved Overall Developer Experience Enhanced Application Lifecycle Management It is the most effective smart client development to begin with good application design. Able to integrate UI designers into development process by supporting most of the popular languages such as VB.NET, C++, C#, Jscript, and many of others. The first reason that I find to use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 in my system development are mainly because it has a very good system development tools which is capable of rapid application development and the easy to understand .NET code languages, which is the language I preferred the most among all other programming language. Microsoft XNA Game Studio Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a set of game development tools designed based on supported versions of Microsoft Visual Studio tools that allows developers to build up games supported by Window platform, Microsoft XBOX 360 game console, and Microsoft Zune. XNA Game Studio will require both Microsoft DirectX SDK and Microsoft .Net Framework to run correctly when integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. This tool comes including the XNA Framework which acts as same as Microsoft .Net Framework. The XNA Framework will integrate XNA library files onto Visual Studio 2008 to enable XNA graphic and audio coding to get executed. XNA Game Studio is seamlessly integrated with supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio tools, this integration will enable developers to use new coding structure to develop two and three dimensional games easily due to new library files added to the Visual Studio base library, developers will have a new experience in learning new codes which only works with the XNA Game Studio integration. XNA Game Studio provides three main features which are: Game component models New framework library designed to support Microsoft Windows, XBOX 360, and Zune game development Integration with XNA Framework Content Pipeline. Microsoft XNA Game Studio has become popular since it has been launched years ago, the reason why more and more people are utilizing it is because if new technology in game development breakthrough, the rapid application development, and the game quality produced. Adobe Photoshop C3 Adobe Photoshop is simply an advanced graphic editing program designed and published by Adobe Systems. Adobe Photoshop managed to rise up as the graphic development software after years of competing in the market. Now, Adobe Photoshop is considered to be the top in its market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation software. Furthermore, Adobe Photoshop is known to be the flagship product in its company and the main development focus of the company. Adobe Photoshop is developed to be a software targeting the graphic professional industry, its name has been around the graphic development tool industry for years. For so it gained the fame and popularity through time. Adobe Photoshop is consider to be the best, rated as a killer application for both MAC and Window OS. Adobe Photoshop were born out from its first generation program named ImagePro in 1987. Developed by the Knoll Brothers, Thomas Knoll and John Knoll. The first published Photoshop program managed to sold at 200 copies which is considered a good outcome. And soon, in the following year, after the Adobe is established, the Knoll brothers purchases Adobe Photoshop distribution license to begin distributing Adobe Photoshop worldwide. The reason Adobe Photoshop is used in the project development were mainly to develop image files which serves the purpose as two dimensional graphic rendered to the system. Image files are designed and edited in the Photoshop so that it could be added later to the system as the active two dimensional graphic. Chapter 3: Research on the technology related to 2D games and game systems programming Two Dimensional Graphic Two Dimensional games know as 2D computer graphic games are a computer based graphic images. These images are made up from 2D digital images, 2D texts, and 2D geometric models. Images can vary from image compositions, pixel arts, digital arts, photographs, and texts. 2D graphics are frequently used most in the graphic industry because of its conveniences and simple rendering. Nowadays almost all of the websites incorporates 2D graphic content into its webpage, those graphic content may vary from a tiny graphic image file to a fully functional 2D games. Therefore 2D graphic plays an important part in the information technology field. Two dimensional graphic have certain advantages which makes it to be superior when compared with three dimensional graphic. The three main differences which makes 2D graphic to be superior are: Able to render faster than 3D graphic This point makes developers to choose 2D graphic for low bandwidth consumption. And also why means rendering it also means that 2D graphic is produced faster when compared with 3D development. Thus 2D graphic can be developed with rapid application development tools. Creating simple games such as puzzle, card, and board games where high degree of realism is not required. 2D games are categorized as a simple graphic structure which can be easily developed, thus it does not require the graphics to be truly realistic. Games that is developed using 2D technology will be simple looking, not too complex, and depends a lot on the graphic coloring. Supported by all of the operating system 2D graphic technology is used heavily on the appearance of an operating system to increase system load efficiency. Thus OS such as Window, Mac and Linux implements lots of 2D graphic objects which increases the loading speed and reduces CPU workload in rendering OS graphical interface. Two dimensional graphic started back during 1950s using vector graphic devices. Soon enough raster based graphic technology was introduced and manage to take over the usage of vector graphic. Vector Graphics Vector graphics uses mathematical relationships between points and the paths connecting them to shape the image. Vector graphic emphasizes much more on the quality of the image compared with the raster graphic. Thus raster graphic are usually used to represent photographic images because of the quality it possess. Vector graphic are made from smooth quality images which do not suffers from loss of image quality even after resized. This is the main key point why people prefers vector over raster graphics. The Figure 3.1.1.1 above shows the differences of the vector and raster graphic when the image is displayed in magnified condition. The left side of the picture is represented with vector graphic, the magnified image is displayed which total quality of the source image, produced with full quality of smoothness. Where else raster graphic, is represented at the right side with a bitmap image, which suffers great loss of picture quality due to the source image is produced with arrays of pixels. In other word when judging an image quality, vector based graphic image wins fair. Vector graphics possess four main key advantages that makes it superior graphic which is: Complete Scalability A vector graphic image allows picture resizing without suffering any quality loss. This applies to any size of picture whether it is at a size of a poster or business card. This is the key advantage of vector graphic. Compatibility for both web and print Due to the image quality is always high, for this reason vector images are always compatible with printing specification and also web images. Unlike raster bitmaps which has a limited graphic resolution minimum of 300 dpi to be able to display the image in the paper and also in webpage. Completely editable using imaging tools Vector graphics is completely editable using both vector and raster graphic editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Images can be resized, skewed, rotated, reshaped, combines with other vector model, and other functions that is supported by both vector graphic and the imaging tools. Supporting Background Transparency Vector graphics will support all types of background, with any color or pattern, either it is with another raster graphic or vector. Vector graphics when displayed in computer display will produce results of grids of small rectangular cells called pixels, vector graphics are composed of tiny pixel dots far smaller than raster graphics. Raster Graphics Raster Graphics is a type of graphic in which the image of it is separated into matrix of picture elements which is known as pixels. An image with the present of pixels in the image file is made up by rows and columns of pixels lines up forming an image in the picture. Each of the pixels will be assigned with different or same color which serves the purpose of creating color depth of an image, this is often referred as number of bits needed to encode all the colors. Raster graphics are usually coded in typical bits depth with are used nowadays in: Black and white ( Two Colors ) : 1 Bit Color shades of gray ( Four Colors ) : 2 Bit 16 Colors : 4 Bit 256 Colors : 8 Bit 65, 536 Colors ( 65K High Colors ) : 16 Bit True Color : 24 Bit True Color ( Improved ) : 32 Bit In a raster graphic image, the numbers of row and column determines the image resolution, in other words the more pixels presented in an image the higher the resolution. Image resolutions are calculated using total pixels present in the first row multiplied by total pixel present in the first column. If the image is presented in certain physical size, then the size will combine with the number of pixels resulting with number of Dot Per Inch (DPI) in the image. DPI is a measurement of an images resolution. A high resolution image will present in higher DPI with smaller dot, this makes it harder to be spotted as individual spot in the image. Raster Graphic is much more convenient when compared to vector graphic. They are resolution independent, thus it happens that raster graphic can be used to represent a photo realistic images in a short amount of time. But because of certain limitation in raster graphic, it makes the quality of the image to be vary from different source of quality. Pixels tend to get arranged in a regular pattern, resulting weird shaping pattern displayed in the screen of a computer monitor. Rather if the pixels are assigned with wrong color, the whole image might get displayed weirdly with all the color mixed. If a resolution is too low and the contrast is too high, certain pixels will stand out leaving the image with jaggies. Figure 3.1.2.1 is a raster graphic image which shows clearly the pixel resolutions of the image. As the image shows the rectangular array of dots which is large enough to be identified using the eye of a human, these rectangular are call pixels. The image is displayed by drawing the pixels sequentially in a fixed order either from the left to right or top to bottom. The image of a fish is made up using plain white and blue color which is assigned to each of the pixel dots. Usually a raster image is made up from high resolution in which pixel dots are not visible from humans eye sight. But the above image is a low resolution raster image, thus pixels are visible. Raster graphic are presented in digital file format usually in JPEG images, Bitmap images, GIF images, TIFF images and PNG images. The usage of raster graphic has been popular since the rise of World Wide Web in the internet. This is because raster graphic presents huge advantages when it is utilized within the web network. Advantages of raster graphic are: Widely used in personal computer in displaying images. Most of computer operating system nowadays supports raster image display as the basic image file distribution. Digital images are used widely in operating system as the main graphic image display. This is the strongest advantage of raster graphic. Web standard for image uploading, display, image file distribution and file download due to the small file size. Its one of the main reason raster image is widely distributed across web. Resolution image independent, able to display all resolution types of image file. Can be edited using image developing tools. Throughout all the advantages may be excellent in a point of view, but raster graphic image easily suffers from quality loss due to its pixel dot independent resolution. Most of the image file used to display raster graphic image have a limited color support which disadvantages in image color displayed in the monitor. Raster graphic images that are distributed across the network may be compressed to reduce its file size, this is a drawback as compressing the image file usually will reduce its image quality. Benefits from Two Dimensional Games Programming Over Three Dimensional Games Development Cost This point is obviously correct and without doubt, 2D games development is really cheaper when it is compared to 3D games development due to the difference of content creation. The move towards hi-definition graphic content has brought 3D games a breakthrough in the games technology, but at the same time the cost of development has also double up because of using new developed engines which is expensive. Most 3D games development faces high development cost and they are still in researching of new game engines to cut down the development costs. Unlike 2D games engines, they are sold cheaper than most of the 3D game engines in the market. This point is based on the logical assumption that 3D is a newer technology which need more resources for development and 2D is a traditional game technology which is developed even before existence of 3D, thus making it to be considered not as complex as 3D games development Graphical Processing Performance 2D games development uses lower processing speed and power compared with 3D development. In the old days where personal computers are still not as advance as nowadays, it is impossible to commence development in either 3D or 2D games development. But considering the advance of technologies nowadays which makes most of those not too complex games development of 2D and 3D graphic possible. In the old days personal computer lacks of the processing speed and memory capacity to run the system process. The reason why 2D games requires less graphical processing performance is because 2D games uses less graphical animation which would requires heavy framerate processing with fast processing speed. Shaders capabilities in 2D graphics All thanks to the shaders technology used in the 3D technology, 2D graphics can now implement of shaders. 2D graphics can be enriched with a soft look to the entire scene, bloom effect, glowing effects and graphic effects. Shaders enable 2D graphic animation to improve its quality and technology. Although shaders brings lots of new effects to the 2D graphic, but its still in experimental stage where its relatively unexplored concept that has a lot of potential. Real time audio synthesis 2D games once uses midi and redbook audio for its audio sound effects, its the only available audio technology that is supported by the 2D graphic games. But that was during the old days. With the help of VST instruments, real time synthesis of audio can be implemented towards 2D game development. Music in games can expand beyond playback into performing dynamic arrangements and dynamic synthesis. The game can be implemented with audio music that is suitable with the nature of the game type accordingly. With the advanced processing power, a complete real time audio track can be implemented using VST effects in the form of compressors, equalizers and mixing tables. With this technology, 2D game nowadays could experience rich enhancement to bring new breakthrough. 2D Multiplayer Online Games Despite 2D multiplayer games are being made in application program, there are publishers that release 2D online games which has gained quite the fame among online users. Despite the simple concept of 2D programming, new technologies enable the developers to actually implement 2D online games into website. Incorporating both the 2D engine and game program directly into web browsers nowadays. This is a very convenient and brilliant way into marketing 2D games online as no setups and download are required. This new technology has helps 2D games to be once again gain popularity in the world. Programming Language Programming language is the all time famous programming instructions which are created by developers since late 40s until today which is to serve the purpose to create applications. The so call programming language is actually a set of languages which composed of words, symbols, and numbers which is made up to be algorithms that each type of language differs. In other words Programming Language is actually a set of instructions that constructs the logic of the system, instructs every action of the system and performs of functions. As human language are too difficult for a computer to understand, thus commands of programming language are used to replace human language so computers will understand the way it was designed for the same purpose. In game development, programming process is inevitable, the functional process in the system is fully dependent to the programming code which is written in its way. The way game system reacts will turn out running according to the programming code structure in which the programmer designed it to be. So far in the game development coding technology, only certain programming languages are capable in developing 2D and 3D game system. And most of the p

Limiting the Use of Torture in America Essay -- Criminal Justice Crime

Many social groups as well political groups have discussed the issue of torture. The elements and basic working of torture have many against it saying it is too cruel and violates America’s 8th amendment. But the question does arise what do we do if there is a suspect found hours before the crime is committed? Or what do we do to those that are known to have committed the severe crime (ie. a serial killer that has three victims hidden away) how do we find the victims and such? The usage of torture on individuals that have a reasonable doubt of committed a heinous crime should not happen. Though torture itself in the United States is not allowed. But should torture be allowed, it should only be used on those that committed crimes that can put you on death row or life in prison. Such as in Oklahoma where if â€Å"a capital offense sex crimes against a child under 14 years of age when the offender has a previous conviction for a similar offense† , but also that person had a victim hidden from the public eyes at the time of the arrest, light torture should be allowed for that ...

Graduation Speech: The Quest for Wisdom :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

There is a distinct difference between knowledge and wisdom. I can tell you that as honor society president I have seen many smart people do stupid things. Let's just say that mixing a very large lunch with a bobbing ship and an admissions officer from the University of California equals a vomitous situation. Today, we are sitting here celebrating the fact that we spent four long years in high school matriculating, which means actually learning to use words like matriculation. But I am going to go out on a limb and say that while we have acquired all of this knowledge, we are still incredibly dumb, and I am not referring to WASL scores, I mean that we have not had the opportunity to apply our knowledge. Just as I was completely unaware of my propensity for sea sickness, many of us have not had the opportunity to grow wiser. The class of 2006 has advanced technology at its fingertips. However, we must remember that the Internet, television, and cell phones really are artificial intelligence, all they do is retain information. It is our job to apply it. Within the past year we have had many unfortunate reminders of the difference between knowledge and wisdom, now we are learning that certain bureaus within the federal government were aware of the possibility of a terrorist attacks, but clearly the appropriate proactive measures were not taken. You see knowledge: merely being aware of information is absolutely useless. Wisdom: knowing what to do with information is invaluable- in this case it meant the difference between discourse and recourse, and the loss of thousands of lives. So while we are accustomed to our artificial intelligence, it is time we become wise. More than ever it is important that we are wise about our rights. After Sept. 11 there was an immediate scramble to tighten security. Random searches of our persons, our vehicles and our homes suddenly become acceptable because of fear. The most common response to these encroachments is as one passive Washington state ferry rider put it: "why should i care? I have nothing to hide." We should care because unwarranted searches are a regression of everything we have built this nation to be. We know what our rights are, but what are we doing to protect them? In an effort to protect the U.S. our first step is to unravel many of the things we stand for.