XDSK2 – XNA Developer’s Survival Kit 2

The purpose of the XDSK2 (XNA Developer’s Survival Kit) is to offer XNA game developers a list of resources for XNA 4.0 to assist them with creating better games and custom engines. This list is for developers already familiar with Object-Oriented programming and game development. It is not a list for beginners, but it may help them get started with some programming experience.

The XDSK2 provides a list of XNA 4.0 libraries, engines, techniques, articles, and more.  Since MonoGame keeps XNA alive, this list is still helpful to some.

Update Nov. 2021:
Many of the links are broken – Codeplex is dead.

Update Aug 2020:
Removed broken links, Updated old links with new GitHub links.

Rendering, Graphics and Game Engines

Character Animation

Physics

  • DigitalRune Physics – A module from DigitalRune Engine – many features, (fast & Xbox, $300)
  • Bepu Physics – Nice Physics engine with many features, (fast, FREE)
  • Jitter Physics – Physics Engine by the author of JigLibX (fast, FREE)
  • Matali Physics -fast with plenty of potential (fast on PC, average on Xbox 360, $130 – $260)
  • Henge 3D Physics – Lot of Features and multi-threaded (okay on PC, slow on Xbox 360, FREE)
  • JigLibX – old physics engine (not multi-threaded) (slow, FREE – use Jitter instead… )
  • Farseer Physics Engine – a 2D Physics Engine
  • Box2D.XNA – C#/XNA port of Box2D

Audio

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Particles

Graphical User Interfaces(GUI) Level Editor Tools

GameState Management

Multi-threading

Useful Extras and Services

Articles Blogs and Tutorials

XNA 4.0 Books

Are you converting and XNA 3.0 projects to XNA 4.0?

Sites that promote and review Indie Games