What I wanted was instead something HUD-like.

To make it always appear on top, simply draw it last.

Alternatively, there are overloads for Draw(), DrawString(...), etc. that allow you to specify the layer depth used by spritebatch to sort sprites.

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,,0); //Will overwrite someTexture
spriteBatch.Draw(someTexture,,,,,,,,100);
spriteBatch.End();

But you can also use multiple batches:

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,0);
spriteBatch.End();
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(,,,,,,,,100); //Different batch; will overwrite text
spriteBatch.End();

if you know how to change fontsize and other properties like the font itself (I don't like Arial this much) I would be extremely happy.

• Right click on Content -> Add -> New item -> SpriteFont Description -> Give it a name;

This creates a .spritefont file which contains very simple XML pointing to a particular [font]-[size] which is then used to build the XNB spritesheet. You can edit the .spritefont file with Notepad.

What I wanted was instead something HUD-like.

To make it always appear on top, simply draw it last.

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Immediate, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(someTexture,...);
spriteBatch.DrawString(...); //Will overwrite someTexture
spriteBatch.End();

Alternatively, there are overloads for Draw(...), DrawString(...), etc. that allow you to specify the layer depth used by spritebatch to sort sprites.

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,,0); //Will overwrite someTexture
spriteBatch.Draw(someTexture,,,,,,,,100);
spriteBatch.End();

But you can also use multiple batches:

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,0);
spriteBatch.End();
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(someTexture,,,,,,,,100); //Different batch; will overwrite text
spriteBatch.End();

if you know how to change fontsize and other properties like the font itself (I don't like Arial this much) I would be extremely happy.

• Right click on Content -> Add -> New item -> SpriteFont Description -> Give it a name;

This creates a .spritefont file which contains very simple XML pointing to a particular [font]-[size] which is then used to build the XNB spritesheet. You can edit the .spritefont file with Notepad.

What I wanted was instead something HUD-like.

To make it always appear on top, simply draw it last.

Alternatively, there are overloads for DrawString(...) that allow you to specify the layer depth used by spritebatch to sort sprites.

if you know how to change fontsize and other properties like the font itself (I don't like Arial this much) I would be extremely happy.

• Right click on Content -> Add -> New item -> SpriteFont Description -> Give it a name;

This creates a .spritefont file which contains very simple XML pointing to a particular [font]-[size] which is then used to build the XNB spritesheet. You can edit the .spritefont file with Notepad.

What I wanted was instead something HUD-like.

To make it always appear on top, simply draw it last.

Alternatively, there are overloads for Draw(), DrawString(...), etc. that allow you to specify the layer depth used by spritebatch to sort sprites.

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,,0); //Will overwrite someTexture
spriteBatch.Draw(someTexture,,,,,,,,100);
spriteBatch.End();

But you can also use multiple batches:

spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.DrawString(,,,,,,,,0);
spriteBatch.End();
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(,,,,,,,,100); //Different batch; will overwrite text
spriteBatch.End();

if you know how to change fontsize and other properties like the font itself (I don't like Arial this much) I would be extremely happy.

• Right click on Content -> Add -> New item -> SpriteFont Description -> Give it a name;

This creates a .spritefont file which contains very simple XML pointing to a particular [font]-[size] which is then used to build the XNB spritesheet. You can edit the .spritefont file with Notepad.