XNA: Basic DrawableGameComponent override functions (Update, Draw, etc) not being called

Question

I'm trying to encapsulate my game objects by having them extend Mircosoft.Xna.Framework.GameCompenent, then merely constructing them and managing them in the Update() method of Game1. I have my Game1 class, a Player class, and an Animation class. Animations are supposed manage the Texture2D changes of an object, in this instance Player.

My problem is that even though I have successfully extended everything, have no syntax errors, no exceptions thrown, and have checked and re-checked what little code I have written, the override functions are not called and I end up with a black screen.

Game1.cs: (note that the only two lines changed are for the Player declaration)

public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
{
    GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
    SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

    Player player;

    public Game1()
    {
        graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
        Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
    }

    protected override void Initialize()
    {
        player = new Player(this);

        base.Initialize();
    }

    protected override void LoadContent()
    {
        spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
    }

    protected override void UnloadContent()
    {

    }

    protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed)
            this.Exit();

        // TODO: Add your update logic here

        base.Update(gameTime);
    }

    protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);
        base.Draw(gameTime);
    }
}

Player.cs:

class Player : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.DrawableGameComponent
{
    Rectangle bounds;
    Texture2D t;
    Animation[] animations = new Animation[4];
    String path = @"..\..\..\Content\player.png";

    #region Animation Constants
    private const int WALK_RIGHT = 0;
    #endregion

    SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

    public Player(Game game) : base(game)
    {
        //should only ever be one player, all value defaults set in Initialize()
    }

    public Texture2D T
    {
        get { return t; }
    }

    public Rectangle Bounds
    {
        get { return bounds; }
    }

    public override void Initialize()
    {
        base.Initialize();

        bounds = new Rectangle(0, 0,
            System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(path).Width,
            System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(path).Height
        );

        t = Game.Content.Load<Texture2D>("player");
        animations[0] = new Animation(this.Game, "player", "walking", 3);
    }

    protected override void LoadContent()
    {
        base.LoadContent();

        spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(this.Game.GraphicsDevice);
    }

    public override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        base.Update(gameTime);

        KeyboardState k = Keyboard.GetState();

        if (k.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) //walk right
        {
            bounds.X += 3;
            if (animations[WALK_RIGHT].Playing)
            {
                t = animations[WALK_RIGHT].getTexture();
            }
            else
            {
                animations[WALK_RIGHT].Play();
            }
        }
        else if (animations[WALK_RIGHT].Playing)
            animations[WALK_RIGHT].Stop();

    }

    public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        base.Draw(gameTime);

        spriteBatch.Begin();
        spriteBatch.Draw(t, bounds, Color.White);
        spriteBatch.End();
    }
}

Animation.cs:

class Animation : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameComponent
{
    Game game;
    String name; //name of default sprite; standing, unmoving, neutral, etc. The rest of the animation sprite names should derive from this
    String keyword;
    int frameCount;
    int delay; //frames between texture change


    String[] paths; //texture pathnames generated by the MakePaths() function
    int currentFrame = 0;
    int delayCount = 0;
    bool playing = false;

    public Animation(Game associatedGame, String nameVal, String keywordVal, int frameCountVal)
        : base(associatedGame)
    {
        name = nameVal;
        keyword = keywordVal;
        frameCount = frameCountVal;
        paths = MakePaths();
        delay = 10;
    }

    public Animation(Game associatedGame, String nameVal, String keywordVal, int frameCountVal, int delayVal)
        : base(associatedGame)
    {
        name = nameVal;
        keyword = keywordVal;
        frameCount = frameCountVal;
        paths = MakePaths();
        delay = delayVal;
    }

    private String[] MakePaths()
    {
        //format: name_keyword_anim[i]
        //format example: player_walking_anim1

        String[] temp = new String[frameCount];
        for (int i = 0; i < frameCount; i++)
        {
            temp[i] = name + "_" + keyword + "_" + "anim" + i.ToString();
        }

        return temp;
    }

    public Texture2D getTexture()
    {
        return Game.Content.Load<Texture2D>(paths[currentFrame]);
    }

    public void Play()
    {
        playing = true;
    }

    public void Stop()
    {
        currentFrame = 0;
        delayCount = 0;
        playing = false;
    }

    public bool Playing
    {
        get { return playing; }
    }

    public override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        if (playing)
        {
            if (delayCount == delay)
            {
                delayCount = 0;

                if ((currentFrame + 1) == frameCount) currentFrame = 0;
                else currentFrame++;
            }
            else delayCount++;
        }
        base.Update(gameTime);
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return "params: " + name + "," + keyword + "," + frameCount.ToString() + "\nUsing paths: " + paths;
    }
}

The only LoadContent, Initialize, Update, and Draw methods that are called are the ones in Game1. What really baffles me is that I was able to use this technique before without issue. These functions would be called naturally by the Xna update process.

So... why is this?

Answer 1

You need to add game Components to the Components collection to have them called automatically

protected override void Initialize()
{
    player = new Player(this);
    Components.Add(player);

    base.Initialize();
}

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.xna.framework.game.components.aspx