4 replies to this topic

[MrDarkKnight]

Hey guys

I worked with OpenGL and SFML and C++, and they are very good API/Library/Language. In OpenGL I had to write my own OBJ loader and Camera class and basically everything for 3D development. In SFML everything is there to use for 2D dev and I really liked the library a lot.

Right now I'm using SFML and OpenGL to make a 3D game. I'm using SFML for Window handling, I/O, loading images, sound etc... I really like both SFML and OpenGL, but OpenGL require a lot of coding to be done before actually getting into game logic for a 3D game.

So my question is, Is XNA easies to develop with? Does it provide everything for me to develop a 3D game? Is it faster to start actually making the game?
I just want to hear your opinions guys.

Thanks a lot.

[menyo]

XNA let's you go into the game logic right away. Without much prior knowledge of programming i managed to load in a model, setting up the matrices very quickly and i could step into moving it.

Especially with your knowledge the step should be very small to get going with XNA, it's an amazing library. I will certainly recommend it to you.

[frob]

XNA is generally built in terms of C#, not C++. It doesn't feel like C++.

If you are already comfortable with SFML and C++, then by all means stick with it.

If you are planning on moving to C# then consider learning XNA.

The theory between both is the same. The math behind 3D rendering doesn't change simply by using a different rendering library. The only real differences are that you have a slightly different set of names and class constructs, and a different-yet-similar tool set. SFML is certainly reasonably good, but in comparison XNA has a very broad set of tools available directly from Microsoft, and also has a huge developer community for support.

[MrDarkKnight]

I went ahead and downloaded XNA and played with it a bit, and I have to say it’s a really good library. Microsoft did a really good job making it easy for relatively inexperienced developers to make games.
Unlike OpenGL, XNA has everything from I/O, Sound, Model loader, 3D math library, Network etc... Don't get me wrong I really love OpenGL and it’s my first 3D API to learn and I know that’s its all about rendering 3D but it’s always nice to pack everything a game dev needs to make a great game in one library.

However I really don't like C#, it’s very similar to Java and I hate java . I have always been a C++ guy. C# is easy to learn and very nicely done but I just don't like it.
The most thing I hate about C# is the foreach loop, I mean what the hell is all that about?! You can do the same thing in a normal for loop, so why use foreach ??!!!!

Anyways I'll make few projects with XNA and then maybe go back to OpenGL and C++.

[daviangel]

MrDarkKnight, on 06 February 2012 - 03:30 PM, said:

I went ahead and downloaded XNA and played with it a bit, and I have to say it’s a really good library. Microsoft did a really good job making it easy for relatively inexperienced developers to make games.
Unlike OpenGL, XNA has everything from I/O, Sound, Model loader, 3D math library, Network etc... Don't get me wrong I really love OpenGL and it’s my first 3D API to learn and I know that’s its all about rendering 3D but it’s always nice to pack everything a game dev needs to make a great game in one library.

However I really don't like C#, it’s very similar to Java and I hate java . I have always been a C++ guy. C# is easy to learn and very nicely done but I just don't like it.
The most thing I hate about C# is the foreach loop, I mean what the hell is all that about?! You can do the same thing in a normal for loop, so why use foreach ??!!!!

Anyways I'll make few projects with XNA and then maybe go back to OpenGL and C++.

Sounds like you should try your hand on doing some native iPhone game programming then. Objective-C is a lot more like C/C++ than Java and you can use your existing OpenGL knowledege.
As you've discovered XNA abstracts a lot of the difficulty of game making from you just as Java tries to hide a lot of the difficulties of programming from you
Iphone game development has nothing like XNA to help you so it's all up to you and your skill or lack of skill to make something