Is XNA for me?
Author
I've been on a cross platform crusade for a while now, but I think XNA may change that. I finally took a look at XNA and it looks much simpler than working with DirectX directly.
I'm working on an online game right now and I've mostly been working with the server at this point. But, now I'm in the process of figuring out what I'm going to do with the client.
The game is going to be 2d, so I'm always scared to use a 3d engine for a 2d project. Furthermore, the game is going to be isometric and some 2d engines are too high level and don't allow isometric to be implemented easily.
I'm thinking about using TorqueX (I know -- ironic), would this be a good choice? I'm so busy with the server that I need something very easy to visualize what's going on there.
I'm looking to be able to create a lot of nice visual effects with lighting and shadows (eventually). Does TorqueX have support for things like this?
So, what do you think about XNA? Is it simple enough that I can get a simple client running without too much effort? Or would I need an engine to do that? Is TorqueX suitable for this?
I think I want to use XNA because I want to do a lot of things with lighting and shadows and DirectX always seemed better than OpenGL in this sort of thing.
I've been playing with XNA a little in my spare time over the past few weeks and I personally can't get over how easy everything is.
I picked up the O'Reilly book "Learning XNA 3.0" which covers 2D and 3D game programming. I'm actually surprised how small this book is, but when it comes down to it, there really isn't much involved in getting your graphics on screen with XNA regardless of whether it's 2D or 3D.
I've never personally had any luck getting anything even remotely looking like an image coming out of my Direct X code (I've never put enough time into it), but some of the XNA stuff can be produced in just a few minutes. I'm personally very impressed with it.
John
I picked up the O'Reilly book "Learning XNA 3.0" which covers 2D and 3D game programming. I'm actually surprised how small this book is, but when it comes down to it, there really isn't much involved in getting your graphics on screen with XNA regardless of whether it's 2D or 3D.
I've never personally had any luck getting anything even remotely looking like an image coming out of my Direct X code (I've never put enough time into it), but some of the XNA stuff can be produced in just a few minutes. I'm personally very impressed with it.
John
to answer your " is this and that possible with torque " questions,
torque 3D features etc
torque 2D features etc
yes XNA (and I heard Torque as well) is very nice if you want an easy and fast production enviroment. Do bear in mind that to support XBOX360 forget about using advanced extra libraries such as FMOD etc.
torque 3D features etc
torque 2D features etc
yes XNA (and I heard Torque as well) is very nice if you want an easy and fast production enviroment. Do bear in mind that to support XBOX360 forget about using advanced extra libraries such as FMOD etc.
Quote:Original post by borngamer
I've been playing with XNA a little in my spare time over the past few weeks and I personally can't get over how easy everything is.
I picked up the O'Reilly book "Learning XNA 3.0" which covers 2D and 3D game programming. I'm actually surprised how small this book is, but when it comes down to it, there really isn't much involved in getting your graphics on screen with XNA regardless of whether it's 2D or 3D.
I've never personally had any luck getting anything even remotely looking like an image coming out of my Direct X code (I've never put enough time into it), but some of the XNA stuff can be produced in just a few minutes. I'm personally very impressed with it.
John
Yeah great XNA 3 book. I just picked up a copy and it's straightforward and covers all the basics to get anyone with knowledge of C# up and running.
Author
XNA looks too good to be true at this point. I'm fooling around with FlatRedBall and it's hard for me to believe how simple it was to follow the asteroids game tutorial. It seems like it's easier than Game Maker, to be honest.
I plan on having a lot of shading, lighting and particle effects. Since this is only 2d, I assume that any major XNA engine should handle this fine. FlatRedBall is the best I've been able to find for my situation. Does anyone know of anything better?
I'd really like to have a tiling editor. I could make one myself, but, like I said, I have too much on my plate right now. Does anyone know of a good tile editor that will work with XNA? Preferably one that works well with isometric tiles (I've never even seen a good isometric editor before, to be honest).
I'd thought about XNA a couple times before, but I always figured it would be like DirectX and be too much work. I really can't believe how easy XNA is. I'm very impressed so far.
I plan on having a lot of shading, lighting and particle effects. Since this is only 2d, I assume that any major XNA engine should handle this fine. FlatRedBall is the best I've been able to find for my situation. Does anyone know of anything better?
I'd really like to have a tiling editor. I could make one myself, but, like I said, I have too much on my plate right now. Does anyone know of a good tile editor that will work with XNA? Preferably one that works well with isometric tiles (I've never even seen a good isometric editor before, to be honest).
I'd thought about XNA a couple times before, but I always figured it would be like DirectX and be too much work. I really can't believe how easy XNA is. I'm very impressed so far.
One thing I do really like about XNA is the stability, although a lot of that is the C# element of it. I write a lot of interactive graphics and system control stuff that uses XNA and mostly 2D elements which are really easy. This code is often running months on end and I can honestly say that once the obvious bugs are out the crash rate is basically zero. (And this is on code written very quickly)
I never did anything 3D with either direct X or XNA, but for 2D, i found XNA to be pretty easy. It removes a lot of the little tasks needed directX, such has handling alt-tab, setting up a game loop for you, easy to use and decently featured objects to handles music and sounds, and best of all, xbox360 compatibility.
I'm writing a 2D game with XNA now. It's not isometric and their 2D support is poor...but it is easy to use and I've built an entire game on top of it. Sure I want to replace it with code that approaches the rendering differently, but I haven't needed to. There's a lot to be said for that already.
I like XNA 3.0. There's a lot of decisions I don't agree with -- hell, I wrote its competitor -- but overall I have a very favorable impression of the library.
I like XNA 3.0. There's a lot of decisions I don't agree with -- hell, I wrote its competitor -- but overall I have a very favorable impression of the library.
The best choice you can make is to play around with a bunch of the different SDK's. I prefer XNA
Quote:Original post by yahn
XNA looks too good to be true at this point. I'm fooling around with FlatRedBall and it's hard for me to believe how simple it was to follow the asteroids game tutorial. It seems like it's easier than Game Maker, to be honest.
I plan on having a lot of shading, lighting and particle effects. Since this is only 2d, I assume that any major XNA engine should handle this fine. FlatRedBall is the best I've been able to find for my situation. Does anyone know of anything better?
I'd really like to have a tiling editor. I could make one myself, but, like I said, I have too much on my plate right now. Does anyone know of a good tile editor that will work with XNA? Preferably one that works well with isometric tiles (I've never even seen a good isometric editor before, to be honest).
I'd thought about XNA a couple times before, but I always figured it would be like DirectX and be too much work. I really can't believe how easy XNA is. I'm very impressed so far.
Well, if you ever messed with it's predecessor, MDX(managed DX), it is alot more like DirectX and therefore more work. Microsoft has been putting alot of work into XNA and it shows in the latest version.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
