Engine and system level development is in C++. 'Most' of the game world programming game logic in scripting languages for their engines or doing other tasks. There are many tasks in game development.

I forgot about point sprites. But they could easily be replicated with quads (even improved upon) so it's hard to argue that anything was lost through their removal. And I saw their removal as one of many steps preparatory to moving the code base to DX10/11 (even though that ultimately hasn't happened). I do agree with PC being the least-loved platform for XNA. Anyway, I quoted that snippet because yeah I know there are other aspects of game development. But if you are planning to work in the programming aspects at all, you need only look through the job postings to see that (for the most part) people without C++ knowledge need not apply (even if you ultimately end up in a sub-discipline where you never end up writing any C++). Indeed, things like Lua interpreters written in C++ are some of the many things in the "libraries, tool chains" groups that made it impossible for most shops to consider going to C#. The expense of writing a Lua interpreter in C# likely wouldn't be too high as a stand-alone task, but add in physics, content ingestion, other ad-hoc interpreters and parsers, and everything else, (not to mention 3rd party middleware that you have little to no control over) and the costs can quickly become prohibitive. It's the same reason that people like my father are paid well to write new COBOL code (and maintain and update existing code); the existing millions upon millions of lines of COBOL code that his company has represent an astronomical sum of time and money when looked at from a replacement cost point of view but a relatively minor sum when looked at from a maintenance and update cost point of view. The same is true with C++ and game development, and that was my point.

Thanks. I'll then stick with XNA for few years until I gain sufficient knowledge about everything I need... and then switch to Monogame, and after Monogame to C++ and DirectX/OpenGL.[/quote]

Seriously ? A few years. I gave up on XNA last year and switched to SlimDX which kicks XNA all around the park. Don't waste any more time on XNA. It hasn't changed for 6 years now. Direct X has moved on .. 10, 11, 11.1. You can still keep learning, but learn in a more recent environment, where it's actually going to be useful. If you want to learn C++, then you absolutely should start now, coz it hasn't got the same curves that you're used to with C#. And also remember that C++ is more popular with the AAA titles, but it's not the same equation for a whole range of independant games that just don't need to squeeze out that much performance. That's why Unity is thriving. Managed code is good for independant games, I would even say preferable. If you're not sure, just take a look at something else. It took me about two weeks before I realized that SlimDX was just like XNA but better. Once you get over the hurdle of learning something new and it's particular difficulties, you start having fun with it.

You don't want to be still using XNA in 2014, from where I'm standing now, 11 months or so into using SlimDX that sounds like some kind of personal hell. Set yourself free buddy, you don't have to be tied to that ball and chain.

@Aurioch - That looks like a good project. If you've already got a game mostly written in XNA, then you could keep working on it to finish it certainly. But there is also Monogame which is based upon XNA, so that would be your best bet if you wanted to easily plug into a new framework without too much of a learning curve. It has active development and quite a following. Then you can keep working with the language that you have learnt so far. See what you think of Unity and then look at Monogame. I think they both look really interesting. Just give yourself some time to get used to them, and don't be put off by difficulties.

I love re-writing code from sratch, it always turns out a lot better. Maybe that's because I'm not such a great coder in the first place ;) And don't forget to tackle that bug this time round.