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Who is using C# to write games?

John Shedletsky · 2004-03-29T18:02:50

I took a class in C# last Spring and it is rapidly becoming my language of choice for all my projects. Previously, I''ve been using C++ for writing real code, or Visual Basic when I needed to do fancy user interfaces (MFC is garbage). And while I know Java, I''ve never considered it to be a real development tool - though I know lots and lots of serious developers use it. I used it this summer working on IBM''s grid services toolkit. The idea of using Java for realtime games is laughable. And while there are lots of Java-to-machine code compilers the idea seems to have fizzled out years ago (Jikes is the last serious attempt I''ve seen that''s been made freely available). With respect to execution strategy, I like to think of C# as Java done right. Say what you want about Microsoft''s Consumate Evil, their dev tools are top notch. At the moment I''m using C# to clone the game Tetris Attack (http://www.tetrisattack.net) from the SNES. I''ve never had a project come together so fast. I had a working prototype up in a couple of hours. I''ve never had a bug in C# that took longer than two minutes to fix. It''s perhaps a more RAD language than VB. I will complain about the quality of the Managed DirectX9 Docs - they are absolute crap. But, all in all, my project is coming together nicely. I was wondering whether anyone else out there had discovered it''s possible to throw games together really fast with C#, I don''t really see many posts about it. I was also wondering if anyone knew of any websites devoted to C# game programming issues. Maybe the language is too new to have much of a following online - it''s difficult to find information on it. I''d also be interested in finding any game-related benchmarks between C# vs. C/C++. The DirectX people at Microsoft are claiming that Managed DirectX is 98% as fast in C# as regular DirectX is from C++. This is a small price to pay to cut COM, reference counts, and other DX nastiness out of the picture. I''ll get off my C# soapbox now...

General and Gameplay Programming Programming

Started by Telamon September 08, 2003 03:29 PM

95 comments, last by Telamon 20 years ago

Mayrel

348

January 23, 2004 12:15 PM

quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
quote:Original post by HenryApe

Well, if you are developing a MMORPG, you may buy a copy of the competitors products to check them out, but you would probably try to avoid buying the whole development system or server setup from the company.

Interesting that you bring up Sony since they went with Java, rather than some Microsoft product, for its scripting in Star Wars Galaxies. You are also not likely to see C# nor Windows anywhere near its PlayStation consoles, and the main reason for that is that Microsoft chose to enter the gaming market too.

<SPAN CLASS=editedby>[edited by - HenryAPe on September 9, 2003 11:32:30 AM]</SPAN>

If you make a comment, be sure, its right, before you post it.
:

http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.us.playstation.com

http://www.us.playstation.com/
http://www.us.playstation.com/games.aspx
http://www.us.playstation.com/onlinegaming.aspx
http://www.us.playstation.com/events.aspx?id=34

(hint: notice the .aspx ending)

I don''t quite see how the software that one of Sony''s websites is running is related to whether or not they used Java in Star Wars Galaxies, or whether or not C# is going to be used in future PlayStation development.

You perhaps imagine that site is serving its pages from a PlayStation running Windows 2000?

CoV

CoV

Rick Scott

133

January 23, 2004 06:16 PM

I think the links that he provided simply refuted the idea that sony rejects MS technology based on the company. If that is, indeed, what he was trying to do, he did it perfectly by showing a sony-owned and operated website that uses ASP.NET, and hence runs a MS operating system and uses IIS.

So the point is that sony probably only looks out for #1 and goes with what they believe is the best technology for the job. Also, when the design decisions where made for SWG, how long ago was that...and what was C# at that point? Just a twinkle in Microsoft''s eye...

Anonymous

March 16, 2004 10:47 PM

too bad no-one here has programmed in c. It is simple, clean, maybe a little more code than todays standards, but, if u knew what u were doing, just as effective.

But, I am old school and don''t mind the extra typing

Arild Fines

968

March 17, 2004 08:31 AM

quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
But, I am old school

In other words, you are a pretentious little kid?

--AnkhSVN - A Visual Studio .NET Addin for the Subversion version control system.[Project site] [IRC channel] [Blog]

flangazor

516

March 17, 2004 09:32 AM

I still honestly believe that C was a joke.

lionheart333

122

March 28, 2004 01:22 PM

As a budding game/engine enthusiast (read newbie) interested in both C++ and C# development, I have read this thread with great interest (especially the excellent post of Randy Rigde (the long one

).

Not much I can contribute on these 2 languages (yet), but as it happens, I was recently researching Java for Games development. I am neither a Java enthusiast nor a detractor, but I found some interesting stuff about doing 3D games in Java. Strange thread to be sharing it on, but it does seem to have gathered significatnt attention here.

Anyway, the most advanced 3D game I found that was written in pure Java (or so I believe) was RoboForge, released in 2001, written in 2001. You can download a demo at http://roboforge.com/ I believe the game was a commercial flop, but it seems to have reasonable 3D graphics.

There were also a couple interesting papers I turned up on Games in Java:

http://fivedots.coe.psu.ac.th/~ad/jg/intro/gamesJava.pdf
http://www.rolemaker.dk/articles/evaljava/

Thanks again for the inspirations on C# gaming. I''m looking forward to following up on that...

GnuVince

259

March 29, 2004 06:02 PM

I recently started learning C#. While it''s not as good a language as Smalltalk or Lisp, I have to say it''s a real improvement over C or C++, and somewhat an improvement over Java. There''s a feeling about Java that I don''t like. It''s nothing concrete, I just can''t stand it. C# doesn''t have that feel. Since I am using Mono/C#, it may be the "hacker" feel that Mono has.

Who is using C# to write games?

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