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Is XNA "THE" way to game development in C#?

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Started by yamfun November 29, 2011 01:19 PM

12 comments, last by speciesUnknown 12 years, 5 months ago

yamfun

100

Author

November 29, 2011 01:19 PM

First, some background. I have been using C# at work(albeit just to do some really simple and routine win form things). It's so very convenient that I can't go back to other language, so I would like to know more about using C# for game development. OTOH, let's say, all I knew about game dev was things back in uni, such as rendering some uglily shadowed spheres with dx/opengl and shoot it with other ugly spheres, or some simple flash thing.

What I want to know is, this XNA thing. Is it THE way to game dev in C#? Is it something Microsoft actively promoting and supporting? Or have they abandoned it? Does it have a future? If I love C# will I love XNA? What is its drawback?

Just want to make sure before I start diving into the realm of XNA.

DarklyDreaming

367

November 29, 2011 01:36 PM

First, some background. I have been using C# at work(albeit just to do some really simple and routine win form things). It's so very convenient that I can't go back to other language, so I would like to know more about using C# for game development. OTOH, let's say, all I knew about game dev was things back in uni, such as rendering some uglily shadowed spheres with dx/opengl and shoot it with other ugly spheres, or some simple flash thing.

What I want to know is, this XNA thing. Is it THE way to game dev in C#? Is it something Microsoft actively promoting and supporting? Or have they abandoned it? Does it have a future? If I love C# will I love XNA? What is its drawback?

Just want to make sure before I start diving into the realm of XNA.

It is "the" way to XBLIG.

Anything else is just silly. Is DirectX "the" way to make a renderer? OpenGL is just as valid an option. That's all they are; options, with all the associated features and drawbacks that come with them.

SlimDX is another option, it offers DX11 and 10 support and it's continuously updated towards the latest version (last I checked they roll their SDK out about a month later than the official DirectX team; but ask Promit or Mike, they should know more exactly).

Right now, for you, it doesn't matter if XNA has a future or not; that shouldn't be your focus just yet. Your focus shouldn't be on learning how to use a specific set of tools that may (or may not) be updated in the coming years; it should be on learning how to make a game.

Best of luck.

"I will personally burn everything I've made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma

"Well, you're not alone.

There's a club for people like that. It's called Everybody and we meet at the bar[size=2].

[size=2]~

[size=1]Antheus

CadetUmfer

234

November 29, 2011 01:53 PM

Delta Engine looks pretty damn awesome. It's developed by Benjamin Nitschke, the guy who wrote Professional XNA Programming as well as a slew of XNA games.

Anthony Umfer

NDraskovic

447

November 29, 2011 02:40 PM

Hey

I had the same dilemma as you when I started with game development (or 3D world development would be more precise). I started with XNA, and haven't regretted it yet

It's syntax is exactly the same as C#-s so you will have no trouble with the transition. What you will have a "problem" with is everything else - unless you already had experience with programing games or simulators. But to answer your basic question "If I have experience with C# should I learn XNA" my answer is yes. If you decide to start learning it I suggest Riemers tutorials on XNA 4.0 as a good place to start.

Now, about the future of XNA, I have no other info other than what you can find on msdn or create.msdn. The last I think I heard is that Nokia and Microsoft had an agreement that Nokia's smart phones will be able to run XNA games (for more info search Nokia Mango). Aside from them you have Windows Phone, XBox and PC as your potential platforms so I think XNA is a serious project. Again this is my view of the matter, I have no inside info or any other source other than the Internet.

Hope this helps

Mike.Popoloski

3,259

November 29, 2011 03:20 PM

For a rather depressing overview of the state of managed game development, see a recent entry on Promit's blog.

Mike Popoloski | Journal | SlimDX

upqtz

134

November 30, 2011 06:28 AM

Unity is probably worth investigating if you want to develop games with C#. It targets a lot of platforms (web, desktop, mobiles and consoles), and since it's the company's main focus, the question of whether they're going to abandon it any time soon doesn't really apply.

yamfun

100

Author

November 30, 2011 08:48 AM

For a rather depressing overview of the state of managed game development, see a recent entry on Promit's blog.

This is exactly the kind of info I am looking for and exactly the kind of future that I am worrying!

mysigninname

110

November 30, 2011 10:25 AM

Holy smokes. So what were looking at is.. Direct X will continue to perform as a graphics api with all the new tricks and technologies.. The only difference is they will no longer make efforts to help developers out (samples and all that) ??
And XNA may drop dead.

So if i wanted to continue dev'n games, id probably want to switch to DX and then go and buy lots of books and study real hard because i will have zero tutorials and samples...???

Is this accurate ?

kunos

2,256

November 30, 2011 11:03 AM

Holy smokes. So what were looking at is.. Direct X will continue to perform as a graphics api with all the new tricks and technologies.. The only difference is they will no longer make efforts to help developers out (samples and all that) ??
And XNA may drop dead.

So if i wanted to continue dev'n games, id probably want to switch to DX and then go and buy lots of books and study real hard because i will have zero tutorials and samples...???

Is this accurate ?

hm... if that is your approach to things, I'd save the money for something else because FOR SURE you MUST believe that by next year the world will end just as the Maya said it will

Seriously.. XNA works and will work with Win8 as it is. It is not going "away". There are rumors of a XNA 5 just as there are rumors of no XNA 5. But I'd be interested in which features the "typical" XNA developer is missing from XNA 4 and that stops him from getting his game done.

As for DX, we are, just now, starting to see DX11 games finally surfacing, do we really need DX12-13-14?
And anyway, no rumors of DX being dropped or unsupported..the signs are right at the opposide side actually, with next VS getting more game dev oriented features in the core.

So.. I'd save the "De Profundis" and enjoy programming with what we have right now.. and that most programmers out there don't even know the 10% of... the future is a moving target just as it has been for the entire history of computing.

Stefano Casillo
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