I am considering writing a 2D RTS in C#/.NET and i was wondering what options are available for a graphics library aside from XNA. What are they?
A:
Going straight to DirectX is a perfectly valid option, although for only 2D, you probably need to know a bit too much about 3D graphics to effectively use it.
Back when I was into game development, I was quite fond of the Artificial Heart graphics engine, which was somewhat basic but incredibly easy to use. Unfortunately, the website appears to have been replaced with a parked domain. Perhaps the company went out of business. If so, it is a shame.
For a more extensive catalogue, take a look at the DevMaster game engine database
Sander
2009-08-12 06:17:40
+1
A:
Hi, If you are looking for opensource community supported library, you can try
- SlimDX
- TAO framework -- opengl bindings for .Net framework
But am not sure if they are matured enough.. but its worth giva try..
Cheers
Ramesh Vel
Ramesh Vel
2009-08-12 06:34:44
+1
A:
I'm sure there are other options out there, but you can also take a look at SDL.Net, a .Net implementation for SDL.
Jorge Israel Peña
2009-08-12 06:40:14
+1
A:
To make the most of today's computers' hardware and to keep up with the graphics of other 2D games, I would go with a 2D-in-3D solution, based on DirectX or OpenGL. You would render sprites as so-called quads (two polygons combined to make a square.)
I personally think OpenGL is much more appropriate for a 2D game. You should definitely read through the NeHe tutorials (they're for C++, but the OpenGL parts are still valid. You can find a C# conversion of the code at the bottom of the page of each lesson.) as they are an awesome resource for getting started with making a simple graphics engine for your game.
Furthermore, a lot of the articles on GameDev have helped me a lot when developing games. They've got all sorts of articles that will help you along, ranging from adding lighting effects to your games to adding simple physics.
Blixt
2009-08-12 06:45:50
+5
A:
The answers posted so far (apart from SDL.NET) have all just said to use OpenGL, DirectX or some variant of the 2. Personally, I wouldn't use either of these for a 2D game when you already have XNA. XNA already has some classes for doing 2D graphics (the main one being the SpriteBatch).
If you do use XNA, not only can you make a game that runs on Windows, but also one for XBox, Zune and Silverlight as well (Zune and Silverlight require that you don't use the 3D part of XNA though, but that shouldn't worry you). Basically, XNA will save you the trouble of writting all of the low level management code that DirectX or OpenGL need (such as handling window switching and a plethora of other problems).
I haven't used SDL at all, so I can't give you any personal opinions on it, but I have heard it is quite good for 2D graphics, so I'd recommend looking into SDL.NET or just going with XNA, the other suggestions here require a lot more work with little advantage (most people just want to make the game and not worry about the HAL interfaces and getting everything to play nice with the OS).
Grant Peters
2009-08-12 08:39:25
It's just that XNA is easy enough to write simple little samples for but extraordinarily hard to write something decent for. I'm starting to suspect that it is the best option though...
RCIX
2009-08-12 18:33:36
Like I said, XNA is a lot easier than going with something like OpenGL or DirectX, which is what most people here are suggesting. There may be a few engines out there that will be easier, but most of those would require you to work in c/c++ (without CLR, so you won't get the garbage collection that makes C# so much simpler to develop in), also, most engines are geared towards 3D games and it can be more difficult to get them to just do 2D graphics.
Grant Peters
2009-08-12 23:59:05
You're most likely right. Besiddes; if i put enough effort into the "framework" for my RTS game the actual development should be simple enough.
RCIX
2009-08-13 00:07:15