Microsoft have now released XNA Game Studio Express. Ars have an article about it here which is worth reading: http://arstechnica.com/articles/xna.ars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You'll need XP SP2 (no Vista yet) and Visual C# Express. Not sure why it doesn't just work with regular Visual Studio 2005, but it says they co-exist.
This is a great move by Microsoft. I work with Visual Studio every day and whilst it pisses me off much of the time, it is still hands down the best development environment around (IMO). Not sure about this Express stuff, but it sounds okay. Writing managed code is far more productive, and for the sort of stuff this will be used for I doubt the comparative inefficiencies will matter that much. Plus they seem to have included some optimization tools in there. .NET is great, and I reckon C# is the best language I've ever used. Unfortunately I can't speak for DirectX because I'm a lowly and dull business apps developer.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what people come up with using this. If I get a chance I might play with it over the Christmas break myself. If anyone grabs it, let us know how it looks.
Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express
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I'd love to give this a bash, but am wary of installing Visual Studio on my home PC - last time I did it slowed everything down with its debug DLLs.
It sounds pretty easy - haven't tried C# before but I've heard it's a bit like a mix between VB and Java? Or am I way off the mark?
Does it let you use C++ if you're a git like me who likes managing his own garbage collection / memory allocation?
It sounds pretty easy - haven't tried C# before but I've heard it's a bit like a mix between VB and Java? Or am I way off the mark?
Does it let you use C++ if you're a git like me who likes managing his own garbage collection / memory allocation?
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I’d say the only similarity C# has to the old VB is being managed. Of course, VB underwent some dramatic changes with the introduction of .NET which made it far better, and they both use the same framework so they can look similar because of that. However, VB’s time has passed and these days you’re much better off using the more flexible, powerful, and sensible C#.
It is far more similar to Java, to the point where I reckon if you’ve used Java much in the past then familiarising yourself with C# will be a doddle. It will also be reasonably easy to get accustomed to if you have developed in C++, though you really need to learn to let go and trust the garbage collector (it’s pretty good). Writing managed code is meant to be simpler and more productive. The trade-off is that it’s less powerful and less efficient. C++ would be pointerless* for what we’re talking about here - you’d be best off sticking to what you’re currently doing and looking down on us simpletons who don’t manage memory ourselves.
* Ha! I made a geek funnay!
It is far more similar to Java, to the point where I reckon if you’ve used Java much in the past then familiarising yourself with C# will be a doddle. It will also be reasonably easy to get accustomed to if you have developed in C++, though you really need to learn to let go and trust the garbage collector (it’s pretty good). Writing managed code is meant to be simpler and more productive. The trade-off is that it’s less powerful and less efficient. C++ would be pointerless* for what we’re talking about here - you’d be best off sticking to what you’re currently doing and looking down on us simpletons who don’t manage memory ourselves.
* Ha! I made a geek funnay!
Hahahaha, it might be a great way for me to get into things though, as I've not had any DirectX experience in the past, could be a fun w/e project to try making a game in this and then later get it up and running on the 360... hmmm.
Mind you I usually get my fill of programming at work so we'll see if that ever ends up happening
Just had a read up on C# on Wikipedia, I had read about it a couple of years ago but it was interesting to refresh my memory, sounds like a really nice programming language, they really go out of their way to stop a lot of the basic programming problems (that I see in code at work ALL THE TIME).
Mind you I usually get my fill of programming at work so we'll see if that ever ends up happening
Just had a read up on C# on Wikipedia, I had read about it a couple of years ago but it was interesting to refresh my memory, sounds like a really nice programming language, they really go out of their way to stop a lot of the basic programming problems (that I see in code at work ALL THE TIME).
Im not a huge DirectX expert or anything - I mean I wrote a direct3d tetris game once for fun but thats about it. But this XNA thing doesn't really seem to make game programming any easier than how it was before. It does supply you with a whole bunch of decent boiler-plate code that sets up your game loop and loading content and what not - but honestly that wasnt really the hard part in the first place
The fact you can run it on a 360 IS cool though - but its marred by the fact that the only other people who can run it are people who are in the XNA club or whatever and have paid the fee - AND you have to give them all your source/assets.
The fact you can run it on a 360 IS cool though - but its marred by the fact that the only other people who can run it are people who are in the XNA club or whatever and have paid the fee - AND you have to give them all your source/assets.
[size=67]Currenty playing: SFIV, Forza 2, RE5[/size]