Are there any 2D game engines for WP7, that don't use XNA? (I need it because I can't develop with XNA because of my video adapter).
There are Silverlight-based sprite engines...don't count on them to wow your customers. I'm in agreement with ctatke: upgrade your video card o switch dev machines and get it done properly.
Googling "Silverlight sprite engine" came up with this...might be more if you'd like to dig:
http://slspriteengine.codeplex.com/
Good luck!
-John
These are some XNA Game engine for WP7
http://farseerphysics.codeplex.com/
http://www.synapsegaming.com/products/sunburn/engine/
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/archives/1801
http://box2dxna.codeplex.com/discussions/224576/
Have you tried using Reach settings? It worked for me. Check here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2010/07/19/selecting-reach-vs-hidef.aspx
I did, however, notice a list of compatible graphics cards for XNA here: http://www.xnawiki.com/index.php?title=Graphics_card_compatibility
So, if your graphics card is actually supported, then you might try using Reach.
Related
It looks like Microsoft is backing away from XNA (but not DirectX): (see http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-false-alarm-we-arent-backing-away-from-directx-7000010647/, note that there is no XNA Game Studio / XNA available for the new Visual Studio 2012, etc).
What technology can be used in it's place, for a 2D, managed game on Windows? I'd love to find something that works on Windows 7 and 8, with bonus points for WinXP and/or WinPhone.
I apologize for the overly broad question, but I've dug around in the MS website & can't seem to find any clear guidance. Silverlight looks promising, but I can't tell if that's going to be phased out too. It looks like Metro apps should prefer to use JavaScript, but I can't tell if you can use C#/.Net with that. WinForms would be great, but I think that's also "the past, not the future"
Any guidance would be most appreciated!
Have you tried monogame
MonoGame
Its latest version also supports WP8
SlimDX or SharpDX are managed wrappers for the DirectX API.
While future-proof, neither of them is an elaborate game development framework like XNA. You would have to implement important features like sprite rendering, content management, etc. by yourself.
I've read places that Windows Phone 8 will not support OpenGL, and I'm unable to find anything useful in the SDK.
So am I or will I ever be able to use OpenGL (ES) in my Windows Phone 8 game? I have a game I would like not to rewrite completely to DirectX when porting.
Please cite good sources, the only thing I've found are speculations and blog posts with little to no information.
OpenGL isn't supported on WP8, but Direct 3D feature level 9_3 is supported. If you're looking to port over a game from OpenGL ES over to D3D have a look at the Angle Project. Angle Project helps bridge the gap between OpenGL ES 2.0 and D3D 9. It doesn't have WP8 targeting just yet and you'll have issues with runtime compile shaders not being supported on WP8, but Angle project is still a good first step.
Either way, for games portability with other platforms it's really best if you work with a middleware gaming framework such as MonoGame, Unity, Cocos2D, Havok, Marmalade, SharpDX, Ogre, Autodesk Scaleform or others. These engines will mostly handle cross platform support for you within their own framework (each with it's own limitations on code and assets portability).
If you already have an existing OpenGL game you want to port over to WP8, than Angle project if your best bet going forward. If you're just starting out creating a cross-platform portable game than choosing a gaming middleware framework that seems right for your game's needs is the way to go.
Marmalade does let you write OpenGL ES 2.0 code and make it work in Windows phone 8 without making you do anything
Check this for more details:
http://www.madewithmarmalade.com/windows-phone-8
Even if Windows Phone 8 supported OpenGL (which it doesn't), it would support OpenGL ES, not destkop OpenGL. Since it's for embedded platforms.
So that's no twice.
Gideros uses OpenGL and targets Windows RT/Phone graphics by means of a lightweight DX wrapper.
I was wondering if it is actually true that Microsoft is discontinuing XNA and Silverlight. If this is the case? What shall I learn to make applications for Windows Phone? What shall I learn to make simple/easy 2D based games (not c++)?
What are the alternatives with Windows 8?
Cheers.
There is no official announcement from Microsoft that says they are discontinuing Silverlight/XNA.
Of course, a lot of us have our own reasons to believe that Silverlight is dying. I would not say the same about XNA. At least not yet :-) Don't forget XBox.
For the next version of Windows Phone (8), application programming model is going to be based on/same as Windows 8 (Win RT). And they have been promoting DirectX as a technology to develop games for Windows 8 (WinRT). XNA is officially not supported in Metro Mode.
To program games in DirectX, C++ is not the only option. Managed DirectX can be used with C#/VB. You can look into that.
And if you know Silverlight, your understanding on XAML would really help you a lot with new Metro Style apps (Phone and Windows). So, you don't have to worry about that part.
It's hard to say something about a rumor, but in this case the best thing that you can do is to stay in contact with Microsoft and its forums or social network.
For example http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/XNA-in-Windows-8
Windows Phone 8 will surely introduce a support for DirectX and C++, XNA is a subset, more or less, of DirectX, if Microsoft will introduce DirectX in its phones i see no point for keeping XNA; Silverlight is a technology that will never succeed at this point, even Flash is dead, you can imagine what is the situation about Silverlight that is a really really really small player in this market and it's not even portable.
For games it's better to use XNA, because eventually you'll start to create 3d games.
Silverlight is more adapted for common applications, like notepad, browser and other stuff.
And again, if you want to create games, learn more Xna.
As there is no official statement yet, it's hard to say what will happen with those platforms. If you want to create games, you might consider using MonoGame.
What is MonoGame?
MonoGame is an Open Source implementation of the Microsoft XNA 4
Framework. Our goal is to allow XNA developers on Xbox 360, Windows &
Windows Phone to port their games to the iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Linux
and Windows 8 Metro. PlayStation Mobile development is currently in
progress.
I had a demo of a few games made in MonoGame on Windows 8 last week and I gotta say I was pretty impressed.
I am a Beginner for Windows Phone 7. My project is on developing augmented reality in windows phone.Many of them suggested GART Toolkit. It seems to be good. But as a beginner i am not able to understand that. Are they any other SDK's or Toolkits available other than GART or any tutorial for GART Toolkit? Any Windows Phone lovers here?
http://igrali.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/windows-phone-and-geo-augmented-reality-toolkit-gart/ is the second article that comes up in Bing when you search using the terms: windows phone augmented reality tutorial gart
Try this one:
http://igrali.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/implementing-augmented-reality-using-gart/
It's about implementing GART in 6 easy steps. :)
There is also the Augmented Reality sample on MSDN, described as:
This sample uses the Motion API and the PhotoCamera class to create an Augmented Reality application that lets you pin labels to points in space as you rotate the device. For more information, see How to: Use the Combined Motion API for Windows Phone.
Is there any Windows Phone 7, 2D/3D game engine with any IDE?
Something like that: http://unity3d.com/
XNA Game Studio ? http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb200104.aspx
Maybe Sunburn Engine? It's appear to be only one commercial level game engine for XNA with middle-ware and WP7 support (at this moment, WP7 is relatively young =) platform)
There was also TorqueX (for XNA), but they still stuck on XNA 3.1 - so no WP7 support.
Yes there is something like unity3d which allow you to port in all platforms: http://www.shivaengine.com/