http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/12882/67856.aspx lists various engines that supported 3.1:
Visual3d.net
TorqueX
SunBurn
Axiom3d
Flat Red Ball
Ox
X-Engine
BetaCell
Thrust
EGGEngine
Tomahawk
which engines support XNA 4.0 ?
It looks like SunBurn is the engine of choice for XNA 4.0
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.
Are there any game engines available for a Windows 8 metro style application?
There are several game frameworks you can use to develop Metro Style games:
C++/DirectX:
CoCos2D http://cocos2d-x.org/news/54
C#
MonoGame which is great if you have an XNA code base, http://monogame.codeplex.com/ And as stated above SharpDX is a C# framework that wraps DirectX. MonoGame also uses SharpDX
HTML5:
EaselJS - http://www.createjs.com/#!/EaselJS
ImpactJS - http://impactjs.com/
Standalone Editors:
Construct 2 is another tool that supports Windows 8, compiling down to HTML5 - http://www.scirra.com/tutorials/272/how-to-make-a-windows-8-metro-app/page-1.
GameSalad now has support as well - http://gamesalad.com/creator/windows-8
I don't believe any proper game engines have been ported to win8 yet (as of this writing) ... so you will currently need to write directly to the DirectX libraries.
If you use C#, take a look at SharpDX: http://code.google.com/p/sharpdx/
Another two cents:
Delta Engine http://deltaengine.net/
Ogre Engine http://www.ogre3d.org/
What is the relationship between XNA and XNA for Windows Phone?
Is that latter a true subset of the former like the .NET Client Profile?
Mostly a subset (like Silverlight vs Silverlight for Windows Phone)?
Or is it simply a similar API like WPF vs Silverlight?
They're identical in terms of the XNA API, and both are developed using the same download, typically XNA + C# + Visual Studio.
There are differences in what each platform supports though. For XNA in general I'd always consult Shawn Hargreaves blog first, and this article is most relevant: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2010/03/10/xna-game-studio-on-windows-phone.aspx
The biggest differences vs Xbox 360/Windows are display resolution, input methods available, and the fact that Windows Phone 7 doesn't support programmable shaders (so you can't write your own velvet/Fresnel shader for WP7, but you can for Windows and the 360).
Performance also varies: on Windows XNA performs well without much effort as it runs on the full .NET Framework. On the 360 and WP7, it runs on the .NET Compact Framework, so whilst you get the full XNA API you only have access to a subset of the full .NET Framework (though in a typical game you won't miss much of it) plus its garbage collection is shocking so depending on your game you may really have to watch memory allocation.
According to the following MSDN page, it's a subset of full XNA:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg490768.aspx
If you're considering writing XNA games for Windows 8, you may want to hold fire, as it's none too clear if XNA is still a long-term strategy for Microsoft (at least, if their comments at the recent BUILD conference are anything to go by):
http://www.rabidlion.com/2011/09/opinion-why-xna-isnt-dead-yet.html
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/