On 02/09/06, Josh Stewart <aek@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As I understand it XNA is a managed framework similar to DirectX.. Managed DirectX 2.0 has been cancelled and rolled into XNA. XNA is still quite low level, and nothing like click and create. Im not sure if XNA supports native code development.
XNA provides simplified access to DirectX services like graphics, sound and controllers, in a way that makes the code portable between Windows and Xbox360.
I've been trying XNA with the beta of the XNA Game Studio Express. Creating a new game project using this creates a lot of the boilerplate code for you, such that you can instantly press F5 and be shown a DirectX window rendering nothing and running an empty game loop. Then you just fill in the Update() and Render() methods with whatever you want your game to do. In this respect it's somewhat similar to something like DarkBASIC. You still do the programming yourself of course, but it takes away some of the boring stuff.
It seems to emphasise the concept of reusable components, which either you or a 3rd party can write. Then you can just drop them in and use them. Components could feasibly be small things that provide some small function, or a whole physics engine.
Having said all that, all I've managed so far is a 2D sprite that follows the mouse around :) but it did only require about 5 lines of my own code, including loading the texture in and stuff.
It's currently C# only, so if you want to use XNA you have to get to grips with C# for the moment. And is still beta so I don't know what they'll add in the future. Interesting though.
NickH
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