Question

I am currently programming a very simple 2d game in C# with XNA.

I was wondering how to implement a console-type interface in a game or graphical software like there is in Skyrim or Counter-strike or some many more games?

These “consoles” can allow you through various command to change many parameters directly in-game.

I find this very interesting for debugging purposes and I was hoping to implement something similar in my program. Is there a particular way to achieve this?

Answer 1

https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/ might be able to help. As far as I know, XNA does not offer any kind of pre-made dev console tool or class.

The simplest way to do this is just to throw a few sprites up on the screen – a black box, and some lines of white text. XNA already has methods for drawing strings of text onto the screen in whatever color and font you want. Throw in some code to detect keypresses and construct a string as it’s typed.

The slightly harder part is parsing and executing the user’s command. Taking a look at old adventure game text parsers might be relevant.

As for how to actually modify the various parameters of the code, you’ve just got to include the necessary getters and setters for your various properties, and have your text parser call the right methods.