Question

I am interested at trying my skills at game development. I am a fairly good C# developer. But my current skill set is in application development (WPF, WCF and Entity Framework).

I am trying to figure out how to make a graphical game for Windows Phone 8. But all the examples I see (for games) are using C++.

8+ years ago I was a C++ Game Developer, but I have forgotten most of those skills (I doubt they would be useful now days anyway).

I am not looking for 3D rendering. Just a nice 2D (Tower Defense) game.

I would rather code in C# if possible. Can game development be done using C#?

If so, a pointer on where to start would be appreciated.

Answer 1

This is what I have been able to find out:

There is a library called SharpDX that allows you to call DirectX from C#. It seems fairly good.

But, the Windows Phone makers did not include support for Direct2D. So unless you are planning to make a fully 3D app, you are out of luck (and that is a lot of work let me tell you!).

So, if you just wanted to make a nice 2D app, these are your choices:

1. Write your game using Xaml and C# (Performance Issues?)
2. Write your game using C#, SharpDX and 3d (but only draw on one plain) (A lot of work for 2d).
3. Use the DirectX Took Kit found on codeplex. It allows you to use the dying XNA framework’s API for development (This is a C++ option).