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Dark GDK / dgdk vs xna

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Patrick987
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 04:07
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im just wondering which is easier to learn and which is more powerful
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heyufool1
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 04:17 Edited at: 17th Aug 2009 04:24
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Umm I would have to say Dark GDK is easier to learn but Xna is probably more powerful. Although Xna you have to pay to use with some subscription thing if you want to publish games which I think is stupid but whatever. Also Dark GDK using C++ and XNA uses C# so if you want you can look up those two languages and compare them. XNA also has a bigger community with more tutorials and such but, (I haven't used it at all) but it looks kinda childish. By childish I mean not professional, but the cool thing is, is that you can submit your game for xbox 360 community game. After a little searching it seems like XNA is more used for 2d games and personally if I were to make a 2d game I would use flash or Game Maker.

Use Google first... it's not rocket surgery!
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puppyofkosh
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 04:20
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c++ is faster than c#, I'm not sure by how much.

Also, can you use directx commands with xna?
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AndrewT
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 04:43 Edited at: 17th Aug 2009 04:44
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From what I've seen XNA is nothing more than a DirectX wrapper for C#, designed to replaced Managed DirectX. Keeping that in mind XNA is definitely more flexible and powerful than DarkGDK, but it's also more difficult and requires you to do more work on your own than DGDK does.

Quote: "(I haven't used it at all) but it looks kinda childish. By childish I mean not professional"


Definitely not the case. The reason you see more 2D games made with it than 3D is because AFAIK it does not provide you with a 3D game framework and so you must create your own using the functionality it provides.

Quote: "Also, can you use directx commands with xna? "


Because XNA is a DX wrapper you should be able to access most of the functions of DirectX.

i like orange
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heyufool1
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 04:48
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Quote: "Definitely not the case. The reason you see more 2D games made with it than 3D is because AFAIK it does not provide you with a 3D game framework and so you must create your own using the functionality it provides.
"

Ahh ok, thanks for clearing that up! Now I definitely won't get it

Use Google first... it's not rocket surgery!
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Patrick987
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 05:37
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guess ill stick dgdk then lol
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Lilith
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 08:00 Edited at: 17th Aug 2009 08:03
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A quick $0.02 from me.

I've been trying to learn 2D XNA for a couple of years without success. Mostly it's because I've been unable to find a book that explains it properly. But early on I was daunted by the need to provide a transparency map along with images. Maybe it's changed since version 1.0 but I've found a book entitled "Learning XNA 3.0" by Aaron Reed that finally figured out how to present the material. I've seriously started looking at porting some of my current development to XNA. There's still some things to learn but it's not that difficult.

The framework for XNA is fairly interesting and somewhat forces you into a certain development style but I think I can do it. ITMT, I've also done some things with DGDK regarding images that I wish I could retain in XNA. Maybe it can be done but for now I'm force to do it the long way around.

Edit: It doesn't cost you anything to download it so it's worth a look. And since it uses C# I'm finding out a lot more about that language than I knew before just from reading examples. Did you know that in C# the members of a structure are NOT public by default? Or that classes are reference while structures are value types? I sure didn't.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office
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entomophobiac
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 09:43
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c++ is faster than c#, I'm not sure by how much.

To be perfectly honest, I think this is a radical misconception and comes down more to programmer skill than the language itself.

C++ is a largely unmanaged language, why you have a lot more CONTROL over what happens to your memory. But if you use the DGDK, that control is lost along the way quite automatically.

C++ is more powerful if you write everything yourself, but with prepackaged libraries, headers and so on, I don't think it makes too much difference. It's pretty much the same thing to use XNA or the DGDK. What it comes down to is which language you prefer working in.

And, well, C# has a native string class, for one thing.
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Lilith
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Posted: 17th Aug 2009 19:08
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The potential for slow down that I see in C# is the support required by .NET. Keep in mind also that it uses a just-in-time compiler that doesn't create the executable code until the module is needed. There must be some undesireable lag time for this. So far the little I've done hasn't shown any real slow down but it's all subjective anyway.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office
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Elite Gaming
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Posted: 19th Aug 2009 21:05
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Quote: "A quick $0.02 from me.

I've been trying to learn 2D XNA for a couple of years without success. Mostly it's because I've been unable to find a book that explains it properly. But early on I was daunted by the need to provide a transparency map along with images. Maybe it's changed since version 1.0 but I've found a book entitled "Learning XNA 3.0" by Aaron Reed that finally figured out how to present the material. I've seriously started looking at porting some of my current development to XNA. There's still some things to learn but it's not that difficult.

The framework for XNA is fairly interesting and somewhat forces you into a certain development style but I think I can do it. ITMT, I've also done some things with DGDK regarding images that I wish I could retain in XNA. Maybe it can be done but for now I'm force to do it the long way around.

Edit: It doesn't cost you anything to download it so it's worth a look. And since it uses C# I'm finding out a lot more about that language than I knew before just from reading examples. Did you know that in C# the members of a structure are NOT public by default? Or that classes are reference while structures are value types? I sure didn't."


If your looking for books to learn the language, i would highly recommend "Building XNA 2.0 Games" by James Silva and John Sedlak. This book is written by the guy who produced the game "The Dishwasher" (James Silva) which has now been published on Xbox Live Arcade (http://dishwasher.skasoftware.com/dish.php). The book takes you through developing a level editor, and then also a character editor (which is very in depth covering custom animation) and then finally takes you through making the game - which is the basics of his game, including creating a particle system, menus, HUDS, postprocessing effects (mainly bloom, refraction etc) and also networking on the Xbox 360.

I've been playing around with XNA for just over a year now and almost got my game finished. You have to do alot more coding to create even something simple, but the amazement in seeing it on the Xbox 360 is what does it for me!
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