Can we have a TorqueX and XNA and C# Forums Please
by Anton Bursch · in General Discussion · 09/03/2006 (12:47 am) · 14 replies
@GarageGames Website and Forum Admin
There is a lot of fast movement on XNA in the Microsoft forums and it would be great to have a place here to talk about it. Just like the OpenGL and DirectX forums. I've already got a lot of stuff to start with and I've seen other GG community members on the XNA forums and they do too. We could really make GG be THE place to be for development with XNA.
I have a .map file importer and C# code to render them almost complete. Terrain Height maps aren't far behind. Someone here has led the way with a .x file importer for XNA on the XNA forums. It would be great to have a place here to coordinate things. There's XNA websites popping up everywhere. I'd love a place here too. Especially since TorqueX is being advertised right there on the download page for XNA.
Let's use this 4 months to build up a ton of resources so this really can be THE place to learn and use XNA and TorqueX and C# for games! I am busy but I'll volunteer to do any work it takes to make this happen. I am working with XNA for my job and everything I do here helps me out too. I've got resources linked already, just give me a way to broadcast them here. I've been waiting for years to get to make games with C#, the language I used for work before getting into game development, and I want to see C# and XNA and TorqueX rocket to being the number one way to make games for the future! Hey, what can I say, I'm a C# guy. :)
Thank You,
Anton Bursch
There is a lot of fast movement on XNA in the Microsoft forums and it would be great to have a place here to talk about it. Just like the OpenGL and DirectX forums. I've already got a lot of stuff to start with and I've seen other GG community members on the XNA forums and they do too. We could really make GG be THE place to be for development with XNA.
I have a .map file importer and C# code to render them almost complete. Terrain Height maps aren't far behind. Someone here has led the way with a .x file importer for XNA on the XNA forums. It would be great to have a place here to coordinate things. There's XNA websites popping up everywhere. I'd love a place here too. Especially since TorqueX is being advertised right there on the download page for XNA.
Let's use this 4 months to build up a ton of resources so this really can be THE place to learn and use XNA and TorqueX and C# for games! I am busy but I'll volunteer to do any work it takes to make this happen. I am working with XNA for my job and everything I do here helps me out too. I've got resources linked already, just give me a way to broadcast them here. I've been waiting for years to get to make games with C#, the language I used for work before getting into game development, and I want to see C# and XNA and TorqueX rocket to being the number one way to make games for the future! Hey, what can I say, I'm a C# guy. :)
Thank You,
Anton Bursch
About the author
I design and direct games for Somatic Vision. We primarily make games for use with biofeedback, but our latest game, Tropical Heat, a jet ski racing game, is for regular gamers and is available on PC/Mac and will be available on ipad and iphone soon.
#3
09/03/2006 (8:06 am)
I don't see the point of replicating the XNA MSDN forums either, but I'm all for an TorqueX forum ASAP.
#4
1) For the same reason to have a directx and opengl forum.
2) Noise reduction. Let the bitching and moaning and crying about XNA happen on the Microsoft forums. Here we can just get work done. I know that most people interested in XNA here are serious about it.
3) TorqueX will be a great tool, but half the point of getting a Torque engine is the source. TorqueX is made with the XNA framework and it's a very powerful but also restrictive framework to use. Being able to share tricks and tips and the ins and outs of XNA will make all the difference in the work done with TorqueX. What one of us doesn't want to add numerous things to Torque already? We all do. And part of the beauty of XNA and C# is it's just plain easier to do it. Which means that the productivity of everyone working with XNA is going to be very high. I know mine is, compared to working with C++ and DirectX or OpenGL. And being able to share that here would be fantastic.
4) These forums are coming, probably when GG feels they are needed. So I'm asking them to let them know, I'm ready to use them. These 4 months are going to fly by and next thing you know, there will be 10 other places solidified as the place to go to work with XNA. This could be one of those places.
09/03/2006 (5:16 pm)
I'll tell you why to have an XNA forum here. 1) For the same reason to have a directx and opengl forum.
2) Noise reduction. Let the bitching and moaning and crying about XNA happen on the Microsoft forums. Here we can just get work done. I know that most people interested in XNA here are serious about it.
3) TorqueX will be a great tool, but half the point of getting a Torque engine is the source. TorqueX is made with the XNA framework and it's a very powerful but also restrictive framework to use. Being able to share tricks and tips and the ins and outs of XNA will make all the difference in the work done with TorqueX. What one of us doesn't want to add numerous things to Torque already? We all do. And part of the beauty of XNA and C# is it's just plain easier to do it. Which means that the productivity of everyone working with XNA is going to be very high. I know mine is, compared to working with C++ and DirectX or OpenGL. And being able to share that here would be fantastic.
4) These forums are coming, probably when GG feels they are needed. So I'm asking them to let them know, I'm ready to use them. These 4 months are going to fly by and next thing you know, there will be 10 other places solidified as the place to go to work with XNA. This could be one of those places.
#5
09/03/2006 (5:40 pm)
You make a good point about number 2 (cue toilet humour), so consider me fallen off the fence onto your side. :)
#6
09/03/2006 (6:33 pm)
Glad to see someone else posting about like this
#7
I must admit I haven't really been that active on the GG forums, and therefore I've never realised how big and mature they are. The GG forums seem to be more of game development community rather than GG product support forums, so excluding a dedicated XNA forum would go against that.
The XNA team are showing a lot of support for GG, so maybe we could even get them posting over here...
09/04/2006 (1:42 am)
Anton, I assume #2 is mainly based on the 'Microsoft Lack of Vision' thread on the MSDN forum? ;)I must admit I haven't really been that active on the GG forums, and therefore I've never realised how big and mature they are. The GG forums seem to be more of game development community rather than GG product support forums, so excluding a dedicated XNA forum would go against that.
The XNA team are showing a lot of support for GG, so maybe we could even get them posting over here...
#8
LOL. Well, the 'Microsoft Lack of Vision' thread was a suprise for me to read. LOL. That was one thread I didn't expect to see. But really, I was thinking more along the lines of all of the beginer question threads being repeated over and over. The one's about how to install and stuff. Here, I think that since this isn't the official forum for that, we could get past that and focus on the good stuff that is already sprinkled thru the forums. Honestly, it's a lot of work to read thru all the forum threads to find the good stuff right now.
I agree that this is more of a game development community than a Torque product community. I know that GG meant it to be a product community, but it kind of took on a life of it's own and they've definitely cultivated that life. I think that those of us who are C# and MDX coders could really have a great new place to work together here.
I personally think that with C# and XNA, we are about to finally realise the potential of indie games. That's only based on seeing the difference that .NET and C# made in the business world. But still... I think it will translate. People who haven't used it professionally think they get it because they tool around with it. Once you make a real application with C#... you don't ever want to look back.
I hope that we can funnel that into this community. Hell, if we don't, I guess all the C# and XNA coders will simply go somewhere else and make games. But I'd like to see GG realise it's potential. There's been so much effort put toward their vision for indie games.
09/04/2006 (2:08 am)
@Martin HillLOL. Well, the 'Microsoft Lack of Vision' thread was a suprise for me to read. LOL. That was one thread I didn't expect to see. But really, I was thinking more along the lines of all of the beginer question threads being repeated over and over. The one's about how to install and stuff. Here, I think that since this isn't the official forum for that, we could get past that and focus on the good stuff that is already sprinkled thru the forums. Honestly, it's a lot of work to read thru all the forum threads to find the good stuff right now.
I agree that this is more of a game development community than a Torque product community. I know that GG meant it to be a product community, but it kind of took on a life of it's own and they've definitely cultivated that life. I think that those of us who are C# and MDX coders could really have a great new place to work together here.
I personally think that with C# and XNA, we are about to finally realise the potential of indie games. That's only based on seeing the difference that .NET and C# made in the business world. But still... I think it will translate. People who haven't used it professionally think they get it because they tool around with it. Once you make a real application with C#... you don't ever want to look back.
I hope that we can funnel that into this community. Hell, if we don't, I guess all the C# and XNA coders will simply go somewhere else and make games. But I'd like to see GG realise it's potential. There's been so much effort put toward their vision for indie games.
#9
09/04/2006 (2:12 am)
Without even talking to anyone else at the company, I can guarantee that we will have Torque X forums when the product is ready. It's probable (but not guaranteed) that we will have a "General XNA" sub-forum there, but that's just my thought on it.
#10
Yeah, I am sure that we will. I hope sooner than the release of TorqueX though. Otherwise, honestly, 4 months is a long time to hold off on this. Cause the C# people aren't like the C++ people. We don't make stuff to see how cool it is. We are hyper little folks who move fast and you just watch... there will be other engine's to compete with TorqueX by this December. GG has a great product coming with TorqueX, but nobody who programs with C# is waiting for it.
Those of us who are coders, we are moving fast to put together our own tech. If we don't get a place to work together here... GG will really miss out. C# has been looked down upon in the industry until now... well still... but now that we know that C# is not only usable to make games, but acceptable in the eyes of Microsoft AND is the only non-devkit route to the 360?! You can bet your ass that we are hauling ours right now. You haven't seen Rapid Development until you see a C# coder being told he can use C# to make games for the 360!!
09/04/2006 (2:20 am)
@Stephen ZeppYeah, I am sure that we will. I hope sooner than the release of TorqueX though. Otherwise, honestly, 4 months is a long time to hold off on this. Cause the C# people aren't like the C++ people. We don't make stuff to see how cool it is. We are hyper little folks who move fast and you just watch... there will be other engine's to compete with TorqueX by this December. GG has a great product coming with TorqueX, but nobody who programs with C# is waiting for it.
Those of us who are coders, we are moving fast to put together our own tech. If we don't get a place to work together here... GG will really miss out. C# has been looked down upon in the industry until now... well still... but now that we know that C# is not only usable to make games, but acceptable in the eyes of Microsoft AND is the only non-devkit route to the 360?! You can bet your ass that we are hauling ours right now. You haven't seen Rapid Development until you see a C# coder being told he can use C# to make games for the 360!!
#11
09/04/2006 (3:02 am)
Point taken Anton...and I tend to agree! Will talk with the appropriate folks on Tuesday.
#12
09/04/2006 (3:16 am)
I must get into C#. It'll be a nice balance between my days of Basic and my days of C++... With a hint of Java mixed in for good measure... If there were C#/XNA forums here I'd sure get into them!
#13
I have not done programming for quite some time. I am getting back into it with C# because of XNA and TorqueX. A C# area here will help focus on areas I need to concentrate on.
09/04/2006 (6:43 am)
I think TorqueX XNA and C# areas are all needed. C# now, TorqueX and XNA very soon.I have not done programming for quite some time. I am getting back into it with C# because of XNA and TorqueX. A C# area here will help focus on areas I need to concentrate on.
Torque Owner Teck Lee Tan