\Game Engines using Managed DirectX
Though I'm the last to report it there maybe a couple of people who have not heard of this.
Flat Red Ball is a 2.5d game engine which has been around in the Managed DirectX world for at least a couple of years now. They have just released a full conversion to the XNA framework meaning you can write games for Windows and Xbox 360. The API is not compatible with the old version but the new version is much more .Net like and includes all the years of experience of the old version. The author keeps this engine very well maintained, often with monthly updates so you know you are getting something that won't go away.
3/20/07 - big update, name change and new links
What used to be called Haddd changed its name to the JAD Engine during 2006 and the source and a demo game are now up on CodePlex for your enjoyment. The authors also have a blog you can subscribe to to get announcements.
While I have a pretty good list of all the Managed DirectX Engines out there I am often asked which is the best which is something I don't have an answer for. Comparing each and every one would take a lot more time that I have right now.
So its nice to see that someone else has done a small evaluation that included Irrlicht, HADDD, custom native engine and custom MDX engine. He also included some comparisons with OpenGL versions. The evaluations not only include the speed that the demo ran at, but how long it takes to develop and debug the code.
His conclusions:
OpenGL wins on nVidia, DirectX wins on ATi. Managed DirectX is negligibly (i was pushing a LOT of pixels) slower than Raw DirectX. Engines are slower than working directly with the APIs. C# saves you dev time without sacrificing immense amounts of performance.
And Irrlicht is awesome if you decide you need multiple versions.
Not sure who you are cael (drop me an email and let me know what you are up to) but thanks.
Visual3D Architect .NET is a completely managed framework and integrated visual development environment built upon .NET 2.0 and Microsoft XNA for rapid prototyping and development of cross-platform games, simulations, modeling environments, and architectural visualizations. Visual3D.NET is the next-generation successor to RealmForge and is built upon the Microsoft-award-winning Suva3D engine which provides rendering, physics, massive-multiplayer networking while also including an alternative: the DotNet3D Engine open-source C# port of OGRE. The development toolset has a Windows Vista look & feel and is hosted within the application being developed for simplified runtime design with a WinFX Workflow-like visual scripting system, visual behavior design, object prototyping, and an event-based scripting model for use with any .NET language, including C#, C++.NET, Visual Basic, J# (Java), JScript.NET (JavaScript), Delphi, and IronPython
Suva3D is the winner of the connected systems competition we mentioned in April 2005 in the Best use of Managed DirectX, Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server Express category.
Suva-3D is a real-time game engine for simulation, modeling, and interactive software titles. The Suva-3D engine is a turnkey solution for realtime rendering, scalable network architecture, physics modeling, and visual effects. Written entirely in C# and Managed DirectX, Suva-3D represents one the first managed game engines available for the .NET platform.
Other than the fact that is to be used in Visual3D Architect .NET there are currently no announced plans for Suva, though you will read about them 1st here on the ZBuffer
Sourceforge location,
Devmaster.net entry
| " | The Axiom Engine Project is a fully object oriented game engine development effort using C# and the Microsoft.Net platform to create an easy to use, flexible, extendable, and powerful engine that allows for rapid development of games for various genres. By using the .Net framework as the target platform, developers can focus more on core functionality and logic, rather than dealing with the complexities of languages like C++. The core of Axiom is a port of the very popular OGRE graphics engine, which was chosen based on its clean object-oriented design, powerful features, and flexibility. | " |
Artificial Engines is a graphics engine written in VB.Net and therefore usable from any .Net language. They have a very nice demo reel available for download. I've not taken a deep look yet so no 'editorial' comments. The engine is free, but is provided in a compiled form so no source code.
Thanks deis for the link
Sourceforge site, Bunnz Productions, Punch-n-Crunch, Devmaster.net entry
| " | Purple# is one of the first full blown game engines for .NET concentrating on flexibility, programming efficiency and quality using the newest technology. Keywords: DirectX, Scripting, Sound, Cg, CgFx, vertex and pixel shader, 3d | " |
| " |
Lugh3D
is a game engine developed with .NET and Managed DirectX developers in mind.
The engine will be published as two components, one a windows user control
easily imported into any windows form, thus allowing developers a full 3D
rendering environment. Second as a class library which will allow users the
flexibility of extending the base engine, or just by using the default. Lugh3D is in the middle to early stages of development and is expected to reach beta in September - early October. |
" |
| " | MCDX is a free game development library that uses Managed DirectX. MCDX is written in C# and can be used with any .Net language for writing games on the Windows platform. | " |
12/2/2005: Updated with details of new version
Sourceforge site, Devmaster.net entry
v0.14.0: .Net version now supports shaders and the code now supports VS2005 including the free express editions.
| " |
The Irrlicht Engine is an open source high performance real-time 3D engine
written and usable in C++ and also available for .NET languages. It is
completely cross-platform, using D3D, OpenGL and its own software renderer, and
has all of the state-of-the-art features which can
be found in commercial 3d engines. We've got a huge active community, and there are lots of games in development that use the engine. You can find enhancements for Irrlicht all over the web, like alternative terrain renderers, portal renderers, world layers, tutorials, editors, bindings for java, perl, ruby, python, and so on. And best of all: It's completely free. |
" |
| " |
The Ovorp game engine is written in C# and provides the following features:
|
" |
| " | The TV3D SDK is a complete programming suite that accelerates the development of 3D games and applications. If you need to quickly prototype an idea, or need to quickly bring a product to market, then the TV3D SDK will save you time and money. With our 3D engine you have the power of an expensive 3D SDK, at a price that will not break your budget. | " |
Homepage, Devmaster.net entry, Managed Interface
| " | The Web Driver provides a platform for the development of high quality, high performance, compact 2D and 3D content for the Internet. It consists of a high level API for Java, JavaScript, and other COM enabled languages such as C, C++ and Visual Basic, and has a powerful graphical engine underneath. The API provides both 2D and 3D support, allowing the creation of everything from simple 2D or 3D content such as product visualizations for e-commerce, through to full-fledged 3D games. All of these can run within a web page, simply by visiting a web site. | " |
| " |
The FlatRedBall (FRB) Development Kit is a solution for rapid 2D and 2D in
3D (2.5D) game development. It is formed of three components:
|
" |
In May 2007 an XNA framework version of Flat Red Ball was released. The Managed DirectX version still exists but new development should really be moved to the new version.
Jonas Beckeman has created Endogine. It is a sprite based engine that uses D3D (or GDI, though its slower). He also has another webpage about it.
Some features (follow the link above for the full list):
- Sprite hierarchy
- Collision detection
- Procedural textures (Perlin/Wood/Marble/Plasma/others)
- Particle systems
- Widgets (button, frame, window, scrollbar etc.)
- Example game prototypes (Puzzle Bobble, Parallax Asteroids, Snooker/Minigolf, Cave Hunter)
- IDE with scene graph, sprite/behavior editing, resource management and debugging tools
Looks like quite a fully functional system, and unlike other open source engine, this one is still being worked on!
Brume Homepage (French), Screenshots, SourceForge site
Brume is a .Net 2.0 Managed DirectX game engine written in C# that has an extensive list of features.
Though the sourceforge site was set up in October 2005 the last release was July 2005 and a quick look though the CVS repository shows minimal activity since then. I'm not sure if the move to sourceforge is an indication of a future growth or, like a lot of sourceforge projects, imminent death.
The download contains only compiled binaries and a couple of tutorials. Tutorial 1 is a simple empty project and tutorial 2 is a colored cube. Though the tutorials are too simple to show me what the engine can do they do introduce one very cool feature. Included in the engine is a UI based console that shows you and allows you to modify in real time the state of everything in the scene. Right now the UI is a little confusing and keeps overlaying itself if you are not careful but its quite fascinating. By implication the engine also has a full UI system which doesn't look like one I have seen before. Sadly there is no download for source code and I'm not feeling motivated enough to do the whole CVS thing.
Thanks to Mykre for the pointer to this one.
Cs3D is "A 3D graphics engine for use in 3D games and other real-time rendering applications using managed code (C#) and the .NET framework and supporting both the OpenGL and Direct3D APIs"
It looks like its pretty new as the sourceforge project was created May 9th and so far there is nothing to download. One of the team members has a blog with development updates.9/14/06: 3D Evolution now using XNA Framework
3D Evolution is engine written in C# and .Net 2.0. The team have informed me that they have their code converted over to the XNA framework and are planning a release on October 15th 2006. During the XNA beta the engine will be free to try but they will be charging for the final release. The engine is unique in that it also targets Windows Mobile 5.0 as well as the usual PC and through XNA the Xbox 360. They have a new video to watch which sadly is rather repetitive and doesn't seem to show off too many engine features.
A previous verson of the engine and 4 tutorials can be downloaded from the download site [registration required]. The website also includes a full list of features, screenshots, a PDF of a danish magazine that featured some of the work on the engine and forums.
(Note that the guys writing this are Danish, so before you comment on the bad English think about how good your Danish is and maybe offer to help them translate.)
RealmForge is 'retired'
The RealmForge 3D game engine for .NET is no longer under development. Its core team is now developing Visual3D Architect .NET
RealmForge is still available as an open source cross platform solution and will continue to be available from the sourceforge location. Questions can be asked in the RealmForge google group or on the Visual3D forums.
The RealmForge GDK is an open-source, cross-platform game development middleware for advanced 3D games and simulations. It is written entirely in C# for use with the .NET Framework and provides a flexible object-oriented and component-based architecture which is easy to use. It is a complete reusable development platform comprised of a framework, rendering engine, and an innovative run-time development environment. Since this project is licensed under the LGPL, it serves as an excellent solution for low-cost development of high-risk educational games and simulations and can even be used for free in commercial endeavors as well.
