I’ve been learning C# for some time now and I am starting to feel confident. I want to develop mobile games for Android but I don’t know where to start. Can Unity be used for that purpose or are there any other engines that are better suited for Android game development. Also, are there any tutorials on the topic?Because I couldn't find any.. Thanks in advance!
I would say that Unity3D is currently the most popular game engine for Android. Considering that they recently release a new license, the full engine is available for free. You can publish your games for Android paying nothing.
And you don't need a specific tutorial for Android. It's everything the same (obviously not the input though), you just have to select Android platform when you want to build and that is it.
Related
Is it possible to write cross-platform Unity3D plugins (specifically for android and ios) using the Xamarin APIs?
If yes, what would be the procedure to go about doing it? Are you aware of any documentation or reference that might be useful?
Unity still doesn't provide a lot of native functionality as Xamarin does. I'm asking this because it just makes sense minimizing the learning curve for developing unity plugins. After a lot of experimentation, I've just begun understanding the intricacies of C#. If I have to learn two other languages (Java and Objective-C) that would greatly impede my progress.
Thanks.
Microsoft is opensourcing the Xamarin SDK, so combined with Mono for Android (that Unity most probably uses), you could soon be closer to your goal
BTW, they're also changing Mono's licensing model to the more permissive "MIT License" and hosting it under the .NET Foundation
Xamarin and Unity MonoDevelop are separate project. Xamarin doesnt support Unity. If you want a crossplatform plugin you could use C++ read:
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Plugins.html
I been googling alot and read most of the question here but still confused and need some help to understand few things.
Me: Web developer working in C# for a long time.
Target: Develop 2D games with openGL ES 2.0 for andriod & iOS only.
Question: Which language is better to work with for openGL ES 2.0 for developing 2D games for andriod & iOS (C# or Java)?
I am really confused about choosing a language which can target most of the devices.
Thanks
You can use C++ with Android via the NDK and in iOS via Objective-C++. Both use OpenGL ES so you could even share code between both platforms.
If you are a C# developer I would suggest to continue using it (as you need to learn a lot of new stuff for mobile development and OpenGL and by using the language you are already familiar with, you can at least avoid new language learning stress and focus yourself on new technology learning).
MonoDroid, C# for Android:
http://xamarin.com/monoforandroid
MonoTouch, C# for iOs:
http://xamarin.com/monotouch
No doubt that Java being the language of "native" support for Android as Objective C for iOS is a best choice for platform, but you should choose a best choice for you, so I would go for C#.
Keep in mind that Mono frameworks are NOT free!
There is another interesting alternative for C++ , MoSync: http://www.mosync.com/
I have .net c# background(don't mind to learn new language to get the things right). Right now i want to make some small applications for Iphone/Android phones.Basically, i will show some graphs with data retrieved through my webservice.
Can anyone tell me which developing tool should i use to create those small apps quickly?
I don't have any experience with Flash.And i just know that Flash builder 4.5 can convert Flash applications to Iphone/Android. However, i don't feel like that it is a native way to build Iphone/Android app
But if you advise that, i might go that way.
thank you
Xamarin has products that allows you to use C# (and your existing skills) for both iOS (iPhone / iPad) and Android devices : MonoTouch and Mono for Android.
disclaimer: I work for Xamarin
You might want to use frameworks that help build apps for multiple platforms with the need to know native programming languages. PhoneGap is one of these popular frameworks.
You can use C# to create a WCF service. There are a few different libraries to develop Android applications. If you want to work with C#, you can check out Mono for Android.
http://docs.xamarin.com/android
From my knowledge, however, Java is the preferred language to develop Android application. Eclipse has a great plugin which integrates with the Android SDK / Emulator.
I want to start on a 2D game using C#, so I'm checking out my options.
XNA sounds good, but a few points are not very clear to me.
If I use XNA, can I just build my game and distribute my game as a standalone executable from my website ?
Or are there any catches ?
Do people need special libraries to play my game ? Do I have to pay MS to be able to distribute my game ?
Normally I'll write a program, build it, put the executable up for download and presto, anybody can download, install and use it.
Will it also work like this when using XNA or are there any restrictions ?
If you're a student your university/college whatever can provide you with a years free membership.
But if you're doing Windows only games, then there is no fee. Just include the necessary dependencies as already discussed and you're good to go.
At first my university was not on the list of valid locations, but it was soon sorted out.
People will need the XNA redistributable package which is automatically (downloaded and) installed if you create a game with the default installer.
You can distribute your application anyway you want. You can mail it to your friend only or you can record it on a disc and start selling it. People will only need .NET and XNA reditributable package which will be automatically downloaded and installed and they doesn't require paying any fees. I think you may need to pay something if you would like your game to be distributed on Xbox Live Marketplace (I know you can earn money from selling your game through Marketplace but I'm not sure if there isn't any initial fee to submit it).
If you want to deploy your XNA game to Xbox 360 as well, you need a creator's club premium membership, which will set you back something like $100 a year (it depends on your Xbox live currency as far as I can tell). Please see the FAQ for more info.
For Windows only games you don't need the membership.
You only need a membership if you want to distribute the game through XBox Live Indie games.
XNA is just an SDK. You can use it to develop a PC or an Xbox game. If you want to distribute to XBox then you have have to be a member of the XNA creators club.
If you want to distribute a PC game, then you can put the game up for free on your own website or do whatever you want. You could even make a codeplex project and make your game free open source.
Most people who write XNA PC games distribute through steam. I do not know what they charge.
You can write and develop an XNA game for absolutely nothing if you use Visual Studio C# express for your IDE, Blender for your modeling, XACT and Audacity for your audio, Inkscape for your vector graphics and fx composer for your shader authoring.
Most of the posts above are incorrect.
You only need the trial membership to deploy and debug on the Xbox 360, you don't need one for Windows development as there is currently no marketplace available for Windows Indie Games.
To get a "Trial Licence", that is a licence that allows you to deploy and debug to your Xbox 360 (But does not allow you to submit a game for peer review, playtesting or the XBox Indie Marketplace) there are a few methods:
DreamBuildPlay - The annual contest for developing games using XNA, generally making games for a particular theme such as Environment etc.. . By registering (Before 18th Jan 2010) you can get the free 12 Month trial.
Dreamspark - Website dedicated to students, personally i use MSDNAA but Dreamspark is more user friendly. By providing basic details of your course you can get a trial membership.
The Dreamspark website requires details that are generally only known to students, therefore if you're not a student it probably won't validate your request. Best thing to do is to use the DreamBuildPlay option, you don't have to submit an entry (Although it would be good practice to) and there is no need to be a student, it's open to everyone.
In terms of redistributing it to other people the development tool that you're using (Either Visual C# Express or Visual Studio) will allow you to package them in a way that makes it usable to other people.
Of course there is nothing stopping you from hosting the game on your own webspace and letting people sort it out for themselves =]
This link should get you in the right direction:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb464156.aspx
Hope this helps.
Trial Membership Links:
Dreamspark: - Dreamspark ,
DreamBuildPlay: - DreamBuildPlay
You can also develop a 2d XNA game and host it on a website through a silverlight plugin for free although it would be difficult because all XNA development would have to be in c# express and all Silverlight development would have to be in Web Developer express.
I want to run C# programs on my HTC Magic, I can find the mono app on the Android market but I have no clue on how to run C# using.
The code is just for fun, I don't want official support and such. After coding Visual Basic on windows mobile, I really want to code C# on Android, whether directly using some sort of editor if exists, or compiling it on a PC then installing it on Android.
If anyone knows a way to do such please let me know.
Thank you
There's the androidmono project, which I gather pretty much works but is in relatively early stages.
EDIT: More recently: Mono for Android
As I originally answered this over two years ago...
These days I would look at Mono for Android, developed by the Mono team.
It's a commercial product, but yes, you can then sell your app on the Android Marketplace (aka Google Play store).
Xamarin supports C# coding for both Android and iPhone, and is based on Mono. For more details, check out:
http://xamarin.com/
You may want to have a look at dot42 at https://www.dot42.com/ I've never tried it myself, tough looking at various articles, it seems that this may be a valid option.