Good combination of tools and techniques for 3d XNA / WP7 Game [closed]

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Closed 9 years ago.

I have been working on 3D XNA games for the desktop version of XNA and one of the most stinging problems was the lack of proper animation support for 3D models. I am now trying to get a game for wp7 started an am wondering what a recommended combination of tools is based on experience.

In short: I am looking for tips / best practices / experiences with the following workflow

• modelling
• texturing
• animating
• importing into project

I know that there are tutorials on creator.xna.com, but i am specifically looking for real world examples. The least code i have to write myself, the better. I particularly dont like the examples on there because there is a lot of custom code going on in there for importing and working with animations.

Answer 1

There is a lot of custom code because that is how XNA is. I was amazed I had to actually use math to figure how how to move an object across the screen at a certain speed. I mean who ever thought math would be useful beyond counting change!? Your best bet would be to go look at some of the same libraries for XNA. Codeplex.com has quite a few. I have no experience with any since we did purely 2d things.

XNA 3D game library http://www.synapsegaming.com/products/sunburn/engine/

Links to a ton of XNA resources and game engines

• http://www.nelxon.com/681/xdsk2/
• http://oxgameengine.codeplex.com/
• http://balder.codeplex.com/
• http://nuclexframework.codeplex.com/

Or you could use something like Unity3D.

As cool as I think XNA is, I was surprised on how much you have to do by hand. I suppose I shouldn't be. Much of the code from the examples on creator can be ripped out and resued. The problem is finding what you need and understanding what it is doing. Ok that was my problem.

Good Luck

Answer 2

It depends entirely on your own experience. For example I'm a dab hand with MaxScript so I would always favour 3dsmax because I know I wont have too much trouble with the content pipeline. Another person might be much more familiar with Maya scripting so chosing Max would be madness for them. There's really no "right" answer for this.

I particularly dont like the examples on there because there is a lot of custom code going on in there for importing and working with animations.

This is the world of games development - it's not all fun.