Good system for 2D C# development

Can anybody recommend a good system for 2D (not 3D) game development in C#?

I've recently tried FlatRedBall ( http://www.flatredball.com/frb/ ) and thought it was basically a waste of time, being very buggy and not well implemented.

Thanks!

I was going to recommend the dx game engine, but the website is out today, hopefully it will be back. The author has a couple of complete games done with the engine that are pretty nice.

The site is dxgame.com

Orca's got a good 2d game development library for C#. I remember running a couple of the tests he had going. I haven't been on IRC in ages though, so I'm not sure what the state of play is with it now. Check with him in IRC, or maybe someone else can comment.

Allegro was great for C++, wonder if it works for C#?

Are any of the standard and popular 3d engines good for 2d games?
I know there are several very popular 3d libraries that work well with C#, but 100% of the ads/info for them is about 3d. If they mention 2d at all in the ads/pictures it is only for hud displays on 3d screens.

Hmmm OK FRB seems to be universally despised. I Googled a few engines out there: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=2d+game+engine+in+c%23

Ovorp looks overly complicated but I assume you could drop what you don't need.

My question:

Is C# only available for the .NET??? Is there no .NET version of C#???

Nope, there is no non .NET version of C# as far as I know. Well, you can use it with mono (I beleive) but not otherwise.

Well, hopefully that Bloodshed'll develop C# for non .NET users, easier said than done, tho. Of course, since Dev-C++ is almost like VC++ without the .NET, I can see Dev-C# trying to come into play, if that ever becomes something to consider about.

Aside from FlatRedBall, there really isn't any other 2D C# engine to my knowlege. Ovorp isnt being supported anymore (i'm not sure). But I agree, FRB is buggy as hell and not quite as flexible as it makes itself out to be...

It has amazed me for so many years that with todays power of video cards, they can't put in 2D hardware acceleration and have DX utilize it.

I'm not asking to research any new 2D advances, just blit the pixels, store gfx in video ram (not like textures but as resctangles of any size), alpha blend them, rotate and scale them. Thats it. I believe they had this stuff back in the 90s.

Bring back DDraw with HW acceleration!!! 3D is great, but 2D can also hold its own in certain areas.

This one may be wgat you are looking for, NoBoDo. It's still in developmenet but it looks promising...

http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/Endogine.asp

Barney

Thanks Barnabius, that one (Endogine) really does look promising.

Grey's recommendation I'll give a try also - looks like it has a .net wrapper at http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/bindings.html


Others recommended here - Ovorp appears to be dead, dxgame.com (down, but I'll try again) and Orca's engine (don't know where to find?).

Thanks!
Mark.