Comment Some options (Score 1) 254
I once spent ~6 months making an RTS in C# and it was quite hard, but I had the basics - shooting tanks, pathfinding, economy, 3d maps. I did it in XNA with the help of Riemers tutorials.
These days, monogame is now 'the C# way' of writing games. As a bonus you get multiple device support, but the the thing that is good for you is it's very like XNA, which until recently was the best choice, so all of the XNA tutorials still have relevance for you.
Unless you are making a simple game, C# is not going to cut it. If you are making C&C1, then it will be ok, but if you plan to make Supreme Commander then you will need C++ for performance reasons. Still, you could get it up to a certain level with C#.
I am a (perhaps obsessively) massive fan of the RTS Supreme Commander Forged Alliance and play daily on FaForever.com. In my mind the game is a technical marvel and recently I have come to understand how it is built, which may interest you. All of the hardcore processing is done in C++ (physics, pathfinding, 3D) and all of the game logic (eco, unit definitions, is a building finished, what can a unit do, ui) is done in LUA, which is like javascript. All of the LUA files are included in the game so you can see how they do things, but you can also edit it and change it. In fact you can rip all of the content out of the game and replace it with your own models, sounds, bitmaps, units, logic and behaviors. I think this could be interesting for you because you could actually implement your entire game now using their engine (it's called the moho engine) which would get your game up and running instantly (without having to spend 1 month just to get pathfinding working). You could never sell it this way, but in terms or rapid prototyping it's a great idea.
I'm not sure if you've thought about it but you will be a) building a game engine and b) building a game that uses it. The first step involves crazy headaches and frankly, a level of programming that most developers never achieve. Why not skip it?
These days, monogame is now 'the C# way' of writing games. As a bonus you get multiple device support, but the the thing that is good for you is it's very like XNA, which until recently was the best choice, so all of the XNA tutorials still have relevance for you.
Unless you are making a simple game, C# is not going to cut it. If you are making C&C1, then it will be ok, but if you plan to make Supreme Commander then you will need C++ for performance reasons. Still, you could get it up to a certain level with C#.
I am a (perhaps obsessively) massive fan of the RTS Supreme Commander Forged Alliance and play daily on FaForever.com. In my mind the game is a technical marvel and recently I have come to understand how it is built, which may interest you. All of the hardcore processing is done in C++ (physics, pathfinding, 3D) and all of the game logic (eco, unit definitions, is a building finished, what can a unit do, ui) is done in LUA, which is like javascript. All of the LUA files are included in the game so you can see how they do things, but you can also edit it and change it. In fact you can rip all of the content out of the game and replace it with your own models, sounds, bitmaps, units, logic and behaviors. I think this could be interesting for you because you could actually implement your entire game now using their engine (it's called the moho engine) which would get your game up and running instantly (without having to spend 1 month just to get pathfinding working). You could never sell it this way, but in terms or rapid prototyping it's a great idea.
I'm not sure if you've thought about it but you will be a) building a game engine and b) building a game that uses it. The first step involves crazy headaches and frankly, a level of programming that most developers never achieve. Why not skip it?
