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Do you remember an arcade game, that allowed two people to versus or play each other? It was a Galaga/Gradius type game.

Me and a couple of other people I know want to make a game like this. We want to get some other opinions on what programming languages to use. (C or C++ isn't an option).

We plan to use an engine to help us build the game and it's going to be a multiplayer game, so we would be handling the networking with this language as well.

We are thinking about C#, Java, or Actionscript 3.

Any advice on this? And if anyone knows the arcade game I am referring to please post up!

Edit

Let me add something here, this game will be played on computers and laptops only. We mainly want to know what's good for handling the networking and Dual screen play.

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5 and 5 (answered) and still closed! There ought to be a badge in this somewhere for someone :) – Tim Holt May 8 '12 at 16:46
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@TimHolt, name it "Under the Wire" or "Jailbreak"? – John McDonald May 8 '12 at 18:42

closed as not constructive by Josh Petrie, Tetrad♦ May 8 '12 at 16:35

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3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

C# and XNA will allow you to develop for Windows, XBox, and Windows Phone. It supports multi-player two former platforms. One of the game samples that comes with the developer tools used to be a space shooter.

In my experience it has a very low barrier to entry, the tools are free for Windows, and only $99/year for XBox and Windows Phone.

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Nate Bross, thanks but I forgot to update how we will only make this for computers and laptops. We have no plans for mobile and console development. – Bombcode Feb 13 '11 at 1:39
I personally use XNA even though I only make games for computers and I love the way it works. You should definitely take a look at it even if you're not interested by the XBox/Windows phone support. – Jesse Emond Feb 13 '11 at 1:43
@Bombcode: XNA can still be used for computers/laptops. Also, XNA is considered pretty easy to learn by a lot of people. – Omnion Feb 13 '11 at 3:24
I second XNA. All of the tools can be gotten from Microsoft for free, it targets computers just fine, it supports local multi-player, and it supports networked multi-player. – user5415 Feb 13 '11 at 14:47
Problem with XNA is that it just runs on Windows. Won't run on OSX or Linux, since Mono.XNA isn't there yet. – bummzack Feb 15 '11 at 7:32
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up vote 4 down vote

Whichever language you know best, and suits your end product. If you're not wanting a web game, Actionscript is out the window. If you don't know Java, why bother with it?

On a more concrete note, I would probably go for C# or Java.

Then again, I'm pretty sure Unity might work too.

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+1 for your first suggestion. The "best language" is the one you'll be most productive in, and that answer can be different for everybody. – Bob Somers Feb 15 '11 at 5:47
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What if ones best language is VBA, or JavaScript? I wouldn't say those are best for most games. If you're talking about third generation languages, then yes, I'd say that which ever you're most proficient in should be where you look first. – Nate Feb 15 '11 at 14:54
Oops I meant we knew Java the best. – Bombcode Mar 10 '11 at 3:28
Have you thought of a point Java might fall down on? – The Communist Duck Mar 10 '11 at 16:51
I was able to create a robust layout in XNA in a few hours while in Java every little GUI element I added screwed up everything. – Bombcode Mar 14 '11 at 3:09
up vote 3 down vote

Looks like you're trying to make something 2d and relatively simple. I'd say go for PyGame (a game library for python); if you were going 3d I'd say Unity.

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