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Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express Develop non-commercial games in C# for Windows with the Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express. You will also need to download the Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition (see elsewhere on this page for the link). The XNA Game Studio Express includes the XNA Framework, a set of managed code development libraries that supposedly speeds up your development of games on Windows, as well as the XNA Framework Content Pipeline, tools that help you add 3D content to your games. Also included are documentation, starter kits (for example, a SpaceWar starter kit is included), etc. Important note: although the website says the XNA Game Studio Express allows you to develop for the Xbox 360, you must pay an annual fee to develop games for the Xbox 360. In fact, from the FAQ on the site, it appears that you don't even get the XNA Framework for Xbox 360 in this Express edition. You should also read the End User License Agreement (EULA) carefully before you start developing (to find out what the other restrictions are). In case you're wondering, XNA stands for "XNA's Not Acronymed", following the tradition started by GNU's "GNU's Not Unix". Currently supported systems: Windows XP SP2 only, although Windows Vista will probably be supported in the future (possibly by the time you read this).
Free Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition The Microsoft C# compiler is available free of charge from Microsoft. It generates programs for the .NET framework, not native code. Like all the current versions of their software, you will need Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista or the x64 versions. It comes with the MSDN Express Library and the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. If you are looking for the complete Visual Studio package, you will need to buy the commercial Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2005.
Free Borland C#Builder Personal Edition The Borland C# Builder Personal Edition is free for non-commercial development. It allows you to create applications for the Microsoft .NET Framework that is also interoperable with J2EE and COBRA.
MCS: The Ximian C# Compiler (Mono) Mono is an open source cross-platform implementation of Microsoft's .NET Development Framework. It includes a C# compiler (generating .NET virtual machine code, not native code), a runtime for CLR (the Common Language Infrastructure) and a set of libraries. You can embed the runtime into your C# applications. Mono currently works on Linux (both x86 and PPC), Windows, S390, with work being carried on for Strong/ARM and SPARC.
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