{"slug": "monogame", "name": "MonoGame", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 6, "warners": 1, "score": 2.265, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-12-02", "latest": "2026-09-15", "why": "it's one of the best frameworks I've ever used for gamedev", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "it's one of the best frameworks I've ever used for gamedev", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://monogame.net", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["MonoGame"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 788776000, "item_id": 49298500, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49298500", "by": "ivm", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've also been making a game engine based on MonoGame", "excerpt": "I've also been making a game engine based on MonoGame (and prime31/Nez), and one thing I recommend looking into is headless mode for both the game and the editor. I started my engine in the first place because I want to get back into gamedev, but there's no way I'm going back to the convoluted editor-centered workflow of Unity/Godot. And with proper MVVM, you can get the game headless too, so agents can play without ", "context": "game engine developer", "use_case": "game engine base", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: C# Game Engine with its own scripting language and IDE"}, {"id": 756720496, "item_id": 47295031, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47295031", "by": "sodafountan", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's one of the best frameworks I've ever used for gamedev", "excerpt": "I used Monogame back when it was a proprietary framework called XNA developed at Microsoft. You used to be able to use XNA to build Indie games for the Xbox 360, hard to believe, but this is going on 15 years ago at this point. I built two indie games and made a couple of hundred bucks back when I was in High School. It's actually what got me into programming in the first place. I'm happy to see that XNA became Monog", "context": "built two indie games in high school", "use_case": "indie game development", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}, {"id": 756712960, "item_id": 47294560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47294560", "by": "4pkjai", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s really good", "excerpt": "I used MonoGame to port my XNA games to other platforms. It\u2019s really good, also it was very cool as a junior developer to see the code for the methods I used.", "context": "junior developer at the time", "use_case": "porting XNA games to other platforms", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 756736736, "item_id": 47296046, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47296046", "by": "NotGMan", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "We used Monogame at a previous company and it's a nightmare to be productive in it.", "excerpt": "We used Monogame at a previous company and it's a nightmare to be productive in it. The lack of any kind of an editor makes any kind of dev a nightmare: 3d adjustments? Good luck, guess it.. UI adjustments: good luck, try it 300 times until you get it right. Switched to Unity, best choice ever.", "context": "", "use_case": "game development", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}]}], "who": [{"by": "hirvi74", "context": "hobbyist game developer working with non-technical friends", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716249", "date": "2026-09-15"}, {"by": "ivm", "context": "game engine developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49298500", "date": "2026-08-14"}, {"by": "sodafountan", "context": "built two indie games in high school", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47295031", "date": "2026-03-07"}, {"by": "4pkjai", "context": "junior developer at the time", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47294560", "date": "2026-03-07"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["building a game", "game engine base", "game development", "indie game development", "porting xna games to other platforms", "small 2d game in c#"], "compared": [{"slug": "unity", "name": "Unity", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "godot", "name": "Godot", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47293682", "title": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49712416", "title": "AI is breaking our proxies for expertise", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49258085", "title": "Show HN: C# Game Engine with its own scripting language and IDE", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46054787", "title": "Stride Game Engine 4.3 with .NET 10 Support", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"compare": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 795459984, "item_id": 49716249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716249", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am using Monogame, and I realized that is probably not the library to use if I am going to have no understanding of how things work under the hood.", "excerpt": "GP here, hopefully you are correct. I have two projects running concurrently. One is my hand-written project. The other is one \"demolition zone.\" In the latter, I can vibe-code and do whatever I want just to see what LLMs can hack away at in comparison. Besides the enjoyment I get from programming by hand, I have a more overarching concern when it comes to a building a full game. I am using Monogame, and I realized t", "context": "hobbyist game developer working with non-technical friends", "use_case": "building a game", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI is breaking our proxies for expertise"}, {"id": 788776000, "item_id": 49298500, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49298500", "by": "ivm", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've also been making a game engine based on MonoGame", "excerpt": "I've also been making a game engine based on MonoGame (and prime31/Nez), and one thing I recommend looking into is headless mode for both the game and the editor. I started my engine in the first place because I want to get back into gamedev, but there's no way I'm going back to the convoluted editor-centered workflow of Unity/Godot. And with proper MVVM, you can get the game headless too, so agents can play without ", "context": "game engine developer", "use_case": "game engine base", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: C# Game Engine with its own scripting language and IDE"}, {"id": 756736736, "item_id": 47296046, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47296046", "by": "NotGMan", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "We used Monogame at a previous company and it's a nightmare to be productive in it.", "excerpt": "We used Monogame at a previous company and it's a nightmare to be productive in it. The lack of any kind of an editor makes any kind of dev a nightmare: 3d adjustments? Good luck, guess it.. UI adjustments: good luck, try it 300 times until you get it right. Switched to Unity, best choice ever.", "context": "", "use_case": "game development", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}, {"id": 756720496, "item_id": 47295031, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47295031", "by": "sodafountan", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's one of the best frameworks I've ever used for gamedev", "excerpt": "I used Monogame back when it was a proprietary framework called XNA developed at Microsoft. You used to be able to use XNA to build Indie games for the Xbox 360, hard to believe, but this is going on 15 years ago at this point. I built two indie games and made a couple of hundred bucks back when I was in High School. It's actually what got me into programming in the first place. I'm happy to see that XNA became Monog", "context": "built two indie games in high school", "use_case": "indie game development", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}, {"id": 756712960, "item_id": 47294560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47294560", "by": "4pkjai", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s really good", "excerpt": "I used MonoGame to port my XNA games to other platforms. It\u2019s really good, also it was very cool as a junior developer to see the code for the methods I used.", "context": "junior developer at the time", "use_case": "porting XNA games to other platforms", "switched_from": "", "story": "MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games"}, {"id": 737905026, "item_id": 46119064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46119064", "by": "eknkc", "date": "2025-12-02", "stance": "compare", "quote": "MonoGame was basically abandoned for a long time.", "excerpt": "Let's say I want to create a small 2D game. I'm no game dev so nothing fancy, just a PoC. I'm willing to take a code first approach and I love C#. What is my best best? - Unity seems promising but they have a weird version of mono running things and not so recent C# features available. Might be a non issue. - Godot seems more promising for my use case but I feel like they want you to use GDScript. I don't want to use", "context": "not a game dev, wants a PoC", "use_case": "small 2D game in C#", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stride Game Engine 4.3 with .NET 10 Support"}]}