Ask HN: What's a good cross platform alternative to C#?

[larswinback]

C# is a relatively high level language which is exceptionally suited for games. Are there any alternatives which are as good as it on Linux? Suitable for game development of course. Or completely different languages that are good for game dev if you think that.

[claytonaalves]

Lua has LÖVE (https://love2d.org/), a 2D engine. Python has PyGame (http://www.pygame.org/). Both are cross platform interpreted languages. If you are planning to develop for mobile, unfortunately there's no cross platform.

[larswinback]

I'm doing 3D games though, with OpenGL. Would definitely use LÖVE if I was doing 2D games.

[bdfh42]

People often describe C# as "Java done right" - so Java? Certainly cross platform.

[larswinback]

The problem here is "done right". Java is certainly not as polished as C# in a lot of senses.

[bdfh42]

True but everything is there if you dig deep enough.

You say you are looking for an alternative to C# and with Linux support - why is that - what are you looking for in addition to what C# has to offer on that platform?

[Edit]Comment indentation limits stop me replying to the reply below so. OK, you can't run visual Studio on Linux but you can code in C# against the .NET framework. Have you looked at the Mono project?

[larswinback]

I have looked at it, yes. But it seems like it's not very well integrated with Linux. On Linux I usually prefer to use a text editor for editing code. So I would prefer a language which suits being edited in one.

[larswinback]

What I'm really looking for is a language suited for gamedev. And I've found C# with Visual Studio fits that very well. Unfortunately I mostly use Linux.

[m1k3yboi]

Simple. C or C++. Highly portable, C++ is widely used by Game Devs.

[larswinback]

I would probably pick C++ then. Like it better than Java, but unfortunately not as good as C#.

[m1k3yboi]

Lua?

[larswinback]

Kind of nice. Does it have OpenGL support though?

[m1k3yboi]

Yes, there is a LuaGL binding. Angry birds is written with Lua so it can't be too bad.

[gringofyx]

Mono?