Best Practices for .NET Game Development
These guidelines help you build fast, maintainable, and scalable games using the .NET ecosystem.
Architecture & Design Patterns
Entity‑Component‑System (ECS)
Separate data (components) from behavior (systems) to achieve cache‑friendly processing.
- Keep components plain structs or lightweight classes.
- Systems should operate on filtered component sets.
- Consider using
DefaultEcsorStride.ECS.
Dependency Injection (DI)
Use DI for services like audio, input, and networking to simplify testing.
services.AddSingleton<IAudioService, AudioService>();
Command Pattern
Encapsulate player actions into command objects for undo/redo and networking.
Performance Tips
- Prefer
Span<T>andMemory<T>for temporary buffers. - Use
System.Numerics.Vector<T>for SIMD‑accelerated math. - Pool frequently allocated objects with
ArrayPool<T>orObjectPool<T>. - Avoid boxing in hot loops; keep structs small and immutable.
- Profile with PerfView or
dotnet-trace.
Memory Management
Garbage collection pauses can impact frame rates. Follow these practices:
- Allocate once and reuse during gameplay.
- Prefer
structfor small value types (< 16 bytes). - Use
ReadOnlySpan<byte>for asset loading. - Enable
GCSettings.LatencyMode = GCLatencyMode.SustainedLowLatencyduring critical sections.
Cross‑Platform Considerations
.NET 8+ with Microsoft.Maui and MonoGame enables deployment to Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and consoles.
- Abstract platform‑specific APIs behind interfaces.
- Test input handling on each target device.
- Use
SkiaSharpfor consistent 2D rendering.