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A thing I just thought about, is that XNA is not supported in Windows Forms (it doesn't seem to be). So what do we do for a Map Editor and other tools? Use DirectX, or make our own GUI in XNA?

I recommend having the editor as an add-on. This isn't a commercial game anyway.

They're very useful but it's manageable without. We can make a GUI later.

My opinion. Again this is coming from a programming noob.

Making maps is a big feature for games. It would be a bad choice to leave that feature out of a RTS engine that wishes to make creating games relatively easy.

I'd try to create a gui for XNA, to keep everything running on the same basis.

Solinx

Wait, sorry! I thought this was in the game section.

Ignore me!

I already thought it a strange comment

Solinx

there's no way we're going to make maps by hand, that's waaay too much work

XNA can work within Windows forms (or it should).  You should be able to use that as the backing for the map editor and such.  It can also be a separate project, as it just has to create a certain format for the map which the game reads.  For starters you can just use heightmaps to generate terrain, and flesh out the map format as time goes on (probably XML).

[it does not offer a paradigm comparable to model-view-controller.]

It's nice to have you around Mastermind

If it works with Windows forms, then that sounds like the best option.

Did a search on wikipedia:

Windows Forms is the name given to the graphical user interface application programming interface (API) included as a part of Microsoft's .NET Framework, providing access to the native Microsoft Windows interface elements by wrapping the existing Windows API in managed code. While it is seen as a replacement for the earlier and more complex C++ based Microsoft Foundation Class Library, it does not offer a paradigm comparable to model-view-controller. Some after-market and third party libraries have been created to address this issue. The most widely used of these is the User Interface Process Application Block, which is released by the Microsoft patterns & practices group as a free download that includes the source code to the core library and quick start examples.

Is that a problem? Or wouldn't it matter?

Solinx

If there are third party libraries available to compensate for this shortfall, it is not a serious issue.

i don't see what windows forms have to do with MVC?