MonoGame 3.8.1 Installation Instructions
Verification environment
- Windows
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- Windows 10
- Windows 11
- Visual Studio
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- Visual Studio 2022
- MonoGame
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- 3.8.1
At first
MonoGame is one of the frameworks for making games. Other game frameworks include Unity, Unreal Engine, and Godot.
MonoGame basically only provides libraries for the program and uses them to build games. There are almost no dedicated GUI tools, and you can create a game by incorporating them with your own program while using external tools. Therefore, in other game frameworks, processing that could be done just by operating the GUI may need to be done by creating all the programs on your own.
The above makes it a bit of a threshold for beginners, but conversely, you can learn how basic game programs work. For advanced users, it is also possible to create game programs that are optimized to the maximum while eliminating unnecessary processing in other game frameworks. Of course, in order to achieve this, a certain level of technical ability is required.
Installing Visual Studio
If you already have Visual Studio 2022 (or a later version) installed, skip to the next item.
Visual Studio can be any version edition of 2022 or later. If you are an individual developer, you can also use the free Visual Studio (check if you are an available user).
The installation procedure is summarized in the following tips.
Note that the workload you choose depends on which platform you're developing your game for. Please refer to the following as a general rule.
| Game Behavior Platform | Installation Workload | Distribution Service |
|---|---|---|
| for Windows Mac, Linux | ZIP distribution, Steam, Epic Games, DLsite, etc. | |
| for Windows 10, 11, Xbox | Microsoft Store | |
| iOS, Android (Unexplored) | App Store, Google Play, etc. |
Installing the MonoGame Framework project templates
There are several ways to install it, but it's currently available on the Marketplace and nuget, so you don't have to worry about downloading it.
Start Visual Studio from the Start menu.
I want to open the IDE, so I start the project without creating it.
Select Manage Extensions from the menu.
Select Visual Studio Marketplace from the left menu and type in the search field in the monogame upper right.
"MonoGame Framework C# project templates" will be displayed in the list, so press the "Download" button.
When the download is complete, close all Visual Studio.
This will launch the VSIX Installer, so click the "Modify" button.
Close it when the installation is complete.
You will now be able to select a MonoGame project when you create a project.
This completes the installation.