Recently I got Visual Studio 2012 from visual studio 2010, although did not expect Visual Studio to 2012 to designed the way it was. Anyway I am pleased with some of VS 2012 technology and have moved all of my projects to it. At this point of time since I got VS 2012 I have been into making windows applications and other non-game activities. ALTHOUGH have recently gotten into the spirit of game development and I am planning to make a 3d comical game, shader effects, not too complicated meshes, but it requires alot of lighting effects to emphasise certain parts of the game. When I was using VS 2010 I had a great time making 2d games with XNA, it uses a great language, and has a very awesome system. But I no longer have XNA with me, and the workarounds described in stackoverflow always gives me errors while using xna. Anyway it seems that microsoft have stuffed themselves up with xna anyway with the weirdness of Windows 8, and it being only avaliabe on pc and xbox. Due to these reasons I have decided to work with Directx and Direct3d to produce my new game, although the overflowing credits after each directx game gives me the shivers, and the low-level coding of directx also puts me on thin ice with my games, left in a confusional mess with what decision I should make. I don't know anything about directx or direct3d. I am an indie developer, but I am planning to take on alot of professional aspects of games. I don't have heaps of time(2-3 hours a day) I don't mind the complexity of how directx works, as long as I can learn how to make the fundementals of a game in a week. I am also unsure if directx is really for my situation, and keep with xna game development. Anyone can tell me the best technology for me would be great.