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title Chapter 01: Setting Up MonoGame for Android and iOS Development
description Get started with MonoGame mobile development by setting up your development environment, tools, and SDKs for Android and iOS platforms.

Getting Started and Overview

This tutorial extends the Dungeon Slime tutorial to mobile platforms. If you have not completed the desktop tutorial yet, we recommend finishing it first as we will be building directly on that foundation.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this mobile tutorial series, you will have:

  • Ported the Dungeon Slime game to run on Android and iOS
  • Implemented touch controls to replace mouse and keyboard input
  • Set up cross-platform project architecture for code sharing
  • Learned debugging techniques for mobile development
  • Published your game to both Google Play and the App Store
  • Created automated deployment workflows

Development Requirements

Android Development

Platform Support: Android development can be accomplished on either Windows PC or Mac.

Note

ARM64 variants of Windows do not run the Android simulator very well.

Required Tools:

  • Android Device Manager - Used to set up simulators (accessible through Visual Studio)
  • Android SDK Manager - Used to install the SDK platforms

These tools are available by installing the Android Workload using the MonoGame Getting Started Instructions.

Additional Notes: For Windows users, ensure Hyper-V is enabled for better emulator performance. On Mac, Android Studio can be used alongside Rider for advanced emulator configurations.

For more information visit about getting started with Android development:

To release your game to the Google Play Store, you will need to sign up for a developer account at Google Play Signup. You will need to accept the Developer Distribution Agreement and pay a registration fee.

More information about the registration process can be found here Registration process.

iOS Development

Platform Requirement: For iOS development you will require a Mac, whether you develop entirely on one or use the Pair to Mac option with Windows Visual Studio.

Since Visual Studio for Mac has been deprecated, JetBrains Rider or VS Code can be used to develop for iOS. There is a non-commercial licence available of Rider.

For information about Pairing between Visual Studio and Mac, learn more here.

Additional Requirements:

  • Xcode - Required for iOS development and deployment
  • Apple Developer Account - Required for physical device deployment and App Store publishing (enrollment link)

Modern .NET Project Features

This tutorial utilizes modern .NET project management features to streamline cross-platform development:

Central Package Management

We will be using Central Package Management to maintain consistent package versions across all platform projects. This ensures your shared code library and platform-specific projects use identical dependency versions.

SLNX Solution Format

The sample projects use the new SLNX solution format for improved cross-platform development experience and better integration with modern .NET tooling.

Next Steps

In the next chapter, we will convert the existing Windows-only Dungeon Slime game project to support iOS and Android platforms.