Thread: Non-Frame based game

Hello,

Im currently in the planning stages of a simple 2d non-frame based strategy. It's basically a birds view of a map with little units on it.
Since its not frame intensive, i've chosen to use GDI (clean and simple). However for the map, in which the cursor interacts with units.
Should I just be displaying a bitmap, and bitmaps ontop of it OR use a custom control? with a grid? - Which is best for performance (I know it depends on how it's done, but is there any performance advantage of a cust-control?)

Thanks in advance, I hope i'm being clear on what I'm trying to do.

Best for performance is not using GDI, of course. Neither do I think that GDI is particularly "clean" or "simple".

That aside, the best method is to use BitBlt (or a similar function - you might need masking) to blit sprites to an offscreen buffer and then blit it all to the screen. (Yes, you should do that even in non-frame-based games.)
As for the canvas, that should be a plain window.

Thanks