I would like to develop a 2D game for Windows Phone 8. I am a professional Application Developer by day and this seems like a fun hobby.

But I have been disapointed trying to get going. It seems that 2D games (far and away the majority of games) do not have an API available.

It seems the Windows Phone makers did not include support for Direct2D. So unless you are planning to make a fully 3D app, you are out of luck.

So, if you just wanted to make a nice 2D app, these are your choices:

1. Write your game using Xaml and C# (Performance Issues?)
2. Write your game using Direct3D and but only draw on one plane.
3. Use the DirectX Took Kit found on codeplex. It allows you to use the dying XNA framework's API for development.

Number 3 seems the best for my game. But I hate to waste my time learning the XNA api when Microsoft has clearly stated that it is not going to be supported going forward.

Number 2 would work, but 3D development is really hard. I would rather not have to do all that to get the 2D effect. (Assuming Direct2D is easier. I have yet to look into that.)

Number 1 seems the easiest, but I worry that my app will not run well if it is based off of xaml rendering rather than DirectX.

What is the suggested method from Microsoft?

And who decided that 2D games were going to get shortchanged?