Exiting a Game Immediately

Demonstrates how to exit a game in response to user input.

Complete Sample

The code in this topic shows you the technique. You can download a complete code sample for this topic, including full source code and any additional supporting files required by the sample.

Download GameLoop_Sample.zip.

Exiting a Game Without Finishing the Current Update

To exit the game loop without running any remaining code in the update handler

1. Derive a class from Game.

2. Create a method that checks KeyboardState.IsKeyDown for the state of the ESC key.

3. If the ESC key has been pressed, call Game.Exit and return true.

   bool checkExitKey(KeyboardState keyboardState, GamePadState gamePadState)
   {
       // Check to see whether ESC was pressed on the keyboard 
       // or BACK was pressed on the controller.
       if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Escape) ||
           gamePadState.Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed)
       {
           Exit();
           return true;
       }
       return false;
   }
   

4. Call the method in Game.Update, and return from Update if the method returned true.

   GamePadState gamePadState = GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One);
   KeyboardState keyboardState = Keyboard.GetState();
   
   // Check to see if the user has exited
   if (checkExitKey(keyboardState, gamePadState))
   {
       base.Update(gameTime);
       return;
   }
   

5. Create a method to handle the Game.Exiting event.

   The Exiting event is issued at the end of the tick in which Game.Exit is called.

   void Game1_Exiting(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
       // Add any code that must execute before the game ends.
   }