Or do I need to write a 3D engine from scratch/use an old XNA engine? I’d like to make a 3D game with visuals acceptable for 2016, and i’d like to know how much 3d monogame supports. This looks more attractive than Unity or Xenko in terms of license.
XNA / MonoGame (They’re basically one of the same) are API’s. You have to build your engine / game on top of them.
Here are some 3D samples from XNA to help you get started:
http://xbox.create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/?contenttype=0&devarea=6&platform=0&sort=1
Ah, ok. So would a Doom/Duke3D type of game be possible too in this API?
Yes, but all you have to do is write a basic 3D engine using quads.
I think you meant MonoGame and XNA are game frameworks, rather than engines. It’s definitely possible to build AAA quality 3d games with MonoGame, but since the provided functionality is low level (pretty much wrapped GL or DX calls, with unified API and easier state handling than raw graphics calls) you’ll have to do a lot of work. That said, IMO the API is easy to use and because it is low level you have the freedom to do whatever you want however you want! That’s the beauty of MonoGame 
And some awesome 3D games have been or are being made with MG, so it’s definitely possible! You can also check out the DigitalRune engine which was recently open sourced, search this forum or github if you’re interested.
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Wow, thanks for telling me about THAT! Looks pretty good.
I think you should know, its really fast and not >too< hard getting 3d basics up and running…
You can import models like you would a 2d texture, and draw them on a position which you can update (like you would with 2d pictures with rotation and origin)… or you can define coordinates for 3d shapes to be drawn, rather than using pre-made assets.
-If you feel comfortable with Vectors and related functions, you have enough to begin with. -From my experience.
But it does take that much more time to code and populate that extra dimension… I started by making an older game (pacman) into 3d… -That way I already had game-play, input, sound, title etc, and could just DRAW a 3d representation from the same classes and positions etc, no changes required…
I followed up with a flying game, because it has open space, and only one surface. And I could generate terrain from monochrome height-maps…
I think this speaks to the 3D capabilities of monogame, that I could do those things without instruction or prior training, just by internet-searching when I had issues…
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