4 ms·

Is there something you would do differently, if you could go back in time? Like many developers around here I got into programming through game development. Ba

Is there something you would do differently, if you could go back in time? Like many developers around here I got into programming through game development. Back in the days I started working on my own game engine and put a lot of effort into it without going anywhere. About 8 years I spent working on it on and off and learned a ton of C++. I believe, it was time well spent, but sometimes I get the nagging doubt that I should have spent my time more wisely. Times change. Family, 2 kids, a house. I had to optimize my way of spending time. In the late hours I got left I started dabbling into other engines and frameworks for 3D games: Three.js, Dart, Haxe (Flambe, HaxeFlixel, HaxePunk) and now finally settled on Unity. If I could go back in time I would tell my former self: "Stop wasting time doing everything from the ground up. Start making games!" I believe many aspiring game developers fall into the trap of doing everything by themselves. They start building frameworks and stuff just for the sake of it and forget, that making games requires a more widespread skill set (Game Design, Concept Art, Modelling, Texturing, Marketing, etc..) Your engine is a work of art. I love the approach you've taken. But from the start I always thought, that you should start working on a game as soon as possible. What's your opinion on this?

gavanwoolery 10y ago
Excellent question. :) First, it is quite contrary, but I believe that you don't necessarily need to make a "game" - in the way most people think that you should. You are better off if you can, but it is not a requirement. The best example I can cite is Minecraft, whose own creator claims it is not a game (he also is adverse to labels in general though). I demoed VQ to someone at GDC and they had fun just walking around and enjoying the scenery (yes, it was the proverbial "walking simulator"). There is value in whatever you decide to do, even if it is not monetary value. The most important thing, I think, is that you are having fun, because if you are not then the game business is generally not worth the associated suffering. In my case, I enjoyed work most of the time, and in addition got to take a stab at pushing technological boundaries. The latter was not particularly valuable in terms of gameplay, but it was valuable in terms of creating interest and opportunities. That said, the most telling thing that I found was that I often wanted to find something simpler (not a strong desire, but definitely in the back of my head). If I had to redo it all I'd make a 2D platformer - as overdone as that is, it is something that is far easier to work on and there are not nearly as many technical battles. What you decide to use is up to you, but going completely from scratch is not a good idea IMO (unless you want to learn it all). I am a big fan of minimalist frameworks like Monogame and bgfx - they handle a lot of that annoying framework setup for you, but do not include the usual scene-graph workflow that you find in Unreal and Unity. That said, Unreal and Unity are excellent options if you do prefer a scene editor and an engine that is ready to ship out of the box.
- zubspace 10y ago
  Thank you for your wise words! You are absolutely right. Beauty can be found even in 'simple' things. Hope to see more creative work from you in the future if you get to it. Wish you all the best!
  - gavanwoolery 10y ago
    Thanks!
- vanderZwan 10y ago
  > If I had to redo it all I'd make a 2D platformer - as overdone as that is, it is something that is far easier to work on and there are not nearly as many technical battles. I, for one, am extremely happy that you don't get to redo all of it :P
jjnoakes 10y ago
When I fall into this line of thinking, I sometimes realize that the efforts I spent building my own thing from the ground up gave me a lot of insight into how the thing worked, what tradeoffs existed at a lower level, and it was extremely beneficial to have spent that time, whether I use what I wrote or dump it for a packaged solution. Do you think you were able to analyze your choices better, or understand the systems better, use them better, have more insight, because you spent time up front doing your own thing? I rarely (if ever) feel like time I spent that way was wasted.
- gavanwoolery 10y ago
  Yes, as with mathematics you learn the most by deriving the solution yourself. The only way you could waste time is if you walk away with nothing (money just being one of many quantities you could factor in)

gavanwoolery 10y ago

Excellent question. :) First, it is quite contrary, but I believe that you don't necessarily need to make a "game" - in the way most people think that you should. You are better off if you can, but it is not a requirement. The best example I can cite is Minecraft, whose own creator claims it is not a game (he also is adverse to labels in general though). I demoed VQ to someone at GDC and they had fun just walking around and enjoying the scenery (yes, it was the proverbial "walking simulator"). There is value in whatever you decide to do, even if it is not monetary value. The most important thing, I think, is that you are having fun, because if you are not then the game business is generally not worth the associated suffering. In my case, I enjoyed work most of the time, and in addition got to take a stab at pushing technological boundaries. The latter was not particularly valuable in terms of gameplay, but it was valuable in terms of creating interest and opportunities. That said, the most telling thing that I found was that I often wanted to find something simpler (not a strong desire, but definitely in the back of my head). If I had to redo it all I'd make a 2D platformer - as overdone as that is, it is something that is far easier to work on and there are not nearly as many technical battles. What you decide to use is up to you, but going completely from scratch is not a good idea IMO (unless you want to learn it all). I am a big fan of minimalist frameworks like Monogame and bgfx - they handle a lot of that annoying framework setup for you, but do not include the usual scene-graph workflow that you find in Unreal and Unity. That said, Unreal and Unity are excellent options if you do prefer a scene editor and an engine that is ready to ship out of the box.

zubspace 10y ago
Thank you for your wise words! You are absolutely right. Beauty can be found even in 'simple' things. Hope to see more creative work from you in the future if you get to it. Wish you all the best!
- gavanwoolery 10y ago
  Thanks!
vanderZwan 10y ago
> If I had to redo it all I'd make a 2D platformer - as overdone as that is, it is something that is far easier to work on and there are not nearly as many technical battles. I, for one, am extremely happy that you don't get to redo all of it :P

jjnoakes 10y ago

When I fall into this line of thinking, I sometimes realize that the efforts I spent building my own thing from the ground up gave me a lot of insight into how the thing worked, what tradeoffs existed at a lower level, and it was extremely beneficial to have spent that time, whether I use what I wrote or dump it for a packaged solution. Do you think you were able to analyze your choices better, or understand the systems better, use them better, have more insight, because you spent time up front doing your own thing? I rarely (if ever) feel like time I spent that way was wasted.

gavanwoolery 10y ago
Yes, as with mathematics you learn the most by deriving the solution yourself. The only way you could waste time is if you walk away with nothing (money just being one of many quantities you could factor in)