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Is 1 really that big of a mistake? I understand that it's a mistake to build a fully functional game engine to then use in production but building just enough t

Is 1 really that big of a mistake? I understand that it's a mistake to build a fully functional game engine to then use in production but building just enough to better grok the internals seems like invaluable information to me

magic_beans 9y ago
Unfortunately "invaluable information" doesn't translate to sales. At all.
yscik 9y ago
It's a great thing to do if you want to learn. Not so much if you want to release a game and make money. Even if you want some very special engine-level feature, you can find an engine extendable enough and just add what you need.
hjnilsson 9y ago
It is valuable if your goal is to learn to make games and invest in yourself. But it is not valuable if you want to make money and be successful in your indie venture. It is possible the knowledge he gained from writing his own engine, will allow him to get a better paid job down the road for example. But most likely those $85 000 would be better spent on education.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
batty_alex 9y ago
Well, he says "custom engine" in the article but, he used XNA. When people hear "built an engine" they tend to assume the person spent years building it from-scratch. XNA is hardly from-scratch. I think, in this case, the author meant he didn't use one of the big commercial engines. Aside from all that, I also agree that it's not a really big mistake.
bitwize 9y ago
Yes, absolutely. The world has standardized on Unreal for big games and Unity for small to medium sized games. These come with enormous ecosystems and ready-made asset pipelines, which will dramatically decrease your time to market. Unless you're sitting on a fat pile of cash and free time that you can afford to never see again after you commit it to developing some experimental new engine and tools for the same, the smart thing to do is license Unreal or Unity. That is, of course, assuming that you think sales are THE thing that matters in indie game development. In which case you are probably better off attaching yourself to a large studio such as EA, than going indie.
- disease 9y ago
  What about 2D games? It seems GameMaker may have the advantage there. I've completed six game jam games and am looking into moving towards a slightly larger project and am currently considering Phaser and GameMaker, but if the 2D has come along in Unity maybe it is worth trying.

magic_beans 9y ago

Unfortunately "invaluable information" doesn't translate to sales. At all.

yscik 9y ago

It's a great thing to do if you want to learn. Not so much if you want to release a game and make money. Even if you want some very special engine-level feature, you can find an engine extendable enough and just add what you need.

hjnilsson 9y ago

It is valuable if your goal is to learn to make games and invest in yourself. But it is not valuable if you want to make money and be successful in your indie venture. It is possible the knowledge he gained from writing his own engine, will allow him to get a better paid job down the road for example. But most likely those $85 000 would be better spent on education.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

batty_alex 9y ago

Well, he says "custom engine" in the article but, he used XNA. When people hear "built an engine" they tend to assume the person spent years building it from-scratch. XNA is hardly from-scratch. I think, in this case, the author meant he didn't use one of the big commercial engines. Aside from all that, I also agree that it's not a really big mistake.

bitwize 9y ago

Yes, absolutely. The world has standardized on Unreal for big games and Unity for small to medium sized games. These come with enormous ecosystems and ready-made asset pipelines, which will dramatically decrease your time to market. Unless you're sitting on a fat pile of cash and free time that you can afford to never see again after you commit it to developing some experimental new engine and tools for the same, the smart thing to do is license Unreal or Unity. That is, of course, assuming that you think sales are THE thing that matters in indie game development. In which case you are probably better off attaching yourself to a large studio such as EA, than going indie.

disease 9y ago
What about 2D games? It seems GameMaker may have the advantage there. I've completed six game jam games and am looking into moving towards a slightly larger project and am currently considering Phaser and GameMaker, but if the 2D has come along in Unity maybe it is worth trying.