4 ms·

I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. Some baseline of performance is sufficient as long as you can deliver the proper exp

by nrb 7y ago

I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. Some baseline of performance is sufficient as long as you can deliver the proper experience, which is really the only thing they’re seeking in your game. If that same experience can be delivered MUCH more quickly and easier why would someone deny themselves and their users those benefits? I understand there is nuance in this decision but it feels dangerous as a hard and fast rule. I think especially so when team size > 1-2 and common understanding becomes important.

CapsAdmin 7y ago
This is very true if you want to make a game, but that's not always what a "gamedev" wants. I used to think I wanted to make games, but I really just enjoy making game systems and game engine related things.
clarry 7y ago
> I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. But we can kinda see how the "quick and easy" approach with modern engines is leading to lots and lots of sloppy games with leaky seams. I always appreciate it when a gamedev writes their own engine, and IME these tend to come out as the more polished games. Doing your own engine would also enable open sourcing it, which is something gamers can be quite grateful for 10-20 years down the road.
- reificator 7y ago
  > I always appreciate it when a gamedev writes their own engine, and IME these tend to come out as the more polished games. Of the ones that finish perhaps.
swalls 7y ago
Well, they kinda do, sometimes at least. This is a slightly weird case, but Unity has gotten a bad rap recently for being host to a million shovelware and asset flip games due to its low barrier to entry, so much so that some people avoid things made in Unity entirely.
- meheleventyone 7y ago
  How many people though? If you're going to let this sort of rumor inform technical decisions then you need to quantify it. There are after all quite a lot of other odd but unpopular reasons people won't buy a game.
bitwize 7y ago
> I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. I care. Plus, I open-source my games, so I expect players to appreciate them at one level and other coders to appreciate them at another.

by nrb 7y ago

CapsAdmin 7y ago

This is very true if you want to make a game, but that's not always what a "gamedev" wants. I used to think I wanted to make games, but I really just enjoy making game systems and game engine related things.

clarry 7y ago

> I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. But we can kinda see how the "quick and easy" approach with modern engines is leading to lots and lots of sloppy games with leaky seams. I always appreciate it when a gamedev writes their own engine, and IME these tend to come out as the more polished games. Doing your own engine would also enable open sourcing it, which is something gamers can be quite grateful for 10-20 years down the road.

reificator 7y ago
> I always appreciate it when a gamedev writes their own engine, and IME these tend to come out as the more polished games. Of the ones that finish perhaps.

swalls 7y ago

Well, they kinda do, sometimes at least. This is a slightly weird case, but Unity has gotten a bad rap recently for being host to a million shovelware and asset flip games due to its low barrier to entry, so much so that some people avoid things made in Unity entirely.

meheleventyone 7y ago
How many people though? If you're going to let this sort of rumor inform technical decisions then you need to quantify it. There are after all quite a lot of other odd but unpopular reasons people won't buy a game.

bitwize 7y ago

> I don’t think players care about the architectural purity of your product. I care. Plus, I open-source my games, so I expect players to appreciate them at one level and other coders to appreciate them at another.