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It's weird from the perspective of game development because it's so obvious. A lot of time is spent on development tools because making a modern game is a very

It's weird from the perspective of game development because it's so obvious. A lot of time is spent on development tools because making a modern game is a very complex undertaking that is highly data-driven. A large amount of game tools are #nocode not because it's a movement but because it's useful. A classic example is level design tools that are much more about spatial design with some coupling between entities in a game. Non-programmers can get really far and build some surprising diverse things with simple primitives. As an example our Art Director built this without any programmer assistance or writing a line of code. Just taking a basic multiplayer FPS game then grabbing components we had already made and jamming them together to get parts working: https://twitter.com/voxeleus/status/1437754413813207047/video/1 https://twitter.com/voxeleus/status/1437754413813207047/vide... You can further see this in many creative games or games with modding tools where players put together complex behavior without using a line of code. Right up to things like Minecraft Redstone which is really an esoteric, spatial programming language. But crucially doesn't feel much like programming at all. I think there's a lot to be taken from the game space for people trying to build no-code tools. Particularly in that you're not trying to remove a programmer but empower non-programmers in ways that suit them.

redisman 5y ago
I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. You can maybe prototype a game mechanic if it’s not very unique with drag and drop but it’ll never scale to production. By the end the game code will have thousands of special cases which would make the nice no code experience a complete Frankenstein monster
- meheleventyone 5y ago
  > I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. Programming is just a tool as well... there's a odd distinction here that somehow more specific tools are lesser. I also think this is where the whole #nocode thing can go wrong. You should empower non-programmers in ways that suit them. > You can maybe prototype a game mechanic if it’s not very unique with drag and drop but it’ll never scale to production. The expressiveness of composition is only limited by the number of elements you have to compose. In the specific zombie case no it wouldn't scale to production. But then the prototype wasn’t meant to and also would never have existed if it weren't for these tools. We unlocked the ability for our Art Director to prototype a new game all by themselves. That's massive from a creativity point of view. We'll almost certainly turn it into a full game at some point. From a production standpoint a game is thousands of special data cases. Which is why tools are so important and code is both data and a tool but if you can simplify things so much the better.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  > I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. How would you describe the difference?

redisman 5y ago

I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. You can maybe prototype a game mechanic if it’s not very unique with drag and drop but it’ll never scale to production. By the end the game code will have thousands of special cases which would make the nice no code experience a complete Frankenstein monster

meheleventyone 5y ago
> I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. Programming is just a tool as well... there's a odd distinction here that somehow more specific tools are lesser. I also think this is where the whole #nocode thing can go wrong. You should empower non-programmers in ways that suit them. > You can maybe prototype a game mechanic if it’s not very unique with drag and drop but it’ll never scale to production. The expressiveness of composition is only limited by the number of elements you have to compose. In the specific zombie case no it wouldn't scale to production. But then the prototype wasn’t meant to and also would never have existed if it weren't for these tools. We unlocked the ability for our Art Director to prototype a new game all by themselves. That's massive from a creativity point of view. We'll almost certainly turn it into a full game at some point. From a production standpoint a game is thousands of special data cases. Which is why tools are so important and code is both data and a tool but if you can simplify things so much the better.
jrochkind1 5y ago
> I feel like there is a distinction between tools and no code and these are just tools. How would you describe the difference?