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Because it's unfathomably hard to do anything when making a game. I tried making a simple 2D rougelike a few times and was overwhelmed by the effort required fo

Because it's unfathomably hard to do anything when making a game. I tried making a simple 2D rougelike a few times and was overwhelmed by the effort required for simple things. Multiply that ten thousand times with the added scale of 'real' games and things are just going to get cut if they're not essential to the experience.

deaddodo 3y ago
> I tried making a simple 2D rougelike a few times and was overwhelmed by the effort required for simple things. I made an actual terminal Rogue-clone in University. It was a short game parodying the University experience and, though I haven't touched it since, was probably terrible. Even so, I was able to do all that + most of the mechanics (AoT procedural generation, leveling, various characters/enemies, a full event-based architecture, a terminal rendering system using ANSI codes, etc) in about a week of in-between class time. I am by no means an amazing gamedev, I just think you might be exaggerating a bit.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  I concur. It depends on what engine you're using and how many corners you are willing to cut, but the fundamental act of just creating a game is actually not that challenging.
  - meheleventyone 3y ago
    The challenge for most art forms isn’t practicing it but having the taste and experience to make something other people actually want to experience.
    - TillE 3y ago
      Oh it's absolutely true that game design is difficult and underappreciated. But the development side of it really isn't harder than any other software project of a similar scale. If you know how to build complex software, you can build complex games.
      - meheleventyone 3y ago
        As someone who does both bits I definitely agree but my point is more subtle that merely being able to do it misses the point.
- dannersy 3y ago
  You've admit that it was "probably terrible". Making something actually worth playing is a massive effort. They are not exaggerating.
  - deaddodo 3y ago
    It was "probably terrible" because of my lack of experience and relatively inabilities. Not due to the difficulty/complexity.
astrobe_ 3y ago
This is kind of my theory too; making a tutorial is difficult and not the most exciting part of the game (for the developer). It's difficult because players refuse to read, and showing stuff to them rather than writing requires a stupid amount of work. Moreover, players can get distracted during the tutorial, misunderstand something, get lost, etc. So you have to build a lot of redundancies and safeties. So maybe the developers unintentionally try to make it worth it by "forgetting" to offer a way to skip it.

deaddodo 3y ago

> I tried making a simple 2D rougelike a few times and was overwhelmed by the effort required for simple things. I made an actual terminal Rogue-clone in University. It was a short game parodying the University experience and, though I haven't touched it since, was probably terrible. Even so, I was able to do all that + most of the mechanics (AoT procedural generation, leveling, various characters/enemies, a full event-based architecture, a terminal rendering system using ANSI codes, etc) in about a week of in-between class time. I am by no means an amazing gamedev, I just think you might be exaggerating a bit.

Dalewyn 3y ago
I concur. It depends on what engine you're using and how many corners you are willing to cut, but the fundamental act of just creating a game is actually not that challenging.
- meheleventyone 3y ago
  The challenge for most art forms isn’t practicing it but having the taste and experience to make something other people actually want to experience.
  - TillE 3y ago
    Oh it's absolutely true that game design is difficult and underappreciated. But the development side of it really isn't harder than any other software project of a similar scale. If you know how to build complex software, you can build complex games.
    - meheleventyone 3y ago
      As someone who does both bits I definitely agree but my point is more subtle that merely being able to do it misses the point.
dannersy 3y ago
You've admit that it was "probably terrible". Making something actually worth playing is a massive effort. They are not exaggerating.
- deaddodo 3y ago
  It was "probably terrible" because of my lack of experience and relatively inabilities. Not due to the difficulty/complexity.

astrobe_ 3y ago

This is kind of my theory too; making a tutorial is difficult and not the most exciting part of the game (for the developer). It's difficult because players refuse to read, and showing stuff to them rather than writing requires a stupid amount of work. Moreover, players can get distracted during the tutorial, misunderstand something, get lost, etc. So you have to build a lot of redundancies and safeties. So maybe the developers unintentionally try to make it worth it by "forgetting" to offer a way to skip it.