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More power to the developers who build their own game engines. Game development meta should be: 1. Decide on the type of games you want to develop (RTS, RPG,

More power to the developers who build their own game engines. Game development meta should be: 1. Decide on the type of games you want to develop (RTS, RPG, advanture, FPS, etc.). 2. Make a game engine for it. 3. Make assets for it. 4. Finall, make a game by combining the engine with assets. 5. If successful, create a sequel/similar game. This is how all major game-dev companies operate. Indies can do this, too. Just on a smaller scale.

tyleo 3y ago
I work on games and I would not say, “this is how all major game-dev companies operate”. However, I have worked at companies that make their own engine and it’s easier than people think if you have the correct scope. Your first bullet is the most important one. I feel like the issue most companies have is that they get into engine building mode and get caught up in the fun of building the engine rather than delivering value to the player and shipping a game.
Akronymus 3y ago
> This is how all major game-dev companies operate. Patentedly untrue. MANY major game companies use existing engines. For example, the pokemon gen 4 remakes are on it.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- trollied 3y ago
  Indeed. Hearthstone is Unity-based, for example.
pg5 3y ago
Why would an indie dev want to spend years making a game engine instead of building an actual game? Especially for small teams or solo projects?
- strangecasts 3y ago
  Many people do work on their own engines, and do not have a game to show for it - which isn't to say they aren't cool projects, but it does involve reinventing many things people have already done, and also takes away time that could be spent prototyping
- JuanPosadas 3y ago
  Extremely valid question. Most devs should not attempt making their own engine. But 2 caveats: - learning is also fun - Most engines (by force or by available tutorials and docs) railroad the end user into some specific genres (in my experience: side scroller, FPS). If you wander too far away and understand the risk/complexity, it might be worth considering.
jncfhnb 3y ago
Step 6. Engine dev leaves, game devs hate this undocumented internal tool, and the labor market wants to use publicly available things they have trained on. terrible idea.
livrem 3y ago
What most seem to do is to use an application like Godot or Unity to build the engine in step 2. You do not have to start from scratch you know. Those things are more or less toolkits for building your actual game's engine. Not like the more specific game engines that you might think of if you are older and remember game engines last century. Depending on what game it is I can see someone using something like Raylib to build their engine instead. The abstraction level there is about the same as Godot. You get high-level API:s for a large number of things and support for many platforms (far more than what Godot or Unity supports). What you do not get is a GUI for building scenes or editing scripts. Starting from a lower level with something like SDL sounds like something more suitable for hobby projects, like coding a game in TIC-80 or writing a 16-bit DOS game in FreePascal or other hobby-activities (things that I enjoy). Fun, but probably almost never a good idea for a business.

tyleo 3y ago

I work on games and I would not say, “this is how all major game-dev companies operate”. However, I have worked at companies that make their own engine and it’s easier than people think if you have the correct scope. Your first bullet is the most important one. I feel like the issue most companies have is that they get into engine building mode and get caught up in the fun of building the engine rather than delivering value to the player and shipping a game.

Akronymus 3y ago

> This is how all major game-dev companies operate. Patentedly untrue. MANY major game companies use existing engines. For example, the pokemon gen 4 remakes are on it.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
trollied 3y ago
Indeed. Hearthstone is Unity-based, for example.

pg5 3y ago

Why would an indie dev want to spend years making a game engine instead of building an actual game? Especially for small teams or solo projects?

strangecasts 3y ago
Many people do work on their own engines, and do not have a game to show for it - which isn't to say they aren't cool projects, but it does involve reinventing many things people have already done, and also takes away time that could be spent prototyping
JuanPosadas 3y ago
Extremely valid question. Most devs should not attempt making their own engine. But 2 caveats: - learning is also fun - Most engines (by force or by available tutorials and docs) railroad the end user into some specific genres (in my experience: side scroller, FPS). If you wander too far away and understand the risk/complexity, it might be worth considering.

jncfhnb 3y ago

Step 6. Engine dev leaves, game devs hate this undocumented internal tool, and the labor market wants to use publicly available things they have trained on. terrible idea.

livrem 3y ago

What most seem to do is to use an application like Godot or Unity to build the engine in step 2. You do not have to start from scratch you know. Those things are more or less toolkits for building your actual game's engine. Not like the more specific game engines that you might think of if you are older and remember game engines last century. Depending on what game it is I can see someone using something like Raylib to build their engine instead. The abstraction level there is about the same as Godot. You get high-level API:s for a large number of things and support for many platforms (far more than what Godot or Unity supports). What you do not get is a GUI for building scenes or editing scripts. Starting from a lower level with something like SDL sounds like something more suitable for hobby projects, like coding a game in TIC-80 or writing a 16-bit DOS game in FreePascal or other hobby-activities (things that I enjoy). Fun, but probably almost never a good idea for a business.