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It's already very difficult to say what amounts to "good" patterns in game programming and even more so if it comes from one of the most mediocre studios in EA'

It's already very difficult to say what amounts to "good" patterns in game programming and even more so if it comes from one of the most mediocre studios in EA's portfolio. Of course financial/critical success and code quality can be totally uncorrelated, but for people who actually want to get to get a grip on game programming, there are very good free resources out there. One of the most insightful ones I've found are the dev streams of Thor from PirateSoftware. He streams on Twitch and you can also find a bunch of his stuff on youtube. He's one of the few people out there who tells you what you actually need to know if you really want to make a game and not just screw around with experiments.

oneeyedpigeon 3y ago
This resource is free — the web version, anyway.
krapp 3y ago
>One of the most insightful ones I've found are the dev streams of Thor from PirateSoftware. I wish I could take everyone currently following Casey Muratori and Handmade Hero and point them Thor's way.
- cnity 3y ago
  Thor is a breath of fresh air. I mean, I do like Casey and Jon Blow and so on, but Thor's positivity is infectious.
- snet0 3y ago
  Does Thor ever actually code games? The few times I've seen his stream, he's basically editing config files or doing some drag-and-drop game engine thing. Being entirely unfair based on the low amount of exposure I've had to him, I've basically marked him as an edutainment streamer, where if you really want to learn game development your time is better spent consuming actual educational resources. I could be wrong, though!
  - krapp 3y ago
    He worked at Blizzard for six years then started his own indie game company. His father was the cinematic director at Blizzard. He's shipped a game (Heartbound) which is on Steam now. He may not do coding streams as far as I'm aware (I mostly know him from YT shorts), but there are tons of resources out there if you want that. I'd still take Thor's advice about what actually works for shipping games and how the industry actually operates over a guy who's been farting around with a debug room for a decade, and whose primary personality trait is spite for modernity.
    - snet0 3y ago
      To be clear, his work at Blizzard had, as far as I'm aware, nothing to do with game development. His father being a cinematic director also has nothing to do with Thor's game development experience. He shipped one game on Steam, and it's a pretty basic game built using GameMaker. I'm sure it's fun and tells a good story, but it's hardly innovative or complex. I don't think you're characterising Muratori/Blow fairly. Muratori's work on Handmade Hero isn't really about making a game as much as it's about showing the process of making a game, from scratch. It goes through all the tiny-but-important problems that an independent game dev might encounter. The problem I see with Thor's work and this kind of game dev is that it's really unlikely to lead anywhere interesting. Games like Braid or The Witness couldn't be built by just drag-dropping things together in GameMaker, as is the case for most compelling games! If you want to flood the market with little stories told in 2D RPGs or basic Unity showcases, that's fine. But it just strikes me as an uninspired approach to game dev. At least, if you follow Muratori's approach, you can basically build anything that a computer is able to do. I also think it's entirely unfair to characterise a disappointment in modern software and videogames as "spite for modernity". Sure, they both go over the top and make petty complaints every now and then, just like everyone else. But I think it's pretty clear to anyone who's paying attention that software is simply worse than it was previously, and calling that "spite for modernity" isn't going to help anything.
      - ido 3y ago
        You absolutely can make braid in GakeMaker - I think you’re severely underestimating it.

oneeyedpigeon 3y ago

This resource is free — the web version, anyway.

krapp 3y ago

>One of the most insightful ones I've found are the dev streams of Thor from PirateSoftware. I wish I could take everyone currently following Casey Muratori and Handmade Hero and point them Thor's way.

cnity 3y ago
Thor is a breath of fresh air. I mean, I do like Casey and Jon Blow and so on, but Thor's positivity is infectious.
snet0 3y ago
Does Thor ever actually code games? The few times I've seen his stream, he's basically editing config files or doing some drag-and-drop game engine thing. Being entirely unfair based on the low amount of exposure I've had to him, I've basically marked him as an edutainment streamer, where if you really want to learn game development your time is better spent consuming actual educational resources. I could be wrong, though!
- krapp 3y ago
  He worked at Blizzard for six years then started his own indie game company. His father was the cinematic director at Blizzard. He's shipped a game (Heartbound) which is on Steam now. He may not do coding streams as far as I'm aware (I mostly know him from YT shorts), but there are tons of resources out there if you want that. I'd still take Thor's advice about what actually works for shipping games and how the industry actually operates over a guy who's been farting around with a debug room for a decade, and whose primary personality trait is spite for modernity.
  - snet0 3y ago
    To be clear, his work at Blizzard had, as far as I'm aware, nothing to do with game development. His father being a cinematic director also has nothing to do with Thor's game development experience. He shipped one game on Steam, and it's a pretty basic game built using GameMaker. I'm sure it's fun and tells a good story, but it's hardly innovative or complex. I don't think you're characterising Muratori/Blow fairly. Muratori's work on Handmade Hero isn't really about making a game as much as it's about showing the process of making a game, from scratch. It goes through all the tiny-but-important problems that an independent game dev might encounter. The problem I see with Thor's work and this kind of game dev is that it's really unlikely to lead anywhere interesting. Games like Braid or The Witness couldn't be built by just drag-dropping things together in GameMaker, as is the case for most compelling games! If you want to flood the market with little stories told in 2D RPGs or basic Unity showcases, that's fine. But it just strikes me as an uninspired approach to game dev. At least, if you follow Muratori's approach, you can basically build anything that a computer is able to do. I also think it's entirely unfair to characterise a disappointment in modern software and videogames as "spite for modernity". Sure, they both go over the top and make petty complaints every now and then, just like everyone else. But I think it's pretty clear to anyone who's paying attention that software is simply worse than it was previously, and calling that "spite for modernity" isn't going to help anything.
    - ido 3y ago
      You absolutely can make braid in GakeMaker - I think you’re severely underestimating it.