4 ms·

> Also, remember that games are not very long-lived pieces of software. You build it, release it, maybe patch it, and move on. This was true a couple decades a

• shaftway 2y ago
  I maintain that the majority of games are still disposable, despite the occasional subscription model or long-lived hit that pops up. Remember that most games aren't made by AAA studios. Wasn't Minecraft completely rewritten from scratch in Java after a few years? And the EA one, like you said, it's just model updates. Very few gameplay mechanics get more than a simple tweak. Just recompile with the new models. You don't need unit tests if the code never changes.
  • mark38848 2y ago
    I think Minecraft was originally written in Java and rewritten in a good programming language (i.e. not Java).
    • grumpyprole 2y ago
      Whether or not one thinks C++ is a "good" language, I always thought that (original) Minecraft busted the myth that blockbuster games had to be written in C++.
    • CuriousSkeptic 2y ago
      Being written in Java was probably instrumental in enabling the huge modding community around Minecraft. Which in turn was probably in large part responsible for its success.
      • mike_hearn 2y ago
        And more to the point for this thread, writing it in Java let Notch build and iterate extremely quickly. Minecraft originally came out of a 24 hour game writing competition in which most competitors were using C++, but Notch always used Java because coding speed was the most critical thing in that context.
      • neonsunset 2y ago
        It should have been written in C#, instead, the developers had to resort to silly optimization tricks that often never transpired.
  • cobalt 2y ago
    the original minecraft is in java, it's probably gone through a lot of code transformation. The version you're thinking of is the microsoft version, rewritten in c++
    • sfn42 2y ago
      I thought the MS version was C#?
• oefrha 2y ago
  You can add rigor to your decade-plus cash cow later, once it’s clear that you’ve hit the jackpot.
  • sfn42 2y ago
    I wonder how many games have been released that could have been jackpots but weren't due to bugs and lack of rigor. Tests also aren't just about rigor. They don't take years to pay dividends. The time you save just being able to develop and iterate without having to spin up the whole app and manually click through things to test them is huge. Not to mention the time saved hunting down regressions.
• 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
  I still play games that came out a couple decades ago…
  • tmtvl 2y ago
    Let me guess... Super Metroid? Chrono Trigger? Final Fantasy VI? Ultima Underworld? Symphony of the Night? There were a few decent games released in the '80s and '90s.
    • cableshaft 2y ago
      The fact that you put Ultima Underworld in the company of those masterpieces makes me think I should probably give that game a shot. I only tried playing one Ultima game a long, long time ago, and I couldn't get into it. I'm guessing that one is a particularly good one, though.
      • tmtvl 2y ago
        Ultima Underworld is a bit different from the mainline Ultima games. Those are fairly regular RPGs (though I'd say that IV through VII are really good RPGs), but Ultima Underworld is more like an immersive sim. In fact it pretty much created the immersive sim genre. I personally kinda prefer UU2 over UU1, but they're both excellent.