I think it's also easy to conflate game development as one big thing. 100 people could say that they want to make games and all mean 100 very different things.

I think it's also easy to conflate game development as one big thing. 100 people could say that they want to make games and all mean 100 very different things. I think for some people, like you mentioned, they ostensibly want to "make games" but also just like to tinker of engine-flavored tech, and that's totally okay.