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One reason is just that since game development is mostly all windows based, new programmers learn to use windows tools.. and thus become more experienced with t

by d0m 14y ago

One reason is just that since game development is mostly all windows based, new programmers learn to use windows tools.. and thus become more experienced with them and not wanting to switch to something completely new which would require a loss of productivity. Also, and that's really only based from my experiences, it seemed to me that game developers aren't that much into "hacking" linux. Things should just Work. The terminal is a deprecated tool compared to new intuitive IDE. Most of you won't agree with these statements (And I clearly don't) but that's really what I've felt every time I'd talk with a game developer friend or colleague. And, this mentality goes back to when I was an engineering students.. While I had fun learning linux and Python, friends graduating in video gaming would laugh of Python for being a "scripting non-performant language" or they would play around in visual studio with C# and making forms or build some games with XNA. So, sometimes I think it's not that much about linux not being "good enough" but more about video game developers' mentality to not fit with it. Man, I won't lie, I'm an experienced Linux developer and user and I always have to lurk in all kind of forums and RTFM on every small things that needs to be installed (which is not in the standard library). And, it often happens that I break stuff and spend countless hours trying to fix it. Hell, even last week, I've upgraded a server on Archlinux and it totally broke my system without any warning. I really needed help so I went on #archlinux and I've been told that I should have read the archlinux news before tempting an update. Fair enough, I guess.. but I can understand that on a extremely tight schedule, games developers can't waste time on stuff like that. Compared to say, [next] [next] [finish] windows install where everything just Work. Please, don't down-vote me if you don't agree with things I've seen from my experience. I don't agree with it neither, but I thought I'd share it here. It's really something I see coming again and again from all kind of different video games programmers.

gizmo686 14y ago
>Hell, even last week, I've upgraded a server on Archlinux and it totally broke my system without any warning. I really needed help so I went on #archlinux and I've been told that I should have read the archlinux news before tempting an update. Fair enough, I guess.. but I can understand that on a extremely tight schedule, games developers can't waste time on stuff like that. Compared to say, [next] [next] [finish] windows install where everything just Work. I don't think Arch is a fair comparison to make. The Arch wiki describes it as: "Arch Linux is an independently developed, i686/x86-64 general purpose GNU/Linux distribution versatile enough to suit any role. Development focuses on simplicity, minimalism, and code elegance. Arch is installed as a minimal base system, configured by the user upon which their own ideal environment is assembled by installing only what is required or desired for their unique purposes. GUI configuration utilities are not officially provided, and most system configuration is performed from the shell and a text editor. Based on a rolling-release model, Arch strives to stay bleeding edge, and typically offers the latest stable versions of most software." [1] I use Ubuntu primarily, but use Windows exlusivly to use LabView for a local robotics team. I have had issues with both systems. The difference for me is that when the issue was with Ubuntu, I can norally get it back to a workable state withing 10 minutes, or if desperate do a full reinstall in under an hour after which point I have all of my same programs installed, and my configurations/user data restored. When my problem is with windows, solving it is a full days work (or more). [1]https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux
DanBC 14y ago
> I've upgraded a server on Archlinux and it totally broke my system without any warning. I really needed help so I went on #archlinux and I've been told that I should have read the archlinux news before tempting an update. Fair enough, I guess.. but I can understand that on a extremely tight schedule, games developers can't waste time on stuff like that. "Be careful with updates, they might break things" is common advice. "Let other people apply the service packs, and see what the problems are, before you go ahead" was (is?) common advice for people running some MS server stuff.
NickPollard 14y ago
As a games programmer with coming up to 5 years experience, I can attest that this is largely true. At every studio I've worked at, I've been given strange looks for even opening a terminal, and half of them haven't even heard of Vim. Regardless of what the actual strengths and weaknesses of the tools are, most game developers are so heavily wedded to VS and Windows that there is a huge inertia on that side. Personally, the mobile game that I'm developing now is being developed entirely under Linux with GCC and GDB, and although GDB has a bit of a learning curve I now find it easier and quicker than VS.

by d0m 14y ago

gizmo686 14y ago

>Hell, even last week, I've upgraded a server on Archlinux and it totally broke my system without any warning. I really needed help so I went on #archlinux and I've been told that I should have read the archlinux news before tempting an update. Fair enough, I guess.. but I can understand that on a extremely tight schedule, games developers can't waste time on stuff like that. Compared to say, [next] [next] [finish] windows install where everything just Work. I don't think Arch is a fair comparison to make. The Arch wiki describes it as: "Arch Linux is an independently developed, i686/x86-64 general purpose GNU/Linux distribution versatile enough to suit any role. Development focuses on simplicity, minimalism, and code elegance. Arch is installed as a minimal base system, configured by the user upon which their own ideal environment is assembled by installing only what is required or desired for their unique purposes. GUI configuration utilities are not officially provided, and most system configuration is performed from the shell and a text editor. Based on a rolling-release model, Arch strives to stay bleeding edge, and typically offers the latest stable versions of most software." [1] I use Ubuntu primarily, but use Windows exlusivly to use LabView for a local robotics team. I have had issues with both systems. The difference for me is that when the issue was with Ubuntu, I can norally get it back to a workable state withing 10 minutes, or if desperate do a full reinstall in under an hour after which point I have all of my same programs installed, and my configurations/user data restored. When my problem is with windows, solving it is a full days work (or more). [1]https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux

DanBC 14y ago

> I've upgraded a server on Archlinux and it totally broke my system without any warning. I really needed help so I went on #archlinux and I've been told that I should have read the archlinux news before tempting an update. Fair enough, I guess.. but I can understand that on a extremely tight schedule, games developers can't waste time on stuff like that. "Be careful with updates, they might break things" is common advice. "Let other people apply the service packs, and see what the problems are, before you go ahead" was (is?) common advice for people running some MS server stuff.

NickPollard 14y ago

As a games programmer with coming up to 5 years experience, I can attest that this is largely true. At every studio I've worked at, I've been given strange looks for even opening a terminal, and half of them haven't even heard of Vim. Regardless of what the actual strengths and weaknesses of the tools are, most game developers are so heavily wedded to VS and Windows that there is a huge inertia on that side. Personally, the mobile game that I'm developing now is being developed entirely under Linux with GCC and GDB, and although GDB has a bit of a learning curve I now find it easier and quicker than VS.