Comments on: Are You a Game Developer or Game Engine Developer? (Take 2)

By: GameProducer.Net » Outsourcing is Not Always the Best Option

GameProducer.Net » Outsourcing is Not Always the Best Option — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:33:41 +0000

[...] a past post I mentioned how game developers should focus on game production rather than game engine production. While it’s true that game production might require making [...]

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:04:07 +0000

“An important tenant of TDD is to write a test case and then only the simplest code necessary to make it pass. You donâ€™t even think about future test cases or write code that accommodates them.”

Excellent piece of advice.

By: MrPhil

MrPhil — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:01:07 +0000

I think an important issue here is that if you are building your game without a 3rd party game engine then you need to be very careful not to fall into the trap of making a game engine. You have to focus on meeting your gamesâ€™ needs. You have to write the code you need and completely ignoring the potential the code has. It is sort of like Test Driven Development in a way. An important tenant of TDD is to write a test case and then only the simplest code necessary to make it pass. You donâ€™t even think about future test cases or write code that accommodates them. You try not to anticipate the future and focus on the one small step in front of you. In terms, of a game you need to write the simplest code that meets your gameâ€™s needs and completely ignore things like reuse, modularizing, architecture and all the cool bells and whistles you could add. Instead, you let the needs of game dictate the structure.

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:56:19 +0000

@Blueskied: yes, that’s true. And it’s actually part of the coding – you have to plan it before doing it.

By: Blueskied Games

Blueskied Games — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:52:06 +0000

You have to think about programming/logic/structure (probably more than you want) while you are writing the game itself, not only while engine coding, a part which i’d like to omit in the future.

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:21:16 +0000

@Rick: Nice post.

@Scott: Take a look at http://www.devmaster.net/ – they have quite a list of engines…

@HoboBen: I must point out that there’s nothing wrong in doing the game engine – if that’s what you want to do. I’m simply saying that if you want to make games, then make games. If you want to make engine, then make engine :)

By: HoboBen

HoboBen — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:28:29 +0000

I suppose I agree with this article when game development is for profit, or for money to eat.

But if you’re a programmer for fun, and profit is just a nice coincidence, then learning about how to create a good engine behind your game can be both rewarding and a good chance to improve you as a programmer as deeply as how you even think about programming/logic/structure, etc…

Basically the “it’s fun!” argument. :-)

There’s been some interesting discussion here.

Cheers :-)

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:51:58 +0000

Thanks for the advice. I’m new at game development and I think that I will take your advice and try to stick with one engine and just focus my time on developing the game.

By: Rick Stirling

Rick Stirling — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:10:38 +0000

This is something I’ve met with in the past – people trying to build an engine and a game at the same time when one or the other was what they really wanted.

I even took the time to write it up, punk style.

http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/