If you can't make your own engine, forget about making games

[TheWorstCoderEver]

At least according to message posted by Gardon in this thread:

http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6155

Henceforth I abandon my dreams and choose the noble path of a waiter.

[hybrid]

But in a different thread the same person wrote this (beginning of may this year):

Hi, my name is Jason and I've been programming for about a year and a half now (game programming seriously for about half a year).

My problem lies with complexity with games. I've currently only used SDL (no openGL or DirectX with it, just plain SDL), and made little simple games like tetris, pong, etc.

So don't give too much on his opinion.

[cypher543]

Wow... so I guess all those games that used the Unreal engine were WAY off. Gee, and I thought they made a ton of money. Those games did use another engine, afterall. Hmmmm.

o.O

[rooly]

yeah, there have been many essays concerning this subject. it is often ill-advised to make an engine just so you can make your game. more-often than not, if you choose this path, you waste all your time upgrading the engine, and forget about your game. take xhrit, on the irc, for example he has never programmed an engine in his life.

programming enignes and games are 2 completely different fields. one is simply to draw stuff, play sounds, or host networks. the other is a much higher set of logical processes to make all the other parts fit together for entertainment.

[TheWorstCoderEver]

But in a different thread the same person wrote this (beginning of may this year):

Beginning of may this year? If he keeps this pace of learning he'll surpass all of us in no time.

[gfxstyler]

yo rooly:

you don't say engine-programming is easy as pie , don't you

also i wouldn't say that engine-coders fix their engines all the time and forget about the game. thats just not true i think.

do you know he meant a graphics-engine? maybe he meant a game-engine (like a framework around irrlicht) - and yes, if you are not able to do that, you should not really try to make big games - i think thats all the guy wanted to say.

sure, you can make little games without classes and frameworks and such, but common, you know it yourself, when you want to make bigger projects like that, you won't really get far (and you won't get much fps either, because its not effective).

you also seem to forget that for any big project, you need to customize things a lot - how are you going to do that if you dont know how an engine works? im not talking about big engines like unreal2 or something like that, most hobby-coders can't afford that.

take xhrit, on the irc, for example he has never programmed an engine in his life.

wrong maybe no graphics engine, but im quite sure his app will have some kind of sound or networking or special input support or physics or all of that - so he also had to create a framework around irrlicht for that - hello engine!

[RustyNail]

Seriously what's the harm in trying?
what's better:
1. Reading a ton of books to try and make your own engine.
2. Take irrlicht (or any engine) play around with it customizing it to your needs.

You might disagree but I think #2 is better - you learn about engines while actually creating something...


gfxstyler - He means (at least I interpreted it that way) that if you make a Graphics Engine you need to constantly update it to the latest standards, which are constantly rising... also read that somewhere else...

[gfxstyler]

what's better:
1. Reading a ton of books to try and make your own engine.
2. Take irrlicht (or any engine) play around with it customizing it to your needs.

if you have a lot of free time and really want to improve your skills, i´d go for #1.

He means (at least I interpreted it that way) that if you make a Graphics Engine you need to constantly update it to the latest standards, which are constantly rising... also read that somewhere else...

depends ... i don´t think you need to constantly update a graphics engine with the latest stuff just because of new technology (take unreal2 or irrlicht for example)[/code]

[RustyNail]

It all depends.
If you are A beginner, it would be better to first go for #2, to learn something...

[gfxstyler]

right

[boboS]

At least according to message posted by Gardon in this thread:

http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6155

Henceforth I abandon my dreams and choose the noble path of a waiter.

I think...trust nobody
depends on the level of idiotness
like:
100 idiots cannot make a simple game
4 dedicated ppl can do a simple game
I think this Mister gordon is an smartypants btw..

so if u not gonna quit ur job for that worth to try cause u gonna learn much things even if ur game will not be like unreal2 or something.
and depends now much u know programming (I didnt read all the replys from that post) I mean like a journey understanding game development while trying to make a game.. (bleh)

btw how old are you ?

[RustyNail]

I did not get all of what you said, but I think I agree with all you said
Who's age?

[boboS]

TheWorstCoderEver's age.

[RustyNail]

Nothing more for me to say here...

[bitplane]

i've written tons of games and never wrote a generic 'game engine'. okay it probably helps, and its probably a good idea if you want to make several games using the same engine... but it definatley isnt a requirement