Comments on: Write Games, Not Engines http://scientificninja.com/blog/write-games-not-engines Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:46:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Handy Vandal's Almanac » Blog Archive » OOP Game Design Theory - Resources for Game Designers http://scientificninja.com/blog/write-games-not-engines/comment-page-1#comment-90 Handy Vandal's Almanac » Blog Archive » OOP Game Design Theory - Resources for Game Designers Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:26:02 +0000 http://jpetrie.webfactional.com/?p=8#comment-90 <p>[...] “Mandatory reading: http://scientificninja.com/advice/write-games-not-engines” [...]</p> [...] “Mandatory reading: http://scientificninja.com/advice/write-games-not-engines”; [...]

]]> By: Josh Petrie http://scientificninja.com/blog/write-games-not-engines/comment-page-1#comment-14 Josh Petrie Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:45:09 +0000 http://jpetrie.webfactional.com/?p=8#comment-14 <p>Yes, your impression is basically accurate: the flashy, eye-catching title of the post aside, the point I'm trying to make is that it's usually better to <em>evolve</em> or <em>grow</em> your engine rather than attempt to design it and build it directly, in a vacuum, with no understanding of the requirements of the game you ultimately want to build with it.</p> <p>It's also worth pointing out that this was one of the earliest articles I wrote, back when I intended this site to be more of an article repository than a blog. The intention was to link this article to beginning/intermediate level programmers rather than repeat my arguments ad nauseam on forums and IRC channels. Essentially I'm saying that building good engines requires you have some experience building or working with the things those engines will be used for -- beginners typically lack that. This advice is somewhat less applicable to developers who already have several completed games under their belt.</p> Yes, your impression is basically accurate: the flashy, eye-catching title of the post aside, the point I’m trying to make is that it’s usually better to evolve or grow your engine rather than attempt to design it and build it directly, in a vacuum, with no understanding of the requirements of the game you ultimately want to build with it.

It’s also worth pointing out that this was one of the earliest articles I wrote, back when I intended this site to be more of an article repository than a blog. The intention was to link this article to beginning/intermediate level programmers rather than repeat my arguments ad nauseam on forums and IRC channels. Essentially I’m saying that building good engines requires you have some experience building or working with the things those engines will be used for — beginners typically lack that. This advice is somewhat less applicable to developers who already have several completed games under their belt.

]]> By: YoYoFreakCJ http://scientificninja.com/blog/write-games-not-engines/comment-page-1#comment-13 YoYoFreakCJ Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:31:48 +0000 http://jpetrie.webfactional.com/?p=8#comment-13 <p>This is a nice post. But I would like to comment it with the following: You are advicing us to build a game, rather than an engine. Let's consider a some-experienced programmer, who knows the SOLID principles and how to use use them in his code. After he writes his game, what will be left is a game loop, and a few classes like an animation model, input handling, collision detection and a few more. At least, this is how it should be. Isn't taking those classes and putting them inside of a library sort of making an engine? An engine is a structure that keeps all needed aspects of a game in place, and helping them to communicate. From my point of view it looks like you're not trying to tell us to forget about engines, but you're rather giving us a short introduction on how to proceed in the engine development, while at the same time stopping script kiddies screaming around "look at me, I'm writing my own engine!". That's my impression on the article.</p> <p>But you do make some really good points as far as I can tell. Thank you for this great article!</p> This is a nice post. But I would like to comment it with the following: You are advicing us to build a game, rather than an engine. Let’s consider a some-experienced programmer, who knows the SOLID principles and how to use use them in his code. After he writes his game, what will be left is a game loop, and a few classes like an animation model, input handling, collision detection and a few more. At least, this is how it should be. Isn’t taking those classes and putting them inside of a library sort of making an engine? An engine is a structure that keeps all needed aspects of a game in place, and helping them to communicate. From my point of view it looks like you’re not trying to tell us to forget about engines, but you’re rather giving us a short introduction on how to proceed in the engine development, while at the same time stopping script kiddies screaming around “look at me, I’m writing my own engine!”. That’s my impression on the article.

But you do make some really good points as far as I can tell. Thank you for this great article!

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