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ruky00 · 04-05-13, 04:31 AM

I am not native English so excuse me if it is difficult to understand some parts.

I found this thread really interesting, and looks like some people think that developing a new game should be a good option, you know, hire some developers and start building the code. Let me tell you what's my opinion about that. Of course, I may be wrong, probably I am wrong but some may feel it useful.

First a bit of background.

I always wanted to play a game which no one seems to be interested into developing. speaking with my friends/colleagues about it they told me that now days with plenty of game engines available it is an easy task, so I decided to code my dreamed game my self.

My programing experience dated from 15 years ago, using the old Turbo C or Turbo Pascal on MSDOS when I was a student, after that I just coded small bash/perl scripts to help in my day work. No knowledge of OOP, or modern languages/IDEs ...

First I decided which language should I use, finally I decided python due everybody said it is easy. Then I tried some free game engines, after some trials I chose a big and well documented engine which seemed ideal for my proposals.

Then I sit on my chair and started to code, but after a while I realized that game building is not about programing, first and foremost you need to desing the game, define its rules, its parts, its dynamics ...

Led me try to explain with an example. I am a big fan of UFO game, there is a open source project that is coding a new engine for it [openXcom]. A gamer can play the original one, or the new project and he will not appreciate any differences, indeed if you don't tell him he will think that he is playing the same game. Yep, the same game but they don't share a single line of the code.

So the game is above the code/engine used, now days you can implement it with a great number of technologies, some will need more resources other less but if the game is not well designed it doesn't matter the technology used, it will be a fiasco.

In my humble opinion, if the community wants to build their own subsim, they need good game designers, and there is no need of good coding skills or technology knowledge from the start, rather than, a well though game mechanics is far more important.

When you have the game designed and began to code it, no matter which technology was finally chosen, you realize that a good code doesn't means a great game. Yep, it seems obvious but some times the quantity and quality of work outside of coding doesn't seems well pondered. It is not just good quality artwork even the gamer orders flow needs to be work with well designed user interface, which its not easy.

That's the reason why most open source games looks so awful, yep there is plenty of talented developers which can code by free, but its hard to join them with talented 3D designers, music mens, ...

A community developed game would be really nice, but rather than go en hire developers opening a wiki to start a brain storming ideas for the game may be better.

If some one has read all the brick, thank you for you patience with an old guy.

04-05-13, 04:31 AM	#83
ruky00 Bilge Rat Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 0	Developing a new game I am not native English so excuse me if it is difficult to understand some parts. I found this thread really interesting, and looks like some people think that developing a new game should be a good option, you know, hire some developers and start building the code. Let me tell you what's my opinion about that. Of course, I may be wrong, probably I am wrong but some may feel it useful. First a bit of background. I always wanted to play a game which no one seems to be interested into developing. speaking with my friends/colleagues about it they told me that now days with plenty of game engines available it is an easy task, so I decided to code my dreamed game my self. My programing experience dated from 15 years ago, using the old Turbo C or Turbo Pascal on MSDOS when I was a student, after that I just coded small bash/perl scripts to help in my day work. No knowledge of OOP, or modern languages/IDEs ... First I decided which language should I use, finally I decided python due everybody said it is easy. Then I tried some free game engines, after some trials I chose a big and well documented engine which seemed ideal for my proposals. Then I sit on my chair and started to code, but after a while I realized that game building is not about programing, first and foremost you need to desing the game, define its rules, its parts, its dynamics ... Led me try to explain with an example. I am a big fan of UFO game, there is a open source project that is coding a new engine for it [openXcom]. A gamer can play the original one, or the new project and he will not appreciate any differences, indeed if you don't tell him he will think that he is playing the same game. Yep, the same game but they don't share a single line of the code. So the game is above the code/engine used, now days you can implement it with a great number of technologies, some will need more resources other less but if the game is not well designed it doesn't matter the technology used, it will be a fiasco. In my humble opinion, if the community wants to build their own subsim, they need good game designers, and there is no need of good coding skills or technology knowledge from the start, rather than, a well though game mechanics is far more important. When you have the game designed and began to code it, no matter which technology was finally chosen, you realize that a good code doesn't means a great game. Yep, it seems obvious but some times the quantity and quality of work outside of coding doesn't seems well pondered. It is not just good quality artwork even the gamer orders flow needs to be work with well designed user interface, which its not easy. That's the reason why most open source games looks so awful, yep there is plenty of talented developers which can code by free, but its hard to join them with talented 3D designers, music mens, ... A community developed game would be really nice, but rather than go en hire developers opening a wiki to start a brain storming ideas for the game may be better. If some one has read all the brick, thank you for you patience with an old guy.