In this issue of Bytes Beneath, I explore the programming lie that limits the possibility space of games you may create without you even noticing.
https://t.co/q0czsJc2AQ
Your CS degree convinced you that:
- Garbage collection is necessary
- Manual memory is too hard
- Performance doesn't matter
All lies.
Memory has lifetimes.
Learn this once. Use it forever.
There’s a quote that keeps floating around in my head as I get older:
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
Its one of those lines that feels more true the longer time goes on. Games lost an entire relationship between hardware, art, and the player.
@TheGingerBill As well as the lmgtfy slap in the face, perspective is cultivated through experience and is often nuanced
That's one reason why I value humans teaching me something (even via another medium like a book) rather than an AI response
Stages of programming dependencies
Beginner: NewSolution.sln -> Solution Explorer -> Add NuGet Package
Intermediate: cl src/main.c -I include/ /LINK lib/...
Advanced: Copy the code you need into your repo. Delete the rest.
Master: cl my_game.c /NODEFAULTLIB
A simple observation about programming:
It pays to embrace complexity early on
You'll be much better prepared than if you're always protected from it
For a beginner:
Manual memory is scary. Collision detection is complex. Building from scratch seems impossible.
When you've worked through the fog of uncertainty and see it for what it is?
The journey becomes a lot easier
Entitled people think that because they put effort into something that means people owe them money and/or praise
They always seem to learn the hard way and crash out
I don't think the industry and games journalists understand how little gamers care about what is happening to the games industry right now.
The 40-person studio that made "Expedition 33" is comprised of former Ubisoft developers. Ubisoft hasn't made a game as good as "Expedition 33" in at least ten years.
Ubisoft employs 17,000 people. If all of them lose their jobs and some of those people manage to form even a single small studio that makes a game as good as "Expedition 33," then we one more great game to play than we would have had otherwise, because Ubisoft will never make a great game. Great games are not Ubisoft's business model and that is why Ubisoft is unsalvageable.
What is happening in the games industry right now is not the destruction of anything that deserves to be preserved. We are seeing the inevitable collapse of giant corporate studios that make mediocre games that nobody wants to play.
How to learn game programming:
Old way
- Unity tutorials
- Asset store plugins
- Following YouTube step-by-step
- Never understanding what's happening
New way (ancient way)
- Build from scratch in a systems language
- Implement collision yourself at least once
- Break things, then fix them
- Actually understand your game
Understanding > abstraction
@malavolence_ It seems like many indies go full-time too early and have to scramble to make money
It's common to "just get it out" instead of canceling a project when it's not very good
I'm not sure how I feel about it since the market decides anyway
@korzewarrior Off the top of my head:
Refactoring: https://t.co/mo5TpOtGdt
Memory: https://t.co/eX4kerouwK
https://t.co/sKjYE1Jva1
Algorithms:
https://t.co/wbwZ357rDr
Networking and/or physics:
https://t.co/TOoPmTwHCt
Shaders:
https://t.co/pV6kryCaVb
https://t.co/6ogS3cSQY1