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For anyone interested in the detail of _how_ to create a game engine from scratch, I'd recommend checking out Handmade Hero https://handmadehero.org/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have pretty much no experience with game development, but why is UE4 such a popular choice for commercial games if that's the case?
Most big studios are still on UE as a matter of momentum and the aforementioned biases. Unity really only became viable in the past 3 years, which is shorter than the average AAA game development cycle. Also certain games such as FPS are still better off with UE, as that's what it was designed for.
What game types would you consider Unity to have better performance and/or tooling for? Also, if you're feeling generous, why?
On the other hand, I find my game engines, particularly (unfortunately) open source ones, are in a terrible state. They often try to support many platforms, then it turns out they usually support one platform well, and the others are various degrees of broken. Then, when you want to get your game working on Android, the engine is too massive and complex for me to have any chance of figuring out how to fix it.
On the other hand, I find my game engines, particularly (unfortunately) open source ones, are in a terrible state. They often try to support many platforms, then it turns out they usually support one platform well, and the others are various degrees of broken. Then, when you want to get your game working on Android, the engine is too massive and complex for me to have any chance of figuring out how to fix it.
I can't imagine writing a 3D game from scratch in this day and age, but for 2D games I think it's absolutely justifiable to just grab something like SDL2 and go.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most big studios are still on UE as a matter of momentum and the aforementioned biases. Unity really only became viable in the past 3 years, which is shorter than the average AAA game development cycle. Also certain games such as FPS are still better off with UE, as that's what it was designed for.
Well, the examples I had in mind are, like, Guilty Gear Xrd or Tekken 7, where there isn't any obvious history or genre reason (to me) to pick it. But maybe it's just old prejudices, as you said.
Interesting contrast to the Carmack school of thought: _do_ build your own game engine and don't even reuse anything you made before, because you'll know better this time.
Fashions come and go, and if you invest heavily on top of Y it may become "obsolete". Will you be willing to stay on Y when the developer/community has abandoned it? You may have to reinvest to port onto Y', while X remained somewhat stable.
The higher level the platform, the more likely you are to hit surprising limitations late in the process. Your role gradually transitions from technology producer to technology consumer.
Programming an AVR chip in C gives you a great feeling of space and power because the platform is so clean, while using Arduino you rapidly hit limitations and spend your time getting around them. Higher level platforms tend to make the easy things easier and the hard things very hard.
I wouldn't rule out the subjective factors. For many of us building is more fun than sorting through what others have built. The brain works a lot better when having fun, which is why MBA-style decisions about programming don't always work.
1. Refusing to just use C/C++
2. Attempting to support most of the platforms
Both problems compound each other.
All platforms (even Android at this point) have C APIs for everything you need. Creating another layer of abstraction here causes more work and overhead.
Trying to get Java running on iOS with 3D APIs is a huge task in and of itself. The same goes for C# (a task which Unity does for you). Languages that require JIT for performance don't work on mobile (unless supplied by the OS, e.g. JavaScriptCore). Debugging becomes extra-difficult.
C/C++ are not convenient to use, but not hard to use either. It causes discomfort at first, but you get used to it. Being forced to do memory management manually also helps with learning how to structure programs, with a bonus of not having to wrestle GC pauses.
Having said all that, using a commercial engine is totally fine, of course.