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Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

brianmckenna.org

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Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#42
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time… the language is interesting , and I’m sure it’s technically very well designed, but I’m not sure it’s a good fit for the task they’ve got. The apparent goal is for this to allow anybody to democratically contribute to Fortnite (a game most popular with a fairly young audience), but the language feels very technical and not-beginner-friendly to me. For example, it’s fairly symbol-heavy (making it int…

I mean I was writing C++ in junior high and I am by no means that bright. Just persistent. I think in some ways we have become too afraid of some upfront complexity at the expense of beginners in order for more well engineered systems. I think a slightly higher learning curve is not always a bad thing.

there’s nothing wrong with a persistence-centric approach like you took, but there’s also certainly nothing wrong with catering to your audience.

we should strive to provide a better gateway than we had when we were young.

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#44

Tangential, and because I had to look it up: > Verse has been designed by some people who really know what they’re doing: Lennart Augustsson, Joachim Breitner, Koen Claessen, Ranjit Jhala, Simon Peyton Jones, Olin Shivers, Tim Sweeney The listed people are all luminaries of the functional programming world (and adjacent, like theorem proving and software verification), particularly Haskell. Hell, Simon Peyton Jones i…

Or they might be just creating a Yet Another Language precisely because they are luminaries of functional programming. Those often tend to chase a yet another unattainable dream of "the one true functional language". When you type the words "the really know what they are doing" when talking about a language for game programming , I would expect people who know about game programming first, and about language design s…

There are some very obvious influences from Skookum script in Verse and that was designed for gameplay programming. I’d be surprised if Verse turned out to be a poor fit for games.

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#45
post #43

Am I the only one who thinks this is possibly the least appealing programming syntax they've ever seen?

Yeah, it doesn't really look like the kind of thing I'd design for 12-year-olds to use?

Lua would probably work just as well and been a better choice...

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#46
post #26
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time… the language is interesting , and I’m sure it’s technically very well designed, but I’m not sure it’s a good fit for the task they’ve got. The apparent goal is for this to allow anybody to democratically contribute to Fortnite (a game most popular with a fairly young audience), but the language feels very technical and not-beginner-friendly to me. For example, it’s fairly symbol-heavy (making it int…

I still make mods in Unreal Tournament. Unrealscript has its warts but does the job admirably. I can't look at Versescript without thinking that Unrealscript was better.

Their business model has changed significantly since UT glory days — for better, for worse.

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#47

Tangential, and because I had to look it up: > Verse has been designed by some people who really know what they’re doing: Lennart Augustsson, Joachim Breitner, Koen Claessen, Ranjit Jhala, Simon Peyton Jones, Olin Shivers, Tim Sweeney The listed people are all luminaries of the functional programming world (and adjacent, like theorem proving and software verification), particularly Haskell. Hell, Simon Peyton Jones i…

They forgot to include Conan Reis who has been at epic working on that stuff for a long time. He authored a game-specific scripting language called Skookum Script. I have used it a small amount on a couple projects. It's an interesting language but I didn't get deep enough to really have a strong opinion.

Interesting to see some of the Skookum script async specific features in Verse such as the race keyword.

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they might be just creating a Yet Another Language precisely because they are luminaries of functional programming. Those often tend to chase a yet another unattainable dream of "the one true functional language". When you type the words "the really know what they are doing" when talking about a language for game programming , I would expect people who know about game programming first, and about language design s…

Why would Epic, owners of the primary reason why C++ is gravitated towards in game programming, spend time and money creating Yet Another Language just to satiate luminaries?

Likely identified one of their few remaining growth bottlenecks to be speed of development.

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#49
post #45
post #43

Am I the only one who thinks this is possibly the least appealing programming syntax they've ever seen?

Yeah, it doesn't really look like the kind of thing I'd design for 12-year-olds to use? Lua would probably work just as well and been a better choice...

this comment is wrong on multiple levels

- this reduces fortnite’s audience to 12 year olds. the average age of a fortnite player is an adult

- fortnite custom mods / modes are nearly all developed by adults (the people who will write in this language)

- verse is designed to be used more widely than just fortnite in other games by other game develoment professionals (that are nearly all adults)

i don’t understand how anyone can see a game that makes billions each year and think “12 year olds” are the driving force. video games are not just for teenagers and adults are the primary revenue streams because they have the disposable income

Re: Type system of Fortnite's Verse language

#50
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it doesn't really look like the kind of thing I'd design for 12-year-olds to use? Lua would probably work just as well and been a better choice...

this comment is wrong on multiple levels - this reduces fortnite’s audience to 12 year olds. the average age of a fortnite player is an adult - fortnite custom mods / modes are nearly all developed by adults (the people who will write in this language) - verse is designed to be used more widely than just fortnite in other games by other game develoment professionals (that are nearly all adults) i don’t understand how…

I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong here in the case of fortnite, but do you have data to back up that the average fortnite player is an adult? It seems like in general it tends to be wildly more popular with younger people, generally kids and teens - although i don't have data for this either, just based off what I've personally seen.
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