I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
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I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
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Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#2In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if you're developing a game; Especially if you're developing a game. Having said that, I can't disagree since as I said, I'm also inclined towards it's siren call of simplicity.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#3In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if…
Why do you think working with a group of people on a C codebase introduces pain unlike other languages? Working with a group of people always causes pain, but I found the pain much less severe for C than for C++.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#4I totally resonate with the author of the post. My main requirement to enjoy a language deeply is often simplicity, so I love languages like, C, Golang, Odin and Zig.
That said, I also acknowledge that often times I need to solve problems that can benefit from a language that embraces what I call necessary complexity, but do it in elegant ways. Whenever I need to prioritise code correctness, especially memory and concurrency safety, using a mostly functional pattern instead of OOP, but without going as extreme as say Haskell, I unquestionably choose Rust, my favourite complex language. I often work with network code that is highly concurrent, must be as correct as possible and benefits from good performance, so then again, Rust feels natural here.
On the other hand, I love coding simple indie games and for that particular case, I like a simple and performant language using an imperative, non-OOP style. In my opinion C, and in particular Odin more recently are quite a good fit. If Jonathan happens to be reading this comment, since he mentioned Golang, I would suggest him Odin as perhaps the best of both worlds between C and Golang. It has all the simplicity of Golang, but without a garbage collector, plus it is quite easy to code a game using Raylib.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#5its funny how writing games in C is now seen as some kind of 'hardcore mode', despite the fact that a huge number of excellent titles up to and including the 2000s were written that way.
the core of games tend to be a 'world sim' of sorts, with a special case for when a select entity within the world sim gets its inputs from the user.
where C becomes a chore is the UI, probably has to do with how theres many more degrees of freedom (both in terms of possibilities and what humans consider appealing) in the visual plane than there is in the game input 'plane', which might be as little as 6 independent inputs plus time.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#6In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if…
Why do you think working with a group of people on a C codebase introduces pain unlike other languages? Working with a group of people always causes pain, but I found the pain much less severe for C than for C++.
In my mind using a simpler language should be less painful given there is less to argue about given syntax and versions etc. Take c# for example you have multiple ways to do the same sort of things.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#7its funny how writing games in C is now seen as some kind of 'hardcore mode', despite the fact that a huge number of excellent titles up to and including the 2000s were written that way. the core of games tend to be a 'world sim' of sorts, with a special case for when a select entity within the world sim gets its inputs from the user. where C becomes a chore is the UI, probably has to do with how theres many more deg…
> UI in C
Try Clay!
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#8[deleted]
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#9>Death of flash
>The library support for games[in Go] is quite poor, and though you can wrap C libs without much trouble, doing so adds a lot of busy work.
I can't see when this was written, but it has to be around 2015. So, about 10 years ago. I wonder what his opinion is today.
Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)
#10Come try Odin!