Comments on: Roll your own engine, roll your own problems http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/ Rick Stirling, games artist, designer, egotist and raconteur Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:11:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Dino http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/#comment-798 Dino Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:56:53 +0000 http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/#comment-798 In response to the article, I agree with the article, there really is no point building your own engine from scratch these days - I used to think it was a good idea, but 10 yrs in the industry had lead me to think otherwise. I had the fortune of using RenderWare for a short time last year and was blown away with it's feature set and just plain *good design*. It had quirks, but so does everything. The phrase "we built our own engine" really means "we think we know how write a kick ass renderer" and often means "we didn't really think we'd need to support a full asset pipeline and countless other features all of which need to interface with the renderer at some point". To a publisher it comes across as "we've built our own project timebomb ready to explode halfway thru development, crushing all hope of releasing the game with anything like a reasonable timeframe or budget" If you want to do small, indie stuff that you're not interested in getting paid for while you develop it and might never complete or see any return on, then rolling your own is the way to go :) In response to thnom, Simulation games don't "require" their own engines any more than first person shooters "require" a light-gun. Memory of modern consoles (and even handhelds) is sufficient enough that you rarely need to roll your own proprietary file formats these days (a lot of game devs use XML in native format all the way up to release). In response to the article,

I agree with the article, there really is no point building your own engine from scratch these days - I used to think it was a good idea, but 10 yrs in the industry had lead me to think otherwise. I had the fortune of using RenderWare for a short time last year and was blown away with it’s feature set and just plain *good design*. It had quirks, but so does everything.

The phrase “we built our own engine” really means “we think we know how write a kick ass renderer” and often means “we didn’t really think we’d need to support a full asset pipeline and countless other features all of which need to interface with the renderer at some point”. To a publisher it comes across as “we’ve built our own project timebomb ready to explode halfway thru development, crushing all hope of releasing the game with anything like a reasonable timeframe or budget”

If you want to do small, indie stuff that you’re not interested in getting paid for while you develop it and might never complete or see any return on, then rolling your own is the way to go :)

In response to thnom,

Simulation games don’t “require” their own engines any more than first person shooters “require” a light-gun. Memory of modern consoles (and even handhelds) is sufficient enough that you rarely need to roll your own proprietary file formats these days (a lot of game devs use XML in native format all the way up to release).

]]> By: thnom http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/#comment-785 thnom Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:31:54 +0000 http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/09/15/roll-your-own-engine-roll-your-own-problems/#comment-785 Nice article rick but not all indie games revolve around 3d. Simulation games really "require" their own engines for the rule sets and such. Database formats are best propriety as to only store what is needed, etc. I wouldn't think of making my own engine for an indie 3d project though. No point, at all. Nice article rick but not all indie games revolve around 3d. Simulation games really “require” their own engines for the rule sets and such. Database formats are best propriety as to only store what is needed, etc. I wouldn’t think of making my own engine for an indie 3d project though. No point, at all.

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