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Most people asking how to “build a their own engine to build a game” should be discouraged from that. They’re probably either not thinking deeply about the trade-offs or are not in a position experience-wise to do so. Just because 0.5% should be encouraged doesn’t make the common response that you see wrong as a default.

(Someone who shipped a game on a custom engine 25 years ago; would not do the same now.)



> Most people asking how to “build a their own engine to build a game” should be discouraged from that.

Why? You didn't even ask why they want to build their own engine. If the purpose is to learn their underpinnings, then they should not be discouraged to do so. This telling people they should be discouraged to build engines is just stupid and unfortunately very common based on gross generalizations of what "most" people "want". Why not ask what the person's motivations are instead of assuming they are a brain-dead code-camp weekend motherfucker who all they want is to make an "app"?


It’s right in their sentence. They’re saying they want to end up with a game.

If someone came to you asking “how can I write a word processor so I can write a letter?” what would you advise them?

“I want to build a new game engine to learn how to do it.” “Right this way; here’s how I’d approach starting that long journey.”

“I want to build a new game engine so I can write a game.” “You should probably skip the engine step and go straight to making the game.”




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