Dylan Falconer
1.4K posts
Dylan Falconer
@falconerd
Engine-free game programming. Self-reliance over abstraction.
Game Programming Newsletter → Katılım Kasım 2022
318 Takip Edilen2.7K Takipçiler
the guy who hates on vibe coding the most
produces a game which could be vibe coded
couldn't wish for a better timeline
Jonathan Blow@Jonathan_Blow
Something we've been working on...
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Oh, so every web development job I've had was infested with CIA operatives
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@CloudlessStudio Common wisdom is to get 7k wishlists minimum before nextfest since you can only enter 1 nextfest per game
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@falconerd To those who doubt themselves: don’t underestimate your future self.
There will be some resistance but it's worth breaking through it. It feels like I have learned more in the last two years than my entire pro career.
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In this issue of Bytes Beneath, I explore the programming lie that limits the possibility space of games you may create without you even noticing.
bytesbeneath.com/p/make-any-gam…
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@DjMolehill @grok True. And a horse can be faster than a car if the car is parked
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@falconerd @grok can't garbage collection actually be even faster than malloc/free memory management if implemented properly?
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Your CS degree convinced you that:
- Garbage collection is necessary
- Manual memory is too hard
- Performance doesn't matter
All lies.
Memory has lifetimes.
Learn this once. Use it forever.
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@AnalogDreamDev I've been following your progress and it's looking really unique! Love to see it
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@falconerd This is a great article and I actually came to the same realization recently. I essentially was forced out of unreal and unity because those assumptions I've had about game dev for the past decade were limiting me, and were framed by those engines. So I started building my own.
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Dylan Falconer retweetledi
There’s a quote that keeps floating around in my head as I get older:
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
Its one of those lines that feels more true the longer time goes on. Games lost an entire relationship between hardware, art, and the player.
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@TheGingerBill As well as the lmgtfy slap in the face, perspective is cultivated through experience and is often nuanced
That's one reason why I value humans teaching me something (even via another medium like a book) rather than an AI response
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I am offended when people respond to questions with LLM generated stuff, because have access to the same LLMs that those people do. Do they not realize that?
It's effectively the same as people saying "let me Google that for you". I've already done that...
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Once you realise engines hide complexity instead of removing it you almost have no choice but to build from scratch
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Stages of programming dependencies
Beginner: NewSolution.sln -> Solution Explorer -> Add NuGet Package
Intermediate: cl src/main.c -I include/ /LINK lib/...
Advanced: Copy the code you need into your repo. Delete the rest.
Master: cl my_game.c /NODEFAULTLIB
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A simple observation about programming:
It pays to embrace complexity early on
You'll be much better prepared than if you're always protected from it
For a beginner:
Manual memory is scary. Collision detection is complex. Building from scratch seems impossible.
When you've worked through the fog of uncertainty and see it for what it is?
The journey becomes a lot easier
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Entitled people think that because they put effort into something that means people owe them money and/or praise
They always seem to learn the hard way and crash out
Daniel Friedman@DanFriedman81
I don't think the industry and games journalists understand how little gamers care about what is happening to the games industry right now. The 40-person studio that made "Expedition 33" is comprised of former Ubisoft developers. Ubisoft hasn't made a game as good as "Expedition 33" in at least ten years. Ubisoft employs 17,000 people. If all of them lose their jobs and some of those people manage to form even a single small studio that makes a game as good as "Expedition 33," then we one more great game to play than we would have had otherwise, because Ubisoft will never make a great game. Great games are not Ubisoft's business model and that is why Ubisoft is unsalvageable. What is happening in the games industry right now is not the destruction of anything that deserves to be preserved. We are seeing the inevitable collapse of giant corporate studios that make mediocre games that nobody wants to play.
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@AceaLashley @rcgamering @_SpyDtroid_ Yep, the remakes are a multiverse/sequel series. It's not actually a remake, unfortunately
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@rcgamering @_SpyDtroid_ How can remakes be a different timeline? Wouldnt that be a multiverse sequel?
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Cloud describing how he feels in the moment is what got me the most. Up until this point theres not a single moment where Cloud is presented to have strong emotions like this and seeing it here is gutwrenching 💔 I’m really sad Rebirth decided not to include this bit
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@falconerd Robo Miner does. I test my games on ancient devices as well. But I also run my own engine and I really love optimizing ... Robo Miner is just 14 Mb
Even my "biggest" game Exipelago is highly optimized for old hardware (water/light sim is a bit demanding on bus tho)
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99% of indie games I see don't:
- Ship with a small file size
- Run well on old hardware
- Use simple, direct code
Too much bloat.
Not enough craft.
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How to learn game programming:
Old way
- Unity tutorials
- Asset store plugins
- Following YouTube step-by-step
- Never understanding what's happening
New way (ancient way)
- Build from scratch in a systems language
- Implement collision yourself at least once
- Break things, then fix them
- Actually understand your game
Understanding > abstraction
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@malavolence_ It seems like many indies go full-time too early and have to scramble to make money
It's common to "just get it out" instead of canceling a project when it's not very good
I'm not sure how I feel about it since the market decides anyway
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@falconerd maybe its just the games i see
but most of the indie games are some of the indie trends (deckbuilder, roguelike, movement shooter, etc.)
i genuinely got bored with most of them
im sure they intend well, but it just comes off as money-first and art-second
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@falconerd Shoutout to @raysan5 for fighting the good fight by bringing the craft back to games!
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@korzewarrior Off the top of my head:
Refactoring: caseymuratori.com/blog_0015
Memory: dgtlgrove.com/p/untangling-l…
gingerbill.org/article/2019/0…
Algorithms:
redblobgames.com
Networking and/or physics:
gafferongames.com
Shaders:
iquilezles.org
gmshaders.com
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