
Ask HN: I don't like playing games, can I be a game developer? - ertucetin
I&#x27;m a full stack programmer(Clojure&#x2F;Java) and I wrote lots of backend and frontend code, mostly web apps.<p>I want to try something new but I&#x27;m confused. I thought building games might be interesting but I&#x27;m not that sure because I really don&#x27;t play&#x2F;like games.<p>The thing is I want to improve my programming skills in a different way and it should be fun so what is your suggestion?
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hluska
I'm a sample of one, but I was kind of in your shoes. I'm a huge baseball fan
and spent lots of time programming tools to help me perform better in my
fantasy leagues. From there, I thought, "why not program my own baseball
simulator?"

So, I started but I kept running into "I wonder how they do....?" interface
questions because I didn't like gaming, so I started playing a baseball
simulator.

To say I was fucking amazed would be an incredible understatement. The
complexity and depth they achieved was so far out of my league that I wanted
to keep playing, partly as a tribute and partly in hopes of figuring out their
secrets. But, if you'd asked me then, I still would have said, "Yeah, i don't
like games."

And, then for Christmas a few years ago, we got our kids a PS4. At first, I
was a fuddy duddy who didn't like games, but then my stepdaughter taught me
how to play Minecraft...

Today, roughly four years have gone by since I decided to build my own
baseball simulation. As it stands, the simulation might be one of the worst
pieces of software ever built, though I cant recall another project where I've
flat out learned so much.

------
cm2012
Games development is a lower paying and more competitive space than others, so
why do it if you dont like games?

~~~
troydavis
This. Also, even after all the press about crunch time
([https://kotaku.com/crunch-time-why-game-developers-work-
such...](https://kotaku.com/crunch-time-why-game-developers-work-such-insane-
hours-1704744577)), the hours are still bad.

A lot of the skills are so specialized that they don’t transfer directly to
more common types of software. Most backend developers don’t need to know
about graphics pipelines, physics, or any knowledge of game engines or
animation engines.

Finally, other than distribution and marketing, the thing that makes or breaks
a game is design - whether it’s fun ([https://www.quora.com/Is-it-easy-for-a-
software-engineer-to-...](https://www.quora.com/Is-it-easy-for-a-software-
engineer-to-learn-game-development)). It’s hard to design a fun game if you
haven’t played many. You don’t need this skill to work on other parts of a
game, but if you’re not there for the money, work environment, or personal
passion/impact, not much is left.

If you want to tinker and learn something new, spend a few weeks writing a
basic platformer with a HTML5 library like Phaser or melon (many tutorials
online). You’ll have to consider some of the same problems as more complicated
games, but it’s much less work.

------
etienne_p
i guess it heavily depends on the position you're interested in. A gameplay
programmer might be expected to like games, on the other hand, if you're
writing an asset handling system, network stuff, rendering, ..... It really
doesn't matter. I may be in a similar situation, loving the challenges one
encounters while writing games, yet not really into games themselves.

------
le-mark
I was the same, I used to hobby game dev for many years. I was never a gamer,
what intrigued me was creating worlds, and the technical challenge. I learned
tons writing things like 3d software renderer, scripting language, path
finding, physics. Nothing I wrote ever progressed past a 'tech demo' though.

Nowadays, using thing like unity or whatever, games are essentially an
excercise in content creation IMO. Well, this has been true for a long time.

------
the2bears
I've been making 2D games off and on for years. J2ME, Java w/OpenGL bindings,
and now in Clojure. Was a great way to start learning a new language and since
I love programming this is a nice way to a) do more, and b) practice, and c)
is a completely different domain than the Clojure I do in my day job.

------
osullivj
Most developers are working on systems that they have no interest in using in
their spare time.

~~~
phaus
The difference is that people use most software for a combination of reasons
that don't usually impact the game industry.

The first reason is that the programs often help them complete important
tasks. Some of them couldn't be accomplished otherwise. The second is that
there are lots of industry standard apps that aren't even that good, but its
the standard that everyone uses so everyone keeps using it. There are lots of
other reasons but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

If people don't enjoy playing a game, they aren't going to play it.

------
hluska
I'm a sample of one, but I was kind of in your shoes. I'm a huge baseball fan
and spent lots of time programming tools to help me perform better in my
fantasy leagues. From there, I thought, "why not program my own baseball
simulator?"

I started but kept running into "I wonder how they do....?" interface
questions because I didn't like gaming, so I started playing a baseball
simulator.

To say I was fucking amazed would be an incredible understatement. The
complexity and depth they achieved was so far out of my league that I wanted
to keep playing, partly as a tribute and partly in hopes of figuring out their
secrets. But, if you'd asked me then, I still would have said, "Yeah, I don't
like games."

And, then for Christmas a few years ago, we got our kids a PS4. At first, I
was a fuddy duddy who didn't like games, but then my stepdaughter taught me
how to play Minecraft...

Today, roughly four years have gone by since I decided to build my own
baseball simulation. As it stands, the simulation might be one of the worst
pieces of software ever built, though I learned so much when I was working on
it.

But, the biggest difference is that now, I play games. I actually bought GTA5
a few months ago and can't believe how much fun I have playing it.

TL;DR - Go right ahead, even for a side project. However, if you don't play
games, you'll likely end up playing a few, just to figure out how others
present information and request input. Then, be very careful because once you
get over the amazement at what people can accomplish, you might start having
fun. :)

------
tiredwired
You should make some games on your own first. Use your Java skills to make an
Android game.

