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> But why would I care about how the engine works? It should just work, I don't want to waste my time with understanding how.

Either this is sarcasm or you need someone to educate you thoroughly.

How the engine works is fundamental to understanding what you can and cannot do as a game programmer, severe pitfalls and above all: where areas for innovation exist for your specific type of game.

I make racing games for example, you might be surprised to learn that if I ignored my engine then it would be impossible, because my engine (Unreal 5) is not very good at handling extremely fast moving objects in the world. It puts enormous stress on the level-of-detail system. I need to understand that otherwise my game won't work.

What you said is as silly as saying "I'm making an apartment block, why do I need to understand the properties of bricks? they should just work!"




So Unreal 5 is not very good at handling extremely fast moving bullets? ;)


You can approximate extremely fast moving bullets with rays that are large and don't move at all. Which, thinking of it, is definitely a game programming design pattern.


Correct.

You would know the difference between a hitscan vs VHQ model mapped onto a pawn with a camera.

if you knew the engine.


I suppose that's either a big yikes or a "ah well, it somehow works anyway".

No, I've not the faintest idea about details of game engines, one area where I happily stay on the customer side.


No this wasn't any sarcasm. I also want to use my smartphone without having to know how it works. If the engine can't be used for fast moving objects, just tell me in the docs. It's not my job to know the inner workings of the engine. I stand by my point.


You can stand by it all you want, but that's not the nature of the world.

Your engine isn't a smartphone. It's a tool used by a craftsman to make immersive experiences.

Maybe I'm coloured by the fact I work in AAA gamedev but the notion of ignoring my tools and expecting good outcomes is just complete fantasy.


A craftsman doesn't now how the steel was melted for his favorite knife. Hey maybe we're just talking past each other here.


No, it's just you.


You added a lot of value to the discussion. thanks.




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