Poll for D Game Dev

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

(This is my second attempt, the forums were down the first time… 
:-( )

On Wednesday, 4 January 2023 at 02:54:51 UTC, Hipreme wrote:
> Hello D Game Developers. As you guys know, I have been 
> developing a cross platform game engine for some years right 
> now. I'm close to release version 1.0.

That's nice, I believe the best way to get attraction for a game 
framework is to create a demo-game that is visually interesting 
and showcase it. Screenshots and "glitter" sells...

> 1: Would you be interested in participating in a D game jam?

No time at this point.

> 2: Why did you started using D for developing games?

I viewed C++ as expensive to develop in (this was pre C++10) and 
was looking for a cheaper alternative (e.g. less work).

> 3: What frameworks, libraries or game engines are you using for 
> D? Are you developing your own?

I created my own (no longer pursuing it).

> 3.1: What do you like more about the framework you're using?
> 3.2: What do you dislike about the framework you're using?

I don't really want a full framework, I would be attracted to a 
set of low-overhead libraries that sits right on top of Metal and 
Vulcan, with some abstractions that allows me to write my own 
shaders. And high quality tutorials.

Focused up-to-date demo-tutorials are very important for getting 
people interested in frameworks. Outdated tutorials often linger 
around after the framework has moved on, which is a source for 
frustration that it is better to avoid.

> 4: What the D ecosystem is missing for you to develop your own 
> game?

At the time, the GC turned out to be unsuitable which reduced the 
usefulness of this approach for me.

> 5: How much do you care about the game engine being betterC 
> compatible? And why?

I don't care how it is achieved in the framework, but in order to 
be interested I would need to be able to control memory 
allocations with ease. So not "betterC" per se.

> 6: Which kind of game do you plan to develop? 2D or 3D? Which 
> platform are you targeting?

3D or 2.5, shaders. I probably would require iOS, and all 
desktops. WebGL2/WebAssembly would be a strong selling point.

I don't know if it is possible to develop games for ChromeOS, but 
one way to generate some initial interest is to support a 
platform that others don't and market it in forums geared towards 
that platform.

In essence you can choose between designing a framework that 
makes very good use of a small number of platforms (with stiff 
competition) or make a more abstract framework that is highly 
portable (but less fancy).

> 7: Are you looking to sell your game or just toying with the D 
> language ( not going to make any serious project )? Why?

If I were to make a full game that isn't a web-only game then 
there would have to be a solid source for revenue.

I once created a prototype in 
[Metaplace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaplace), which was a 
hosted multi-user platform where you could write your own games 
(using 2D, with basic physics engine and scripting). It allowed 
you to create sub-games/sub-worlds. Something like that could be 
interesting, but creating a hosted multi-user solution is also 
very challenging.

I guess it is possible to create a single user game that is 
structured in the same way. Basically let individual contributors 
create subgames within a larger game. Something like that could 
be interesting, but not sure how you can ensure quality. You 
might need to use the same graphical/sound artists for all 
subworlds, but then you need solid funding…