Poll for D Game Dev

[Kenny Shields]

On Wednesday, 4 January 2023 at 02:54:51 UTC, Hipreme wrote:

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

Not interested in these personally but I think they would be 
beneficial for D game development in general.

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

Wanted to move on from using higher-level languages to a compiled 
language capable of producing binaries for different systems. D 
was the obvious choice after a friend introduced me to it.

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

I've been writing my own engine for the past 3 years which uses a 
variety of C libraries for different purposes. The primary ones 
are the following:

- CSFML: Rendering and Audio
- Chipmunk2D: Physics
- Lua: Scripting/modding
- SQLite: Database stuff

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

Both CSFML and Chipmunk have pretty straightforward APIs and were 
extremely easy to integrate/abstract within my engine. Both also 
perform very well and don't seem to have any glaring bugs or 
issues that can't be worked-around.

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

The SFML release cycle can be pretty slow at times, and it 
doesn't seem like Chipmunk is officially maintained anymore.

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

Nothing really. The fact that D interfaces so easily with C 
libraries means that you have access to almost anything you might 
need (at least for 2D games). It would be nice if there were 
(maintained) D ports of popular C libraries readily available  in 
the ecosystem, but honestly it's not a huge issue to me.

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

Haven't done much with BetterC so I really don't have a 
preference on this.

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

I've been working on a 2D game for about a year now using my 
engine that I mentioned above. It currently targets Linux and 
Windows and also runs on the Steam Deck (though it was not 
designed for hand-held/mobile devices). The game can be found 
here for those who are interested: 
https://kenny-shields.itch.io/imperium-scenario-system

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

No plans to sell my current game, however I would like to work on 
a larger commercial project in the future, likely some sort of 
top-down simulation/management game. This is probably a way off 
though, as I'll need to put some funds aside to hire a couple of 
art and sound designers.