Biggest Issue with D - Definition and Versioning

[Klaim - Joël Lamotte]

Hi, here are my random 2 cents about the gamedev point, as someone who have
worked in the game industry and will get to full-indie gamedev in the
future :

A.

C# is used a lot in the industry because :
 1. It's easier to code with than C++ and with decent performance;
 2. It's hugely easy to setup GUI tools (like editors) with C#;
 3. It have full support of Visual Studio (even better than C++ at the
moment);

Also Sony is going the same way than Microsoft in providing a framework to
work on their consoles, based on C#.

1. can be done by D if it have a stable and complete implementation
2. cannot be done by D without a GUI framework. It don't exist in D (and I
guess it will get in the same state than C++ having to work with
non-c++-idiom-based-Qt library...)
3. cannot be done without a very big plugin in VS (that can be done but
require fare more work than the current VisualD plugin)

B.

I think D is more in competition with C++ than with C# because it tries to
target the same goals. For gamedevs, having the core game in D would be
interesting but for instance, without a killer app to demonstrate D power,
it's hard to know what's teh D state and how it helps.

Also, D have one HUGE advantage over C++ that could be a killer feature :
it compiles faster.

C.

As already said, having access to C++ libraries would have heavy weight in
the choice of language for game developer (startup or not).

However, if some basic bricks libraries would be available directly in D,
it would help some people build interesting games in D. Assuming they are
not binding over other libraries, D would need 1 or more (more is better):

 - generic graphic library (like Ogre3D - not as low as OpenGL/DirectX, but
very flexible)
 - generic input library (like OIS - not as low as directly having hardware
inputs, but very flexible)
 - generic audio library (like FMod/IrkkLang, etc. - not as low as OpenAL,
but very flexible)

At least.
I think D-idiomatic libraries that would implement such systems would make
game dev. easier for anyone wanting to use D for gam dev.
Also, note that SDL and SFML can be used in D but they are C++ idiomatic
and that feels in the design. Any additional layer over libraries is just a
potential point of headache. Game devs avoid those additional layers.

D.

Personally, I would have tried D for making some experimental games if I
had more time and if wasn't a bit disapointed by the language not being
implemented fully. That's the main reason I'm sticking with reading this
community discussions, to know when it seems stable enough for me to try
something small. I don't really mind having (open source) libraries issues,
but compiler issues are kind of a showstopper for me.

E.

Are there any contacts from D developers to console companies? I think it
would be very helpful for the D-team to have somme discussions with them,
see what they think about allowing game devs to use this language instead
of C++.

Hope that this random feedback helps.

Joël Lamotte
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