What killed Smalltalk could kill Python

[Steven D'Aprano]

Chris Angelico wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 10:54 AM, Albert van der Horst
> <albert at spenarnc.xs4all.nl> wrote:
>> Not to mention that mostly a game is understood, not as something like
>> chess, but an FPS (first person shooter) game.
>> But that is real time programming, one league beyond beginners
>> procedural (sequential) or functional programming.
>> The result is either a disappointment or the illusion of having created
>> something while in fact one used a frame work where all the hard work
>> has been done.
> 
> Even worse, it's usually graphical. From what I've heard from
> companies and people that produce graphical games, there's at least as
> much work in creating assets (images, 3D models, textures, stuff) as
> there is in writing code. And that's before you even consider writing
> a storyline, which is something that I wouldn't expect a new
> programmer to worry too much about ("just go around shooting stuff up"
> makes a fine storyline), but which the best commercial games always
> put a lot of work into. (And it does improve the game significantly. I
> wouldn't have spent anything like as many hours on Alice: Madness
> Returns as I have if it didn't have the storyline it does.)

If a professional games company has their coders writing the plot and
designing the graphics, they deserve to fail. (Well, that's a bit harsh...
there's still room in the world for small indy companies, and even
one-person projects.) You hire artists to design your artwork, and writers
to write your story, and programmers to program your code. It is rare to
have one person able to do all three to professional quality.



-- 
Steven