I'm making an open 3D action MMO engine to sort this out. If your computer does not have a keyboard/mouse it's useless for eternity.
And indeed, some people made use of them. But for most people, it's easier to play games than to create them, just as for most people it's easier to read books than to write them.
But tool-wise, we've been living in paradise for a long time now. Whether we take advantage of that is up to us.
Tools are peaking and linux with TWM from the 1987 is winning! ;)
For more depth on my reasoning: http://move.rupy.se/file/park_engine.html
In any case, I was able to start programming my first games using a pirated copy of GW Basic on a PC XT. That's all you really needed.
Then I think around the 286 or 386 PC clones I discovered open source libraries like Allegro (a competitor of today's SDL), and it wasn't even pirated anymore! Really, all you need to program games.
Basic is not performant enough to make games that are interesting.
If you could afford a 286/386 you are not really in the majority of the human population.
Energy as an abstract concern is a very low priority for any hobbyist games creator. You care about building cool stuff. You only care about energy if it impacts your game.
> "Basic is not performant enough to make games that are interesting."
This is simply not true. There are even commercial BASICs that specialize in game creation.
> "If you could afford a 286/386 you are not really in the majority of the human population."
Nobody with an interest in videogame creation is. It was a very cheap 286 PC clone anyway; we couldn't afford a brand PC. But I acknowledge most people weren't programming at home back then.
My point: Raspberries aren't at all needed for programming. Any computer would do. You don't need a magic device.
>I'm making an open 3D action MMO engine to sort this out.
Yes, I'm sure this will be the Unity killer that everyone is waiting for. rolls eyes
Minecraft is owned by Microsoft and has issues (does not run on ARM well and the Java/Bedrock are incompatible)
Roblox is extortion and ugly.
VR Chat is only VR.
Neither scales.
I'm trying my best, here is the status from 2 years back: http://talk.binarytask.com/task?id=5959519327505901449
Now I'm building the voxel world.
This is incorrect. VR chat (and Rec Room) has a non-VR client
VR does not blend well with non VR unless the headset is the camera!
Last time I checked both of those where 1st person not 3rd?
VR blends perfectly fine with non-VR actually, and there are many games that let you play as VR in a non-VR lobby. Check out Paranormal Activity on steam. The game was designed as a normal mouse and keyboard video game, with awkward controls and a strong horror focus, but they added a VR option so if you want, you can feel fully immersed while being chased by evil ghosts and you can pee your pants in fear while your friends stuck with a normal screen are only moderately afraid.
For the two games in question, the non-VR client lets you play homemade games and chat with your friends or strangers who have VR or also happen to play the non-VR version of either. It's literally just a different control method, like using TrackIR in a racing sim.
have access to literally dozens of free game engines and are making their games en masse
They own those games
> on knowledge they don't own
On knowledge that is freely given to them that they can build on. Also, there's now an unbelievable wealth of knowledge available to forego any of those engines and develop everything from scratch if they so chose.
> they can't sell for real money without being exploited
Only... They can and they do sell for real money. No idea what "exploitation" you're talking about.
For the exploitation part:
$0.30 + 2.9% Itch
10% Epic
15% Apple
30% Android/Steam/Nintendo/Sony
70% Roblox
$1,500/yr Unreal
$1,800/yr Unity
0-25% VAT
~30% Income TAX (Healthcare)This is entirely irrelevant to "I wish kids today created their own games". They do, and it's easier than ever to do so.
> you don't have control over your future
Let's see: people create and sell their own games, there's a veritable indie renaissance happening, young people can get into game development (or into programming in general) easier than ever, but... they somehow "don't control their future".
> For the exploitation part
So you want: everything to be free, but you also want people making games to earn "real" money (as opposed to fake money they are earning right now)?
If you cannot create original concepts the real value of a game is zero!
And you can only create new things if you control the fundamentals.
Good luck with money, it's going to get complicated soon.
> If you cannot create original concepts
Your original claim: " something where kids could make their own games and instead they are playing mobile games."
This is patently false, as it's easier than ever to create your own games, and kids are creating their own games.
> And you can only create new things if you control the fundamentals
This statement is as false as it is stupid. What you're basically saing is "kids should go ahead and learn how to make game engines from scratch before even knowing how to create a game" which is a huge barrier for entry for any kid. There's nothing wron with using abstractions first.
Additionally, once again, there's so much info on fundamentals now, too, that anyone can go ahead and "control the fundamentals".
> Good luck with money, it's going to get complicated soon.
Yeah, nebulous statement predicting future doom when original statement was the patently false "they can't sell for real money without being exploited"
I don’t know about the Amiga, but the C64, Atari, and TI computers of the era either booted into a BASIC prompt or you could get there with one or two key presses. Many of us spent a lot of our youth making games and sharing them with our friends.
Nevertheless, it was my first programming language ever.