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Comment by the_af | Hacker News Reader

In which part is Noel disagreeing? He didn't write his own engine either, he just didn't use one (but didn't write everything from scratch either, note he uses lots of game/graphics frameworks, which in a sense is like using a "meta engine").

He's also making a 2D game, which traditionally is closer to game making of old (think 8 bit home computers).

Finally, he's not arguing against engines like Godot or Unreal, he says those are acceptable but he just didn't need them. Much like he doesn't need Windows and finds coding with Linux more comfortable.

PS: out of curiosity, which one is the popular game you mentioned? Looking through his portfolio I see lots of interesting games I'd like to play :)

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> He didn't write his own engine either, he just didn't use one

It's hard for me to take in good faith an interpretation of that article that determines Noel "didn't write his own engine," but in case a couple direct quotes would help:

"I don't have much to say about assets, because when you're rolling your own engine you just load up what files you want, when you need them, and move on." ... "my City of None engine"

Noel literally describes his workflow as "rolling your own engine" and has a name for the engine he wrote.

> He's also making a 2D game, which traditionally is closer to game making of old

Please read the context of the thread you're replying to, which is arguing against writing your own engine even for games with "simpler 'indie' graphics," specifically called out.

> Finally, he's not arguing against engines like Godot or Unreal

He's not arguing against anything. He's advocating for writing your own engine.

Noel made the indie hit Celeste: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeste_(video_game)

Ok, ok, it's indeed an engine of sorts. And I am arguing in good faith.

I'm not familiar with Celeste and I cannot be sure it's one of the most popular indie games of the last decade (I read that it was a hit, good for Noel because it seems like a cool game), but regardless, it's a very specific kind of game! Mostly of the kind I've argued "writing the game" and "writing the engine" is almost the same thing. Nobody is making the argument you must always use an existing engine; only that it's what makes sense as the default option.

> Please read the context of the thread

If you've read my other comments, you know I'm aware of the context of the thread.

> He's not arguing against anything. He's advocating for writing your own engine.

Oh please. Advocating for a thing and arguing against not doing the thing are two sides of the same coin.

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