Hi, I’m wanting to make games ideally mobile 2D games to start as it’ll be easier I’m quite new to both programming and Unity although I’ve been following quite a few tutorials now for both.
And I’m debating whether for now at least if I should focus on further improving my programming knowledge and make full games myself from scratch using C# or to use one of the following visual script editors that I have and start using these to makes games straight away.
PlayMaker (I’ve seen isn’t technically visual script editor and its based on states)
Flowcanvas
GameFlow
I can’t find any clear answers anywhere to which is the best to use out of these 3 or if theres any others that are better such as I’ve seen another visual script editor called game creator which looks good aswell.
Hoping someone who has used multiple of these editors can point me in the right direction
Ok, I have never used any of the visual script editors and would say, just try to use C#. I think, if you have no idea how the code works, then all of the vs-editors will not help you. And if you can understand a bit from the code-logic then you are ready to use C# Then google for c# tutorials. You will find something like:
Then learn about: c# syntax, data types, variables, operators, conditional statement, loops, arrays and methods and you are fine and ready to be a senior developer.
Use these things to help develop your knowledge. It’s a great way to get started as you are breaking things into logic and not fussing over syntax.
Same thign I am doing with shaders right now. Using the amplify shader editor which takes a lot of the details out of shader writing so i can more easily understand the logic of whats going on.
This thread would be best answered by non-programmers who are using one or more of these tools. (We programmers are always going to be biased toward text-based programming, like a man with a hammer to sees everything as a nail.)
It’s entirely possible to create games using any of the visual programming systems above. They’re a fine way to get started on your game development path. Playmaker has the most learning resources, but I’ll defer to any non-programmers who can relate their experiences with the various systems.
Thanks for the input I probably didn’t explain what I meant very well. I’m learning text based programming and I’m definitely more towards the role of a programmer than anything else although I’d want to focus more on game design but since I’m solo I obviously have to learn how to program the game myself.
I enjoy programming but I’m wanting to get into making games faster maybe I’m just being impatient but I’m wanting to know if any programmers have used both approaches and if they’d recommend any of the choices I’ve mentioned for certain types of games.
I know overall programming will always win but I’m thinking in terms of being able to make something faster and with my current ability level.
Visual scripting languages are almost never faster to develop with than their equivalent code for multiple reasons starting with the fact that a programmer can type an if statement faster than they can look up the node in a context window, drag it out, enter values, hook up wires, etc.
Beyond having a generally higher typing speed than a high mousing speed programmers simply don’t spend the majority of their time writing code. Instead they will spend most of their time figuring out how they want to solve a problem and what went wrong with the solution they came up with. Both of these activities involve very little typing.
Finally keeping your code clean is far less involved with text-based languages as the language itself enforces a flow to the code whereas most visual scripting languages let you draw the nodes wherever you please. Plus there are programs that will take the comments in your code and generate API docs from them. I’m not aware of any equivalent for visual scripting.
One thing I like about using something like playmaker or a shader graph is that it introduces you to core concepts and techniques without having to dive into the details of implementation.
For instance, the other day I watch a tutorial and read some instruction about writing a shader for unlit. It was confusing as hell and I spent hours trying to simply figure out what the words they were using meant. After many hours of effort, I felt like I didn’t really understand anything.
Then I watch a 10 minute tutorial of amplify shader editor and now I got a much better understanding of how lighting and rendering works in general, what common approaches are, and to boot I’ve made an actual shader I can use right now. But should I want to dive into actual shader language again, understanding whats going on will be a lot easier cause I know the logic behind it.
Same thing with visual scripting. You see the types of logic and how its organized via a visual scripting system, that gives you a strong jumping off point when you get into writing your own code.
So I’d do both. Both for production output rihgt now and for learning I think visual methods have a lot to offer.
I’ve tried a few different visual solutions just to see if they would make things faster (no need to wait for compiling so much, etc.), but every time, without fail, I turn back to text coding almost immediately. I just find it so much easier to conceptualize problem solving in code. Behavior trees, yup, visual is fine. Simple camera switching or things like that, sure, visual is fine. Once I need to do something that needs more finessing, it’s right back to code, and then I stay there.
There are some visual scripting things I keep in out of client’s desires or to help the artists more easily deal with various things (if I haven’t written them a special tool which is far more likely), but my personal choice is code.
If you’re inclined to code in text, as you briefly mentioned above, then I recommend just going that way to begin with.
Then google for c# tutorials. You will find something like: