Seeing that Unity is a programmer’s tool, I have come to realize that most users of the software think of everything in terms of programming logic, whatever be their language of choice. They have acquired a form of tunnelvision which might prove to be a hindrance to development of actual 3D games that, more independent of programming logic, are entertaining, none the less.
Specifically, what I mean is that most things that pertain to the gaming experience are primarily content based in their appeal, and even in their function. How a character moves, how a prop moves, how the background interplays with both of them, all are a product of the artist and not the programmer - or, at least, they should be.
How things behave in a game can be a greater product of the efforts of the artist and animator than those of the programmer. I think, too many things have been assigned to the skills of the programmer.
Think about it a little. My premise is that behaviours of characters and objects are mostly the result of skillful animation produced by artists and not by programmers. Even the plethora of possible actions and reactions are largely dependent on the skills and imagination of the artist, not the programmer. So, I put forth, that games should mainly be the responsibility of artists - perhaps 80 to 90 percent of all work needed for a game should fall into the camp of “artist’s responsibility”.
Example: If character A collides with object B, either animation 1a is executed, animation 1b, or any other number of randomly chosen animations might occur if certain conditions are met. Now, the animator and artist must physically produce the material to be exhibited, should these conditions be met. The programmer, or programming logic only needs to define the coding phrases that embody these conditions - if, then, else and while.
The point of all this is that a game making environment really should be the territory of the artist and not the programmer - tailored to the artist rather than the programmer. But it is not. Nearly every game making environment that I can think of forces the artist and animator to become a programmer to make basic things work. Or else he is forced to collaborate to make his ideas tangible.
If programmers could create entertaining and engaging games, they simple would do it, alone - but most cannot, since they lack the creative and graphic and imaginative skills of the artist.
But, it seems that, in the environment of game creation, artists are the universal “second class citizen”. I think this is evidenced by the focus of game making software - most are simply part of a “programmer’s toolkit”.
I really think it is time that game making software becomes part of an artist’s toolkit, since 80 to 90 percent of the content of any game comes from the hands of the artist and not the programmer.
Why not produce tools that every non-programming artist is at home using?
The only game making environment that has traces of these virtues, (and it is strictly 2D), is Multimedia Fusion, by ClickTeam. And, it is amazing what artists, working alone, have been able to achieve with this software. I only use this concrete reference to existing software to make a concrete point, not for advertising purposes.
And, it amazes me that this simple post will become heatedly apposed and met with responses like - “just get tough, bite the bullet and learn to program in either C# or Javascript, like I did.”
Seriously, those of you who have bitten the bullet and learned to program and who have actually spent more time acquiring graphic and animation skills than programming skills, throughout the length of your career, show me what you have accomplished - working alone.
From everything that I have read on these forums, it is virtually impossible for one person to produce any kind of substantial game working alone. Why - because the programming tasks are so overwhelmingly complex and time consuming that they render the task impossible for one person - that’s why.
I don’t think this necessarily need be the case, nor should we surrender to this being the case. Call me an idiotic optimist, if you will.
I think we can do better.
Greg Smith
, but although the world of programming, even in Unity, is huge, I’ve found that by taking it one step at a time, and asking relevant questions, which tend to get answered around here, programming is quite learnable, and just becomes an extension of all the other artistic stuff I do.
