Visual Scripting Future of Game Programming?

Scripting Visual Scripting
1

So I had a thought or more of a question, wondering if Visual Scripting will be the Future of Game Programming?

I think any company that can manage to create easy to use game engine or extensions like Playmaker that willl allow non programmers to easily create game mechanics and logic etc… are going to be looking at making some big money as more and more indie, and solo non programmers dive into game development.

I know for me, a non programmer I would love to have a purely visual editor based game engine that allows me to create game with just clicks of a mouse.

Currently I did purchase Playmaker but decided not to use it because I did not want to become dependent on a third party tool. So I’m sticking with learning C# and UnityScript as I go since that’s the primary way Unity was meant to be used.

But I think as time goes on we may start to see more and more visual game editors or extentions to Unity that try to remove the thought of opening up a notepad to edit code or anything. There is definitely a big open market for this kind of tool… So I feel there is alot of room for growth and evolution for how we edit and create games.

I’m not saying its good or bad, just sharing my own thoughts of what I feel is coming…

Any thoughts on this subject?

2

It better not be the future of scripting, I loath node based programming. I hate when it creeps up in new versions of programs I use replacing what used to be good UIs with node crap. e.g. 3DsMax Material Editor

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I think we’ll see more integrated visual scripting tools for things like FSM’s (Playmaker) or Behavior Trees (Rain Indie) or Shaders. But none of those will ever completely replace programming. Some things are easier to express with words than with shapes and arrows.

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As long as it’s round trip, you can write a prog and it will appear as a set of nodes and you can draw your node set and it will appear as code.

I’ve used Object Oriented Design tools that work this way and they can really improve your design and developments speed, templating out code paths, loops and structures.

Imagine if there were a way with a touch based device to code with gestures and words, want a loop draw a circle and say “FOR”, branch do a reverse pinch ect.

Always remember that computers get faster and faster on an exponential curve and that should allow us to make how we work smarter not harder, look at Unity for example 10 years ago if you wanted to be a 3D games developer you would probably need a degree in maths or physics to create something that anyone could produce with Unity in a few days.

Now imagine what the future could hold… :sunglasses:

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I absolutely agree, it would be extremely limiting on what you can make. The idea of a literal Visual Studio where you have nothing but nodes sounds horrifying.

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Same here. I remember back when I used gamemaker, I used the D&D stuff. Then, after I switched to Unity and learned the basics of coding, I could do the same stuff in half the time with code (admittedly, part of that might have been because Gamemaker is, well, Gamemaker). Now, I just can’t wrap my head around stuff like RAIN. Plus, the visual scripting is always going to be powered by code anyways, so if you want to do something completely radical, you’re going to need to know how to code yourself.

Now, something that would make it easier for a programmer to create art? Yes please!

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Speaking of which look what’s at the asset store. https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/1808

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visual scripting exist for more than 10 years…
Remember using Virtools Dev 1.5 when I was learning to a Game School on Paris, about 10 years ago…

And definitely not the futur of the programming but I think it should be a required skill for the next generation of GameDesigners on the market to prototype their ideas before production process.

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The future of programming:

The technologies advance in an ever-increasing way. Processor’s power doubles every 2 years.
Soon MRI scans will be able to read humans thoughts patterns, record them and store.
Thus able to create virtual worlds indistinguishable form the real world.

That assumes we live in a real world…

And yes my name is Morgan Freeman.

10

There has to be code behind the visual code -_-

Also I read about GameMaker somewhere here and I totally agree. Visual Scripting is not the future, it is just one of many branches.

11

no.

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It’s just another tool in the toolbox.

But if you look at the history of game development there’s a clear trend towards more visual tools for authoring content, and the line between code and content is constantly moving. Everything is data driven these days, and thus a content problem. Unity itself is a great example of this trend!

Content developers are asked to create more of the experience, and they need freedom to prototype, iterate, and polish. For me, this is a great opportunity for visual scripting tools.

I also dig the idea of enabling non-technical creative people from all fields to experiment with interactive content. People not steeped in the conventions and culture of gaming, who might just look at a game engine as a cool tool to make interactive moving images. Maybe recapture some of that innovative energy of the early days of gaming when we were inventing whole genres from nothing :shock:

Anyway, as a way to empower content developers and creative types I think visual scripting has a bright future. And while I don’t think programmers are going to be dumping Visual Studio any time soon, I do think visual tools can help programmers better visualize and debug complex behaviors. In fact, many programmers use and love Playmaker for this reason! :slight_smile:

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I hate all this node based crap. I think that it is more difficult than actually coding it yourself. (Atleast I do not understand all this node based stuff, and find it really difficult to use) I just hate it. I see no reason for making anything node based. First of all, it limits you, and second of all, it is way slower. I am sure that I am much faster actually coding stuff myself.

Sure, people who do not know anything about programming can do something with it, but you know what? I do not care, if you want to make a game, learn how to programm…

14

Grab a juice and chill out dude :slight_smile:

15

People need to stop getting upset about things like this. When I created my first piece of 3dart I programmed everything. I wasn’t upset when 3dsmax came along with an editor. Then I spent countless of hours laying out loops, chamfering edges for highpoly objects but I wasn’t upset when zbrush came along. It’s tools that help with the workflow making things easier and quicker to produce certain types of content.

I was pretty close to abandoning Unity but playmaker came along which is without doubt the best thing that has happened to Unity for me. All of a sudden I can focus on creating instead of focusing on learning syntax.

If visual coding isn’t for you don’t use it, but being upset because someone else can now do something quickly that you spent a long time learning is useless. We are all here to create something of enjoyment for an end user right and they don’t care about your beautiful edgeloops or how neat your codelines are they care about the end result.

16

Totally agree :slight_smile:

17

Give this man an award!

18

+2

personally… I think visual editing is the future, maybe not the immediate future… maybe much much longer down the road.

As the way i see it… before Game Engines like Unity, Unreal etc. even existed if you wanted to make a game, you had to first code from scratch your own Game Engine am I wrong? If so, that means Unity and Unreal Engine for example are currently the Latest Version of a Visual Game Editor to a degree, as far as Placing Content in a Scene, and being able to Create your 3D Game World without the need of coding the actual mathematics placement / location of each game object in the scene.

Most developers today use a Game Engine like Unity or Unreal, unless they are working for a AAA Game Dev Company that has the money to invest in creating their own in-house Game Engine.

We use Game Engines because it’s a HUGE time saver, there is lots of stuff already pre-coded for us, and all we are doing is calling those pre-coded (game engine) libraries through pre-defined statements to create what we want to create using C# or whatever higher level programming language the engine supports.

So what I see is this… if game programmers / developers use Game Engines to Save Time, why would the New Generation of Game Programmers / Developers NOT use and/or adapt the the Latest version of Visual Game Editors and Tools to Create Games.

While many of you who are hardcore Coders / Programmers may Reject this ideas… it’s fine, actually it’s natural for you to do so being that you learned how to do what you do the way you do it…

But i’m talking about the Newer Generations of Game Developers to Come over the Years… the Same way we have adapted to Using Today’s Game Engines like Unity or Unreal to Develop Games, that’s the same way Newer Developers are going to adapt the the newer versions of Game Engine / Editors / Design Tools that will probably be more Visual than what we have now…

It only makes sense for Big Software Development Companies to find new ways to Make Game Development easier, and easier because as they do… that means they can now Sell their Product to an even Larger Market than before.

the same way Unity has come along and probably paved the way for many new Indie Developers to get started, this trend will surely continue…

I’m a non-programmer, and I have not took Game Development Seriously until Unity because of how Easy it is to Use in comparison to other Engines I’ve tried over the years… so imagine what more there is to come.

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It’s not that I don’t want non-programmers to be able to create games; I just don’t want visual/node based stuff to be the only way.

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Yeah i gotta agree with squared55 i don’t personally like these visual scripting editors but i have no problem with them existing. Scripting in a programming language is far more readable in my opinion. Also i cant imagine these editors being anywhere near as versatile as the real thing.

I guess it will always be this sort of war between non programmers and people who like programming, i think programming is awesome ( i mean in unity its not like I’m doing any sort of hardcore programming or anything). But its easily the most enjoyable part of game development for me and id hate for it to just disappear. Not that it can really :P.