I think maybe opposed to some of the other opinions here, making your own engine is much easier than you think and has a lot of potential upside.
On a walk today I was thinking about something specific that I think is under-discussed. Yes people bikeshed etc. but when you create your own engine you are _fiercely_ aware of _everything_ it can and can't do. As part of this, it's very easy to feel fully in command of your own toolset, and as such able to exhibit mastery over that toolset.
Granted, the scope of possibility when you start out building your own tool is narrow, but in some ways that acts as an easier onboarding to expertise instead of getting dumped into something as powerful as Unity/Unreal/Godot with little orientation and lots of edges you don't know about. In using some super-general you have to carve out your own path through its features, which is cognitive load (and time!) you don't need to worry about when you create your own.
For similar reasons I'm _also_ making my own engine. It's 2D-only engine that uses lots of modern C# features to make for rapid programming of 2D games. For the game I'm making with it to start, I'm using literally every feature of the engine, which is something I don't think I'd ever be able to say for something more general purpose.
For anyone interested:
https://github.com/zinc-framework
On a walk today I was thinking about something specific that I think is under-discussed. Yes people bikeshed etc. but when you create your own engine you are _fiercely_ aware of _everything_ it can and can't do. As part of this, it's very easy to feel fully in command of your own toolset, and as such able to exhibit mastery over that toolset.
Granted, the scope of possibility when you start out building your own tool is narrow, but in some ways that acts as an easier onboarding to expertise instead of getting dumped into something as powerful as Unity/Unreal/Godot with little orientation and lots of edges you don't know about. In using some super-general you have to carve out your own path through its features, which is cognitive load (and time!) you don't need to worry about when you create your own.
For similar reasons I'm _also_ making my own engine. It's 2D-only engine that uses lots of modern C# features to make for rapid programming of 2D games. For the game I'm making with it to start, I'm using literally every feature of the engine, which is something I don't think I'd ever be able to say for something more general purpose.
For anyone interested: https://github.com/zinc-framework