This gets at something I’ve thought about a lot as a software dev.
Making a game engine is a very concrete task, in that you can map out the steps and many of them are well-defined.
On the other hand “make a good game” kinda isn’t. Which I think is a big reason why coders gravitate towards the “start making an engine” route and then fall down it :)
The developers I admire and look up to a lot are the artists that fell into programming. I think they’re the best when it comes to being a successful lone / indie dev for games. Everyone notices art, but you don’t notice programming unless it goes wrong or you know the tech behind what you’re looking at.
Making a game engine is a very concrete task, in that you can map out the steps and many of them are well-defined.
On the other hand “make a good game” kinda isn’t. Which I think is a big reason why coders gravitate towards the “start making an engine” route and then fall down it :)
The developers I admire and look up to a lot are the artists that fell into programming. I think they’re the best when it comes to being a successful lone / indie dev for games. Everyone notices art, but you don’t notice programming unless it goes wrong or you know the tech behind what you’re looking at.