I have a few people to reply to it looks like...
@29:
Erick wrote:Someone's gotta teach these developers how to really sit down and come up with a game idea. Just think of my ideas for example...
Good luck finding a developer who will listen to that tone. I will agree with the very last part of your post where you mention that BGT and Windows Defender don't play nice, though I've not had issues yet, so I don't know what's going on there. Maybe they fixed it in the later versions of Windows 10? If it's a real annoyance for you, I can understand why you'd want to stay away from BGT games. And there are a few other reasons which I could actually say are fair to stay away from those games too. But there is too much negativity for BGT in my opinion and your post doesn't make the best case.
When people start knocking a programming language, or anything for that matter, they should do so with solid arguments that go beyond simple experiences. As an example, I don't buy these arguments that people make about how sucky BGT games are. Developers create games, not programming languages. So if you don't like a game, it is probably something the developer did. True, the language may have limitations, but a good developer will either work around these limitations or switch languages, and in either case they are exercising creative artistry, which is a highly subjective thing.
To be clear: I am not trying to imply that BGT is adequate or inadequate to make a good game, since I firmly believe that is up to the person/people producing the game. If you would like to use 3D audio, or some other external library that really makes your game work, and BGT can't do those things, then by all means avoid it if you believe it will be in your best interest to do so. But simply spouting off how incompetent teenagers are at developing games and blaming it on the simplicity of BGT is, in my opinion, not a very healthy attitude to take. Lackluster developers will be lackluster developers with or without BGT, just like drunk people will get drunk with or without a bar to drink at.
To those who think BGT should be killed because it's too limited: remember that Not every game needs the latest and greatest tech. Brainstation doesn't need 3D audio. And even more action-oriented titles like Crazy Party don't really need it either. There are a few circumstances in Crazy Party where more audio feedback would be nice, say, to be sure when things are behind you. But still, I would have a hard time using either of these games to justify the arguments that BGT is useless, a toy, worthy of death, or the other things people say about it. I wouldn't complain if either of the devs decided to switch languages, but I don't see why they'd have to.
Games like The Road of Life, which I think are trying to be immersive and which do require some strategic precision, demonstrate some limits. I would love for the game to have better positional audio so I could more accurately hear what's going on, but that isn't possible. I still enjoy the game though because of the argument above where the developer makes the game, not the programming language.
Unless I am mistaken, BGT is the most attractive option for beginners. They don't have to set up sound libraries, or screen reader support. If you know nothing about programming, those tasks alone seem daunting. Take it from someone who doesn't know how to program, not even with BGT. Yes I could do research, and maybe find some audio game development kit that a dev has made, but who knows how hard that'll be to track down if it even exists. That part alone would require dedication, patience and other things I don't possess. And I'd still have to learn how to program, probably at the same time! So yeah this isn't my calling. If I do anything, it will be with BGT at least at first. I'm probably going to get people coming at me with spikes saying "that's what's wrong with most of our developers" but whatever. The way I see it, given how thinly stretched resources are to develop audio games as it is, BGT is just one thing that makes the process a little bit easier and people can still do nice things with it. From what I hear, it's a good stepping stone to learn other languages. If that's the case, then I hope more people will make that step.
A few people have stopped using BGT because they don't like it for whatever reason, and I don't have a single issue with that. But I believe that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Whatever you do, let's at least try to be happy. In a small community like this one that is just as wide as it is diverse and thinly distributed, we need support and encouragement. We need teamwork. We need rational minds and helping hands. Not entitled shouting and stamping of feet in an attempt to form some unity; trust me, that never, ever works. Please don't do it!
@41 (kaigoku) I agree with you completely, and @42 (Cae) I also agree.
CAE_Jones wrote:I cannot manage a team to save my life. The magnitude of this problem was not made clear until after I got here. I basically need to find someone to be my HR department. And since it's kinda self-absorbed to assume I can just post on social media "hey, want to manage my project and do all the people parts?", I'd need to pay someone to take the job. And that brings us back to cash.
Yeah, that's my problem too. A friend of mine and I are trying to work on some games. We both are talented in sound design and music composition, or at least, talented enough to make something that will work. We have really high standards though. WE both have specific ideas which sometimes line up, sometimes don't, but we both do have visions. Main difference between us is he is a coder, at least an amateur one, and I am not. When he codes, I just watch and laugh when he gets mad because it isn't working lol. But eventually it does. Problem is, it takes us weeks to do one small level, and because of our high standards, the work is slow and exhausting.
We tried lowering our standards, but found it impossible to feel satisfied. We decided to delegate: He can code and I can sound design, but there's too much overlap. He's really good, in some ways I believe better than me. So I am always too worried that my sounds wont' make the cut, or he'll spend all day editing them to fit his code better, which I don't have a problem with per say, it just isn't always efficient. We tried helping me learn to code so that we could have equal roles in the projects. That fell on its face practically before it had a chance to make a stand, though we were probably going too quickly in an effort to get me up to speed. In any case I just don't have the passion for coding that I do for audio production, and even my passion for that is just a hobbiest one, I don't think I'd want to do it all the time.
Because we both are good at what we do, we are always afraid of disagreements, which we believe would become worse with a larger team. I think I'm quicker to admit though that we need better team skills. I don't feel like our ideas are really worth taking too seriously though. That's probably the biggest reason the team idea hasn't gotten underway.
Edit: improved clarity
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