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Ask HN: What makes game developers such programmers?

by debanjan16 on 6/7/23, 6:46 AM with 3 comments

I have observed that no problem seems unsolvable for game developers. You throw a complicated problem at them, they will create a solution (in whatever way) and make the thing work. The first solution is not always the most efficient one.

How is that tremendous power gained?

Also so much have come out of the game development world like Perlin noise for terrain generation, fast inverse square root, etc.

Are game developers the only raw hackers like the 70s that exist today?

by dtagames on 6/7/23, 12:43 PM
It's a legit question. I moved to game development last year after spending 25 years in business software . I work for a mid-size team that's part of a large company.
I think the simplest explanation is that games are not so rigidly focused on some of things that make business software take longer. There's more risk taking, more short-term solutions, less testing, and more bugs. And that's ok, because games only have to be fun. They don't need to manage your bank balance or solve the world's problems. This gives game developers the freedom to be creative and just "get it done" in a way that's sometimes not possible with the constraints of business software.
Another factor is that game developers play games -- their game and others. This is not true in other industries! Mainframe database developers (I did that at IBM) don't use a database at home for fun. Nor do they test out every other database in their spare time. People who work on email are probably not passionate about email in the way that game folks are into games. So I suspect this gives a little more oomph to push through and solve problems.
by ftxbro on 6/7/23, 6:49 AM
i think they are the most visible ones. it's not like you are going to see what a database programmer working at oracle does at their job.
by richardjam73 on 6/7/23, 8:49 AM
Neither Perlin noise or Fast Square Root came from game development.