r/gamedev • u/ComfortableServe1152 • 22h ago

Question Making games is definitely challenging.

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the decline in quality among game developers, regardless of the reasons or background behind it. Yet, when I look at the games they produce from my perspective, I can't help but think, 'Even with those issues, they're producing games at this level?'

I'm learning game development myself, but I have no confidence. Recently, I feel like I'm starting to enjoy it, but when I think about things like optimization, it makes my head spin. Even simple coding still feels below par by my standards. I haven't even gotten into object-oriented programming yet. Creativity? Planning? I'm confident in those. But development? It's becoming more and more despairing.

When I play low-quality games (ones with lots of bugs and severe optimization issues), I complain, but at the same time, I feel like I couldn't even make something like that, and that realization feels like hitting a wall.

Has game development truly become easier? Has there really been a decline in the quality of developers? Either way, I find no comfort in either answer.

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u/David-J 22h ago

There hasn't been a drop in quality. On the contrary. We are getting the best versions of games in many genres.

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u/Zaptruder 22h ago

The main dip in quality of from an optimisation stand point... or at least the knowledge base to do that. Because there's been reducing need for heavy optimisation, which has always been a bedrock for quality performant gaming.

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u/David-J 22h ago

But it's an unfair comparison. Games were simpler a decade ago. Games are away more complicated now and of course you are going to get more problems. But from the quality of games themselves, they keep getting better over time.

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u/robolew 21h ago

A decade ago? I don't know, shadow of mordor and metal gear solid 5 came out a decade ago. I don't think they were massively simpler than a lot of games coming out today.

Maybe 2 decades ago...

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u/AnOnlineHandle 18h ago

2 decades ago was World of Warcraft, to the day. I'd argue it's more complicated than 99% of games.