Hi! It’s been a while!
Personal Rant
(aka reasons why you shouldn’t be here)
For almost two years now, I’ve done absolutely nothing on Addaadah. More than anything else, that’s because of me re-entering the world of VR. I’ve been too busy developing NOMone VR Browser and NOMone VR Desktop. I was also seriously thinking that I should stop developing my own engines. There’s only so much that a single developer can achieve anyway. If you need to make a living out of what you do, you need to focus on productivity. Doing everything from scratch is a thrill, but it really hurts productivity. For instance, while developing Candypede using NONGL, I needed to integrate Facebook as per the client requirements. But for several reasons, using the official Facebook SDK was not an option. I had to implement my own version of the Facebook SDK. It worked really well. It was really beautiful. I even went out and developed my own C++ JSON parsing and editing tools instead of using any existing JSON libraries. It’s extremely exciting, and you really learn a lot. But it takes time, too much time. Candypede took too much time to develop, and I didn’t care until I reached the point where I couldn’t pour any more time into it. I had to work on something that earns me a living NOW! So, I started working on other things. And as time passed, I never looked back. Now Candypede is another game that I totally loved but didn’t ever finish. Maybe someday…
Who am I kidding! Rest in peace Candypede, together with Boqloz Run and Karen.
Using popular tools/frameworks to do your work is really useful. You get to maximize on the work/effort/experience of other brilliant developers. They can worry about perfecting their tools, while you worry about perfecting your product. It also gives you an advantage when you are looking for a job. Employers are more likely to be looking for a <insert a famous tool/framework here> developer than a developer with no experience with de-facto market tools. It also gives you a common ground for sharing with other developers. You can actually get involved in constructive discussions when you speak the same language. Not so much when you develop your own tools.
However, developing your own tools still has its merits. At least, you get the peace of mind, knowing that you are in control of your code. That if it breaks, you can fix it. That it won’t stray into a direction undesirable for you. That it won’t become obsolete unless you let it become so. That there’s nothing that your tool can’t do, for if you need something you can put it in there. That -of course- if you have enough resources. Resource to do everything, and still be productive and profitable. This is usually not the case with indie developers. More like, huge companies. Those who can dedicate enough resources and not feel a burden.
It must be an addiction. That having said all the above, I’M BACK!. I’ve resumed working on this project, and several other abandoned causes of mine. I went out. I got in touch with the prevalent market tools. I’ve picked up new experiences and learned many new things. And I’m going to pour everything that I’ve learned into this. As much as it wastes your time, it’s the kind of work that I love. Here, I encounter things that I can’t find almost anywhere else. I’ll continue making my own tools, because I feel lost otherwise. This keeps me engaged, thrilled, thinking all the time. I’ll have to deal with the challenges of providing enough time and making a living out of this, but that’s ok.