A Grand Personal Realization: I don't like programming

[Sarudak]

One of the most successful game designers I knew was also actually a student of neuro-linguistic programming. He had a remarkable talent for defusing bad ideas thrown his way with a simple phrase that would leave the originator laughing at their own stupidity. It was a trick I never did quite pickup :)

That sounds like some magic that I want to learn!

[kregoth]

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Thanks man. I've actually done project management in the past, and don't much care for it as it take me away from the creative aspect of making games. The role I've found myself most comfortable in professionally was that of a lead game designer, where I had a good producer to worry about the management side of things.

The good producer part is key though (and I've only ever really worked with one) as I've been thoroughly miserable when I've worked as a lead designer with a bad one. That kind of situation tends to turn into a constant power struggle that just isn't conducive to doing anything worthwhile.

Actually, one of the reasons I tend to get so upset about bad suggestions is that tends to be rather symptomatic of working with a bad producer. If you happen to get a guy that thinks he is a game designer (which almost everyone does at some level), and constantly tries to muck about with the design side of things as a result, a project can quickly turn into a living hell.

Thus, I've spent a large portion of my career trying to fend off bad ideas from people that had more power than me within a corporate hierarchy in order to try and preserve the integrity (and fun) of game designs I've been involved with. I realize that I've developed a very defensive reaction towards bad-ideas as a result of this, as I have a history of not just being able to say no to them, but rather having to get into prolonged struggles to keep them away from my games. Thus, I start getting angry and ready for a fight soon as I see them, which is a reaction I've had a hell of a time trying to ween myself off of.

One of the most successful game designers I knew was also actually a student of neuro-linguistic programming. He had a remarkable talent for defusing bad ideas thrown his way with a simple phrase that would leave the originator laughing at their own stupidity. It was a trick I never did quite pickup :)

Your welcome! and I was referring to being the lead designer, I know if I owned a small game company I would prefer someone as objectionable as you to lead and guide everyone into what will and should be put into the game.

I have really never considered myself as a game designer but I have worked in the industry long enough and in many different areas to know that a good team consist of someone who is never afraid to be objectionable. Bah enough praise from me anyway, what I am getting at is don't think being objectionable as you are, and defensive in most ways, as something bad it happens to be one of the finer points I honestly like about you. Like I said its what makes a good game designer :)

[Ethinolicbob]

After 25 years of doing it, I just realized I don't much care for programming.

Aren't we all glad that you didn't realise that faster and act on it...
I realised I didn't care for programming after/during university. So I walked out with my large student loan and never did programming again.
BTW has inspired me to look back into programming. The problem is everything I learned is like a fading dream. You know it was there. You know what it was about. But all the specifics are just out of reach... And it is so much easier to play what someone has already made.
I can't help but wonder if I had kept to it, would any of the crazy ideas in my head ever come to fruition.

[SterlingRed]

my initial thoughts upon reading that... you're a born engineer man... sorry, i know that's very improper of me to declare, especially before i congratulate you on these most recent endeavors into self awareness. congrats! it's always good to know more about yourself :)

I'd agree that FC's interest in design and an end product is closer to that of an engineer than a programmer. Being a design engineer for one of the top 50 Fortune companies, I can say that the traditional corporate engineer isn't really FC's style. It can be creatively stiffling sometimes. But engineering in
gereal is about solving a technical problem to provide a product for a
customer. I love the challenge and creativity involved, and can push through the coorporate process for the satisfaction of the final product. FC strikes me as more of an entrepreneur. He has a vision for his product (btw) and the technical skills to implement it. It's easy to see why he doesn't like the traditional game dev roles and enjoys the design challenge more than the programming. This is often why engineers end up in management. In charge of design decisions while having minions to do the technical grunt work. (I have no minions yet).

[Zhil]

I like programming. I like designing beautiful code. I have even written code in the past just because it looks nice, that doesn't actually do anything useful. I sometimes program Sudoku solvers and stuff like that, just for the programming fun of it :)

I don't like it as much as game design, but I'm currently gearing up to work as a business programmer and looking forward to it. I like writing elaborate accounting software.

I'm also very odd. I think I'm the only one out of my graduation year that actually likes the act of programming and I want to write a book or teach programming one day :)

[gftweek]

I like programming. I like designing beautiful code. I have even written code in the past just because it looks nice, that doesn't actually do anything useful. I sometimes program Sudoku solvers and stuff like that, just for the programming fun of it :)

I don't like it as much as game design, but I'm currently gearing up to work as a business programmer and looking forward to it. I like writing elaborate accounting software.

I'm also very odd. I think I'm the only one out of my graduation year that actually likes the act of programming and I want to write a book or teach programming one day :)

Programming for it's own sake can be great, I think the problem comes in when you end up doing a large enough project that you have to collaborate or when you are maintaining existing code.

Debugging, integrating changes with others code and reworking bad code can be soulsucking and lack all the creativity and design that new code allows for, and while they provide a certain satisfaction once done, they don't reach the high you get while in the flow state writing new code (or any artistic endeavour).

[Zhil]

Programming for it's own sake can be great, I think the problem comes in when you end up doing a large enough project that you have to collaborate or when you are maintaining existing code.

Debugging, integrating changes with others code and reworking bad code can be soulsucking and lack all the creativity and design that new code allows for, and while they provide a certain satisfaction once done, they don't reach the high you get while in the flow state writing new code (or any artistic endeavour).

It depends. If I'm working with capable programmers, it's actually fun to collaborate; it can turn hellish quickly though. I like reworking bad code, I see it as a challenge.

Debugging is not something I do often, as I'm working in OO land, where debugging has been largely replaced by test-driven design (or at least the mundane parts of debugging have been replaced). Sure, you replace one mundane task by another, but debugging is a black art, while test writing is just regular old maintenance programming (which is not too bad).

[TheAnarchitect]

This is an example of one of Humanity's saving graces: No matter how much you think a job sucks; someone, somewhere finds it intrinsically fun and rewarding.