I hate programming

Posted by death on Dec. 22, 2014, 12:34 p.m.

Yeah that's right, I said it. I hate programming. It's such a pain in the @ss. I don't think I've ever enjoyed programming which is ironic considering I'm a computer science major. Programming is the skill I need but not the skill I want. I've forced myself to learn it just like I've forced myself to practice pixel art because the real goal of it all is to make games.

Games are what I love, not programming or drawing. I love to design games and to sketch up huge documents and plans for a game. I get all deep into the mechanics and progression of a game's design, that is pure joy for me. Best of all, I love seeing it all come to life when a project is finally starting to feel like a game.

But damn if the process isn't tedious as hell. I can spend whole days trying to fix simple bugs only to end up punching myself when it was so obvious. Or worse, when I decide my programming sucks and I need to start all over again to get something right. It's usually better to build a newer better machine than to patch up a faulty one isn't it? It's this process that makes me feel like I'm going no where with a project. I spend more time redoing the things I already did than I do adding new content to the game.

This explains why it takes me forever to make any progress on my projects and why I'm terrible at game jams. I'm plain and simple, not a good programmer. I'm just somebody that forces myself into creating something fully functional before I call it complete and this is a really long process for me due to my lack of skill. I refuse to release something I would call complete and not have it be to the best it can be. (this obviously excludes WIPs)


well wasn't that a nice rant? I just get pretty frustrated with programming and even more frustrated with Game Maker Studio. That damn program seems to always work in the opposite way than I expect it to.

Currently working on an old project of mine, Land of Death, which should be a simple platformer, really simple actually. Just jump and slash at stuff. 1 color sprites and 2 color tiles is all I'm working with. Trying to keep the enemies simple but programming challenging AI and basic physics that work with it seems to be something I apparently suck at.

Over 6 years of programming and developing games and I still can't get smooth collisions for a platformer. WTF am I doing!?

Comments

Alert Games 9 years, 12 months ago

I don't mind it too much.. as long as I know its the right framework/language to learn. Frankly I think that can be difficult to know for many programmers, but some just like learning them.

Languages have changed a lot somewhat recently and they will change later on. I always look for compatibility and efficiency, but sometimes it takes a bit of research to find that information.

Welcome to computers lol. It sucks

death 9 years, 12 months ago

Yeah it does but I suppose it never hurts to learn as much as possible. No matter what we waste our time on, the experience is worth it in the long run.