The Programmers Part III on Fragland.net corners another couple of victims (their word) for their conversation about game programming, posing a set of general questions on the subject to Alen Ladavac of Croteam, currently at work on Serious Sam, and Smarty Man Game designer Derek Smart, whose current project is Battlecruiser Millennium. The following question and answer(s) ask the classic, 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' question:

2. What's first ? The idea for an engine, or the idea of a game ?

Alen : If it only was that simple... It takes a lot of combinations, trials and errors and lot of right decisions at the right times. Software development is always a cyclical process. You start from something and you develop it towards its final result, which usually is not exactly clear in the start.

Derek : For me, the idea comes first. Once you get that squared away, you can figure out the technology aspects. Of course, this can be taken on a case by case basis. e.g. if you are going to do a first person shooter, then you know that you can either develop the engine, or license one, depending on priorities. For my Battlecruiser games, all my technologies are developed from the ground up and I've never had to license any engines.