4 Months of Game Programming With My Own Engine

next time its 5 months
PATREON: / jdah
TWITTER: / jdah__
DOOM RENDERER CODE: github.com/jdah/doomenstein-3d
GITHUB: github.com/jdah
EDITOR: NeoVim
CONFIGS: github.com/jdah/dotfiles
THEME: gruvbox
RESOURCES:
* learnopengl.com
* DOOM Game Engine Black Book: fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/
* Michael Abrash's "Graphics Programming Black Book"

[@Plexxl]

Good job! You passed the test and didn’t restart the project from scratch. I’m impressed!

[@jdh]

i made a promise!

[@iyousef46]

hahaha

[@Blitzwarz]

Yet...

[@ashywinter4261]

I've rewritten my current project twice now already, good to know this is super common

[@generallyunimportant]

good thing i never get to rewrite anything because i get too distracted

[@4id3n360]

This is a crazy improvement, nice job man!

[@jdh]

thanks!

[@josealejandrovaroncarreno1692]

@@jdh It's great that you're back, I wish you uploaded videos more often, we love this content

[@tcoder4610]

I love how this game feels like a mashup of video game history with a spice of Cruelty Squad TM on top of it.

[@LavaCreeperPeople]

woah, cool

[@dingusbingus7463]

People who compare every indie fps to cruelty squad give me the same vibe as those who expected the newest armored core to be Mecha Elden ring. I don't get why people compare games in that way. Just say it's cool like everyone else

[@Diwwwy]

@@dingusbingus7463 he literally said part of it was inspired by cruelty squad

[@dingusbingus7463]

@@Diwwwy cool

[@froggo4363]

@@dingusbingus7463🐵🐵🐵🐵🐵

[@Yamo406]

Can we just give him a medal already, he's a genius, the level editor having the cad style, the amount of math made, and the research, dude's an entire department on his own.

[@lionlight9514]

The sheer amount of effort you put into this game is insane, and I can say it definitely paid off, good job!

[@Roizor]

One must imagine Sisyphus happy

[@kuuluna]

This sounds like a Stanley parable in my head

[@Rickyrollingyou]

In one year I'll be graduating in computer science. I'm at that point where you don't really want to tackle stuff and wondering if you made right choices in life LOL. Watching your accomplishments makes me want to learn about everything with the same energy I had in the beginning of my journey in tech. Thanks and I really hope you release it as game somewhere and this makes you a shit load of money.

[@HE360_Games]

I agree with this!!

[@vimic0]

i bet it will make a shit ton of money, this is awesome

[@loldoctor]

You probably work just as hard as you did at the beginning, but at that time you were conscious and proud of all the things that now disappear into the background of routine. It makes sense that fewer things give you that dopamine rush of achievement, finding new challenges gets more difficult as your skill improves, which in turn makes it harder to feel the same motivation as you had when you were getting shots of that dopamine back in the beginning. Passion doesn't require maintaining a towering blaze, it can sometimes reduce to a glimmering candle--it may seem so small by itself, but it's still enough to start a blaze once more.

[@gabryx7]

Just a quick comment from someone who is about to finish his phd in computer science... It never gets boring and you will never really know everything! I would barely know where to start to even understand some of the theory behind what jdh implemented, let alone write efficient code to do it. You don't have to know everything but I really recommend trying lots of different things in your spare time. Coding is actually a very small part of a PhD but it's still what I enjoy the most. You made the right choice, or you wouldn't be here checking out someone else's coding skills :) Find the branch of computing that you like, be it game development, graphics, data science, AI, IoT, sensors, cybersecurity... so many options!

[@Henry-fu2hc]

As a second year in my game dev degree I feel the biggest issue is the amount of choice to decide what to make or what section to choose/seeing other people's (solo or collabrative alike) projects, especially like jdh's which makes it easy to feel put off when you're still so much as the beginning of your journey. As people post updates on their projects you forget the struggle that they will have gone through in both thinking of and starting the project and the journey through especially since people only tend to post the highs such as new features being added. tl:dr it's easy to doubt you skill and ability and decide what to do next when seeing other people's projects since you overlook the time put in and it feels daunting @@gabryx7

[@minositu9476]

Honestly, this looks like a game I would pay for. It has a unique style, good job!

[@Billythek]

unreal engine developer is being jealous :)

[@ghfgh_]

@@Billythekwho??

[@ethanreker3333]

You have a rare gift to turn ideas like these into reality! Its always a joy to watch your progress and incredibly motivating as well. As always I look forward to seeing what you do next!

[@HexaflexagonFan]

@@unknowndev392 Yeah, I kinda hate when people just underappreciate the work that somebody puts into learning something and just calls it "TalEnT"

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

One I'm trying to learn to do even if I'm a 32 yrd moron.

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

​@HexaflexagonFan Yep... I was called talented but I to this day am relearning my fundamentals in artwork. And now trying to learn to code even if my math is...trash due to losing memory of em due to neglecting.

[@r.g.thesecond]

jdh is becoming the next Spytihněv/Hakita/etc and I'm all in for it.

[@DommoDommo]

Great recs, got any more???

[@r.g.thesecond]

@@DommoDommo I mean there is also 'mutantleg', who made Zortch. David Szymanski made Dusk, and New Blood sometimes publishes games like that but they aren't exactly throwback shooters, but more modern renditions.

[@oklol681]

the fact that just like hakita, jdh started from a small demo to developing a full, good game

[@Wichita0]

Beta Femboy Hakita: Uses Unity Game Engine Absolute Chad jdh: Uses A Game Engine That He Made While On Meth

[@FaZekiller-qe3uf]

Who?

[@toxiccan175]

Hey @jdh, this is an insane update. Great work on the game! I'm already getting excited to buy and play it myself. I do, however, have one piece of advice for you: find some playtesters early on, I'd recommend a few people intimately familiar with the "boomer shooter" genre. With other people playing your game and providing feedback, even in these early stages, you gain key perspective and avoid oversight. Don't be afraid to share an unfinished product, good testers understand what it means for something to be a work in progress, and they provide reasonable constructive criticism. Maybe they describe a way to make combat crunchier, like in CULTIC (try it out if you haven't already played it), or how to make the level design more interesting like in HROT. Regardless of the feedback you get, you still have control over the direction of the game. I look forward to your next update and the chance to someday play your game. :)

[@blooTalkoes]

ultajkil

[@Aerobiker1]

Maybe modulating the pixelisation by distance to the center of the screen could be intresting. I find it a bit hard to see enemies or detail when you get a bit far, but the edges of the screen are a bit too detailed compared to the center in those cases. Of course, this is only my opinion. Nice project, keep it up :D

[@arrowtongue]

This game looks gorgeous! I really appreciate the authentic pixely look the game has oppossed to the more commonplace texture filtering. My only complaint is I feel the chromatic effect doesn't quite fit the sharpness of the rest of the style, but that's only a testament to how cohesive it all feels otherwise, I'd just hope it becomes an option. Keep up the good work!

[@arrowtongue]

Additionally the workflow of the development tools you made look unbelievably nice to work with, the modding scene will be explosive.

[@thecubiccat125]

for the last month or so, i've been trying to make a 2d falling-sand-type game on pure c++ with sdl2. this is insanely impressive. i can't even imagine how you managed to make a full 3d engine on c, but i hope i can at least come close to your level some day!

[@HarhaMedia]

I really like your projects and these videos explaining the process are top-notch quality.

[@rhctb]

love your work so far. i had an idea while watching- what if the eye represented the player's health by (instead of saying LIFE) it starts off normal as we see in this video but as the player loses health, it gradually gets more irritated with redness, veins, tears, etc. i think it'll add to the surreal vibe you have going on here! best of luck going forward!

[@catte_6376]

really fucking cool idea

[@duke.]

19:48 'pantheon' sounds like a pretty cool name for game you should consider it

[@odomobo]

I really like how you focused on making the visuals interesting, instead of just trying to stay true to a particular retro aesthetic. It looks amazing!

[@Future-Frost]

This is looking amazing! Some really solid work, good job. I love the direction the art style is going in. That dancing dithering effect is subtle but so, so cool. I'm excited to see where this project goes. It's creators like you that really make me want to go into game development. Thank you for being an inspiration for me to keep working on my game development journey.

[@pink7522]

I love the vibe the text on everything creates! I feel like the many flashes of light tho could get a bit exhausting on the eyes so a way to turn them off or tone them down could probably really help with that.

[@pfmugge6431]

Yo this shit is fire. The amount of progress is insane and design choices for the visual presentation and gameplay are also cool to see Can't wait to see more of it

[@mc.friday]

i rarely comment on videos in general, but damn dude, you've got a lot of potential in you, the progress is staggering, i wish you all the best and keep up the good work! This actually visually reminded me of a Devil Dagger, wich is a staggering game on it's own, and i always thought about having some sort of linear gameplay in that game. I really do hope it's gonna rail somwhere big, keeping my fingers crossed for ya.

[@kyo998]

I would do unspeakable things for Mr. Test Cube.

[@GuilhermeTeres]

Great job on the engine! Very nice to watch the video as well. Regarding the animations, just a quick tip: the triangle face data (the vertex indices) will never change between frames, so you only really need to store and read them once. And with that out of the way, you don't need to export the vertices for every frame, only when there is a keyframe and then you just linearly (or something else) interpolate the vertex positions between the frames.

[@LuckiusDev]

This is incredible. Happy to see an update about this project, I love your channel.

[@nitricswight]

soft shadows? Percentage Closer Filtering? Nah man, I prefer my shadows QUAKING IN FEAR

[@kritischparken]

the stress test looks really cool, its awesome to see the small details you added to increase the intensity all at once, the game really has a lot of action!

[@KingBowserLP]

I LOVE the way this game is taking shape, it's an intriguing an unique idea and i'm looking forward to further dev updates! If i may, can i suggest adding an accessibility menu to the game? the text on the hands and eye can be hard to read for people with visual impairments (static numbers in the corner of the screen maybe?), the reload mechanic can become painful for people with hand mobility issues (add a toggle that instead adds a slower, fixed reload delay?) and the sideways tilt can lead to motion sickness (i'd suggest a toggle like you already considered for view bobbing). I suggest these because i love the artistic direction this project is going, but i also know a couple people who would love to play a game like this, but have these kinds of disabilities. Keep up the good work! It's fascinating watching the game slowly take shape as the creative process comes along. Thank you for taking us with you!

[@WiseMysticalTree81]

It looks beautiful! Especially impressed with the dynamic lighting.

[@jbritain]

I absolutely love this visual style, even with the amount of 'PS1 style' games out there now, this still looks really unique!

[@lurkingstar]

god, the confusing commit messages are way too relatable...

[@justmoritz]

After 10 years in progressional software dev. I just don't get it. It's not that hard? It's just a refusal to do it right.

[@rossb5788]

this looks so sick! the art direction is so surreal and I LOVE it. the text that appears on the walls is a great idea imho.

[@chonkusdonkus]

Super cool video! Love how everything seems to interact with everything else, like tossing the gibs in the tele and I think I saw an enemy shoot a lemon as well! Lots of clever solutions all around, inspiring to watch, thanks!

[@JackAllpikeMusic]

woah this is actually coming together really well! I really like a lot of the stylistic choices you've made - however a lot of the levels seem very dark and it makes it sort of hard to distinguish anything from one another. At 12:10 I think the general 'brightness' was pretty good!

[@btarg1]

I always look forward to these retro low-level coding adventures! I would love to see a port of this to n64!

[@martholomeu9160]

you are clinically insane if you think this could be ported to n64

[@alu2901]

​@@martholomeu9160Idk, someone ported Portal to N64, so maybe at least a part of this game (like maybe the first level or so) could be ported to N64, even if some features had to be cut/simplified.

[@FortuneDev]

This genuinely looks incredible dude, great work

[@starlord0208]

Your style of game has absolutely impressed me. The colors, the light, the wiggling of the camera when turning made me fall in love with what I was seeing.

[@btarg1]

This game looks super fun and unique! I can't wait for the next episode!

[@mattiaslaserskold137]

This is really what you want from somebody who makes a game in their own game engine. Really nice!

[@kearen]

I love how this is shaping up. Thanks for sharing!

[@SpringySpring04]

This is amazing! I loved watching the series where you made the engine, and I really like the aesthetic design of the final game! Putting the stat information like stamina and ammo on the hands is a really banger detail! Also for the lemon grenade launcher you have some MASSIVE missed opportunities for jokes (lemon-ade, Cave Johnson's lemon speech from Portal 2...)

[@sstyle9335]

this is amazing, I can't believe you're still on the train of doing everything by yourself in C! do you know where you could learn all the math needed for doing these graphics calculations or at least what kind of math knowledge you need?

[@jdh]

there are some resources in the description for graphics-specific things, but for general math I can't recommend enough Freya Holmér's "Math for Game Devs" series kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJuylaeJqpl_o5Y

[@jellomello2683]

@@jdh Duuuude Freya is goated

[@godofpro5767]

Do you plan to have a tutorial series on creating a game engine ? I think it would be super cool

[@datboi_gee]

Really cool and inspiring stuff here. Love it. Particularly love the reload mechanic and the way you've laid the HUD info directly into the visible player models. So fuckin' cool.

[@domeen0gt895]

I think you should go in the silly game direction, and keep finger gun and lemon launcher in the game as weapons.

[@PileOPoop1]

If you dont want to do bones you could try morph target blending between the different obj models as long as they have matching vertex order

[@qfurgie]

this is awesome stuff! insane progress and great visuals! i think the dash flash is a little too much like a flash bang and the text on the arms makes things a little busy. but so excited for the final project!

[@SuperJusted]

Very nice, great progress for just 4 months of work. And seems like you have a good base to keep adding on already, so hopefully you won't throw it all away and start from zero again, good luck!

[@zasbirrahmanzayan8648]

bro is just casually one of the best programmers on the face of the planet.

[@DerikAguiar]

Entrei a dois anos na criação de jogos e é perceptível o quanto você já estudou, minha meta é te alcançar, mas parece tão longe :D Admiro seus trabalhos.

[@alyaamex]

the eye is such a unique concept that is so well executed, i imagine it having some sort of progression or level system where it starts seeing more and more throughout the game. rlly cool stuff, best of luck to u with this :)

[@DommoDommo]

This feels insane. Youve done an amazing job and the current iteration is super cool. I like the text part cycling down. Would be cool to see the code cycling on the walls too! -- very meta

[@Mroof124o]

An absolute god level programer

[@EnemyRevolver]

first

[@guillemlloveracastillo3549]

Damn, that's some really awesome improvements to the engine, level editor and the game itself! It's kinda funny how I did a game like this one for a school project and some mechanics that you implemented are similar to some that we have and even some are similar to scrapped ideas we had in early development! To be honest what you already have looks really great, the only thing that bugs me a little it's the fact that now that you have a 3d weapon, the viewmodel weapon sometimes clips through other models when standing too close, it could be cool if you draw it on top of everything else, even tho I'm not sure if that would create issues with lighting since standing too close to a wall might create a shadow onto the weapon if you draw it on top. You're an inspiration, keep it up! :D

[@Unit_00]

This is incredible. The renderer is one of my favorites ever already

[@Mearrin69]

Amazing progress this update. Love your content.

[@dwifte]

this looks amazing, will definitely be play testing this since it looks amazing, good work!

[@kmharnish]

I subscribed to you a while ago but never really watched any of your videos, after watching this that will change. This is awesome. I love the effects in the game!

[@NoVIcE_Source]

omg this is like wow also the health etc status being drawn on the hands is such a unique idea

[@GratissTVofficial]

This is incredible! Your work is amazing

[@ugib8377]

This was amazing to watch. I'm new to coding and game dev, but I know enough to realize that what you've managed to create in C alone is incredible. Was really cool watching the game evolve through the video, and hearing your commentary over it. I grew up playing the shooters you mentioned, so seeing a 'modern' take on them is neat. I'm stuck in Pygame right now, learning the ins and outs of coding and game dev. Been eyeballing Rust as the language I really try to get into game dev full force with. Seeing what you can do with C gives me hope about the prospects of what I'll be able to make happen with Rust down the line. Awesome content. +1 sub.

[@Vixeneye1]

This is one of my favorite series of videos. Everytime a new video comes out, I make a cup of coffee and breakfast to watch. The whole thing looks Divine. It feels DIVINE. I can't wait to see how you shape this up or release it sometime in the future

[@dagmawiabey8358]

glad to see that you are back! really amazing updates can't wait to see the final game!!

[@neskey]

Woah I love this video style improvement. Everything's so clear and got nice little new touches too

[@holmat1]

the UI being on the player/eye model looks so amazing!

[@Affax]

Omg this game looks so amazing, I am incredibly hyped for this! Good luck on the gamedev journey

[@user-sd7cg9ml9p]

You have talent !, i wish i was able to do everything in this video because i just started learning python and this looks like so much fun to make your own game from the ground up. you earned my sub please make more programming videos

[@GooberAlert]

i adore this aesthetic and how it handles map editing

[@TheOxyMoron5]

One of the coolest dev logs I've come across. This is inspirational, good shit

[@Puzomor]

Holy shit this is amazing! Magnificent work, dude!

[@replicant_2049]

Insane, very inspirational. Looking forward to future updates

[@hanceycolin]

I love the unique flavor you bring to all of your work - above and beyond enquakening!

[@salsspar2132]

welcome back bro, best programming videos back yeaaa

[@HE360_Games]

Wow, this is very very interesting!! The engine that you made id very fascinating!!

[@thinkmore8024]

Nice man! Good thing you keeping up with the grind. I would like to see you eventually do a video where you compare the effort, difficult of making your first commercial game with the effort you have making more shorter term but still pretty hard projects like your custom computer. I'd like to hear you on that out of curiosity.

[@xankersmith9194]

This was really cool looking. Love the aesthetic!

[@botmenSs]

Amazing work the lvl editor is so nice

[@stackhack]

just found the channel and subbbed. this is super cool work code and editing wise keep it up man

[@elin4364]

okay this is sick! I love the surreal aesthetic you have going

[@b4ttlemast0r]

This is looking incredible! Turns out you are not just a programming wiz to make an engine from scratch, but it's actually shaping up to be a really interesting game.

[@smellthel]

This is one of my favourite series on KZbin right now. Great stuff!

[@PerryBattles]

This is an awesome and inspiring project! Way to go!

[@coole8]

I have watched this devlog series so many times, super fascinating

[@glitchyrobot8602]

This looks amazing. I'm excited for this.

[@cppin]

gosh this is sweet! i love the fun surrealist style, and the gui text being painted on the arms and guns is great...

[@schell9726]

Bro is like me, can't stick to a single project but each one is just so fun

[@feintha]

The code at 0:35 genuinely makes me cry in pain 😭

[@azsoftware]

Wow, love your vids, the game looks amazing! Keep it coming

[@claytonharting9899]

I love the idea of rendering the gui info on the player hand/weapon. What a cool aesthetic

[@GunsForGuns]

This looks amazing! I love the direction the game is going!

[@olbluelips]

I'm currently working on an engine as well. I want it to be able to do algebra, which has been quite the journey. The ramp editing you made is super cool, well done. I love the grenade launcher and the chromatic aberration on the lights. Also the pattern for reload idea is cool

[@1111757]

i love the style! hope you find a good way to combine it with gameplay

[@trinitygod863]

I really like the numbers on the body aesthetic, I think that's super cool

[@ephemoth]

A very impressive amount of progress, visually especially! Good job. ::]

[@unalive_me]

I love that your character is just the set of stats that and the reload method is super unique.

[@adarsh_ravikumar]

This is quake plus karlson, and I'm loving it!!! Amazing work my guy!

[@rileycampbell5691]

Always excited to see a new vid drop, this was some great progress.

[@xb_salami]

Absolutely impressive! I can't wait to play this when it comes out. love the cruelty squad like vibe!

[@LHInstrumentals]

Woah! Look what happens when you stick to the project! The progression is insane awesome stuff, well done for breaking the habit!

[@stoup8778]

Super impressive stuff, inspires me to continue learning game dev 😅. Keep up the great work!