Minecraft is written in Java, it doesn't look like the choice of platform kept it from becoming a success.
Re:Core: New way to develop video games
by jsheard on Sunday September 08, 2024 @04:27PM
(#41482929)
It was however completely rewritten in C++ when they needed to port it to more constrained platforms, every mobile and console version uses the C++ codebase while PC has both versions in parallel. If you ever intend to release your game on multiple platforms then Minecraft isn't an example to follow unless you're up for starting over from scratch at some point.
A side effect from specific platforms not allowing Java, and Microsoft buying Mojang.
Notch surely isn't sorry for having coded it in Java.
Re:Core: New way to develop video games
by jsheard on Sunday September 08, 2024 @04:45PM
(#41483054)
It worked out for Notch, sure, but most indie devs don't get the luxury of only considering console ports after they're already set for life from initially only releasing on PC. Planning for cross-platform from the start is table stakes, especially now the Switch has become just as if not more of a popular platform for indie games than PC is.
Most indie devs already strike gold if they manage one platform at all.
Too much is wasted on what language, or engine to use, instead of what actually make as a game.
And even when everything is done right, it is a drop in the ocean of daily released titles.
Re:Core: New way to develop video games
by SkiFire13 on Sunday September 08, 2024 @05:11PM
(#41483244)
If anything using Java made it extremely moddable and is IMO part of the reason why it became a success.
Bad performance did delay one of the big new-biome-type releases in the Java version.
Re:Core: New way to develop video games
by CyberDildonics on Monday September 09, 2024 @01:17PM
(#41490871)
Minecraft was known for allocating and freeing hundreds of megs of memory every frame. It was able to be written in java and have huge performance problems because it was so simple and low res.
Re:Core: New way to develop video games
by jay_kyburz on Sunday September 08, 2024 @04:43PM
(#41483039)
Unity's new incremental gc saved our bacon.
C# tends to be a bit more forgiving about when it triggers GC and how. The generational garbage collector in C# will tend to be more reliable or at least I never ran into super huge issues with the places I've used C# for game dev.
The JVM GC has this unfortunate effect of having very bad pauses occasionally. And appears to do so regardless of the type of GC you are using.
There are some techniques you can use to get around this -> re-using entities. Using C# structs. Not doing allocations/deallocations inside the main game loop if you can.
For small enough games it is irrelevant but as soon as you start to get a larger game with lots of memory allocations/deallocations it really crushes performance.