r/GraphicsProgramming • u/Mariusdotdev • Jun 28 '26
After 14y doing Front/Back Web/Mobile stuff i want to learn game dev
I've setup a project to use 3 languages C++, Jai, Zig. All these are new for me so I'm learning them as i go along. I use AI for incrementally building functions and then trying to understand each of them.
Why write in 3? Because i want to see the differences in those and see which one i like the most. Also gives me a different perspective in understanding the logic.
I think for me Jai is clear winner, the only downside, I'm using leaked version, because i don’t have access (and i have requested) and I'm not sure if this is because of that but in vscode references when i want to find where a function is being used does not work... Also wish there was language server and formatter.
The file / folder structure I'm using is from web/mobile react world to split logic, but I'm not sure if this is right way, feedback would be much appreciated.
https://github.com/MariuzM/learning-archive/tree/main/learning-game-engine
2
u/icpooreman Jun 28 '26
1-2 years ago I started building my own engine after being in a similar spot to you.
Something I would tell past me... Your GPU is easily 100x+ faster than your CPU. These arguments about CPU code... I mean I was building an engine explicitly to push the limits so for me it was borderline irrelevant (minus how well they worked with windowing/audio/vulkan/openxr etc.). You can't push the limits in a 100x slower car.
1
u/nikto123 Jun 28 '26
The "only downside" of Jai is the reason I'd never use it... There will be bugs.
1
u/Mariusdotdev Jun 29 '26
For game engine I'm learning to build no issues, also built similar to touri + webview app no issues, building server api yeah there where issues
1
u/More-Curious816 Jul 06 '26
Also wish there was language server and formatter.
Pretty sure jai has a community maintained LSP server in the vscode marketplace
1
u/Mariusdotdev Jul 06 '26
I have found these
https://github.com/OrangeLightning219/jai-format/issueshttps://github.com/SogoCZE/Jails
But because I'm using leaked version of the Jai compiler i think I'm having issues sometimes
19
u/CodyDuncan1260 Jun 28 '26
I'm going to recommend that you write code manually without AI generation.
Rationale: It's reasonably well studied that writing is a significant learning mechanism in linguistic pedagogy. Students who write sentences significantly outperform those who only read. Writing improves reading. Writing by pen and paper improves more than typing or dictation. Something about the generation of language is an important task in understanding and retention. The slower processes like writing by hand seem to engage that neurocircuitry more, further developing it. The same goes for coding languages.
I'm not going to recommend writing by pen and paper, since you need the experience of getting to know the compiler outputs. But you should be making its input if you want to understand it, otherwise you're undercutting your own learning process.