Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)

3 days ago

The author has been making video games for 20 years without using commercial game engines.
They argue that making games without big engines can be easier, more fun, and involve less overhead.
They prefer writing their own small tools for specific use cases, enjoying the control over their development stack.
The author uses C# for game development, appreciating its modern features, performance, and accessibility.
They rely on SDL3 for cross-platform functionality, including windowing, input, and rendering.
FMOD is used for audio, despite being proprietary, due to its capabilities for dynamic audio control.
For assets, they use simple loading strategies, sometimes writing scripts for preprocessing.
They often create custom level editors and use Dear ImGui for UI in editor tools.
The author has transitioned to Linux for development, valuing open-source and cross-platform tools.
They mention Godot as a good open-source engine option but prefer their custom workflow.
For 3D games, they still favor custom frameworks over big engines, citing Celeste 64 as an example.
They highlight the ease of integrating game-specific workflows, like automatically processing Aseprite files.
The conclusion is to make games without a big engine if it sounds fun to the developer.

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