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jebarker | on: We should be more ambitious with the software we build
> Ten years ago, the kind of person who implemented a new compiler because their compiler was slow was the kind of person who started programming a new 3d game engine when they wanted to make an indie game, i.e., the kind of person who never ships anything.

Jonathan Blow is a glaring exception to this idea. In order to make his latest game, which has shipped and is great, he wrote not only his own engine but his own programming language and compiler to build it in. Zero use of AI.

outpost_mystic2 | parent | next
I think his stuff is cool and i enjoyed the new game, but it is pretty striking that as a consequence of writing his own engine/language, it has taken him a decade of time and many millions of dollars burned in order to ship that game. Hopefully he recoups it all, but what about all the less popular devs who will spend a decade and ship a game that doesn't turn out to be as commercially successful?
jebarker | root | parent
He was able to do it because he had millions of dollars from selling previous games he had written in his own game engines (one of them 3D). If other devs want to try this approach and don’t succeed then so be it, but they’re free to use whatever approach they want. I was simply pointing out that the stereotype presented in the essay has exceptions.
spacephysics | parent | next
I think he’s the exception that proves the rule. A truly rare, exceptional programmer who not only has the:

- technical skills to build an engine, language, and game

- interpersonal + communication skills to build, manage, and lead a team

- business acumen to take the above 2 skills and create profitable businesses (plural emphasized)

Not trying to lay the idolization on too thick, but an average developer having any one of the above would likely be a multiplier in their career.

FinnKuhn | parent | next
When I think of games developed by a single developer I always have to think of Chris Sawyer, who initially created two of my favorite games, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Transport Tycoon Deluxe, with both being written almost entirely in assembly.
MadameMinty | parent | next
Which is a great pastime but not a feasible way to actually make games.
jebarker | root | parent
But he literally made a real game and released it. It was a long process for sure, but you can’t say it’s infeasible.
MadameMinty | root | parent | next
Impossible ≠ unfeasible.

It's extremely unfeasible.

mpalmer | root | parent
He had previously built and sold two games, each of which made him millions, funding the next effort. Not infeasible, but building on repeat success.
loading story #50231279
winwang | parent | next
I've been thinking about building a GPGPU language, but it's definitely going to take a while, even with AI. AI, unfortunately(??), cannot replace taste at the moment, and generally cannot unless it becomes a lot more disagreeable.

Taste is disagreeable.

Maybe Claude should not let me build a two-level type theory with just a "You're absolutely right!". In fact, now it will say "You're absolutely right, and it would be so amazing to use cubical types for blah blah", and adamantly defend it with several paragraphs of vomit.

0c3ca83 | root | parent
Why would you want a new language if you're using AI? Training set size more than compensates for token usage, so unless you plan on writing in this language by hand I don't really see a point.
winwang | root | parent
I find that frontier AI is very good at understanding new syntax/semantics, for whatever reason. But that's moreso "why is it not just a huge waste immediately".

I want a new language because current GPU (and really, parallel programming) languages are just not it. Also, I think we'd be better off if it weren't just CUDA dominating the developer experience.

Moreover, I feel that we should be embracing advanced type systems with AI. The past couple decades have shown that people do want advanced typing even without AI. And now we have stuff like "Lean is faster than Rust" (https://kim-em.github.io/blog/2026-7-24-why-lean-is-faster-t...).

Programming is hard. Programming when you can't just rely on the classic RAM model is harder. Parallel programming at scale on vector processors with small amounts of cache (and slow cache at that) is even harder. We can do better. Rust has already shown this for normal systems programming.

0c3ca83 | root | parent
So complile lean to GPU, maybe?
winwang | root | parent
That may be a not-terrible idea (possibly even great idea), though it's not quite the base language I'm looking for. Maybe I need to just experience it more.
dayvid | parent | next
Also Ken Silverman, Tim Sweeney, John Carmack, etc. This is easier to do with small-scale indie games or earlier generation games
cat-snatcher | parent | next
Only took him 10 years.
jbs789 | parent | next
Sounds like he shipped the game.