Poll started by INtense! with 3,903 votes and 41 comments. Browse the poll archive.
(583 votes)Yep, I always make stuff from scratch
(1056 votes)Sometimes, but I try and find existing libraries / content first
(336 votes)Nope, i'm always hunting down code, Why waste time?
(1928 votes)I'm not a developer
We just posted a lessons learn blog on Desura: Indiedb.com
Wanted to see what the developers here do?
I have a rather bad case of NIH Syndrome ( En.wikipedia.org ) I'm a hobbyist though so it's all part of the learning process.
I'll definitely do it when the existing wheel is lopsided and rattles when it turns.
Sort of a reverse of option 2. I usually try to do things myself for about an hour, and if it proves too difficult, then I poke around sites and forums looking for a solution to the problem. Usually I can figure things out just by experimenting though. When that fails...I figure that someone has probably had the problem before, so I look around forums :)
If only I can find the exact wheel I need for my problem I wouldn't have to reinvent it at every step :P
Sometimes is modifying and adpting other people's work is harder than making it from scratch, most often than not you end up with a mean looking frankestein monster in your table...
I dont know sh*t about Bin coding lol.
but i'd like to know... Now i did try once, but it proved itself too complicated for my small brain to handle.
Even though my mod uses a companies' IP, we always stride to make our own designs and concepts. The pictures we find is more like advice we give ourselves so we can expect what the finish product would look like but in our own way. I kind of have to go with the second choice, option 2.
I always try to reinvent the wheel but if i get stuck on a particular problem and can't solve it after about a weeks work i generally look around online for solutions.
I try and find existing libraries / content first, although these days I'm starting to often end up working on things from scratch mainly because it's easier to manage.
Copy - paste from my commenton the article:
"When we're talking about code, yes I do 'reinvent the wheel'. I'm currently still in the first learning phase so to speak, and I believe that I will learn a lot more if I analyze existing programs/parts of programs and try to write them myself. That way I know exactly what I'm working towards, while also gaining experience with how to structure my programs.
Of course I don't plan on doing this my whole (hopefully in the future professional) coding career long, because that would be a waste of time. But for learning purposes it's in my opinion a very valuable thing to do."
Usually 1, only when not reasonable two (for example Bullet physics or OpenGL and such).
And I'm impatiently waiting for your engine exactly because of that reason :D
Not just a wheel ;)
I've been using UDK for the past months, so that's not reinventing the wheel :)
I do however make some of the stuff I want to make from scratch, even if there are other solutions available, that's generally because knowing the code will be to my advantage when I need it to do things the author didn't intend it to do.
I'd say it's been working quite well, except I never released anything on UDK, but I point the finger to my inability to stick with a project and complete it, so perhaps it is working well.
I'm still developer who is still making his early steps. But for now I'm using existing libraries. So far I have never felt the need of making new libraries. The rest of the stuff is all made by me.
If you cant find what you are doing on google, then you're either cutting edge or you're doing something very wrong!
I'm not an active developer, I'm just here because I love how the ModDB main page red theme looks like...
Not sure if you call it "from scratch" since I'm using Game Maker as my "engine" but yea, other than that it's all from the ground-up every time.
I am not a developer, but as a C&C3 mapper I believe that it's good to find most stuff from sites or other people, but when you are sure you can make something yourself or want to do something revolutionary, do it yourself.
C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg. (с)Bjarne Stroustrup
I do it all the time. Even if I find an already existing library for what I want to do (unless it's something hard to recreate, such as SDL or similar).
Three. Why waste time reinventing the wheel when I can make a bicycle?
When reinventing the wheel it's not just putting in more work, you're also learning more about it and you'll understand better of how it works so you can apply it wider. Besides if it can't be figured out you can always look at what others did. In the end doing it yourself brings satisfaction for achieving it.
im a texturer modder and mapper i dont real reintvent the wheel and i dont make design i just go for it and see what comes and most time it always comes on the right way(still learning coding i know how to make custom sounds but my pc has no recorder so sounds wil be bigsize which isnt usefull)
I always reinvent until I understand it.
I'm not a developer
I like working in a "Trial and Error" style.
Heh, coding ye good old way !
If you work from scratch, you'll understand it better and improve your chance of resolving any ensuing issues.
I em a moder, and sometimes needed, because rarely I can make something works better than in the vanilla game. So, its needed sometimes.
I am a modeler and mapper but i can do developing in C# too if i need...
Most time SourceEngine from Valve...( I know that SourceEngine is in C++... but C++ and C# are similar...)
I tried once to implement water shader code into the GoldSrc engine.
The results were...
...
Why reinvent the wheel when you can make it better?
My IT teacher at school tought me that coder are lazy and why should we write something if there already exists something that we can take? You can spend your time on other things then^^
I would never reinvent a wheel its just STUPID!!!!!!
I reinvent peoples reinvention of the wheel.
Sometimes, but I try and find existing stuff first.
I always go for doing things from scratch. I don't like using other peoples work at all for the most part. Besides that it allows me to learn more about what I am working on.
You never really learn if you always succeed, only when you fail at something do you really learn.
Follow best practices. This isnt just hunting down some code that happens to work, this is about finding the best possible solution (be it someones perfect code, sdk or making something bespoke if its the current solution is not good enough), no hacks, no work arounds :)
Well, it's really a mix of the first and second. I do try to do everything from scratch, but if I need help, I open up an existing library to try and figure it out for myself. If that qualifies as doing it from scratch, there you go.
I don't reinvent the wheel. That's already been done! Time to invent the hover pad!