Fun vs. Computer Science

James Hague

I’ve spent most of my career working on games, either programming or designing them or both. Games are weird, because everything comes down to this nebulous thing called fun, and there’s a complete disconnect between fun and most technical decisions:

Does choosing C++14 over C++11 mean the resulting game is more fun?

Does using a stricter type system mean the game is more fun?

Does using a more modern programming language mean the game is more fun?

Does favoring composition over inheritance mean the game is more fun?

Now you could claim that some of this tech would be more fun for the developer. That’s a reasonable, maybe even important point, but there’s still a hazy at best connection between this kind of “developer fun” and “player fun.”