I think you're right. Re-implementing the Red Alert engine is fun... at least for the sort of person who's doing OS work in the first place!
But playtesting the game isn't so fun. ("Have they fixed that collision bug yet? Let me try systematically driving the harvester through every other kind of unit to check.")
And another problem is that commercial game development moves very quickly, relative to OS. Like, 0 AD had its initial release in 2010, and it's currently still in alpha. Age of Empires 4, a similar commercial game, went through the full [concept, implementation, release] cycle in, what, 2-3 years?
> And another problem is that commercial game development moves very quickly, relative to OS. Like, 0 AD had its initial release in 2010, and it's currently still in alpha. Age of Empires 4, a similar commercial game, went through the full [concept, implementation, release] cycle in, what, 2-3 years?
This is something to keep in mind when comparing yourself to any professional, yeah. On a good workday, I can put an hour or two into the guitar or my game project. This however means: A professional musician or game developer can fit what I do in the working parts of the week into half a day to a day.
And then add in the reuse of existing ideas, assets, code, engines and such on top.
But playtesting the game isn't so fun. ("Have they fixed that collision bug yet? Let me try systematically driving the harvester through every other kind of unit to check.")
And another problem is that commercial game development moves very quickly, relative to OS. Like, 0 AD had its initial release in 2010, and it's currently still in alpha. Age of Empires 4, a similar commercial game, went through the full [concept, implementation, release] cycle in, what, 2-3 years?