I mean sure anybody in a team can have input in what makes a 'game' in a basic sense. But I think there's a difference between I contribute to this process and I do the thing. If programming is muscle/nerves, level design is bones (especially with puzzles) and concept art is skin (or spine when it pertains to the story).

Also IMO solo-game-dev stuff should be elevated even for the simple stuff. It means you got all the keys, even if it takes you a while to find the right ones. (note I'm not even really comfortable with programming so I wouldn't call it a bias, though if I could I most likely would stay solo so maybe it is)

[–] wccrawford@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

At some point, it become fashionable for programmers to be called "developers" and then everyone wanted the cool title, so it applies to anyone even remotely involved now. There's never a way to turn back the clock and make words more precise again after people have blown them up, so there's not a lot of point in trying to change public sentiment. I've seen this happen to a lot of technical words over the last 30+ years, and I've basically decided that there's no point in trying to fight it. It's not worth the cost, especially since I'm unlikely to win.

[–] insomniac_lemon@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I should say that I could see someone who does a decent amount of in-engine work (nodes and their attributes, scenes, importing, handling some technical setup, basic layout/UI stuff, testing, particles/shaders etc) being called a developer/designer even if they aren't a programmer. Though I also think someone like that probably can at least do some very simple code, at least pasting enough together to get something like movement/projectiles/signals etc.

Again, said as someone who is closer to an artist (and hasn't made a game) who has tinkered with some stuff like that.

[–] jaycifer@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah but “words evolve” and “language changes!” You can’t just go around asking whether they’re good changes!

[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Your analogy is a little weird.

I'd say that game dev is the organism and the rest is the clothing, or the shelter, or the food...