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Game Development

What topics can I ask about here?

Game Development Stack Exchange is for professional and amateur video/computer game developers. If you have a question relating to...

  • game design (level design, gameplay, mechanics, etc)
  • asset pipelines (creation, storage, editing, etc)
  • game-specific programming issues (engine architecture, game-related APIs, networking, tools, etc), including modding existing games
  • project management (testing, team management, scheduling, publishing, etc)
  • game industry (careers, trends, technology, etc)

and it is not about...

Then you are likely in the right place.

Programming questions about game-related engines/frameworks/library API are welcome. Another reason to ask here it is when one thinks that a professional game developer would give a better/different/more specific answer to the question than other programmers.

Otherwise, general programming questions more likely belong on Stack Overflow instead of here. This includes programming questions about:

  • language API (e.g., how to use a list or a vector in your favourite language),
  • compiler errors, linker errors, runtime errors or exceptions,
  • general networking strategies,
  • language construct optimization,
  • etc.

For more discussion on that topic, see this question on our meta site.

What about subjective questions?

Subjective questions are allowed, but subjective does not mean "anything goes". Please keep it professional at all times. If this is a question you'd be uncomfortable discussing with your colleagues in a work environment, it's probably not appropriate here, either.

All subjective questions are expected to be constructive. How do we define that? Constructive subjective questions...

  • inspire answers that explain "why" and "how".
  • tend to have long, not short, answers.
  • have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone.
  • invite sharing experiences over opinions.
  • insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references.
  • are more than just mindless social fun.

Questions that do not meet enough of these six guidelines will be closed as "Not Constructive". Please see the Good Subjective, Bad Subjective and Real Questions Have Answers blog posts for more details and examples.

For more help, see "What types of questions should I avoid asking?".

Where can I ask subjective, discussion, and other questions not fit for this site?

  • Our chat room
  • Reddit
  • Gamedev.net
  • Did you already search with your favorite search engine to see if your question has been asked/answered elsewhere?
  • Are you simply looking for someone to make a decision for you? Are you suffering from analysis paralysis? Just make a choice and go with it, see where it takes you. Or perhaps you could roll some dice or flip a coin.

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before. It’s also OK to ask and answer your own question.

If your question is not specifically on-topic for Game Development Stack Exchange, it may be on topic for another Stack Exchange site. If no site currently exists that will accept your question, you may commit to or propose a new site at Area 51, the place where new Stack Exchange communities are democratically created.