When to move on

[cydo]

When should someone move on to learning a framework like phaser or something? I have been studying the basics of JS for quite some time now. I just recently started getting into es6 and was curious if I should just keep going with es6 and make games out of vanilla JS or move onto a frame work? I've followed Vanilla JS tutorials and made games like brick breaker, Flappy Bird, Pong, and snake and my most recent project has been a frogger clone that I made completely from scratch with out following any tutorials. I just don't know if I'm ready to move on. A lot of people have told me focus on just JS and to stay away from frameworks because they take away whats going on under the hood and you will want that knowledge.

[clays]

JavaScript is a foundation. Learning it is mandatory, and it will never end. If you already feel confident at any time, or say have learned to make your own game from vanilla JavaScript, that's a good start to move onto a framework as it helps a lot to modify / hack things when the framework doesn't work as you intended. Don't fear about it. Frameworks or libraries are just tools, and you need things fast and easy to create a game when you need it.

Most of the time game engines help you to focus on the core stuff, such as game play codes and the visuals. I personally get tired quickly dealing with bugs of my own game engine that I barely have time polishing the game play and the visuals. Game engines are helping me in terms of time. If your games are very small, then it wouldn't matter. But as your scope of work gets bigger, the number of time to deal beyond the game itself exponentially grows especially with the technology keeps changing fast.

[mattstyles]

On 1/21/2019 at 11:55 PM, cydo said:

A lot of people have told me focus on just JS and to stay away from frameworks because they take away whats going on under the hood and you will want that knowledge.

I used to be in this camp, now I am not.

People tend to learn differently, the only universal being that we all (yes, all of us) learn better by doing than by any other means. Using a framework can actually make the 'do' easier i.e. by starting with a framework you might find you actually build something that is playable or has greater output, which will encourage you.

I think it depends how much you value output vs theory. You'll need both eventually, but most people tend to swing one way or another at least a little.

Do what makes sense to you.

The important thing is the 'doing', which is what you're doing.

Personally, I like to reinvent the wheel, at least at first, then use what is out there. So, for example, that could be creating a rendering loop using raw canvas methods, then, once that is learnt, use something like Pixi to handle that part. This sounds like maybe it could be you also.

Just don't be afraid to jump around, so long as you're coding, doing stuff and making stuff, your learning will soar and soar.

Once you have the basics, you'll probably find that looking at the code of others is a great way to learn (before you have the basics it is bewildering, sometimes even when your knowledge is high it is bewildering!). Many frameworks (like Babylon or Phaser) are open-source. Poke through their code (even if you're not using them) and you'll likely learn a great deal that way as well.