33 minutes ago, Vilem Otte said:

Generally two years to fix a bug (or don't fix at all) can happen with non-paid support (or generally open source code). I literally never forced myself to fix bugs in (older) source I've put in public domain, simply because I lost interest in it some time before that ... unless I got back to the project some time after, and did some bug fixing and re-factoring before continuing on.

In this case it is paid software and the company doesn't have a paid support model option either.

Since @GalacticCrew posted this topic, I have resumed work on my own engine again. Not because of any gripes with pre-rolled engines, it is more that I realised I have more fun writing the engines than actually writing games. Call it my weird stress outlet - LOL.

6 minutes ago, mr_tawan said:

I too find writing engine is more fun than writing an actual game :P.

Upvote for you, good sir! 

Seriously though, not sure what attracts me to it so much. I guess I just love knowing how things work at a lower level.

Probably more of a discovery adventure for me. Which makes it a game in itself.

@mr_tawan+1 from me as well

I love making games, but nothing beats engine writing.

10 hours ago, mr_tawan said:

I too find writing engine is more fun than writing an actual game :P.

I love creating technology and designing software architecture. However, creating the actual game gives you other forms of satisfaction like player feedback, revenues or transforming a creative idea into an actual product.

After having read this entire post with all its comments, my only thought is what all should be focusing on: can you achieve what you want to create in a commercial engine faster, cheaper and better than what you can get from any of the available engines, compared to if you have  to use your own engine or creating a new one?
You have to make an objective analyses based on what your game needs and what requirements any of the given engine can fulfil or if it would be faster, cheaper and better to make your own. However, it's an analyses and decision only you can make, since you are the sole person with the knowledge of what the new game requirements and needs are, as well what it is all about. If you do it out of hobby or wanting to learn, you can never expect to make a living of it - not that you can't make a living out of it, you just can't expect it.
Look at it this way, Blizzard Entertainment is not only a giant in the gaming industry it's one of the biggest giants out there! They have made games and engines before I was even born, and not only that everything and I do mean everything they ever released have been a massive success which is an indisputable fact, whether or not you like them or their games. 

My point is: even a giant company who has had success on everything they made, all the financing in the world, and probably more experience combined than some of engine companies even do, even still made games in other commercial engines exactly because it would be faster, cheaper and better than to making their own from scratch or using some of their already fully capable engines. Hearthstone were made using Unity despite Blizzard have been fully able and capable to make their own engine to make Hearthstone if they wanted to, but from a business perspective it would be faster, cheaper and better to use Unity which is why they did so. However, with both WoW, Diablo, StarCraft, they kept developing and updating on their own engines, because they continued to make new expansions or instalments to their games, and therefore it would be better to keep using their already made engines. So, it's all about which is best and what your plan is with the engine - is it to make 1-2 games in it, or to make a franchise out of the game with several instalments?

It's clear that you are doing this mainly from a business perspective (where it's just a bonus that you also like what you are doing). If it were just as a hobby or to learn stuff, it wouldn't even be a debate or topic whether to use your own or a commercial engine - you would use and work on your own engine. So, the only question you should really ask yourself before making a new game or engine or choose to use a commercial one is which will be faster, cheaper and cheaper to choose? It's really all it comes down to, but ofc you must take A LOT into consideration, it's not always an easy answer - and sometimes the answer you come up with might even turn out to be the wrong one.

10 hours ago, bilbo92 said:

After having read this entire post with all its comments, my only thought is what all should be focusing on: can you achieve what you want to create in a commercial engine faster, cheaper and better than what you can get from any of the available engines, compared to if you have  to use your own engine or creating a new one?

That is one of those 'it depends' questions.

If your primary purpose is to ship games then (generally) use a pre-rolled engine. Admittedly vast majority of people who use this forum want to build an MMO and be the next 'Notch'.

If your primary purpose is to learn every aspect you can and shipping a game is distant secondary (if at all) then roll your own engine all the way baby!

Personally, I have next to no interest in shipping games. If I do one day then good luck to me. But right now, no interest in games whatsoever.

Having said that also, with the underlying knowledge of how DX9 and 11 works, it gave me the superior edge when using GameMaker in the past. If GM couldn't do something, that was a non issue for me, I'd just add the additional code via DLL. I made the engine do what it just can't do.

If you start out on a pre-rolled engine, you are screwed if the engine doesn't do something out of the box and you don't know how to remedy that.

So, I guess writing your own engine first should be a mandatory step in game dev. Once you have made a simple engine, then go use a pre-rolled one and appreciate what is going on under the hood.

On 8/17/2018 at 3:04 PM, bilbo92 said:

After having read this entire post with all its comments, my only thought is what all should be focusing on: can you achieve what you want to create in a commercial engine faster, cheaper and better than what you can get from any of the available engines, compared to if you have  to use your own engine or creating a new one?
 

I guess, not being so familar with engines like Unity and Unreal, one issue is that it is not so easy to make a competent analysis if on the long run using such an engine fullfils 'faster, cheaper and better'. 

For instance I create a 2D gui-heavy tactical/strategy game as a hobby and I asked myself if I shall use Unity or stick to JavaFx. It is not only the game engine itself but also the asset stores (e.g. in the case of Unity the provided GUI controls are limited for a GUI heavy game) and the related issues (additional costs, assets may stop working if you ugrade to newer Unity versions)

Considering how crazy the expectations on games nowadays, making our own game engine alone is like one of the greatest art for our enjoyment. It's a good hobby.