I believe a majority of prospective game developers got into it because of interest in game engine development. For such people, Unreal/Unity/Godot take all the fun out of game dev.
This is what happened to me a long time ago - I used to write software 3D engines, then 3D cards (3DFX in particular) happened. I remember losing interest at that time ( I eventually figured out that there was still work to do but still…)
Now that I’m quite a bit older, I have come to appreciate the game part a lot more - it’s maybe less techie, but it’s actually also why people make games. When I play with my kids then don’t see the tech - they see the game !
I'm constantly split on it. Especially since there's two considerations for me
1. In terms of industry, potential employers do want to see my tech. So there's benefit to showing that I don't need to rely on big tools to deliver features... Unless they are a dedicated Unity/Unreal shop and then they do want someone used to the engine. It's pretty hard to win here, especially with the industry as of now being a disaster to apply into.
2. But I also want to make my own games one day. As such I will eventually need to think as a generalist and focus on shipping. But all those skills may not be what actually pays the bills in the meantime.
I like both, but I also gotta eat and I realize that going straight towards my end goal isn't guaranteed to let me keep a roof over my head.
