The future of Pathos

So since I feel like I've more or less wrapped up all the features I had planned for Pathos, I thought of posting this just so people are aware of what the standing is with the Pathos Engine. I know there aren't many users of it, but well, this is for those who are using it, or are considering using it. Recently I've been re-evaluating how I'm spending my free time, as well as the fact that Pathos has been in development since 2019. I feel like five years is a very long time already, and too much to spend working on an engine, when I have a full game to finish making levels and other content for. I also have obligations towards some other projects I help out with, and because of this, my efforts are kinda split in multiple directions recently. Eventually it all becomes too much to deal with, and ends up becoming rather overwhelming at times.

This is why I've decided to freeze any new Pathos features altogether, and from now on my focus will be on maintaining what I have released. I had ideas for some other features, like a detail prop/sprite system similar to what Source had for grass, and some other things which I feel can easily be applied by a talented mapper if needed. They're not essential features. That's what I've done since I can remember. I consider Pathos to be more or less done, featuring a wide variety of features the original GoldSrc Engine had, plus some Source-like ones as well. I think that maybe some documentation might still be needed, but that'll come along as I dedicate free time to it. For the most part, the engine is pretty stable and doesn't have major performance problems, and I want to free up spare time to actually do some more meaningful work.

Another source of grievance for me, has been the cycle of changing anything in the engine, or adding some new feature, and having to deal with bugs caused, or revealed by said changes even weeks after. One aspect of working on GoldSrc I liked - That is until Valve started doing their updates that broke mods - was that it was a stable base to work on. Even with the custom renderers I didn't have to deal with issues as low-level as I do now when I change something. It's not that I hate the work, because I enjoy programming, but the time poured into it, for me, is less and less worthwhile. I could spend that time literally doing anything else, including activities that don't leave me exhausted by the end of the day.

Consider this a bit of a rant too, I'm just compiling my thoughts at the "end of the day" as I wrap things up. If I had to do it all over again, I would still do it, honestly, but goddamn am I glad I don't have to. I had fun designing the UI, I enjoyed working on the networking code, even if it is basic at best, and I could go on about this endlessly. I enjoyed working on this engine. I was less thrilled when I had to reference code either because I had no idea how to do something, couldn't do the math, or I needed to maintain compatibility. That's one thing that's kind of a miss for me, but then again, trying to do this all from the ground up would've taken me five years more, at least, and math that is way above my head.

Overall, I am happy with what I have created. It allowed my game to truly take off, without the frustrations and limitations of GoldSrc, and in the end I was able to make a few folks happy by open-sourcing it. That for me was worth it. Thank you for reading my ramblings.