Own Game engines costs me money?

[Zylo]

Im confused as to why it costs me money to use the engine that I built?

[Schossle | YouTube: Tigeriaz]

It doesn't cost money to use your engine. The features cost money

[🔺🔶TheChaosWithin🔶🔺]

When you use your own, you pay yourself i assume. (Schossle: Think the confusion is because when you create your own, it still lists a fee for it, rather than stating it will cost you nothing.)

[Bob]

Can confirm what Schossle said (as if a confirmation is necessary).

But I myself am still somewhat confused around the engine. Like when you jump into using Unity, and you want to use some free features/assets (let's say Sprites) for a project, the way I understand it, it costs you nothing, but Unity will want a cut from a published product's sales. But if you made your own engine with Sprites, you are again not paying for using Sprites in a project because you...made the engine already. It doesn't cost you $10k to use Sprites. That's why you made the engine, so you don't pay for features/assets every time.

It can be easily assumed that I'm not understanding the reality of game engines correctly at all. But whichever way you want to look at it, I too am majorly confused about the engines application in the game.

[Darzai]

It is nonsense.

When you create something inhouse like an engine, or a game using your own engine, the costs should come from having to pay monthly wages and keeping the lights on in the building (maintenance, rent whatever). Having to pay additionally for using a feature from your own engine, makes absolutely no sense.

Same goes for those feature 'specialisations' from employees. It is ridiculous that some employee, no matter their age, will be a specialist in that one feature at the moment you hire them. How does that even make sense? They work 10 years for you as 3d artist and they are still just a sprite specialist. Same goes for genre specialisation. You should always be able to retrain them or let them become a specialist in something new.

This game is filled with weird arbitrary design choices to force specific gameplay.