[johnnyanmac]

despite being in the same industry, engine programmers =/= game designers. You may as well be comparing a network engineer to a front end web dev.

As for "actual games": indie dev with mature tools is hard enough as is to properly ship. and many don't make money. Making the kind of game that would attract attention requires funding that these communities often lack.

[indy]

I was thinking of the kinds of games mentioned in this thread: Tiny Glade and The Gnorp Apologue. Small indie games made by people who fill the role of both engine programmer and game designer.

On a larger, more professional scale someone like Jonathan Blow comes to mind