Re: Anyone on this list?

[Gianfranco Berardi <linuxmail@gbgames.com>]

adam moss wrote:
> Gianfranco Berardi wrote:
> 
>>Mostly, enthusiastic "I WILL MAKE THE BEST [insert genre here] EVER!!"
>>without code.  Any code that is made is usually left alone since
>>everyone is designing and not coding.
> 
> 
> Under Linux it seems to be much more common that coding is the
> /first/ thing that happens.  But that's roughly where things
> tend to stop.
> 
> Right here, imagine that I've inserted the obligatory whinge about
> artists with modelling/animation skills being the rarest resource
> in Linux circles, and save me some typing.
> 

Yeah the QB scene still exists. http://www.qbasic.com is where most 
newbies (yeah there are still QB newbies) go, but http://www.qb45.com is 
where a sizeable amount of traffic goes.

And I believe the lack of artists is something that exists in the indie 
scene, and probably more so with Linux. Artists are either "I love to 
make art" or "I love to use Maya/3DSMax/etc" and unfortunately they seem 
to fall into the second category more.

I am part of a game development group right now, and it seems like I 
have the most experience...I made a Pacman clone for QBasic in 1998.
The leader of the group has good ideas, but we already talked about it. 
I mean, he talks about getting a ragtag group  like us, most of us who 
have never worked on a project, let alone a game project, and we're 
going to be at GDC in 2004?  I don't think so.
But I figure there is no point in just messing with this group, so I am 
going to give my best to develop the RPG we want to make. It does have 
similar ideas to RPGs I have designed in the past, so I would love to 
see it to fruition. The game might not necessarily be an open source 
project, but we have talked about making it so.

And to start us off, we're making a Pacman clone. I mentioned that it 
can be a clone with the basic gameplay but it doesn't necessarily have 
to have Pacman graphics. I told them that in that case, it will be a 
different game that we can actually distribute without worrying about 
infringing on Namco's IP rights.
No one listens. "Well, let's just make a Pacman clone now. It is a game 
we all know, and so it won't be confusing to change anything." And I say 
that it won't be confusing because we aren't changing anything except 
the graphics. The gameplay is the same.
Our cocky artist is supposedly so good at making 3D models (the Maya 
guy) and what do I overhear him say? "Oh please. You know how long it 
will take me to make a Pacman modeL? It is just a sphere!"

I mean, seriously. Do we not have any creativity? I think it will be 
more work to make it exactly Pacman than to make our own characters. And 
I am gonna be on the artist's back about making good graphics. Perhaps 
that might be the main contribution besides code and general 
brainstorming. A sphere? Please. We can make something OTHER THAN PACMAN 
and still have a Pacman game, and no one seems to listen to reason until 
they think they came up with the idea (seriously if you could read the 
posts on our forum...).

Uh, in any case, yeah. There are a lack of decent artists for indie 
gaming. Although I wonder if they believe so. gamedev.net does have a 
Help Wanted forum where people can put out a calling for programmers or 
artists or whatever they need.
I think a fair amount of the posts were about artists who want to join a 
project and such.