71 replies to this topic

[Lord_Raven]

I have noticed from reading through many of the posts in this forum, that many of you are looking for help in your own projects, so why don't we all as members of this site come together and start a project to with as many ideas as we can come up with, and with all of this knowledge and the highly skilled people in here, we should be able to come up with something pretty clever. Not to mention when working as a team, you could learn so many things in so many aspects, instead of just learning programming, or just learning modeling/texturing, etc.

I think this would be a good "Tutorial" for everyone to be able to learn and have fun, and when it is complete to be able to share the same excitement of creating a game that we like, that we get when playing a game that we like.

Well, that is my piece for the year, so give me feedback, on what you think?

~Korey~

[Methulah]

When things like this have been tried in the past, they usually haven't gone that well. However, I am not against it, as fundimentally it is a good idea. It would need to have a strong leadership and the like, and a good way of filtering people who will not contribute,

[Lord_Raven]

I agree but at the same time, if everyone had access to the project files that were updated by the designated "leader", say on a website. Then even if they don't contribute, they can view the code, and make suggestions.

[anubis]

There was such a project on devmaster and it failed for numerous reasons (devmaster was very young, we didn't have a lot of people). Almost nobody had the time to contribute on a regular basis. I like the idea very much though and would see what i can contribute but knowing my schedule during semester times I can't say how much that will be. The key point clearly is a lead that is willing to contribute a lot of time to the project.

[Lord_Raven]

or group of leaders to work together, so as not to pressure one person into having to do too much.

[baldurk]

Having a group of leaders to me defies the point of having a leader in the first place.

I say good luck to you, but like last time I don't think you'll get very far.

[Methulah]

I'm in the same boat. Good luck, and if it works, great. But I will always be the sceptic.

[Mihail121]

Although i already know the result of a such attempt, I will gladly try once more!

[anubis]

As there doesn't seem to be any person volunteering for a lead I think this isn't going to go anywhere :)

[Lord_Raven]

well If I don't find one, I will assume the position. After all, It's about having fun while doing the thing you like to do, not about who is in charge, or how many professionals are on the team, just have fun, and learn a few things along the way, and at the same time design something to show for all the time you have spent talking about the things you would like to be able to do.

[anubis]

Well... it is also about knowing what has to be done. Unfortunatly having fun is only one part of the equation. Unless you aren't working alone and communication with others doesn't matter or you are making tetris, things aren't going to work out if nobody has the experience to keep a project together. Just naming someone as leader isn't going to cut I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong. I'd really like to support any effort of a community project but I don't have the time to put my full time into this.

[Lord_Raven]

I am not asking you alone to help, just anyone who wants to just dive in and try, because that is the only way you learn anything, I would lead the project because i have lead a project very similar to this one, with much fewer people, and i taught the people what to do, so it is not hard, I just figured someone with more programming experience than myself would want to help.

[anubis]

I'm sorry... I'm not trying to put you down. Somehow this went into the wrong direction. Let's call it accumulated pesimism regarding these "projects" :)

[Lord_Raven]

I see, well, im going to go ahead and start working on some things for the project anyone who would like to participate, please leave me a PM, or an email at RavenCruse@aol.com

[Methulah]

anubis said:

I'm sorry... I'm not trying to put you down. Somehow this went into the wrong direction. Let's call it accumulated pesimism regarding these "projects" :)

Always the pesimist?

I have to say, I am not too crash hot on these projects, I have seen them fail pretty badly. They've worked before too, so it is always worth a try. If I see it going well, I'll poke my head in, see what needs to be done.

[bladder]

I have a suggestion:

Why not first try putting a plan into the devmaster wiki. First set some goals for the project. For instance suppose you create w category in the wiki called "devmaster project" or whatever. within the category you have a few pages:

1) Requirements page
- Should be cross platform - mac/win/linux OR
- .Net framework compatible
- It will be used to create a role playing game
- 3 dimentional engine/isometric engine/whatever
- must support scripting

Basically this page should state what is the aim of the project, what are it's goals. Is it just an engine? Is it an engine which will be used for a game? what game? WHat features will it have?

2) Engine design page
- Components of the engine
- How the modules are connected
- What objects the compnents will have
- coding standards and organization

This page will have the entire engine design. How the engine will work internally. What layers does the engine have? What modules are within the layers? and what components are within the modules?

3) Game design
- The story
- the in game script if any
- Characters
- blah blah blah

You probably get the idea. So maybe try putting something like that in the wiki, let it go for a few months and see if a solid design can be flushed out of people. AFAIK nothing like this has been tried before - an open game engine standard or something. I think there's more of a chance of it failing, but then there's also a chance that it may work.

The more knowledgable people that visit the wiki will be able to catch small crack additions and their contribution while minimal, will at least keep the design realistic...I think.

Anyway, it's just an idea, open for discussions.

[anubis]

That sounds like a very reasonable idea...

[shiaolin_monk]

You do realize...IF the Devmaster community manages to pull this off... it could be the next most recognized low-down in the game community. Theoretically, The fourms are already divided into the groups needed to make a game and phycologically speaking, people who participate in those specific fourms would have some experience in it. I don't mind leading, I've always had good leadership skills. The only problem is, I'm still in school so a) My time is cut in half and b) There are people here way better then me c) I'm sure nobody likes to listen to a high school kid d) I'm not greatly multi-skilled. I'm not saying i'm 100% with you, since i've got troubles of my own, but IF there needs to be a person to spark the fire, I might do it.

I currently have a basic DirectX 9 engine that is fully extendable (since its still pre-mature). It is in C# but with a little patience, I don't see how we can't use C++ managed based around the C# version. I am actually trying to make the same thing in C++ (managed) but since it doesn't tell me where the heck I go wrong while typing, the common fustration of 'ERROR's come up and I have to fix it.

But I seriously think that if there where to be a fire starter and the leader, it should respectivly be you, Ed_Mack, Methullah, anubis and other DevMaster admins.

' The world's first global, cross region game....
' The world's first global, cross platform game engine...

[Ed Mack]

If this is to be done, use a well known and mature engine.

[Mihail121]

I even kinda have a game idea: "Chicken Farm". It's basically supposed to be a cell-shaded chicken game, which fits in all known genres: FPS, RTS, Adventure, Quest, RPG, MMORPG, etc. If you want i can start writing some basic docs on it.

NOTE:

I don't say this is the game that should be worked on!!!!

edit: since the game should be cross-platform, the models will be as rude as possible (MD2s with not more than 300 polys per chicken, 20 oder so keyframes) i suggest writing a software rasterizer or using nick's swShader.