VBGamer

first about RoT... that would be me, killing that one off... I made a site for it (a pretty usefull one), but before I could complete it I got caught up in a lot of work and couldn't find the time for it... I guess the leaders of that team expected me to come back and finish it, and by the time they'd realized I wouldn't, the project had sort of died... second, I'd like to just spill out some of my thoughts... Pekuna: I'm sorry, but you are just plain wrong there... getting paid to do a game is not a motivator, or something that adds a "fear" factor, it simply lets you dedicate more time to do work on a game... also, depending on what kind of royalty percentage and advances you have in your deal, there might be very little time to complete the game, and not that much royalties once you have completed it. When we make games, our motivation is the game itself, our wish to make a really cool game that stands out, even though the time and resources we have are very limited. Very few people in this business make big money... Sure, if you are really good, you can get a real good salary, but to get rich fom doing this, you need to own a game company that produces one of those number one smash hits, without having taken any (or at least as little as possible) money in advance from a publisher. In the early days of computer games, things was different, but nowadays, this is how things are. So, what do I think is necessary for a community team to finish a game? First, don't aim too high. Aiming too high will definately make sure you never reach the target. Better to make a small game with limited features, and when that is completed, work can be done to add stuff or write add-ons. Second, don't have ANY people that can't be replaced. In a real company, you wouldn't dream of letting one guy be the only one who have the knowledge about and the sourcecode of, say, the rendering system of a game... I mean, if that guy get hit by a truck or something, then the whole project would die, and the company with it, right? So what needs to be done is share information and sourcecode ALL THE TIME. Not just uploading a finished module, but uploading it every single day, including notes on what you have done since the last upload. This might seem to be time-wasting, but it is relly NECESSARY. In real, professional game development you do this every day, sometimes several times a day. I also think that you should have a system like if someone haven't been in touch with the team in a (in advance agreed on) certain time period, their tasks should be reassigned to another team member. Third, let deadlines be DEADLINES. If a feature is not completed on a deadline, it is dead, and won't make it in the game, no matter how cool. If it is an essential part of the game, so that the game cannot be run without it, you will have to cut other features planned to be added to the game later. Having all the time in the world available to complete a game usually means it never gets completed. One thing about professional game development is that all game companies have limited resources, and that enforces deadlines in a very brutal way. Fourth, I really think that open source is a good way to go for community projects... Just publish everything you have so that anyone, part of the team or not, can take part of it. Some people might download the source, play around with it and then decide to join the team. Others might download the source, enhance it and develop it in their own direction, and then upload it back to you, making it possible for you to merge part of it back into your game. This, I think, is what have made Linux so successful. I think that a good team, a good leader and a good idea is important if you are a game company that are trying to make a name. I think that if you are a community team trying to finish something, it is more important to have a structure that doesn't depend on any single person in any part of the project, because things DO happen in real life, and when they do, people does not put their community projects very high on their list, no matter what their intentions are. It is also more important to have a idea that you can handle, rather than trying to make something in the "best-ever" range. If the team finish a simple project together without too much pain and trouble, they might aim a lot higher the second time, when they've proven to each other their abilities to function as a team. These are just my opinions, don't flame me for them (unless you feel like you really really have to :-) ) and I do have experience of managing small and medium sized teams in real, full-time professional game development, so they should probably be worth something... though I'm not sure what :-) Sorry for the long rant... got carried away... ohm and it's good to be back again! /Corre http://www.micogames.com http://www.liquid.se