How can indy game makers connect
by Patrick David West · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 04/12/2011 (9:39 am) · 38 replies
Hello everyone. I have been involved with video games for over 20 years. As a late bloomer I have been working on my degree in Game Software Development. I especially enjoy the MMO experience, though there are really few games which marry the social aspect with truly intriguing game-play.
When I visit game design forums, such as gameDev.net, 3dPalace.com, Dream-in-code.com, etc, there seems to be no shortage of individuals who are attempting to create his own game. After following their progress, I notice that they all end up abandoning their projects. Of course, when you consider the amount of time and dedication involved in creating a video game, any though of creating a game alone seems impossible (especially where RPGs and MMOs are concerned).
I have studied computer science for years and attained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science in 1997. I understand the Software Development Cycle and am focusing my knowledge in the area of video games. This means to say that I know programming/scripting, Modelling/texturing/animation, Game engine design, physics, networking, etc. Even with this knowledge I am in no means capable of (nor foolish enough to consider) creating the next big MMO alone.
I believe that those people who attempt to create a game alone lets their artistic expression and ambitiousness override their common sense. This is applaudable, but, in the end, nothing is really accomplished. But, what if many people could connect and work together to create a game?
There are many forums on the WWW which allow game designers, programmers, and artists to discuss potential resolutions for problems they are facing. However, there are no real social networking sites for individual willing to donate time, energy, ambition, and ideas towards developing a real product. People talk about "WOW killers," and the "Next-gen" games they are hoping to make. Unless you have 20-50 friends who are all committed to working on a project (Which I can barely find 2 or 3), you are stuck with sending a resume to an established game studio and hope that you will be hired to help develop their games (usually a sandbox style game meant to compete with an already established successful game, like WOW).
Many people say that there are "imagination" steps required before adding programmers, animators, modelers and the more technical assets to your team. I disagree. The first true hurdle in game creation is the Game Design Document. [Here is a very good template for a game design document which is usable for any style of game: http://www.distancelearning101.net/interm_prog/2nd_qtr_excr/video_game_deisgn_template_files/game_document_template.doc] I personally think that it is a team effort. Technical members are as artistic and imaginative as story writes and artists...as well as the game designer himself/herself. This is especially true when working as an independent group. For instance, as a game designer I have a primary idea of how the game works, will look, and what its goals are. But working with a team which composes of all development departments, a better product cam be created and time will be saved with implementation problems and concerns. One person can have wonderful ideas, but ideas agreed upon by a group tends to be better.
To get to my primary point, how can individual game makers connect and form true teams to make the games people really want? Where do we find these people? How can we all connect and truly spend our time productively, rather than wasting it alone?
When I visit game design forums, such as gameDev.net, 3dPalace.com, Dream-in-code.com, etc, there seems to be no shortage of individuals who are attempting to create his own game. After following their progress, I notice that they all end up abandoning their projects. Of course, when you consider the amount of time and dedication involved in creating a video game, any though of creating a game alone seems impossible (especially where RPGs and MMOs are concerned).
I have studied computer science for years and attained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science in 1997. I understand the Software Development Cycle and am focusing my knowledge in the area of video games. This means to say that I know programming/scripting, Modelling/texturing/animation, Game engine design, physics, networking, etc. Even with this knowledge I am in no means capable of (nor foolish enough to consider) creating the next big MMO alone.
I believe that those people who attempt to create a game alone lets their artistic expression and ambitiousness override their common sense. This is applaudable, but, in the end, nothing is really accomplished. But, what if many people could connect and work together to create a game?
There are many forums on the WWW which allow game designers, programmers, and artists to discuss potential resolutions for problems they are facing. However, there are no real social networking sites for individual willing to donate time, energy, ambition, and ideas towards developing a real product. People talk about "WOW killers," and the "Next-gen" games they are hoping to make. Unless you have 20-50 friends who are all committed to working on a project (Which I can barely find 2 or 3), you are stuck with sending a resume to an established game studio and hope that you will be hired to help develop their games (usually a sandbox style game meant to compete with an already established successful game, like WOW).
Many people say that there are "imagination" steps required before adding programmers, animators, modelers and the more technical assets to your team. I disagree. The first true hurdle in game creation is the Game Design Document. [Here is a very good template for a game design document which is usable for any style of game: http://www.distancelearning101.net/interm_prog/2nd_qtr_excr/video_game_deisgn_template_files/game_document_template.doc] I personally think that it is a team effort. Technical members are as artistic and imaginative as story writes and artists...as well as the game designer himself/herself. This is especially true when working as an independent group. For instance, as a game designer I have a primary idea of how the game works, will look, and what its goals are. But working with a team which composes of all development departments, a better product cam be created and time will be saved with implementation problems and concerns. One person can have wonderful ideas, but ideas agreed upon by a group tends to be better.
To get to my primary point, how can individual game makers connect and form true teams to make the games people really want? Where do we find these people? How can we all connect and truly spend our time productively, rather than wasting it alone?
#22
Ive recently been lucky enough to find myself working with some great people who contacted me out of the blue after recommendations from people i had worked with years ago.
we are just sbout to start connecting with people with a view to collaboration with other devs and expanding our core team. we have a lot of experience between us and arent trying to make an MMO or anything unacheivable with the resources and funding we have available.
i dont want to go into too much detail here but after reading your post, with all you wrote here it seems like what we are doing may be of interest to you. would it be possible to connect up sometime and talk about it further ?
ps randy your welcome to contact me as well :)
05/27/2011 (8:19 pm)
very interesting thread patrick, i relate to a lot of what you say and have perhaps had a similar journey to yourself, havig come from my comfy job as a corporate zombie at a big publisher to choosing the indie path. Ive recently been lucky enough to find myself working with some great people who contacted me out of the blue after recommendations from people i had worked with years ago.
we are just sbout to start connecting with people with a view to collaboration with other devs and expanding our core team. we have a lot of experience between us and arent trying to make an MMO or anything unacheivable with the resources and funding we have available.
i dont want to go into too much detail here but after reading your post, with all you wrote here it seems like what we are doing may be of interest to you. would it be possible to connect up sometime and talk about it further ?
ps randy your welcome to contact me as well :)
#23
If I were to Design/create my own game, keeping in mind what hardware resources I have available is paramount to a successful design. Now, I have never been a hardware person, since I deal mainly with software issues, but, I have enough technical knowledge to understand how software design and system resources are interdependent.
Even considering the little knowledge I have, I am not qualified to design a complete game without the expertise of people much more knowledgeable. That is why I stress the importance of including all departments in design. Sometimes we can be more ambitious than practicality allows.
For people wishing to create an MMO, try to gain experience through smaller projects first. Try creating a a "Facebook" game, or other similar game that focuses more on networking and fundamentals before diving into full client/server applications.
05/28/2011 (7:29 am)
Ted, your reply was very good. There are many components in which people seem to "forget" about during design. People get excited about putting game-play ideas to paper but overlook IT issues. Knowing what you are working with, as far as hardware resources, is foundational to realistic project management. For instance, as "spare" hardware from previous projects, I have four servers sitting idle. Two of my servers have network graphic cards installed (ATI 100-505602 FirePro V9800 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFire Supported Workstation Video Card), and 3 of the servers have 128GB of memory installed (running on Dual AMD 45nm 12-Core Opteron 6100 Series Processors), and the fourth server is an Intel server (Intel Xeon X5690 Westmere-EP 3.46GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 139W Six-Core Server Processor BX80614X5690).If I were to Design/create my own game, keeping in mind what hardware resources I have available is paramount to a successful design. Now, I have never been a hardware person, since I deal mainly with software issues, but, I have enough technical knowledge to understand how software design and system resources are interdependent.
Even considering the little knowledge I have, I am not qualified to design a complete game without the expertise of people much more knowledgeable. That is why I stress the importance of including all departments in design. Sometimes we can be more ambitious than practicality allows.
For people wishing to create an MMO, try to gain experience through smaller projects first. Try creating a a "Facebook" game, or other similar game that focuses more on networking and fundamentals before diving into full client/server applications.
#24
@Patrick I very much agree about the importance of a game design doc. It is every bit as important as a script for a movie.
1. It allows others to collaborate and forces a lot of varying opinions into a cohesive vision, if it is well written.
2. It gives the author(s) a target to shoot for a "baseline" creative for the project. (unless it is a small project, the idea of keeping the vision in one person is a challenge)
3. It allows new team members and other disciplines to stay on the same page.
4. Often times, there are other non-development people who are key to development like investors, friends or marketing.
5. In the end, most people want to be efficient and having a design allows a team to shoot for the same target...hitting it is another matter.
@Matt Agreed. There are a lot of dedicated developers out there, especially students. Go to portfolio shows for graduating students at local game colleges to find young, eager talent.
@Randy Nice.
05/28/2011 (10:59 am)
This is a great thread. I think there are several good ideas here.@Patrick I very much agree about the importance of a game design doc. It is every bit as important as a script for a movie.
1. It allows others to collaborate and forces a lot of varying opinions into a cohesive vision, if it is well written.
2. It gives the author(s) a target to shoot for a "baseline" creative for the project. (unless it is a small project, the idea of keeping the vision in one person is a challenge)
3. It allows new team members and other disciplines to stay on the same page.
4. Often times, there are other non-development people who are key to development like investors, friends or marketing.
5. In the end, most people want to be efficient and having a design allows a team to shoot for the same target...hitting it is another matter.
@Matt Agreed. There are a lot of dedicated developers out there, especially students. Go to portfolio shows for graduating students at local game colleges to find young, eager talent.
@Randy Nice.
#25
05/28/2011 (10:26 pm)
What I find amazing is how 'mods' of games can get great teams together. Day of Defeat was one such mod of Halflife, that went pro. Red Orchestra is a another mod that went pro. There are countless others, and they seem to be able to attract a decent team. I tried tapping into some of the mod guys years ago, but none of them seemed interested in making a game with Torque. But if you want to make a mod, they seem to come out of the woodwork. Once I can get a decent demo together, I'm going to start a website and see if I can attract some of those mod guys. Some of their models are as good or better than a lot of games that are out there. 
#26
05/29/2011 (3:06 am)
The thing is with mod making, it seems a little less daunting as all the basic fundamentals are there from the game that you are modding, aswell as the pre built reputation from the game its built around. Fan's of that particular game will ofcourse have personal ideas as to what will improve that game further aswell as have more enthusiasm for it instead of starting from scratch and building something new from the ground up.
#27
I'd appreciate payment, so I can form a fund to pay for a game dev team(nobody works for free no more), but payment is not required.
That's what I'm good at, anyway.
I tried to make a game and get a team together once already, but these days you have to be a flippin expert or nobody will help you. I am learning the code, but until I am fluent in it, nobody wants to help make a game. (But, by the time I'm fluent in it, I won't need them anyway.)
05/30/2011 (9:39 pm)
Well, I can offer to maintain/update/design the website, if you don't have someone to do that already.I'd appreciate payment, so I can form a fund to pay for a game dev team(nobody works for free no more), but payment is not required.
That's what I'm good at, anyway.
I tried to make a game and get a team together once already, but these days you have to be a flippin expert or nobody will help you. I am learning the code, but until I am fluent in it, nobody wants to help make a game. (But, by the time I'm fluent in it, I won't need them anyway.)
#28
There were definitely some good points discussed and was wondering if there was any initiative taken.
08/02/2011 (8:18 pm)
Guys, anything ever come out of these discussions? There were definitely some good points discussed and was wondering if there was any initiative taken.
#29
First, I have decided to build a website dedicated to the life-cycle of developing a game. When the website goes live it will start with the development of the game design documents. Once completed, the site moves into actual development. People will be free to post code, make suggestions, contribute art and other assets. The game will be completely open-source and used as a learning experience for those who wish to understand more about game development.
I have worked in game development for over ten years, and two of my partners are very accomplished in the field as well...one being an artist/animator, and the other a programmer.
The second project is a "Facebook-for-game-development" website. We figure it is about time that a network was created which is dedicated to creating broader contacts between everyone dedicated to the creation of great games.
08/03/2011 (7:23 pm)
I don't think anything has materialized based upon this post. However, the amazing insight it has given me has inspired me to work an a couple different projects. First, I have decided to build a website dedicated to the life-cycle of developing a game. When the website goes live it will start with the development of the game design documents. Once completed, the site moves into actual development. People will be free to post code, make suggestions, contribute art and other assets. The game will be completely open-source and used as a learning experience for those who wish to understand more about game development.
I have worked in game development for over ten years, and two of my partners are very accomplished in the field as well...one being an artist/animator, and the other a programmer.
The second project is a "Facebook-for-game-development" website. We figure it is about time that a network was created which is dedicated to creating broader contacts between everyone dedicated to the creation of great games.
#30
Modding had a certain golden age a few years ago, when moddable games where rare/just coming out, I recall the hundred of mods available for half life 1.
Games are more complex today (graphically, gameplay tend to be simpler unfortunately) it takes more time for a fan to whip together a model that the players will find acceptable, like retail games, mods are "sold" through screenshots, if your game is butt ugly you need a lot more effort to win a demo download.
08/03/2011 (7:25 pm)
@Willbkool Garry's mod development used to get a lot of support from it's community because there was a boatload of assets readily available, programmers could focus on function over form and simply use counter strike models.Modding had a certain golden age a few years ago, when moddable games where rare/just coming out, I recall the hundred of mods available for half life 1.
Games are more complex today (graphically, gameplay tend to be simpler unfortunately) it takes more time for a fan to whip together a model that the players will find acceptable, like retail games, mods are "sold" through screenshots, if your game is butt ugly you need a lot more effort to win a demo download.
#31
When it comes to graphics, a lot more attention has been given to material processing rather than the actual models themselves. It seems much more efficient to render higher quality textures over lower poly models. Some take it too far, however. Fallout 3, for example.
The good news is that with the power of today's CPUs/GPUs and the amount of available memory higher quality models can easily be implemented into more complex games. If you begin developing game content today which will max a computer's resources, by the time it is published it will be easily implemented on mid-based computers.
08/03/2011 (8:07 pm)
I agree with you, Kyrah. Many games, today, are incorporating modding tools with them. Dragon Age Origins released a modding tool set. Source released the Hammer Editor which allows modding of Left 4 Dead and Left for Dead 2.When it comes to graphics, a lot more attention has been given to material processing rather than the actual models themselves. It seems much more efficient to render higher quality textures over lower poly models. Some take it too far, however. Fallout 3, for example.
The good news is that with the power of today's CPUs/GPUs and the amount of available memory higher quality models can easily be implemented into more complex games. If you begin developing game content today which will max a computer's resources, by the time it is published it will be easily implemented on mid-based computers.
#32
Since we are reaching the limits of what a single processor can do, constructors push heavily the parallele architecture (dual, quad, octocore) because making more powerful chips is becoming a problem.
The difference with vertical power increase is that old programs do not relly benefit of extra cpu or gpu cores if they haven't been programmed to exploit them.
TO go back to the modding scene, most modders are now stretched across so many moddable games/engines, where you could "pick" an entire team from a single forum it's becoming harder now because this guy want to work with idtech, and that guy want to do models for unreal tournament 2004, and so on.
Add to this that most of the skilled hobby programmers (read: that guy you want as your lead coder) try to find an actual coder job as soon as they can and usually won't spend their free time coding on a hobby project, unless it's their very own (sort of "I work all day for someone else, i'm not gonna do it on the weekend too")
That sort of stuffs.
(sorry for the typos, it's really early here, haven't slept yet)
08/03/2011 (9:17 pm)
It's actually not such a goo way to proceed because of the end of the free lunch of computer power.Since we are reaching the limits of what a single processor can do, constructors push heavily the parallele architecture (dual, quad, octocore) because making more powerful chips is becoming a problem.
The difference with vertical power increase is that old programs do not relly benefit of extra cpu or gpu cores if they haven't been programmed to exploit them.
TO go back to the modding scene, most modders are now stretched across so many moddable games/engines, where you could "pick" an entire team from a single forum it's becoming harder now because this guy want to work with idtech, and that guy want to do models for unreal tournament 2004, and so on.
Add to this that most of the skilled hobby programmers (read: that guy you want as your lead coder) try to find an actual coder job as soon as they can and usually won't spend their free time coding on a hobby project, unless it's their very own (sort of "I work all day for someone else, i'm not gonna do it on the weekend too")
That sort of stuffs.
(sorry for the typos, it's really early here, haven't slept yet)
#33
In college, most of my peers were quite ideological when it came to their work. Refusing to be another chain in the corporate ladder, wanting to revolutionize the industry, etc. However, nearly every one is employed by some large firm.
Companies profit through user mods. The most popular mods can become an official add-on to its source game...which brings notoriety to the company. For hobbyists, it can be much easier to just create a mod of your own rather than spending time finding a team (and dealing with some of the ideological egos that come with the team).
As far a processing power is concerned, please to not misunderstand my statement above. It was not my intention to suggest that it is good practice to seek to push computer performance. It is my suggestion that in early development it is easier to build higher quality models first and scale downward as needed. The other way can be too costly later in development and possibly leave you with a sub-par product. When I worked at EA we spent six months refining models for a game in development. This was because EA decided that the models were too "plain" and needed better resolution (so to speak). On a later project, the models needed to be scaled downward--they were TOO detailed. It took 10 days to modify over 10,000 parent models.
08/04/2011 (11:55 am)
That's the big problem isn't it? People want to work on only the things they want to work on. Mainly, this means their own ideas, their own projects, etc. But the problem is that when you work at a standard company, you are doing only what that company wants.In college, most of my peers were quite ideological when it came to their work. Refusing to be another chain in the corporate ladder, wanting to revolutionize the industry, etc. However, nearly every one is employed by some large firm.
Companies profit through user mods. The most popular mods can become an official add-on to its source game...which brings notoriety to the company. For hobbyists, it can be much easier to just create a mod of your own rather than spending time finding a team (and dealing with some of the ideological egos that come with the team).
As far a processing power is concerned, please to not misunderstand my statement above. It was not my intention to suggest that it is good practice to seek to push computer performance. It is my suggestion that in early development it is easier to build higher quality models first and scale downward as needed. The other way can be too costly later in development and possibly leave you with a sub-par product. When I worked at EA we spent six months refining models for a game in development. This was because EA decided that the models were too "plain" and needed better resolution (so to speak). On a later project, the models needed to be scaled downward--they were TOO detailed. It took 10 days to modify over 10,000 parent models.
#34
08/04/2011 (1:08 pm)
Okay sorry, yes overshooting a little is fine if you aim for high end graphics, but bad engine/asset designs shouldn't be solved with "lets wait for technology to cope up"
#35
Most of the really talented lua scripters of the gmod community left for various reasons and haven't been replaced with new talents for example. I think that peoples today who discover a taste for programming prefer being paid to do it than joining a modding community.
08/04/2011 (1:57 pm)
I think the real problem is the multiplication of modding platforms, which is thinning the number of peoples using the same platform at a given moment and the ever present economical crisis makes peoples unwilling to embark on an uncertain venture.Most of the really talented lua scripters of the gmod community left for various reasons and haven't been replaced with new talents for example. I think that peoples today who discover a taste for programming prefer being paid to do it than joining a modding community.
#36
Very interesting ideas! I would love to observe, and contribute where I can, a web site like your first project mentioned. I definitely see the benefit of all involved with such a project.
I completely agree this is a fragmented indie-industry. For example, the indie-film industry is much more organized and people are willing much more to collaborate on projects.
Hopefully you can keep us posted on your progress, and if not here in the forum, at least keep me posted via email ;) ... I will definitely sign up for it if it ever comes to fruition.
Good luck and never give up!
08/05/2011 (6:15 pm)
Quote:First, I have decided to build a website dedicated to the life-cycle of developing a game. When the website goes live it will start with the development of the game design documents. Once completed, the site moves into actual development. People will be free to post code, make suggestions, contribute art and other assets. The game will be completely open-source and used as a learning experience for those who wish to understand more about game development.
...
The second project is a "Facebook-for-game-development" website. We figure it is about time that a network was created which is dedicated to creating broader contacts between everyone dedicated to the creation of great games.
Very interesting ideas! I would love to observe, and contribute where I can, a web site like your first project mentioned. I definitely see the benefit of all involved with such a project.
I completely agree this is a fragmented indie-industry. For example, the indie-film industry is much more organized and people are willing much more to collaborate on projects.
Hopefully you can keep us posted on your progress, and if not here in the forum, at least keep me posted via email ;) ... I will definitely sign up for it if it ever comes to fruition.
Good luck and never give up!
#37
On the comment about modders, I think there is a stream of new modders coming into the indie space, but they might be too busy to network properly. I keep in touch with a lot of game development students who are active in developing their own stuff, learning tools and in some cases creating their own games.
I know a lot of them work, go to school and try to have a social life on top of their indie/modding work. I think if they knew the value of establishing contacts and maybe landing on a great mod team, they might network more.
@Patrick I agree working for companies almost always means you are working on their stuff. I want to comment that this is not a bad thing (I also see many students do see that as taking their freedom away). The reality is most companies have better equipment, software and subject matter experts indie/modders might not have access to. There is a question as to how much, if any, they can work on their own stuff while employed, but if they view a couple of years of working at a company on other people's stuff as extending their education, then there would be lest angst here.
@Kyrah In general, I agree the cost in time and money to be a modder and the lure of getting paid for doing development has moved most mod talent towards game companies. Like other hobbies, the easier we (as in engines and tools provider) make it for people to enable their vision (creating a game), the larger the market. I would point to digital cameras, Youtube and Facebook. Almost everybody is a photographer now and maybe even an amateur movie maker (certainly every parent is). Well, $99 digital cameras and free postings to YouTube and Facebook created explosive growth in photography and movie making. With digital distribution and mobile games, indie/modders have more chances to develop products without funding from big companies.
09/02/2011 (12:31 pm)
On the comment about modders, I think there is a stream of new modders coming into the indie space, but they might be too busy to network properly. I keep in touch with a lot of game development students who are active in developing their own stuff, learning tools and in some cases creating their own games.
I know a lot of them work, go to school and try to have a social life on top of their indie/modding work. I think if they knew the value of establishing contacts and maybe landing on a great mod team, they might network more.
@Patrick I agree working for companies almost always means you are working on their stuff. I want to comment that this is not a bad thing (I also see many students do see that as taking their freedom away). The reality is most companies have better equipment, software and subject matter experts indie/modders might not have access to. There is a question as to how much, if any, they can work on their own stuff while employed, but if they view a couple of years of working at a company on other people's stuff as extending their education, then there would be lest angst here.
@Kyrah In general, I agree the cost in time and money to be a modder and the lure of getting paid for doing development has moved most mod talent towards game companies. Like other hobbies, the easier we (as in engines and tools provider) make it for people to enable their vision (creating a game), the larger the market. I would point to digital cameras, Youtube and Facebook. Almost everybody is a photographer now and maybe even an amateur movie maker (certainly every parent is). Well, $99 digital cameras and free postings to YouTube and Facebook created explosive growth in photography and movie making. With digital distribution and mobile games, indie/modders have more chances to develop products without funding from big companies.
#38
The idea of "payment after game-release" is negligible since less than 5% of actual indie game projects actually make it to publish. Devoting time to a project that you believe in is an essential part of developing both your portfolio and your experience. Joining communities that promote learning and the sharing of knowledge becomes a valuable addition to one's toolbox.
My original post, which started this thread, asked about a REAL community devoted to providing aspiring and established game developers a network in which they can actually share their portfolios, expand their contacts within the industry, increase their knowledge, share assets and time, and help the industry grow.
I am still actively developing such a site, however, it is slow going since, I admit, that I am not the most skilled web developer. However, I have been busily creating assets for such a site and trying to recruit others towards these same goals. For instance, I have just completed the 12th video in my CryEngine Sandbox 3 series of tutorials. This series also includes 44 videos (so far) related to Photoshop, 3ds max, and other 3rd party softwares used in game development. I have completed a full course which delves in to the process of texturing for both environments and objects. I teach what every type of texture map is (i.e displacement, specular, diffuse, normal, detail, bump, alpha, Offset Bump Mapping (OBM), Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM), Diffused Alpa Gloss Maps, etc.) and how to create them. I expand into creating seamless tiling and even how to organize all your texture files. This comes with a complete collection of more than 500 textures (which includes all maps for each texture) that is freely available for download by members.
Anyhow, before I get overly verbose with this post, the intention is for people to provide and share expertise and experience while also being able to truly learn what they want in a way that clear and specifically targeted to games and their development.
09/02/2011 (1:36 pm)
Working for a large company is invaluable experience. Many independents want to work on their own game and pray that they are well compensated for their efforts. The same goes for modders, etc. The thing to realize is mddding and small game design/asset creation IS your PORTFOLIO towards landing a solid paying job. I cannot count the number of people I have talked with who "claim" to be very good at some aspect of game development and are not willing to spend time on indie projects without compensation. These same people have no real experience in the industry, have negligible portfolios, and still are expecting full time compensation. The idea of "payment after game-release" is negligible since less than 5% of actual indie game projects actually make it to publish. Devoting time to a project that you believe in is an essential part of developing both your portfolio and your experience. Joining communities that promote learning and the sharing of knowledge becomes a valuable addition to one's toolbox.
My original post, which started this thread, asked about a REAL community devoted to providing aspiring and established game developers a network in which they can actually share their portfolios, expand their contacts within the industry, increase their knowledge, share assets and time, and help the industry grow.
I am still actively developing such a site, however, it is slow going since, I admit, that I am not the most skilled web developer. However, I have been busily creating assets for such a site and trying to recruit others towards these same goals. For instance, I have just completed the 12th video in my CryEngine Sandbox 3 series of tutorials. This series also includes 44 videos (so far) related to Photoshop, 3ds max, and other 3rd party softwares used in game development. I have completed a full course which delves in to the process of texturing for both environments and objects. I teach what every type of texture map is (i.e displacement, specular, diffuse, normal, detail, bump, alpha, Offset Bump Mapping (OBM), Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM), Diffused Alpa Gloss Maps, etc.) and how to create them. I expand into creating seamless tiling and even how to organize all your texture files. This comes with a complete collection of more than 500 textures (which includes all maps for each texture) that is freely available for download by members.
Anyhow, before I get overly verbose with this post, the intention is for people to provide and share expertise and experience while also being able to truly learn what they want in a way that clear and specifically targeted to games and their development.
Torque 3D Owner Ted Southard
That's not really accurate, as most PC/console RPGs are far ahead of MMOs in depth of gameplay, while also having very good graphics. Most graphics are handled on GPUs now, and that frees up the CPU for AI and many other "deep" gameplay mechanics (which are not very CPU intensive). Add to that the new Physics chips which can be used to offload physics (or do AI calculations- much like GPUs can also do), and PC/console RPGs are not only just fine, but they have room to grow.
Now, for an MMO... If you have the client doing anything other than asking the server if they can do something, then you're violating the biggest rule of online game design: The client cannot be trusted.
In fact, the client should be little more than a renderer and some buttons that make requests of the server, where that server is completely authoritative. And on the server-side, there is no rendering being done at all. Sure, physics may be getting done (and if it's an MMO, then you might want to scale back on physics unless you really want that as part of the features), but if you're just slightly creative with your back-end architecture, then you can get away with a lot.
If you put GPUs in the servers, and craft your AI using shaders or OpenCL, then you can offload AI to that. If you have certain features (such as chat, an NPC dialog system, or other information-based systems which primarily display information in the game rather than process it there) which can be placed on other servers, then do so.
There's a lot of tricks you can use to mitigate "deep" gameplay :)