Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Stryke 9 on October 30, 2002, 02:31:00 pm
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Speak it, brother!
http://www.the-underdogs.org/scratch.php
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Hip-hip-hurrah!
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Hear hear!
Imagine writing a song or a poem with ten other people. Imagine weaving a tapestry or painting on canvas or writing a novel with twenty people.
Now imagine making big budget computer entertainment. The design team for an Unreal based 3D shooter game, for example, would be comprised of fifty to one hundred people.
On the other hand, imagine making a computer game with one or two other multiskilled people. They might even be your friends or family members. Imagine doing this without the restraints imposed by deadlines or bureaucracy. Imagine actually being in control of content, gameplay, art and design rather than subordinating it to someone else. Imagine a game that can actually be made and make it.
That's what we do!
Though it did get a bit preachy towards the middle; I was waiting for someone to mention the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. :p
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Don't blame the companies, blame the people (you and me) who buy these games they're so againest :wtf:
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Originally posted by Blue Lion
Don't blame the companies, blame the people (you and me) who buy these games they're so againest :wtf:
No one is against GAMES. We're against the marketting/publishing behemoths that force developers to whore themselves just to move a unit.
Don't confuse the issue.
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I didn't, but you try to blame companies for selling games that you're buying! If you don't want these companies to do these things, stop purchasing their products.
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In years of gaming, the most "establishment" games I've ever bought were a used copy of Dune 2000, and, uh, Fallout, last week. Pretty much every gamemaker I've bought from has proceeded to crash and burn, or get bought up (in the cases of Volition and, sort of, Reality Pump). And when they get bought up, they become part of The Evil which suckifies all it touches. This is what happens to pretty much anyone innovative- they lose their niche market to some bland mimicries of the real thing with better ad campaigns, then get devoured by one of the companies that makes money entirely by killing smaller companies. Case in point would be Westwood, which hasn't had an original concept of its own sincethe first Dune, but continues to dismantle small, excellent companies by the bucketload and be richer than God.
Which is why things like scratchware are popular- too small to buy out, too cheap to get screwed by one of the bigass corps, too mom-and-pop to get greedy.
You know, with all the FS work that's going on, we really haven't developed our own game, actually. We're re-vamping the code, we've given it a rebuilt engine and some shiny new ships, but it's always been largely Volition derivative- I think we should try branching out on our own entirely, give actual gamemaking a shot. We've got the coders, we've got the skill, we've got the community, and we sure as hell havethe free time. Moreover, it'd be marginally profitable- and getting something for once from hours of computer work doesn't sound bad to me.
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Originally posted by Blue Lion
I didn't, but you try to blame companies for selling games that you're buying! If you don't want these companies to do these things, stop purchasing their products.
I don't know about you, but I buy games from studios that I like. Looking Glass Studios and Irrational come to mind. These are studios and their product is what I buy. Electronic Arts is the necessary evil I have to put up with to get those games.
Notice the difference here: I'm not purchasing an EA product. I'm purchasing a Looking Glass/Irrational Product. I'm not complaining about Looking Glass or Irrational. I'm complaining about Electronic Arts.
I support the studios, not the marketting behemoths. Unfortunately, I can't pay the one without paying the other. Believe you me, if I could have forked over $54 for System Shock 2 DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE IT, I would have and cheerfully.
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So would I, but it doesn't work that way sadly.
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Originally posted by Blue Lion
So would I, but it doesn't work that way sadly.
Which is the whole point of the article.
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Which isn't going to work, it's a good idea, but it's not something that can be applied in real life. :wtf:
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well, most manifestos can't be directly applied to real life.
take the communist manifesto for starters...
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Originally posted by Stryke 9
You know, with all the FS work that's going on, we really haven't developed our own game, actually. We're re-vamping the code, we've given it a rebuilt engine and some shiny new ships, but it's always been largely Volition derivative- I think we should try branching out on our own entirely, give actual gamemaking a shot. We've got the coders, we've got the skill, we've got the community, and we sure as hell havethe free time. Moreover, it'd be marginally profitable- and getting something for once from hours of computer work doesn't sound bad to me.
Remember Freespace Forever?
Then the source came out and we've been playing with that instead of making our own engine. Trouble is, the engine came with the 'don't sell me' tag attached.
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...Which is why I like the idea of a whole new game. Even if you did FSF, copyrights would still apply, and you couldn't sell it. You could do the engine, sure, but what's the fun in just making an engine?
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Originally posted by Stryke 9
...and we sure as hell have the free time...
:wtf:
What an odd thing to say... I take it you have no job/permanent education/life outside your pc?*
*Delete as takes your fancy
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Originally posted by Blue Lion
Which isn't going to work, it's a good idea, but it's not something that can be applied in real life. :wtf:
It is an idea that can be applied in real life. Authors are doing it with books. Musicians are doing it with music. Shareware programmers have been doing it with software.
Did you even bother to read the entire page? The idea is that people like Looking Glass (never a large studio) could skip the marketing behemoths and use the Internet as a distribution/marketting method.
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Originally posted by mikhael
Did you even bother to read the entire page? The idea is that people like Looking Glass (never a large studio) could skip the marketing behemoths and use the Internet as a distribution/marketting method.
We could have Shock 3 by now if they had done that.
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DG: Actually, I have a fair-sized ****load, at the moment. I won't in a month or so, since I'll be accepted into college and won't technically have to do anything at all for a good while. But, by definition, someone who regularly attends a forum, particularly this one, has too much free time.
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Oh, I'm supposed to be working hard at Uni all right. I'm just bunking off a lot :)
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
Oh, I'm supposed to be working hard at Uni all right. I'm just bunking off a lot :)
Same here m8. Keep up the good work! :wink:
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Yay! Fight the power!