As I see it there are a few options:
Make a start, open source it and offload some of the work to outside parties
Let's face it, it's going to be opensource anyhow, and from being on another opensource game project, it seems as though most of ones energy gets expended in the discussion and coordination of the tasks. Possibly not the best option, although again, from being involved in Adonthell, there are certainly individuals who are very talented in particular areas (music, code and art) rather than being mildly talented in all (humble, I know) ;-).
Make it small
Bite the bullet and admit that it's never going to be an epic. Make it extensible so that you can always add bits to it, but the core game may need to be small enough that it's easy to finish within 12 months. 12 months is a very short period for any game, let alone one developed in the diminishing amounts of spare time that I have.
Retro is in!
Luckily, with indie stuff, you don't need to do the latest and greatest. So things like 2D are still acceptable. Although to cutting edge types it's the end of the world if your game is not full first or third person 3D, 2D cuts down massively on the amount of work required to provide a reasonable amount of art and animation assets. Also the tools are cheaper and more plentiful - I'm sure I'd accomplish more with the GIMP than with Blender...
Put together a small group of locals
This isn't a bad option, but there's a couple of problems. How do you find people with the talent that you need locally, how do you convince them that it's worth spending time on and then give away the end result for free? Then there's the above issue of coordination and ownership. Maybe this is a better option for a second or third project, once you've put together the aforementioned small game on your own...
Spend time on pre-production
I'm not sure how valid this is. Many projects that I've seen have really started from someone rolling up their sleeves and getting the base code out ASAP. But I feel that maybe extra time spent working it out beforehand will make for a better product.
Really this is just me umming and ahing over how I'm going to do this and putting my thoughts down so I can read over them later... Yes I am aware that it's all cloud talk, and don't be surprised if another 6 months go by and I still havent put my code where my mouth is... :-) Also, I plan on making this more in the style of Final Fantasy and other RPG/Story based games rather than a full on action game, so some of the points above may not apply to all genres.
|
|
Menu
Login
|
