The Low Poly Cooperative is Turning 5

5 months old, that is. I thought that today, on the occasion of the first time I am posting a blog/.plan here, would be a good time to do something I will rarely do -- and that is look back on the path we've tread. It's only been five months, but there has been so much progress and development on our projects that it feels like it could have been five years ago that we formed our little idea to create free models for the indie community. In a way, I have been doing this for years. What I hope to accomplish in my time on this project is based on ideas that have percolating for over 15 years. Let me just take a moment to fill you in on where we've been and later this week I will follow up on our newly initiated blog about where I am going personally and the directions I hope our coop can grow. This is going to end up being more about me than any official party-line lowpolycoop propaganda, so stick with me if you are into that sort of thing. Over the past year we have tried a number of different ways of working, and I'm sure we as a group will always continue to try new things, but the method that stuck for me was in creating free environment models, working towards producing some sort of cohesive content pack down the line. I pounded away at this and have been pounding it senseless ever since.

I get into this in more detail on our site but, for now, I just want to say, I am doing this because I love it. It is fun. You should see the sparkle in my eyes when a developer sends me a screenshot with one of my models in game. You should see me sprawled out on the couch at 3am mumbling "one more tweak on that texture". You should see me hunched over my iBook on the train every morning. You should see me running for the bathroom because I forgot to pee while I was working. You should see me when I fall off my skateboard and I check the computer before I check to see if my elbow is broken. You get the picture.

I surprised myself when I recently looked back and counted the amount of work I had done over the first few months on this project. To date, I have created over 35 models, some of which I have completed and released on the forums. My work, a lot still in the work-in-progress stage even, has been downloaded over 50 times now and I have gotten great feedback and encouragement from people whose work I greatly respect. It's a real mix of emotions for me. I'm excited to have my work seen by more people, I'm more than a bit scared of what people will think of me and my skills, and way more than a bit humbled by the enthusiasm great artists have shown in wanting to work together with me on something I feel so passionately about. If nothing else comes of the project I will be thankful for the opportunity to meet and work with the people in the indie community. Just within the last month, a few artists have joined in the fun and have already done almost as much work as I did the first four months -- something that really excites me about the prospects for the coming year.

If you haven't visited our forums yet, please have a look around. There's a lot there. I know it can be hard to pick through something so dense and deep. The forum is very work-centric and, although it is organized pretty cleanly, there aren't really many signposts to guide you along the way. It's the gearheads hanging out in the garage, talking shop mostly. That's a huge reason why I am kick-starting this blog, to provide a showroom that is flexible and accessible. Also, now that a few other artists have jumped in and started producing some great work, the flow of new art has greatly increased. I felt that new and casual visitors may need someone to sift through all the information there and make nice, pretty little maps. The forums will still exist. That's where all the development work and communication will happen, and you are welcome to root around in it and see the growth of this project moment by moment. It could be quite educational if you are contemplating something similar. But for those of you who just want some updates on our progress and to get a little peek into the reasons why we do what we do, then visit here every week or so. I'll try to keep it light.

I am actually going to end this first post of looking back with a taste of looking forward. 2006 is a year so full of new territory, not the least of which is the expected arrival of my third child. I am really jazzed about the prospect of doing some great work with some great people.

This first week of the Low Poly Cooperative blog will be jam-packed with goodness. I will fill you in on some of what I am hoping for in the coming year, show you what we've been up to, and end the week with some exciting news. See you then. On to aught-six and the creation of the Thousander Club. For all of you here at GarageGames, I thought I would give you a little preview of what is to come. Here is a little family album of images from our first content pack in progress.



Stay free.

www.lowpolycoop.com/

Scott Hsu-Storaker