The Garage Games Community
by Brad Kelley · 07/03/2008 (10:37 am) · 11 comments
No products mentioned, no links and no pictures. Just an observation of my time as a member of this Indie Developer community.
When I joined this community more than 3 years ago I knew very little about what I was getting into. Like most people here I wanted to build a game. I toyed with ideas and resources but I could never get past a certain point. I asked questions on the forums and always got great answers. People who I'm sure had better things to do took time out of their schedule to help me along. People like Dreamer, Rex, Ari, Jondo, Kittle, Jonothan, and most importantly Dave Young spent hours working with me on different projects. They litterally taught me much of what I know today. Without these people and many more like them in this community I would still be scratching my head.
Garage Games really has a great community here. I wish everyone could appreciate that. Just think about any answer you get to a post in the forums. Even if its not as helpful as you'd like it is still someones time and effort. But there are a few people out there who seem to believe that the Game Engine License entitles you to immediate help with any number of questions. (Most of which have been answered time and time again in the forums.) That little search bar on the top right of your screen is your friend.
I think the reason I made so many friends here and got so much assistance was because I was willing to learn. I was respectful of other peoples time so I did as much research as I could and tried not to ask the redundant questions. Being someone who answers a lot of questions these days myself, it is really frustrating to explain the same thing over and over when its printed right in the forums here.
To sum it up... I am proud to be a member of this indie game development community. I've had a great time over the past 3+ years and look forward to many more.
When I joined this community more than 3 years ago I knew very little about what I was getting into. Like most people here I wanted to build a game. I toyed with ideas and resources but I could never get past a certain point. I asked questions on the forums and always got great answers. People who I'm sure had better things to do took time out of their schedule to help me along. People like Dreamer, Rex, Ari, Jondo, Kittle, Jonothan, and most importantly Dave Young spent hours working with me on different projects. They litterally taught me much of what I know today. Without these people and many more like them in this community I would still be scratching my head.
Garage Games really has a great community here. I wish everyone could appreciate that. Just think about any answer you get to a post in the forums. Even if its not as helpful as you'd like it is still someones time and effort. But there are a few people out there who seem to believe that the Game Engine License entitles you to immediate help with any number of questions. (Most of which have been answered time and time again in the forums.) That little search bar on the top right of your screen is your friend.
I think the reason I made so many friends here and got so much assistance was because I was willing to learn. I was respectful of other peoples time so I did as much research as I could and tried not to ask the redundant questions. Being someone who answers a lot of questions these days myself, it is really frustrating to explain the same thing over and over when its printed right in the forums here.
To sum it up... I am proud to be a member of this indie game development community. I've had a great time over the past 3+ years and look forward to many more.
About the author
EX Military, game developer and Pilot.
#2
And yes, this is a great community! There's a wealth of collective experience and information to be found here that can't be found anywhere else.
07/03/2008 (2:29 pm)
Quote:That little search bar on the top right of your screen is your friend.That is so true! I couldn't tell you how many times I've used that thing. I've found, in the 8 months I've been here, that there are very few problems that I couldn't solve without a little searching. I've yet to ask a single question, but I've tried to answer a few when I could. And it does get annoying when you see the same questions asked again and again which have been answered many times before. With a little bit of research, careful thought, and experimentation it's amazing what you can learn through that search bar.
And yes, this is a great community! There's a wealth of collective experience and information to be found here that can't be found anywhere else.
#3
And, yeah, there are bad apples in every community or people that you'll knock heads with that aren't necessarily "bad apples", but that's the nature of communication and having an active community.
07/03/2008 (2:33 pm)
Respect and professionalism go a long way, and while a number of us have rough edges, we don't always put our rough edge forward. And some of us, usually me, put our stupid edge forward, too. But we've got a great community here (and there are great communities all around the indie gamedev world).And, yeah, there are bad apples in every community or people that you'll knock heads with that aren't necessarily "bad apples", but that's the nature of communication and having an active community.
#4
07/03/2008 (3:41 pm)
Completely agree with this post, other than the search bar being your friend. Although people tend not to use it at all, which is in and of itself lame, the search bar is HORRIBLE on this site and needs some drastic improvements. I'd be willing to put money down that if we had better search abilities (such as search WITHIN a forum) we'd see a ton less repeated questions. 
#5
It can be difficult to separate personal feelings when listening to hostility or praise of one's work. For myself, I've found not listening too carefully to either works best. Of course, it is much more difficult to ignore praise :)
07/03/2008 (4:21 pm)
If you create a product of any value it will attract critics. People have different reasons for criticizing which range from frustration with their lives to an honest desire for improvement (aka constructive criticism). It can be difficult to separate personal feelings when listening to hostility or praise of one's work. For myself, I've found not listening too carefully to either works best. Of course, it is much more difficult to ignore praise :)
#6
07/03/2008 (6:46 pm)
Word!
#7
07/03/2008 (9:14 pm)
I'm a BAD APPLE, son! 
#9
Ashley, you are an example of a great community member. GG has the best community I've found on the web. People here honestly help those who ask.
07/03/2008 (11:40 pm)
ROTFL David. That's good.Ashley, you are an example of a great community member. GG has the best community I've found on the web. People here honestly help those who ask.
#10
can you send me an e-mail at christian.r.fager@gmail.com please.
It's been a while since we worked together and I have a question for you.
09/12/2009 (1:27 pm)
Ashley,can you send me an e-mail at christian.r.fager@gmail.com please.
It's been a while since we worked together and I have a question for you.
Torque 3D Owner Edward