Nobody want to work on a stable project
by Grant McNeil · in General Discussion · 06/17/2003 (10:27 am) · 8 replies
Hey,
For about 2 months now I have been looking for 2D artists, for either sprites or textures or somone who can do both.
I have posted multiple help wanted ads, on both Garagegames and sourceforge with no replys.
My project (PFEngine; sourceforge.net/projects/pfengine/) needs an 2D artist.
Okay, so this isn't "the next big MMORPG" or "Dynamic FPS" that most amature developers are signing up to work on. But most of these projects go nowhere, and the PFEngine is already showing promise.
Maybe its that its an OpenSource project and noone wants to waste their time, that the PFengine doesn't look very flashy right now, or people just toss away the idea of working on a primarily 2D game (The PFengine is being developed in OpenGL for 3D effects).
Can someone please tell me how I can find a good, reliable 2D artist for this project?
thanks,
--Grant McNeil
For about 2 months now I have been looking for 2D artists, for either sprites or textures or somone who can do both.
I have posted multiple help wanted ads, on both Garagegames and sourceforge with no replys.
My project (PFEngine; sourceforge.net/projects/pfengine/) needs an 2D artist.
Okay, so this isn't "the next big MMORPG" or "Dynamic FPS" that most amature developers are signing up to work on. But most of these projects go nowhere, and the PFEngine is already showing promise.
Maybe its that its an OpenSource project and noone wants to waste their time, that the PFengine doesn't look very flashy right now, or people just toss away the idea of working on a primarily 2D game (The PFengine is being developed in OpenGL for 3D effects).
Can someone please tell me how I can find a good, reliable 2D artist for this project?
thanks,
--Grant McNeil
About the author
#2
I say the above because personally I tend not to think to go looking for a project unless it *really* catches my eye. But if someone comes to me, even if they have a very low-profile project, I tend to give it some thought. It's probably and ego thing :)
BTW, saying "nobody wants to work on a stable project" seems a little defeatist, imho. Just an observation.
Also, just from an artist's point of view, I went to your page to see what the engine is about, didn't see any screen shots, and left. I know, I should probably try, like, reading and stuff, but... as a visual person I look for a visual representation of what the engine can do, what the game is about. If you had a single representative visual image, it might help get the ball rolling. The one image would attract other art people. You just need that first image to prime the pump so to speak.
-Spencer
06/17/2003 (10:51 am)
You might also try contacting artists directly rather than waiting for them to come to you. Most likely they'll have a site, meaning you can search them out with a well-placed Google. And of course everyone on GG has a profile and you can search it... though there's about a zillion profiles and I think the only order is alphabetical. I say the above because personally I tend not to think to go looking for a project unless it *really* catches my eye. But if someone comes to me, even if they have a very low-profile project, I tend to give it some thought. It's probably and ego thing :)
BTW, saying "nobody wants to work on a stable project" seems a little defeatist, imho. Just an observation.
Also, just from an artist's point of view, I went to your page to see what the engine is about, didn't see any screen shots, and left. I know, I should probably try, like, reading and stuff, but... as a visual person I look for a visual representation of what the engine can do, what the game is about. If you had a single representative visual image, it might help get the ball rolling. The one image would attract other art people. You just need that first image to prime the pump so to speak.
-Spencer
#3
06/17/2003 (11:02 am)
Thats a SourceForge Project Page outlining the tombstone data about the project, we are working on pfengine.sourceforge.net, that will contain screenshots etc...
#5
just my opinion though
06/17/2003 (12:23 pm)
Grant, I decided to look into your project and from a potential artists perspective here is what I do and dont like. I do like the whole 2D concept, personaly I like 2d games and I can relate to your frustrations with team building, but you didnt mention much about what you expect the artist to do, like how much art do you want for this game? how many levels? how many characters will need to be created and animated? and what kinda look are you going for? hand drawn cartoons? pre rendered? These are the sort of questions I have as a potential artist, it seems amaturish to just say "I want an artist" without giving more info on what the job involves. Also, I as an artist I think your jumping the gun a little. You said you arnt planning on even having a lot of features enabled untill after your finals at the end of july I believe. As an artist who has dealt with tons of flakey programers I am very skeptical of the "do the art now, several months before we will have the engine ready, dont worry, we wont get bored with this project and quit" request. In my opinion you should probably go ahead and get the whole engine completely finished, then make the first few levels with placeholder art (programmer art, stick figures or whatever). If you have something visual to show the artists (which they could even play) I dont think you'd have any problem attracting them, even if the game is open source. As an artist who's been around for a little while, I've found that 99.9% of open source games being made by students for shits and gigles never get anywhere near finished. The fact that you admit to being kids in school doing a summer project doesnt build confidence, when you mentioned that the first thing I thought was "oh great, if they dont finish this before summer's over they will decide to shut it down for the next schoolyear, and then lose interest by next summer, unless they get a girlfriend or something this summer and it shuts down before they do any work". Personaly I'd like to see more of this thing done and more of a comitment on your part before I'd commit to putting a lot of work into art for the projectjust my opinion though
#6
my finals are end of June, this week, and I have been trying to get an artist so we can start work by this saturday (when im officially done).
Thanks for the 'list' of potential things I would have to add in a help wanted post. On the post I made at sourceforge I put "Worms Style" sprites and textures.
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counter-flames: ; )
quote:
"it seems amaturish to just say "I want an artist" without giving more info on what the job involves"
I can see why you would say this, But the truth is i didn't just say "I want an artist". I did give some specific information about what I wanted, but yes, I think I may have been a bit sketchy on details.
quote:
"do the art now, several months before we will have the engine ready, dont worry, we wont get bored with this project and quit"
I guess you didn't take a look at the current state of the project. Its full of programmer art, which is starting to get a little annoying. If an artist were to work on this, they would be able to see the effects on their work directly in the game.
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So thanks for the input Eric, I'll keep that in mind, but I still think the engine is in good enough condition for an artist to come in and start replacing some of my programmer art.
you were very helpful,
--Grant
06/17/2003 (2:53 pm)
Thanks for the input Eric.my finals are end of June, this week, and I have been trying to get an artist so we can start work by this saturday (when im officially done).
Thanks for the 'list' of potential things I would have to add in a help wanted post. On the post I made at sourceforge I put "Worms Style" sprites and textures.
------------------------------------------------------------------
counter-flames: ; )
quote:
"it seems amaturish to just say "I want an artist" without giving more info on what the job involves"
I can see why you would say this, But the truth is i didn't just say "I want an artist". I did give some specific information about what I wanted, but yes, I think I may have been a bit sketchy on details.
quote:
"do the art now, several months before we will have the engine ready, dont worry, we wont get bored with this project and quit"
I guess you didn't take a look at the current state of the project. Its full of programmer art, which is starting to get a little annoying. If an artist were to work on this, they would be able to see the effects on their work directly in the game.
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So thanks for the input Eric, I'll keep that in mind, but I still think the engine is in good enough condition for an artist to come in and start replacing some of my programmer art.
you were very helpful,
--Grant
#7
06/18/2003 (11:31 pm)
@ Eric; Use some paragraphs!
#8
I'll admit that I didnt read over everything you wrote, and what I did read I did rather hastily, but so would a potential artist, as Spencer said, an artist probably needs to see something cool before they will read about it. When I went to your site and saw your screenshots I was rather dissapointed (although I could have been looking at the wrong ones) but it didnt seem like much was done (I didnt see anything that resembled a level).
I also didnt realise that your engine was nearly completed, my mistake, but as a potential artist, my mistake could cost you your artist. I suggest you make it very clear in your post that the engine is pretty much done and ready for art. If you have the game ready you might want to try making a dev shot here with your programmer art, and maybe include a level to download, and mention in the dev shot that you could use an artist (you could also try flipcodes IOTD)... just a thought
@Brendan, ya I know I get lazy with the paragraphs... but I'm working on it
06/19/2003 (12:29 am)
Grant, first off, no need to counter flame, I never flamed you in the first place, my post was not meant to insult you, but to offer a potential artists point of view and hopefully give you insight that will help you atract one.I'll admit that I didnt read over everything you wrote, and what I did read I did rather hastily, but so would a potential artist, as Spencer said, an artist probably needs to see something cool before they will read about it. When I went to your site and saw your screenshots I was rather dissapointed (although I could have been looking at the wrong ones) but it didnt seem like much was done (I didnt see anything that resembled a level).
I also didnt realise that your engine was nearly completed, my mistake, but as a potential artist, my mistake could cost you your artist. I suggest you make it very clear in your post that the engine is pretty much done and ready for art. If you have the game ready you might want to try making a dev shot here with your programmer art, and maybe include a level to download, and mention in the dev shot that you could use an artist (you could also try flipcodes IOTD)... just a thought
@Brendan, ya I know I get lazy with the paragraphs... but I'm working on it
Torque Owner Mz
As I coder myself I don't know many art forums, but you could try www.cgtalk.com and www.polycount.com