Communities & IoM - GG::IoM(Blog6);
by Christian S · 10/01/2007 (3:49 pm) · 2 comments
Hello there folks!
So much is going on right now, project wise and in the real world for as good as all in our team -yet we are still hard at work and focused on the task!
Outward thoughts!
Yes, we are still in deep waters working on our game project. As we have learned there is as hard work managing an indie team working on a MMORPG as in the coding, modeling, texturing, etc. But, as we have had a constant process of rethinking what it is 'we' do, we have reached a conclusion.
We think of the core team, helpers and the rest of the world as a turning wheel with the core team at center and loosely connected fans at the rim of the wheels. If you think over this figure for a second 2 things comes to mind -Interest (Weight) and placement (time).
The core team with the original idea have a huge interest and thus weigh a ton, and as they also pour the most time into the project they sit heavily in the center where the turning of things add only the slightest of outer pulling.
At the rim of our project are those, that occasionally visit our site and gives a rare comment in the forum, or send a suggestion on Msn or the like. These people float between the wheels of all there is out there and as such are very hard to attract to a project.
In between these two is a layer of persons that if caught will dive into the project and seek more information. If proper information is delivered they will become more interested, and could even throw their precious time and knowledge into the project. For this to happen though, two things need to be present in the information at hand.
First it must be very clear what the project is all about. The world setting and the game mechanics must be clear and well defined. And the person must also get a feeling that if they dived in, their time and work would matter, and that what they could bring would shine through in the final project outcome.
With this in mind we have started to redo the website, and set up a strategy for the communication channels -as to deliver what we think could attract more people to the project instead of wasting time on border fluff.
Inward thoughts!
Even though we know there is slight chance for Indie teams to complete a MMORPG, we have no plans to scale down on the project bounds. Instead the core team has opted to throw in more focus on what we do regarding IoM. Thus is Peter now focusing entirely on racial/animal/beast modeling/animation and I'm focusing completely on Torque-script/C++ and have as I said earlier even begun a 2.5 year coding education. We have lately focused more on direct contact with the affiliates and volunteers and it have been a good process giving a lot of feedback and innovative spinoff, but also some turmoil as to the organization of things and content of information streams and development -but all in all, a very good development.
Documentation:
To document our project we have chosen to develop the following set of separate documents!
Business Plan
Describe the business model, development budget/environment, milestone list, and alternatives
Design Document
Describe the world setting, areas, aspects, and mechanisms we plan to implement in the game
Technical Document
Describe the structure of and communication between problem domains, object classes and define how interaction and behavior occur.
Technical Appendixes
Describe in detail how each game mechanism and its subtypes interact and behave.
Game Manual
Describe installation, setup and usage of the application in detail.
Trailer Manuscript
Describe the game world, races, architecture, animals, engines, etc. spiced with a cool storyline.
Project Management
To manage our project we have chosen to use SVN and a software tool named ToDoList!
Team Communication
To handle communication between the core and affiliates/volunteers we now as good as daily chat on Msn, or send mails or use SMS. And bi-weekly we send developer news out to the close circle.
Dream Games Contest!
Well it will be interesting to see where we end this time as we have no clue whatsoever as to where we should have improved compared to the other contestants. So instead we tried to improve in all areas as well as moving along. Website, concept art, blog content, participant thoughts, technology development and documentation being some of the areas we focused on. And innovative technology combined with well planned GUI visibility and usability as deliverer of a stunning world and brilliant content is still our main concern.
And with access to a wealth of technology in the Dream Game community and some really good and kind fellow developers, that have no problems sharing knowledge, even though we are in fact rivals, clearly show that most know that 'tech ripping' without an innovative touch is pointless, as the advantage of the misplaced tech elements will result in a less innovative product -and tail-biting, well let the Midgaard Wyrm do that while we innovate ;)
Sadly our musicians lost inspiration and dropped as they could not find the right sound for our preferred instrument range and their visions:
Loosing Dennis is a hard blow as some of the tunes he brewed up had such a good feel, but sadly not the right twist of instrumental sounding for this carved wood and rusty blades theme. So a door is open for anyone feeling interested in making sounds.
Now, despite some really interesting contests out there and good talks with some industry majors we still are around here doing our weekly spam, and try to give our best shot at GG each month. Because this contest really is giving us a god reason for doing a lot of stuff that improve our skill set, and (I can for sure say, aids me a lot in staying focused in class). But besides paying our dues here and there, we have this time 'only' managed to get links to us at 2 more sites out there -Cory & Adams!
These guys bring so much quality to our concept art that it's hurting the eyes, well maybe not but its sure stunning work as you can see below, and at our website.
(We do though feel that it's kind of a thin 'cuppa' this time, so we consider posting quite a lot in our DG blog in the coming weeks.)
So much is going on right now, project wise and in the real world for as good as all in our team -yet we are still hard at work and focused on the task!
Outward thoughts!
Yes, we are still in deep waters working on our game project. As we have learned there is as hard work managing an indie team working on a MMORPG as in the coding, modeling, texturing, etc. But, as we have had a constant process of rethinking what it is 'we' do, we have reached a conclusion.
We think of the core team, helpers and the rest of the world as a turning wheel with the core team at center and loosely connected fans at the rim of the wheels. If you think over this figure for a second 2 things comes to mind -Interest (Weight) and placement (time).
The core team with the original idea have a huge interest and thus weigh a ton, and as they also pour the most time into the project they sit heavily in the center where the turning of things add only the slightest of outer pulling.
At the rim of our project are those, that occasionally visit our site and gives a rare comment in the forum, or send a suggestion on Msn or the like. These people float between the wheels of all there is out there and as such are very hard to attract to a project.
In between these two is a layer of persons that if caught will dive into the project and seek more information. If proper information is delivered they will become more interested, and could even throw their precious time and knowledge into the project. For this to happen though, two things need to be present in the information at hand.
First it must be very clear what the project is all about. The world setting and the game mechanics must be clear and well defined. And the person must also get a feeling that if they dived in, their time and work would matter, and that what they could bring would shine through in the final project outcome.
With this in mind we have started to redo the website, and set up a strategy for the communication channels -as to deliver what we think could attract more people to the project instead of wasting time on border fluff.
Inward thoughts!
Even though we know there is slight chance for Indie teams to complete a MMORPG, we have no plans to scale down on the project bounds. Instead the core team has opted to throw in more focus on what we do regarding IoM. Thus is Peter now focusing entirely on racial/animal/beast modeling/animation and I'm focusing completely on Torque-script/C++ and have as I said earlier even begun a 2.5 year coding education. We have lately focused more on direct contact with the affiliates and volunteers and it have been a good process giving a lot of feedback and innovative spinoff, but also some turmoil as to the organization of things and content of information streams and development -but all in all, a very good development.
Documentation:
To document our project we have chosen to develop the following set of separate documents!
Business Plan
Describe the business model, development budget/environment, milestone list, and alternatives
Design Document
Describe the world setting, areas, aspects, and mechanisms we plan to implement in the game
Technical Document
Describe the structure of and communication between problem domains, object classes and define how interaction and behavior occur.
Technical Appendixes
Describe in detail how each game mechanism and its subtypes interact and behave.
Game Manual
Describe installation, setup and usage of the application in detail.
Trailer Manuscript
Describe the game world, races, architecture, animals, engines, etc. spiced with a cool storyline.
Project Management
To manage our project we have chosen to use SVN and a software tool named ToDoList!
Team Communication
To handle communication between the core and affiliates/volunteers we now as good as daily chat on Msn, or send mails or use SMS. And bi-weekly we send developer news out to the close circle.
Dream Games Contest!
Well it will be interesting to see where we end this time as we have no clue whatsoever as to where we should have improved compared to the other contestants. So instead we tried to improve in all areas as well as moving along. Website, concept art, blog content, participant thoughts, technology development and documentation being some of the areas we focused on. And innovative technology combined with well planned GUI visibility and usability as deliverer of a stunning world and brilliant content is still our main concern.
And with access to a wealth of technology in the Dream Game community and some really good and kind fellow developers, that have no problems sharing knowledge, even though we are in fact rivals, clearly show that most know that 'tech ripping' without an innovative touch is pointless, as the advantage of the misplaced tech elements will result in a less innovative product -and tail-biting, well let the Midgaard Wyrm do that while we innovate ;)
Sadly our musicians lost inspiration and dropped as they could not find the right sound for our preferred instrument range and their visions:
Loosing Dennis is a hard blow as some of the tunes he brewed up had such a good feel, but sadly not the right twist of instrumental sounding for this carved wood and rusty blades theme. So a door is open for anyone feeling interested in making sounds.
Now, despite some really interesting contests out there and good talks with some industry majors we still are around here doing our weekly spam, and try to give our best shot at GG each month. Because this contest really is giving us a god reason for doing a lot of stuff that improve our skill set, and (I can for sure say, aids me a lot in staying focused in class). But besides paying our dues here and there, we have this time 'only' managed to get links to us at 2 more sites out there -Cory & Adams!
These guys bring so much quality to our concept art that it's hurting the eyes, well maybe not but its sure stunning work as you can see below, and at our website.
(We do though feel that it's kind of a thin 'cuppa' this time, so we consider posting quite a lot in our DG blog in the coming weeks.)
Torque 3D Owner Novack
CyberianSoftware