Re: reflections from a former developer
But again, I come back to my original points, because I think they play a huge role foundationally.
Developers in this community start a project, one that they insist on doing solo, then get overwhelmed, and instead of reaching out for help, they just give up. It's too hard...it will take too long to finish. Again, if we can't crank it out now, then it's not worth it. And, yes, I believe that if people worked together, instead of always trying to do everything like they're a fucking island, we'd have something great to show for it. Take, for example, Key's statement above. He said:
Battle zone reloaded was probably my last gasp at trying to make audio games in the near future, and it isn't even the fault of audio games really. I think it's just my inability to program sustainable and extensible games, or to juggle all the pieces of large projects. I often feel like I am trying to manage too much data at once...
So, if he was so overwhelmed, why was his inclination to give up, rather than to get a team of devs to help him? Seems like perhaps, if he had some support, some extra hands helping him, he wouldn't have felt so overwhelmed. I'm not picking on him, and I mean no offense. I use it merely as an illustrative point.
How many times have we seen a developer who insisted on coding games solo, inevitably burn out, say they just couldn't handle it, etc? The thing is, we've got many good programmers in this community. We've got people who are great with sound design and editing. We've got people who can come up with great ideas. But if we refuse to work together, then we will forever remain stagnant. I think we're too focused on the credit, rather than the end result. I can't help but feel like no one wants to work with anyone else because they would have to share the credit...but so what? How many times have we seen a dev abandon a project, one that has huge potential, and refuse to give it to another coder to continue? I see no point in that...if you're abandoning your project, and someone else can complete it, make it great, why not let them? I can't help but wonder if it's a, quote, but then I won't get the credit, end quote, mentality. We should be focused on the result...on finishing a project that will be enjoyed by everyone. And no one person should have to do it all. It would also shorten the amount of time to actually release something. What one person can do in 3 years, might be cut in half if they actually had people helping them. But again, for whatever reason, everyone in this community thinks they're an island unto themselves, and I just don't get it. If there's so much passion for gaming in this community, then why not come together and turn that passion into something epic? We've got the intelligence and the ability. I honestly think it is a question of mentality...and until the mentality changes, the state of audiogames and their development will not change.
JLove
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