On 6/25/05, Zak B. Elep <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [Heh, I could be slightly drunk writing this one, so I ask for your > pardon in advance ;p but don't worry, no expletives (save one, I think) > here:] > > > - *Someone to make them*. I know there's a *lot* of hackers out in the > world who are willing to spend some idle time after (and during) > office hours working on FOSS projects just for kicks, but I also > observe that only a few among these well-esteemed folks are busting > their guts out for working on a free software game or two. Why? > Perhaps it's because we need... > > - *Someone to pay these game devs to make these games*. (Professional) > game designers are perhaps (again, in my opinion, and that of Computer > Gaming World in one of their issues ;) of the most overrated positions > in the game development industry, and for FOSS developers, that's > doubly emphasized. One could say that Larry Wall's Perl virtues would > find a perfect home among these hackers... >
I'd like to interject that games aren't just about the code. The problem is that a pure F/OSS development model breaks down a bit when it comes to developing games. The value of the game does not come from the code-- yeah, you could open source the engine and what not-- but rather it comes from the *game assets*: character and game design, sprites, the back story, etc. Your average hacker does not have the skills to do commercial-quality game assets, or even slightly less than that, and that is why game companies have people who specialize on these things. And this means that a game development house will not want to "open-source" these assets. Think of it in terms of the nominal hierarchy of ennterprise apps development: the assets are the proprietary software components on top of the open source infrastructure. > - *Someone to market and promote them*. Especially if said FOSS game > developers, being the 1337 few they are, are well busy attending to > their Frankensteins (or work ;), what FOSS games need are publicists. > But I don't necessarily say they need *professional* publicists; > rather, I'm hinting at the more adept Blogging Republic that is the > true guerilla (or gorilla) news channel of the modern, internet-savvy > world. Blog drives, flash mobs, memes: bloggers could practically > turn the tides over this ``Hello, Garci'' thing, but that's another > story... > > - *Someone to play them*. Yeah right, that sentence seems so obvious. > But the thing is, reviewers and game devs prattle and prattle on and > on about how cool this FOSS game X is, but when average Juan gets to > play the Windows port on his bootleg Windows machine he is greeted > with a general protection fault, whatever from Adam that is. Which > leads us to... > > - *Someone to beat the fscking crap out of FOSS game devs when something > goes wrong*. Sure, you could have the game working smoothly (no BSODs or GPFs on Windows machines, or the process doesn't die with SIGSEGV on a *nix; no lag; etc.), but will the game *look good*? Does the game have a coherent back story? Are the 3D models correctly texturized? Do the textures make sense? And, most important to any financial backers and investors, how will this game return my investment? Here are a few scenarios: * Possibly, you could write a subscription-based MMORPG on completely F/OSS components (including game assets), but then-- won't the fact that everything is F/OSS mean that the company can't sell subscriptions because rogue users can and will set up an alternative server that removes such subscription model? * You could have a standalone game from all F/OSS components (including game assets), but how will you gain a profit? A services-based model doesn't work for games built this way (since the maps are already F/OSS, why should I pay for it?). This is why full-on F/OSS games aren't yet thriving in the commercial space IMHO: there isn't yet a viable model that is completely F/OSS. The alternatives are all dependent on keeping certain game assets completely proprietary. NB: The above should not be construed as my being against completely F/OSS games. I am simply being a devil's advocate, and bringing the issues out in the open. -- JM Ibanez -- A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. -- Bertrand Russell ----- http://www.livejournal.com/~jmibanez/ http://www.mycgiserver.com/~butiki/ _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
