DescentBB

Hey Tri,


What I've been trying to explain, is that I plan on finishing my studies and getting a job in the industry. That's the idea. This is simply a fun little hobby on the side. Most of the stuff that will be on this website is simply fun stuff I build on my own or maybe with one or two others I'm teaching. Nothing big and all in good fun.


I know I have an extremely long road to travel before I'm ready. I'm only on Algebra 2 at the time but I will start Advanced math and Physics this summer

Eveyone needs to start someewhere .... if perchance to dream ....


I glad Edison dind't consult this board. and yes, I read the posts .. longwinded as they may be. It's also been the propensity of this now samll gathering of folks to be EXTREMELY negative.

You go messenger. It's not a super-long road, more cut throat than anything .. as we have seen with Doom3. :\

Firstly I gotta agree with Tricord here. I'm not trying to put you down, but if you want to do something you have to focus on it and learn it WELL. You're spreading yourself too thin and its going to lead to trouble.

Also, I just get a bad vibe from your posts talking about making a game company and this and that - you're looking way too far ahead without any tangible product. The best thing is to focus your efforts on learning something well and just ist your ass down, put in the time, and make SOMETHING. This babble about a company name is pointless - it is the LAST thing you need to be worrying about.

MAKE SOMETHING. Make it well. Show it around and see if you can get some people that specialize in other areas to work with you on a REALISTICALLY sized project. The only way you're going to get a team together is if you have something to show that you've done yourself and kicks ass, be it some great 3d models or whatever.

Again I am not trying to put you down but you need to take things one step at a time and you are jumping the gun here.

The whole "I'm making a ship so I will consult the physics guy, and then consult that guy, and then..." routine is not how it works in the industry. For the game companies I've visited, everything is separated. There isn't a person who "designs ships" and is paid $40K a year to do it. There is first the game designer who determines the ships attributes and features. The concept artist who designs the look of the ship based on those sketches. This gets passed to the modeller, who shapes that image into 3D. That resulting polymodel is handed off to the texture artist who skins it. And the programmers are, of course, informed of all of this and need to have the code ready to accept it. Of course, the individual sections talk to one another and don't operate in isolation, but the general idea is that the workers are specialists. Asrale has it right, the liberal artsy "jack-of-all-trades" is not really a desired attribute. It is good to be a well-rounded person who can cull knowledge from various disciplines, but it is more useful for a person who wants to get his foot in the door to be very good at one or two areas of game design, rather than possessing rudimentary knowledge of them all.

For me, that skill is level design. Sure, I know HTML and web design, Paint Shop Pro, map scripting, C/C#, and other things as well. But level design is my primary skill and I don't kid myself into thinking I "know" other things just because I read some tutorial on them. Indeed, a modern FPS game engine is a tremendously difficult application to write that requires the efforts of many people. I doubt even Carmack, as phenomenal a coder as he is, could do it single-handedly. When Unreal Tournament fans want to design a mod, they look for help and form teams. Games today are too complex for one to take it upon themselves to write one, much less awaken one morning and decide "Hey, I'm going to write a game!"

You find that historically, not just in this community but in the world beyond, that the people who make the biggest difference are among the quietest. They think about the product first, not the corporate identity and the stock options. Concentrate on your product, the one or two things you are good at, and don't fuss over the other details.

The problem is that you want to be the jack-of-all-trades who thinks he knows and can carry out every detail. Case in point, you've deluded yourself into thinking you know level design, but you haven't released a single level. Get stuff out there for public consumption, get their feedback, and incorporate it into your work. That is the only way to improve oneself - not all of this pointless self-serving drivel about a game company in the future. Rather than pontificating about far-off projects and posting three-page replies to criticism in your defense, accept it and continue onward. Sometimes egos are bruised. Sometimes the truth hurts. But there is a lesson to be learned only if you are willing stand down and listen.

And if game design is your passion, then get into the industry. The likelihood of you or anyone else making it on their own in this day and age is minimal. And the industry is tough, so you had better get started.

Naturally, I don't expect you to listen or take this post seriously because you never do. The argument will run in circles as it always does with you. And I'll walk away wondering why I waste my time putting together such a thoughtful post. And I know that if you visited any respectable gaming company that you'd find what I say is true. If you'd rather ignore these details and live in a fantasy world, by all means be my guest. It's your loss, not mine.

Guys,


I will lower myself here and now and state that no, I do not KNOW how to perform most of these tasks at a professional level. And as I have probably stated several times here allready. This isn't a game company. You know what? It most likely never may be. All I'm looking for is a simple name so I have a place to put my work and people will stop complaining about popups and banners.
Now, your right, it probably won't work that way, but it also depends on what you are building. All I am saying, is that it does help at times to have a basic knowledge of everything and a heavy knowledge of your best skills.


My best skills, for instance, are in 3D models, textures, and animations at the moment. I can create very nice models with detailed textures that are bump mapped, have animations, and other cool special effects. My other skills are in documentation and web page design. Web page design is simply a side job focus for now. I might try to get good enough at that to do a bit of free lanceing if I can. I really enjoy the work, and who knows, maybe I won't be a game designer and maybe I'll just be a web page designer for all I know right now.


Just because I have hands on exprience with music doesn't mean I am a professional. Nor does it mean that I need to know it. I've mixed about 9 songs in a mixing program much like Cougar's Fruity Loops program. However, I don't consider myself a professional or even as good as Cougar is.


As far as programming goes, I'm mostly interested in being able to build my own utilities and program a few mods. If I like it well enough, (I love most things that involve programming), this might become my strong point. As far as level design goes, I'm not really big on it. However, my next project will involve learning it.


<FONT color="#FF0000"> You really need to read my statements. Even though they may be long, you need to read them in order to understand that it's not a game company I'm looking at. You will also note that I have for the most part agreed with your statements being that I am working on smaller goals at the time.</FONT>

Hey messenger-

You have ambition, and that is great. Dont ever loose sight of it, it helps in sucess. Just remember that everyone here is trying to bring up some good points here and there, depending on ones experiences. Just do what you want to do and if you are not getting helpfull info from those who you ask then mayby you should ask someone else. Like from what someone else stated a few posts above, stay focused and get established and you'll be fine. And keep learning that stuff and dont give up, but at the same time, be realistic about it. Keep that up and you'll go somewhere.