CPCWiki forum

Hello all

I feel most of us have the problem of not having enough time for the CPC creativity we'd like to have. So as a result, we're not doing anything creative for the CPC.

So this gave me an idea. How about this:

   
• A graphics artist decides a MODE and palette and a sprite size. Maybe also a theme. Possibly other guidelines too.
• All graphics artists in the community can then create and submit all the sprites they want. From 1 sprite to whatever number.
• A musician decides which tool to use, what hz, number of channels and other attributes etc.
• All musicians in the community can then create and submit all the sound effects and music tracks they want. From 1 to whatever number.
• All coders in the community can take and use all of these assets for whatever game they want. They can also work together if they want.

This way, a lot of people get to contribute to a project, without spending too much time on it. And maybe it'll even result in even more productivity, who knows.

No doubt some people will complain that many games will use the same assets. And some will agree with me that it's no big deal. To find out I turned this into a poll.

To start a project, someone should simply create a new thread: "Community game-project", in which people can submit assets. It can start without anyone having signed up for anything.

Discuss

Love the idea and I'd help it any way I can. Though I *think* that most devs are not accustomed and/or willing to go that way... Feel free to prove me wrong tho!

Quote from: Gryzor on 15:52, 06 November 19
Love the idea and I'd help it any way I can. Though I *think* that most devs are not accustomed and/or willing to go that way... Feel free to prove me wrong tho!

I'm absolutely certain that you're right about "high end" devs not having an interest in this. But I'm also sure there are many not-so-high-end devs who would find this helpful and a good thing.

(If I hadn't had OpenGameArt.org, I wouldn't have made "The UFO Game! (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/other-retro/new-blu-play-game-'the-ufo-game!'-released!/)". I simply wouldn't have had any graphics or sound effects. Nor as many awesome audio tracks).

That's a great idea! the main showstopper for me doing amstrad stuff is my complete lack of pixel art skills, especially at a scale that'd fit the CPC. Let's not even talk about my music skills :D

There has been many people showing sprite sheets over the years, and not many people to actually code the game for it (one example is all that Carnivac produced, despite its quality). I believe that one cannot code for a project he didn't decide to create from scratch, because it requires too much time, and this would only work for projects you are passionate about.
However, it seems to work for conversions. For example, there might be a New Zealand Story remake on CPC Plus, started by a graphist alone, because it is a known license and can ring a bell to many coders.

Quote from: Targhan on 23:15, 06 November 19
There are been many people showing sprite sheets over the years, and not many people to actually code the game for it

Showing off your graphics skills on the forum isn't the same as saying "Here people! Use this if you want". Unless he wrote that in the thread of course.

But this idea is also still different. The idea is that the developer use graphics from many different artists - picking the sprites he wants from a bigger bunch. Thus allowing him to somewhat choose the style of the game.
And this is where I know some people will object, because "mixing different styles is a mess". But I don't think it'll be a mess. Especially not when we're talking a limited palette like the 16-color MODE 0.
Well sure, you can make it messy if you absolutely want to - but it's up to the dev to pick the sprites he feels goes well together - not the graphics artist.

This is a good idea. Maybe the style of the graphics could be suggested via a few sample tiles in the initial post.


I think it's a good idea for a coder to also put down some limitations on the graphics - number of tiles, palette restrictions, sizes and so on.


And maybe targeting a few game ideas up front would help. No use getting a lovely set of Stardew Valley Styled Farming Graphics if you're planning on writing a shooter!

They're great suggestions, I just think there are other ways of contributing to coding which may cut down on some of the things which time to do. I was able to get authors permission from last years #CPCRetroDev Crocker entry to use the graphics for Crocked.
There maybe other ways of contributing to a low end project, existing code for example could be rewritten if a programme like a Type-In had some issues which could be improved though fault finding or readability, readability usually leads to the fault finding, but that might take time, so I print out the thing with comments.

But I'm probably missing your points, sorry.

Sounds like a fun idea. I think building all the game assets collaboratively would be much easier than the actual game itself.
That said there is no reason that it would have to be a single game that must implement everything.
Instead multiple ideas could be taken to produce multiple games.

It does remind me that I have seen game competitions where they provide all the assets and a bunch of people create different games for them.
I don't know what the best option here is, I think it depends on the interest and how people would collaborate.

Quote from: awergh on 11:39, 08 November 19
Sounds like a fun idea. I think building all the game assets collaboratively would be much easier than the actual game itself.

That's exactly my thought too. And since it's easier, it should also result in more contributions.

Quote from: awergh on 11:39, 08 November 19That said there is no reason that it would have to be a single game that must implement everything.
Instead multiple ideas could be taken to produce multiple games.

Also agreed. It could become a pool of assets that fits a certain palette and MODE etc, from where gamedev could pick what they wanted.

Quote from: awergh on 11:39, 08 November 19It does remind me that I have seen game competitions where they provide all the assets and a bunch of people create different games for them.

That could probably also be fun, but it sounds like a different project to me.

It's been 2 months.
Bumping this thread to see if we can get a few more votes.
And maybe get someone started on a project.  :)

We basically need a graphics artist to take point.
Pick a MODE and a palette and a sprite size. Then we're off.
Anyone?

Boiled down: The very hardest part is always coding. And to divide code in parts is also hard. Because therefore a clear "way to go" needs to be made at the very beginning. I wouldn't mind to help / participate in coding.