Have you ever wanted to participate in making a freeware?

[Maz]

Have you ever wanted to be part of a group making freeware game(s)? I have sometimes wanted to try it, but never found time to start own project. Nor do I have skills to pull it together. And considering my artistic skills, the best I could do would probs be a text based adventure

Well, I have lately also thought of participating in making freeware game under someone elses guidance. I mean by participating into some project going on... I just never have managed to take needed actions But I think it would be nice to get my name mentioned in game's finishing screen =]

So, Have you ever wished to participate in making freeware game(s)? Ever wanted to get your moment of glory? Spot in the sun? Name shining in the stars?

If answer is yes, then what appeals to you? Why would you like to participate?

And do you see yourself as:

Making grapics?
Making musics?
coding?
translating?

Something else?

Again, if you have been interested, what has prevented you from taking actions? Why haven't you tried it? Or have you?

If you have participated in some project, what kind of experiences have you had? The best and worst sides of that? Any other comments?

[Chroelle]

Well I for one have always been somewhat of a writer, and I love languages, so I would participate with the written word. Translations and story line.
I could propably also mix up some sounds, but not good enough to make music.

The only problem for me with actually doing something about it, is that when I see a place where they need a translation done, then:
a: They don't need a Danish translation.
b: They already got one.
c: The developer quit work on this project years ago, or the topic is waaaayyy out-dated.

I would certainly like to participate though. If you see a game that needs a Danish translation then please let me know!

[moshboy]

Coding games was always a dream of mine as a kid. While I know the basics of C++ and PHP it is hardly enough to start work on any projects and it is hard to find the time to learn anything further with all the other duties I have to perform on my own website.

The guy who did all the PHP code on Planet Freeplay now works for a videogame development company and is currently working on PS2 games. He developed a couple of small flash games but didn't have a desire to go any further. Pity.

[Dizi]

My boyfriend codes freeware games and I sometimes do graphics for him, problem is that he has quite a bad attention span and he doesn't finish them off that often. He has occassionally entered contests and cam within the top 10, which is really good when he decides the day before the end date that he will enter and knocks up a game in maybe 4/5 hours. His last PC attenpt was hovver bovver. I keep wanting him to redo it as I loved this game but his version has a few bugs in it after he rushed it for one of these contests


EDIT: I never answered the why part, I do it because I like making graphics for my boyfriends games...but only when he is almost finished, otherwise I have wasted my time on a game he won't complete. I don't think I would make any for anyone other than my boyfriend though.

[SFault]

If answer is yes, then what appeals to you? Why would you like to participate?

Answer is yes and the reason is that I like games and I like building things. Usually I find it a lot nicer to design my own levels or campaings than playing them or the real ones.

I think I would be at my best in general design or level design, but I'm capable to do graphics, music, code or whatever. Thing is, that I'm not too good at any of those, but I manage.

Again, if you have been interested, what has prevented you from taking actions? Why haven't you tried it? Or have you?

Lack of time, lack of skills. I have made some exercise games in school and also I have begun to make some small games, but never finished them, except a memory-game I made last summer with Flash. Usually I come up with some harder problem and quit rather soon if I don't get a solution. Doing things alone for myself doesn't motivate as much as doing it with a partner or to some certain occasion.

If someone here is interested to make a game I could be interested too.

[Scythe]

I can't do any programming at all, so I've worked with existing engines. I've done my own RPGs in those for all my life, it seems. Programming them myself on the C64, back when I could do simple text based stuff, later making them on Unlimited Adventures engine, RPGMaker 2000, Neverwinter Nights (but prefer RPGMaker - it makes finished games with no need for an original - and is Japanese console style). But I always get stuck on something, typically some code I can't figure out to do what I want, and lose interest shortly thereafter. I finished some on the C64, but man, those are LONG lost...

What I did, then, was write instead, so I could get my moments of glory. Got them, been there, done that, still haven't given up completely on making that RPG some day. I have one in the works, but it's vanilla RPGMaker 2000, and if I was actually doing it with somebody else, who, unlike me, knew what they were doing, it could go beyond vanilla graphics/music/etc. Only then I would have to actually commit myself to finishing it. That's scary, you know. Plus, you feel kinda out of your league when working with people who can actually do stuff, and aren't just hacking their way through the engine, forcing it to conform to what you want. Also, you need to know you can rely on your accomplices, so you don't sit around with something half finished and can't get the remainder of the work done in the same style it started out. I have had bad experiences working with other people online in other projects - they just haven't come through when I needed it - and that makes projects die. Ok, usually I finish them myself, but in a case where I can't do everything myself, it would be impossible.

Since I'm a writer first and foremost, I have a plot pretty much laid out, but I'm bad at restricting myself to just doing the relevant plot parts first and add all the fluffing later. Instead, I go out on some sidebranch, lose myself there for a couple of months, then can't find my way back to what I was originally doing and put it away again. I usually come back to it later, but obviously time has passed, and interest waned, especially if I'm dissatisfied with that damn sidebranch that started the whole mess in the first place.

It took me about two years, working on and off, to finish writing my last published (online) "short" story, and before that about three years writing a nation supplement for a pen and paper RPG (those were linked, by the way; it was a short story set in that RPG nation). I'm not sure I can put another couple of years into that damn freeware RPG I've been meaning to make.

After buying all my consoles, I need some time catching up on years of games I missed for, uhm, inspiration. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Still, it would be -sweet- to have a graphic designer for that day I actually do commit myself, fantastic with a composer, and amazing with somebody who could figure out the finer points of RPGMaker coding (yeah, right). Was looking at RPGMaker XP the other day, wondering if I could figure that out better, but getting a bit daunted by starting over on learning the scripting for another engine.

[eMTe]

Yup, translations and storyline here, too.

Maybe we should write a book then.

Actually, I started making a game a couple of years ago (with AGS), but when I realized how much effort it needs and how strong is pain when you must fight with program instead of using programs abilities for your advantage I abandoned the project. Had great story though that would easily beat all these monkeyislands, beneathasteelskies, gabrielknights, quests and "freeware gems" littering various gaming websites.

More seriously, I had two HUGE ideas in the past, one will be never realised even if I would find the people for it (that's general idea not limited to one genre - to make game with technical standards from early 90ties, but occupying at least one full cd - f.e. Chaos Engine with 1000 levels ).

Second one must remain mystery as it would probably revolutionize gaming industry, so I think I'll just wait for worse times in my life . Has sth to do with fractals theory and strategy genre.

@Chrolle
Mr. Yahtzee seeks translators of 5 Days A Stranger, at least was a couple of months ago

[Chroelle]

Well who says I am not writing a book? Actually several

Sounds good with Mr. Yathzee. Could you throw me a link to where he asks?

[eMTe]

It was here:

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/5days/

Now there's only info on "special edition" with translation files. So I guess you should contact Yahtzee personally.

[Chroelle]

hm....Now whjere did I put that emailadress.... I will see if I can find it, and write him. Are you up for a Polish translation... maybe if we offer those two then we can host those on our site?

EDIT: Found it and wrote him.

[eMTe]

I would want, but I'm awaiting reply to Apprentice translation offer. I already feel even one game is too much.

[Chroelle]

Please tell them over at the apprentice (I dont think greg comes here to visit that often ) that I am very much up for a translation in Danish too if they want one.

For those interested in helping Mr. Yahtzee here is the file that needs to be translated:
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/5days/translate.txt

It looks like a lot, but honestly it will be done before you know it. It is mostly short oneline sentences. You got your version coming to you translated before you finish reading the line.

[eMTe]

Check this topic:

http://herculeaneffort.com/yabb/index.php?topic=2.0

Bad news for me , maybe good news for you.

[Pager]

I've worked as a coder for a few games in C++ with a bunch of guys I used to know. At one point I was working on an RPG battle engine written in C++ which was going to be completed in DirectX but lost interest when I couldn't get help for it. Who knows...someday I might start it up again...and judging by the amount of people that have ideas about writing, I might be able to incorporate a storyline into it as well...

Let me know if anyone's interested...and give me a few months to try and figure out where my code is...and what exactly it does...

[Dot O'Rock]

I could probably do music for games, just as long as MP3 or MOD/IT/MID would be supported

[Chroelle]

It seems to me we are getting close to having a team...Or is that just me? So far we have:

RPG - storyline
RPG - engine
General design and level design
Music
Storyline people
Translators
Enthusiasm (Which I have heard is half the project)

I am not saying that we should start now as it seems that quite a few of us are working hard on getting this up and running, but a good idea might be to work on this later when site is up and running, and more people will be flowing in.

[Pager]

Yeah, I'd definitely be in maybe later on. I've just started looking into rebuilding my engine, the last one was pretty messed up, now that I look at it...

We're also lacking someone that can do character modelling...I think I could do stick figures...

Btw, speaking of getting the site up and running...does anyone know where I can get a good resource for learning PHP? PM me.

[Scythe]

I'm pretty sure I'll be going forward with my own little pet RPGMaker project, tentatively called Legacy of Blades. I just need to play Xenosaga 3 a bit more.

[Pager]

Well, Scythe, let me know if you need any help.

[Scythe]

Did you check the development thread?

http://curlysworldoffreeware.com/viewtopic.php?t=972