[ home / board list / faq / random / create / bans / search / manage / irc ] [ ]

/agdg/ - Amateur Game Development General

AGDG - The Board

Catalog

8chan Bitcoin address: 1NpQaXqmCBji6gfX8UgaQEmEstvVY7U32C
The next generation of Infinity is here (discussion) (contribute)
Name
Email
Subject
Comment *
File
* = required field[▶ Show post options & limits]
Confused? See the FAQ.
Embed
(replaces files and can be used instead)
Oekaki
Show oekaki applet
(replaces files and can be used instead)
Options
dicesidesmodifier
Password (For file and post deletion.)

Allowed file types:jpg, jpeg, gif, png, webm, mp4, swf, pdf
Max filesize is 8 MB.
Max image dimensions are 10000 x 10000.
You may upload 5 per post.


Welcome to AGDG, have you ever made a game?
See also: /ideaguy/ | /vm/

File: 1435253071716.jpg (78.3 KB, 1200x674, 600:337, walder-frey.jpg)

d929cc No.18946

>be lonely in my game dev, decide to look for a UE4 team to join

>join a group

>they decide to make a stargate project. Something with a copyright. I should have just bailed out now, but I figured whatever, this won't get anywhere anyway, might as well stick it through, I kinda like stargate

>they recruit underage kids

>want me to add their parents on facebook

>no game design doc

>no idea what git is

Why is it impossible to work with other people?

eda1a5 No.18947

File: 1435254143417.png (67.55 KB, 1180x1084, 295:271, 1433344964684.png)

Other people are idiots is why, working in a team is a pain in the ass. Anything more than 3 people and it will go wrong somewhere.

I've worked on two small project games, first suffered from 2 shitty leads.

>one who did absolutely nothing but make out with her BF.

>other was a total perfectionist who didn't understand what team work is and ended up doing everything himself.

>outsourced character models were utter garbage.

Shame really, the team was actually full of good people who could actually do shit unlike the next one...

>literally a rag tag team who put in the bare minimum effort.

>artists who never showed up or did anything.

>mappers who had no clue how to use unity or how to even make a decent looking map.

>one coder we never saw or got work from after the first month.

Worse still that these were physical teams, not internet formed ones.

So atm I'm concepting with a coder friend for a game, but actual game dev with teams just seems horrible.


d929cc No.18954

>>18947

I really like the idea of having a git project, contributing, having different people work on different stuff, goals, deadlines and people to talk/learn with.

But there's just too many variables to match up to get this, it seems..


2c037e No.18960

A project only needs one thing to go from total shitfest to being succesful or at least manage to make something

A FUCKING GOOD LEADER

There must be a fucking guy that has really clear ideas and who makes sure everyone knows what to do, how to do it and when to do it. If the leaders hesitates or just leaves too much freedom to someone or anything like that, the project will fail with no survivors.

That's why one man projects or really small projects work better, because you being your own leader or having enough confidence with a small team can get you to something. But the moment things get a little bit bigger you have to make sure the leader is organized, has enough will to lead everything and also can make hard decisions, like scrapping or taking out parts of the project even if that means making someone angry in the procress.

Now the thing is most vidya developers are autistic as fuck so finding leaders who also can do some fucking work is really fucking hard.


f50506 No.18962

>>18946

>they decide to make a stargate project

Oh boy

>I should have just bailed out now

At least you knew, at least you learned

>>18947

>other was a total perfectionist

There are two kinds of perfectionists, good ones and bad ones. The bad ones think they are perfectionists, thinking their work is the best while ignoring criticism and thinking they are the best in everything even though its shit. The good ones will try to make a perfect game, they will accept criticism, but they will also criticize you and if you don't get the job done they will, because they prioritize the game over you. Those people are often really good in what they do, because they take more time learning and honing skills than normal people, so they will do everything in their might unless you are on the same level or better than them.

>>18960

This. You always need someone who says what has to be done and kicks your ass if you don't. And if there is no one doing it, than you have to be the one.

Also always find people who have finished at least one job, if you see that they are shit, or simply idea guys, keep them away.

Best way to find a team is to go to a place where a lot of game devs hang out, get to know some and evaluate them and their skills over time to find out if they are made for the job or not.

Working alone is not always bad though.


64a997 No.18970

>>18962

>Working alone is not always bad though.

I mean, it's cool getting all the credit, but it sucks being the only person who can solve problems or get shit done.


f50506 No.18973

>>18970

It depends on what you feel better with and the size of the project. I am pretty much the lone wolf type, but i would go with a team for big projects nonetheless.

If you can deal with the risks and feel like you need more people, then go with a team. Just make sure you find capable people and make sure your goals and skills are similar.


bc8238 No.19920

>>18946

How exactly do you just "find" a team to join? You make it sound easy.


8f9ffe No.19923

>>19920

There are tons of sites where teams look for people to work for them and where artists/programmers offer their work as well. Just look it up.


8062d5 No.19938

>>18960

This.

I was on a /g/ project called 4plebbit(decentrialized imageboard with boards created by users) and nobody knew what to do. We literally had like 3 scripts that did the same fucking thing. I mean all they did was print "ayy lmao" over and over but using P2P.

It was pretty awful, we had a couple nice websites though.


7089af No.19939

>>18947

>Shame really, the team was actually full of good people who could actually do shit unlike the next one...

>>literally a rag tag team who put in the bare minimum effort.

>>artists who never showed up or did anything.

>>mappers who had no clue how to use unity or how to even make a decent looking map.

>>one coder we never saw or got work from after the first month.

There's a gamedev team at my university that's like that. They have one really good coder who tried to get me to join, but even he's part of the problem. He was telling me how great it is that he only had to contribute an hour a month to be part of the team, but he sticks around because their meetings are mostly playing other games. In the whole year, they managed to make a game that would take one decently talented person a month, even with classes at the same time.

I wish I could just find an artist/game design friend who could team up with me, but the most I can get is idea guys who don't even want to try to make their ideas into anything, or other coders who don't know anything at all about art or design.


a8cd49 No.19948

>>19939

As shitty a pace as that is, at least they're producing something. I'm genuinely asking; are you able to get anything done? Otherwise they're still outproducing you.

Something is better than nothing right? You might want to take another shot at the group, who knows who else might be there, you may even find someone you're looking for who is similarly looking to pick up the pace.


7089af No.19953

>>19948

I've made more games in my life than they have, just they were from years ago when I hadn't committed myself to some giant projects for work/school to do something with my skills. So, yeah, they're definitely outperforming me in game-making over the past year.

>You might want to take another shot at the group, who knows who else might be there, you may even find someone you're looking for who is similarly looking to pick up the pace.

That's actually not bad advice, but probably not for the reason you thought. IIRC, most of the members graduated, and I still have a year. Maybe I can jump in and get the remaining people on task. The real issue was a lack of leadership willing to force people to get things done, so maybe I can fill that niche.


bc8238 No.19954

>>19923

Obviously I have tried looking it up, but I have yet to find any decent place for that. Give me some examples of places to look.


a8cd49 No.19958

>>19953

That'd be pretty cool. Leadership skills and experience, as this much of this thread points out, can be just as invaluable as anything else. I wish you luck.


9c38ff No.19959

>>18946

>>18954

This whole deal with git has me thinking.

The first thing I was taught on my first CS project by my mentor was source control.

He did not even let me touch anything else until I had that set up.

Maybe source control is a good indicator on weather or not someone is experienced enough to work with.


9c38ff No.19960

>>19939

>gamedev team at my university

Oh god man.

I have a game dev club at my university.

They were all nice people, but at the end of the year they put out what they had down and it was just a character with rudimentary physics, a background, and platforms.

The leader said something like: "This takes real hard work and commitment!"

It's people like this that make me weirdly inspired.


04f611 No.20003

File: 1437574406317.png (12.63 KB, 560x407, 560:407, dunno.png)

>>18946

>currently in a ue4 team making a dark souls-ish open world slasher

>just me as coder/subpar modeller and team lead who is a good level designer but is still learning modelling and can't code a single line

>team leader keeps bringing in newfags with 0% gamedev skill that we don't have the time or inclination to train, newfags always flunk out quickly

>still slowly grinding away at this shit, mfw why i do this


7089af No.20043

>>19959

Source control needs to be taught in every college CS program, and taught early on. My university gives it a passing mention in a junior level course, and it's only actually used in a master's level course (and I'm not in it yet, so I don't know if they even do it right there).

I've had to set it up and teach everyone how to use it for every group programming project, and everyone just wishes they had known how to do it earlier.


8c1afc No.20114

YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.

>>18946

>Why is it impossible to work with other people?

Not really but not if you understand what you are really aiming for, aka what sort of goals need to be nailed, for an example of what you could do when the group gets wankery see what Aaron Cleary has to say on this.


7e1b2f No.20891

Post more stories, /agdg/. These are entertaining.

>munches on popcorn


abd9b3 No.20895

File: 1439496964820.png (1.19 MB, 1200x1800, 2:3, 1437107528076.png)

>>20891

>High school.

>Final project for Data Structures class.

>Just like make game.

>Good friend&good student wants to go it with his some chick that recently became his grill

>ok.jpg

>Team up with decent but not great kid.

>Write up a master plan.

>Seriously, UML diagrams, State diagrams, Notecard for ever class that lists methods, so we can cross them out as we finish them

>Simple turn based strategy game that has 2 teams of 3soldiers/2archers on a chess-like board with a stream and 2 bridges going across it.

>We plan to do networking, something we were never taught.

>Coming close to the time to submit

>NetworkingIsHarderThanIThought.jpg

>For whatever reason only the first turn is registered by the server.

>Both of us spend entire 4 hours 2 days straight after school in the computer lab trying to debug this problem, and another hour or two each at home.

>Time to turn it in, bug still isn't fixed

>Oh well.jpg

>Walking home from school

>Realize why only the first action was being registered

>We never flushed the buffer

>Get home and try it, it works

Made a B anyway


4b685a No.20896

File: 1439498642496.jpg (19.3 KB, 450x600, 3:4, 1371433819345.jpg)

>>18960

There is one question you must ask yourself if you find that you are in a project and you are having doubts about its progress or individual contributors, and that question is this: are you the person who cares the most about the project on the team?

If the answer is no, and it's falling apart, then you don't need any more information, because you don't care enough. Save yourself the trouble and walk away.

If the answer is yes, then congratulations, you're the project leader. And as far as indie projects are concerned, a leader is NOT a person who tells other people what to do. A leader has to lead by example, not by instruction. You better be doing more tangible work than everyone else, possibly combined, or you better be paying them for their work. Otherwise, they are in that "don't care most" category and if they see the project falling apart they will follow the above advice for people in that category.

If you're the leader, and something needs doing, you do it. If you for whatever reason cannot do it, you build detailed plans for how it is to be done. If you need illustrations and you're not an illustrator, make and use placeholders. Same for audio. If you can't program, build directing documents for what you want the code to do. If a script needs to be written, you write it. If you suck at writing, you write a draft and feed it to a writer or an editor.

As the leader of an indie project, you are the one who must be doing the most, because you are the one who actually cares the most. If other contributors fall off, you can replace them, because they were just there to fill in assets that you designed. If you're waiting for someone else to design your project for you, forget it. Return to the consumer's side of the market from whence you came.

Do or die. Simple as that.


fa39b6 No.20899

>>20895

Nice story. Was the game fun, and is it available anywhere?


abd9b3 No.20904

>>20899

>Was it fun

It was if you could get your friend to play with you, we didn't program any AI.

>Is it available

Technically yes, but I'm not going to link it here, it's linked to my real name & shit


87ffe1 No.20907

>>20003

That sounds interesting if you guys can get it running. Any interest in taking on someone with some indie experience?


e3501f No.21003

>>20895

The only one of those girls that makes any sense is the PHP one


2a2211 No.21010

>8th grade

>Want to make videogames in Flash

>Had an idea for a Metal slug style shooter starring a Nun and a Priest shooting demons

>Made a shitty little php forum

>Had a "team" of like 4 guys.

>I had mediocre Flash skills (Again, this was like, early 8th grade)

>Had one guy doing sprites

>One guy doing audio

>One guy doing level design

>I was the leader because I was the only one that could do anything with it.

>We filled that entire fucking forum up with level design, character design, how different mechanics would work, things in each stage that would be different

>We were proud.

>We were hyped.

>We were so fucking ready.

>AND THEN IT CAME TIME TO ACTUALLY MAKE SHIT AND EVERYONE FUCKING BAILED

tfw Full Metal Priestess will never be a thing because of FUCKING IDEAGUYS


2a2211 No.21011

>>21010

though 8th grade was when I had the most kickass compsci class ever.

My teacher Ms. Kirby basically ripped up her curriculum when she found out we all knew how to write in word and make a spreadsheet in excel. So she taught us the basics of all the programs in the Macromedia suite we had in that lab we used as a classroom.

Like half the year making little games and animations in Flash. It was fucking awesome.

Proudest thing I made was like a StarFox sidescroller that you could switch between rapid fire lasers and a charge up homing beam and it was so fucking rad.


17f63e No.21015

>>18947

>>19939

>one who did absolutely nothing but make out with her BF.

>her

Any project with a woman involved is fucked to begin with. Her having a boyfriend probably prevented her from doing more damage. Doing "nothing" is a best case scenario when it comes to women in teamwork.

>one coder we never saw or got work from after the first month

That may have just been your best man, hence why he bailed early. He knew if he stuck around he'd be the one doing all the work.

>>18960

I agree but I would phrase it differently. I would say the most important thing is to have a vision BEFORE assembling a team. When there's already a team that means no vision could fit everyone equally well, and people will fight over control of the vision. If the vision is strong to begin with there's an understanding that "I signed up to participate in this project, not to turn it into something else". You can always refer to the initial pitch if in doubt.


6c0156 No.21029

File: 1439933884129.jpg (59.89 KB, 768x939, 256:313, s-l1000.jpg)

>>18960

>A FUCKING GOOD LEADER

How do I become a good leader? I always end up at the head of school projects cause noone else want to do it (INTJ reluctant leader here).

I'm getting use to it and even start to like it. I need less and less coaxing to take the helm. But I feel I could be better in that position. If I'm to do it, might as well give it my best shot.

Any books or videos any of you can recommend on the subject?


8062d5 No.21070

>>20891

This one isn't gamedev but whatever it goes with the theme of the thread.

>be on /g/

>see thread

>"4plebbit" halfchan clone with infinite boards and p2p

>wow this is cool let me join the irc

>people are brainstorming

>everyone is confused about wtf we are supposed to be doing

>3 scripts that do the same thing

>I make a website for it

>another guy makes a 2nd website

>email richard stallman to help us

>he just tells us to change the license then never does shit

>notepad full of ideas that we came up with

>make logo thread on /g/

>the end

gg


63f4a1 No.21088

File: 1440045875532.png (17.76 KB, 355x355, 1:1, mfw.png)

What can I do to make up for not doing anything for my project's leader for a whole year? I promised I'd work on stuff right away but its been a year and I've been busy with other stuff. I'm too afraid to log onto steam because of this.

What do I say to the guy?


ac287e No.21090

>>21088

If he hasn't heard from you in a year I doubt he expects anything at this point. Just apologize and admit that you don't give a fuck about his project, since you clearly don't.


7de8c1 No.21102

>be a programmer

>need artfag

>every artfag is mentally unstable and unreliable, even paid ones

Welp, I'm fluent with Maya 2008, but not any 2D.

So I have pretty untextured meshes.

I should just make a material system.


6fc924 No.21117

>>21029

I'm not a good leader either since I'm autistic as fuck but I think >>21015 and >>20896 are pretty much on point.

First make sure you have really good assembled. All the documents, all the info, all the data, all the placeholders, examples, everything. Some people especially in the videogame world are really autistic so it's better for them to let them lurk the info and find out by themselves. This will also let you know who is REALLY interested in the project and who is a lazy piece of shit, because if someone has enough will and time to read some wall of texts and go though some leghty info bumps then that person have at least SOME interest, so you know you can count with them to a certain degree.

Then after that, I would make sure you always have something for people to do, and that it's pretty clear and straightforward. When people it's not 100% sure about what to do, they tend to proscatinate and forget about it, so give at least weekly updates and remembering people about what to do and stuff it's important. A leader is basically someone with a clear vision and interested in a project who then have to remain that vision to the team all the fucking time. It's better for you to remind people what to do every week that "leave them do their thing", because they will feel more and more detached from the project for every new day they don't see someone involved or have some routine that tell to their brains "HEY FAGGOT, THIS IS GOING PLACES".


84ab4c No.21120

>>19938

sounds intense


2a25dd No.21165

>Work on game with 3 other people

>Decide I will do the programming part and general organization

>End up having to do almost everything myself because others half ass it

Cut your losses and drop it.




[Return][Go to top][Catalog][Post a Reply]
Delete Post [ ]
[]
[ home / board list / faq / random / create / bans / search / manage / irc ] [ ]