[gameprogrammer] Re: Very.. VERY strange question.....

i never finish anything i code really but a buddy of mine ive been helping
w/ code techniques etc is making an awesome game.  You wouldnt believe how
much better his game got when he got an artist.  I think being a coder makes
it hard to think in terms of fantasy and imagination because you look at
your map and instead of seein a forest ready to populate with monsters and
storyline, you see pixels, bits and algorithms and wonder what kinda fps
your getting.

A while back i was working on a networked space combat game and the engine
was pretty good i thought but the game just wasnt that cool.  A friend of
mine whose somewhat artistic made up some nice models for me and it made the
game better 10 fold just about.  I couldnt believe it was my engine
rendering that game.

Im just saying this to support what everyone else is saying that it really
isnt about the technology, it's all about imagination. How many times have
we played games that looked really neat using the latest technology but were
not fun at all? or a game w/ sub standard graphics which we totaly loved (or
with substandard code even)?  That's nothing new but just figured i'd
re-iterate the point, real easy to forget and get caught up in trying to
make awesome code (:

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <toddjasp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 11:24 AM
Subject: [gameprogrammer] Re: Very.. VERY strange question.....


> > I believe the point they are trying to make is that many many wannabe
> > game programmers focus on the technology and not only ignore, but aren't
> > even aware, of the fact that game programming is not primarily a
> > technical activity. To write good games you have to be aware of the
> > social structures that people and games exist in. If human beings are
> > part of the game, then you need to have an understanding what makes
> > people tick.
> >
> > If you are writing a quest game, don't you think you should understand
> > why people go on quests? You might want to have some idea of where the
> > concept of a quest comes into our every day lives? If your game includes
> > conflict, trading, and cooperation, then perhaps you should know what
> > some of the worlds greatest thinkers have to say about the roots of
> > conflict, trade, and cooperation?
> >
> > Games exist in a cultural context that is many thousands of years old.
> > It is a good idea to have some understanding of that culture before you
> > try to create something that depends on that culture for its success.
> >
> > How many decades did Tolkien spend studying ancient European cultures
> > before he wrote the "Lord of the Rings"? If you want to write a game
> > with the enduring strength of LOTR you think maybe you should read a
> > couple of books about something other that programming?
> >
> > Bob Pendleton
>
>
> Very well put.... thanks, I believe you are correct!
>
> Todd
>
>
>
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