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

On Mon, 2004-11-08 at 14:05, Frank Herrera wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have no experience technical nor "artistic/creative" with games,
> other than I play them :).
> 
> But i *thought* atleast in biggish sized game companies, they had
> different job roles, so the story or the art or the whatever was done
> by a person who does that well, while the coding was done to
> ..well..us.

Yes and no.... The programmers really need a feel for the game even if
they don't design it. A design is always a compromise between what
people want and what the technology will support. If artists designed
the game by themselves, no game would ever get shipped. There are some
programmers who can design games without artistic input, but not all
programmers can do that.

It really is a team effort. Sometimes the team has many members,
sometimes it only has a few.

                Bob Pendleton

> 
> Obviously this would be different for a shareware game or a smaller
> sized company where many roles are shared...
> 
> Anyway, just a thought.
> 
> Frank Herrera
> 
> On Mon, 8 Nov 2004 11:38:18 -0800, Alan Wolfe <atrix2@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > 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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> > >
> > 
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> >
> 
> 
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-- 
+--------------------------------------+
+ Bob Pendleton: writer and programmer +
+ email: Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx             +
+ blog:  www.Stonewolf.net             +
+ web:   www.GameProgrammer.com        +
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