Will there be a Dominions 4 - Page 10

Gandalf Parker · #91 November 21st, 2010, 11:21 AM

Ive done many jobs in wildly different fields. Email me if you want a list.

Im now multiply retired so I dont do anything. I have managed such projects in the past and might at one time have been tempted, but health issues make it impossible now to take on new commitments. In fact Im trying to pull out of the ones I still have.

As to the second paragraph...
Managing donated things has a headache factor to it. Managing donated moneys against donated resources against donated time and skills in a way to stay clear of any suspicion of misuse is something only a few people can do well. Ask any charity admin how 'easy' their job must be to get an earful of that.

Its easier to use one donated factor to fuel the others as non-donated factors. Not sure if that was clear or not.

You can purchase engines which can vastly cut down the programming time. Some are specific for games. Im out of touch with that area so I cant recommend one. But I remember that the problem falls into the choice of language. Would you prefer to select the language and then search for libraries and programmers? or the other way around? AND what about operating system? Will you maintain the "Linux game ported to Windows and Mac" or go with the easier Windows environment then headache trying to avoid win specific things that might not port well to the others?

SourceForge is a good place to look. What is being used, what they might have developed for themselves. Asking there should be no problem. After all, they are all supposed to be open source so even asking is just a courtesy. (Id never recommend not asking, Im just saying that refusal is unlikely compared to other directions)

WraithLord · #92 November 21st, 2010, 11:42 AM

python has good libs for game dev. SPQR is a good example.

weimaar · #93 November 22nd, 2010, 11:56 AM

So in other words, leave it to the proffessionals?

WraithLord · #94 November 22nd, 2010, 04:29 PM

*sigh* making a good game is soooo difficult. And not all professionals are capable of producing a good game. IMO It's that rare combo of good programming capabilities+creativity+innovation+luck that leads to a good game.

Most games on the market today are soulless run-of-the-mill video game equivalent of junk food. Just my personal opinion, no offense intended.

NTJedi · #95 November 23rd, 2010, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WraithLord

*sigh* making a good game is soooo difficult. And not all professionals are capable of producing a good game. IMO It's that rare combo of good programming capabilities+creativity+innovation+luck that leads to a good game.

Most games on the market today are soulless run-of-the-mill video game equivalent of junk food. Just my personal opinion, no offense intended.

Junk food is being nice... I'd say many games are radioactive waste. Which means not only are they terrible in gameplay, but they install advertisements, push for account/registration activations, ugly DRM, and some even want monthly memberships.

Even when a company has good intentions, good developers, financial support, and an active community the game can still fail as what happened with Elemental. The biggest mistake made by game companies and developers is they place too high of a focus on graphics at the sacrifice of game content, game balance, game options, game strategy, game depth, etc., etc., . The end result is a very pretty looking piece of garbage.

WraithLord · #96 November 24th, 2010, 02:33 AM

Yes. It looks like the gaming industry has undergone some serious changes since its early roots in the 70-80s. Back then games were a niche and you'd see innovation and genious all over the place. Today the gaming industry ever more resembles the movie industry - mass production + lowest common denomenator are the name of the game: i.e. if it looks good + you can attach additional sources of revenue then you're doing good so who cares about content, creativity and innovation?- they are, alas, obsolete as they aren't revenue enginees.

TheConway · #97 November 24th, 2010, 06:48 AM

Eh, I don't think modern games are that terrible. Also, lets not pretend that all or even necessarily most games of the 70s-80s were super great (Daikatana). I look forward to the release of Diablo 3 right now, and personally I think Battlefield Bad Company 2 is great in its implementation of believable destructible environments. Or the very interesting and tactical play of League of Legends. There's not really any good RTS games that have held my attention recently, but I like SC2 from an SP perspective. I personally refuse to play any game that charges a monthly fee, which means I don't play any MMOs, but they're not all WoW. So forgive me, but I believe you're not giving modern game designers an even chance, and are letting nostalgia hide the absolute hideousness of some of the games from the days of yore.

Stavis_L · #98 November 24th, 2010, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheConway

Also, lets not pretend that all or even necessarily most games of the 70s-80s were super great (Daikatana).

Um...Daikatana was released in 2000...

WraithLord · #99 November 24th, 2010, 09:39 AM

Ahmmm. let's see, MOM, CIV, LoM, starcon, dune, warcraft, HoMM, UFO, MOO, DotC, Disciples, Warlords, Kohan, AoW just to name a few. Show me same or even close level of innovation, creativity & content in a main stream game today.

I gave modern games a chance. Some are passable (HoMM V, Disciples III, Warhammer, Total War). Most IMHO are mediocre at best and downright crappy at worst. Oh and GFX has improved a lot no doubt - GFX is amazing but I'd rather watch a good movie than play a shallow click-festi game.

Perhaps the times have changed and I remain trapped in anachronistic expectations. Fact is, I only play old games: dominions, disciples, AoW & chess although I have a number of new games installed on my hard drive. Typically I'd start new game X, say wow to amazing gfx, play a bit, then get bored and annoyed by bugs, inconsistencies and shallow mechanism and end up never playing it again.

TheConway · #**100** November 24th, 2010, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stavis_L

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheConway

Also, lets not pretend that all or even necessarily most games of the 70s-80s were super great (Daikatana).

Um...Daikatana was released in 2000...

Really? I never actually saw it, but the gaming mag I used to subscribe to talked about it like it was back in the mists of time

Still, I'd rather play Red Alert 3 than C&C 1.

Edit: I didn't play a number of those games, but Civ just got better and better with the sequels. Warcraft was terrible, I would never subject myself to that now, or Dune. As for modern games, I think that the issue is more that you seem to prefer a genre that doesn't really exist anymore. Turn based games just aren't very common anymore. Just because a game like Starcraft 2 doesn't have the incredible amount of minutiae that a TBS can have doesn't make it a mindless clickfest, its just a constraint of the RTS genre where the player doesn't have TIME to micromanage as many features as a TBS has.

I highly doubt that the number of bugs and inconsistencies has really changed dramatically, that's just the way computer gaming is.