Hackers, Slackers, and Shackles 347
blacklily8 writes "What is the future of free software development for games? Is it possible? Will the games ever equal or surpass their proprietary competitors? Why should we care? After thoroughly researching the free and open source software model, and interviewing both indie and free software game developers, author Matt Barton decided that the future is indeed very bright. Stallman is quoted here saying that game engines should be free, but approves of the notion that graphics, music, and stories could all be separate and treated differently (i.e., "Non-Free.")"
Disagree (Score:2, Interesting)
Modern games aren't easy. We could compete in the "graphics engine" field, but that's just 1/4 of a game - the rest is the "art": graphics, music, sounds, maps..."open source" works for code, not for "art". Also, today's games are a modern thing, you can get lot of geeks that can write a SCSI driver or a compiler, but how many geeks can you find that know how to write a 3d driver or a graphics engine or maps for a 3d game? There're a few, but they're not enought. We've can write msql/ISS/oracle/icc, even mac os x alternatives, but where're those unreal/need for speed/doom 3 alternatives?
We need some kind of "open art" license or something, and people working for it.
The potential is totally there (Score:1, Interesting)
In general (Score:4, Interesting)
On the flip side, dependant games(ie games developed at cost by a gaming house) will generally have superior graphics and sound because those two areas require a lot of man hours to "get right". Thus, gaming houses are better suited to coordinate efforts to supply a superior graphic experience quickly enough before the graphics become dated by hardware advances.
That said, as we slowly begin to approach the photo-realism barrier, and as the tools to assemble graphics improve, we are once again begining to turn back towards the days when gameplay and innovation were what set a game apart from its peers.
In this, independant game designers will have the upper hand, as evidenced by the current generation of "big names in the industry" all having been independant designers back during the last time graphics were less involved(80s and early 90s).
Independant game designers are on the rise again, and you can see proof in the concern the publishing companies are having as they slowly fall away, consolidate, and/or have paniced knee jerk reactions out of concern for their future(Valve vs. Vivendi, EA's buyout frenzy, etc).
Games don't have enough longevity for OSS process? (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems more likely that OSS devlopment model would succeed with game development libraries and engines.
Re:hypocritical of stallman? (Score:2, Interesting)
How can you review a piece of code and identify the team member that contributed it, without a hint otherwise? Because there's a personal and creative aspect to producing it.
Having said that, however, I believe the same could be said of the serious practitioner in virtually any profession.
Code versus Art (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know Stallman's view on the matter.
But if I had to guess, I'd say: That's purely hypothetical, mind you -- I have no idea where RMS stands on the matter.
In any case, code is art, in my opinion -- code, painting, music, architecture, literature -- it's all art, art, art.
-kgj
OT - How do you play Nethack? (Score:1, Interesting)
I've tried playing in exploration mode, where you can't die, but eventually I'll get to a point where the enemies are so much stronger than me that I can't kill them and can't proceed.
The game is so complex I just can't get the hang of it, and I can't seem to find any good information on the net on how to be a good player. I've read the guidebook, but it didn't help that much. I need a guide on how to effectivly use items (tricks like putting on a blindfold so that floating eyes can't paralyze you), and playing strategies, but there doesn't seem to be one.
Nethack seems like such an incredibly deep game, and because of my limited ability, I'm only able to scratch the surface. The amulet of yendor is forever out of my reach.
I think my ideal game would be something like a cross between Azure Dreams and Nethack, where it has depth (which Azure Dreams was sort of lacking), but also doesn't punish you for every action you take (the way Nethack does).
The problem is, most "games" aren't games (Score:4, Interesting)
As much as I love the Final Fantasy series, for example, I don't consider them "games" in the truest sense. They are wonderfully immersive stories, but that doesn't make them a game. The problem is, people are starting to really expect that out of their games. And even though Free Software developers could program a game with a much better engine, meaning it has a more challenging basic set of rules, then a Final Fantasy game; I don't think we can realistically expect free software developers to program the video and sound that people have come to expect. If you take the single opening movie from Final Fantasy VII, (a game that, at 8 years old, is ancient), I don't know how it could be put together without a lot of money.
So I think the basic place for Free Games right now is games for people who love gaming. My favorite game right now, of any type, is Wesnoth [wesnoth.org], a turn based strategy game released under the GPL. The graphics and the sound are fair, but the game play is truly engaging.
Clarifying Stallman's opinions (Score:3, Interesting)
He argues that software is useful to modify, making it different than most art and creative writings, which usually are quite personal. He does believe, however, that these non-software works should be freely distributable.
He mentions these opinions many places, for example in this interview [slashdot.org].
(I personally agree with him.)
How old is Matt Barton, exactly? (Score:3, Interesting)
- Chris
No calls barred. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:depends.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:hypocritical of stallman? (Score:2, Interesting)
Older games (Score:2, Interesting)
I know that there are actually a great deal of fans of Descent 3 [planetdescent.com] who happen to be coders, who would be overjoyed if Volition [volition.net] would open source the code.
Re:How naive. (Score:4, Interesting)
Then they could spend 'untold millions' developing great games ON TOP of the engine. On miles of original art, grammy-winnnig scores, and original new stories. It seems as if once you've got a solid, continuously improving engine (with major releases every 18mos or so), you could devote more resources to producing more art (games) which would lead to more revenue streams than you would get with the current system (one blockbuster released every couple years). Once the engine is a commodity, the competition would be over the artistic aspects of the game, and we might see some more innovation in storytelling. When you have more resources to invest in the story/art aspect of the game, you can take more chances on new stories than companies seem willing to do these days--perhaps with a commodity game engine, we'd see fewer sequals of sequals of games from 1994, and more original games that make a mark as "innovative."
The "open-sourcing" suggestion isn't a one-off suggestion about specific games, its a critique about industry and process, and suggests an entirely different approach, not a simple solution like "this game should be open sourced!"
Re:hypocritical of stallman? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's hard to have a meritocracy with something as innately subjective as art. With technical stuff, it's usually provable what works better.
You can't submit patches to fix someone's crappy storyline (and if you did, I imagine chaos as no one agrees on whether your "story patch" actually improves the story or makes it too long, or too short, or hurts the original author's feelings, etc.). Can you imagine a bugzilla for "ugliness bugs" in the backgrounds, icons, monster design, etc. in a large game? Who gets to decide when a "garishness bug" is closed? Or that a "cacophonous section bug" in the soundtrack has been resolved?
It's always seemed this way to me, hence for a long time Linux ran great (the technical part of it), but the default icons, themes, etc. often left a lot to be desired. I think it wasn't until companies started throwing money at Linux that it started getting pretty.
It's now easy for me to imagine a complicated piece of software put together by committee (the proof was in the Linux pudding), but not a musical score (the proof again was in the Linux pudding).
I think maybe Stallman is just being practical*.
Back on topic, for these reasons I've long thought that games was one area where OSS would have a hard time competing with commercial software companies, since the important part of video games isn't the technical part, but the artistic parts where it's hard (if not impossible) to have a working meritocracy. You can't (I believe) have "bazaar like development" with 100 artists working on video games as you can with 100 programmers working on a web browser.
* OTOH, it's also only with software that not having source code means you fundamentally don't know (or can easily tell) what the software is *really * up to, hence the GPL. This is not the case with art. It could therefore also be that Stallman is just being steadfast with his freedom thing (that sadly, a lot of people criticize), which is not as meaningful with a game's soundtrack for instance.
Re:hypocritical of stallman? (Score:3, Interesting)
That art is merely a distraction from reality.
You can produce, enlightenment, understanding, emotions, inspiration, ideas and more art, with art.
ANYTHING can produce those things. The clouds in the sky, taking a deep breath, dropping a book on your foot, can produce the same inspiration, emotions, and enlightenment as an orange dot on a white canvas.
Re:Planeshift (Score:4, Interesting)
Certainly.... (Score:3, Interesting)
1) Much Ado About Nothing.
2) The Tempest
3) Comedy of Errors
4) Romeo and Juliet
I was taught that there were only a few basic stories and tha Shakespeare had done them all - every thing else is just a variation on a theme, if you want to see the other four, get reading.
Sera
P.S. Or at least rent the video of Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, IMHO it is some of the best film ever made.
Katamari Damancy? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure you can truly say the innovation in gaming was on the computers and not consoles. Sure, MMORPGs were on computers first (but now there's also X-Box live).. but actual multiplayer games were on consoles first!
Ethan