I’ve been curious for a long time on what makes FLOSS games fail in the areas of User Experience/Interface (UX, UI) and graphics, visual coherency, why they push second-hand gfx next to ace grade gfx. In my search for an answer I decided to start a project of my own to gather some first hand experience.

The aim for this project will be to collect as much content as possible for a small and simple game, at the same time; avoid neglecting any UI or UX related issue. No need for ace grade gfx just visual coherency. To be able to finish this project in a reasonable time frame, I first decided on what type of game and which kind of theme it would have. My decision are based on personal preferences what kind of “simple” game would I enjoy? It fell down to a Tactical Role-Playing Game in a fantasy setting, like Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. Mind you, I’m only gathering content for it no code what so ever, that is for a willing developer to do if he or she find the time and will to do so.

Here I’ll give to you the mockup game;

Realp - Book of Tiny Bits

In my estimation I already got enough game content to be able to make a game mechanics test. And this in a very short time span. The question now is what do lead developers and project leaders miss when they do the same job. My answers at this moment would be; Time to communicate (beside the obvious; connections)  here are some questions I find important:

• How does your contributor work?
• What does he or she need, to do the things you want done?
• Are the contributor able to work independently or does he/she need continuous guidance?
  • If so how could you remedy that?

Don’t mind the 2D, it will be in 3D as might be seen in the SVN. The 2D images everywhere, is my way of communication with contributors, in this case tidbit the 3D modeller.

How did/do I go about this project?

Well to know what content you need you must decide on a couple of things, some of them I already told you about (What kind of game). To list some of these decisions, here are some of the features I have in mind;

• Procedural map generation
• Movement by points of interest
• In-game scripting of unit behaviours

These help me understand what is needed; Without them I would miss much of the small things. So I actually think of this ‘media pack’ as a full game, that way I hope it will be easier to adapt the media to other projects too.

‘Shared Worlds’ might be a different thing to different people, but here it’s all about sharing assets, history (I won’t say story) and contributors.

There are some obvious problem with making/creating this ‘shared world’ without thinking; here I list the things that pops out of my mind:

• A lot of effort before anyone use it, if any will — wasted time for all
• Hard for people to contribute to a world that is “non-existent”  no boundaries will lead to an unattractive bloated world
• Willing contributors without a common goal, leads to endless discussion

How can we remedy these problems before they occur?

There are some as easy solutions as there are problems; One is to use a pre-existent world, from let’s say a game that is FOSS and don’t have any connection to a closed/owned world, the bigger the game is the better. A problem here could be current lead manager not agreeing with this idea, to me that hangs on communication. So go out and find one for us!

Another way would be to set out from the real world, and adding some spice to it. Imagine technology advances stooped in the early 1920, Titanic (still a boat) got to its destination, the Eiffel tower got blown away by gnomes who suddenly appeared from below.. (this could go on). But this ‘solution’ only solves the number two problem listed. On the other hand it will solve any legal harassment, depending in what we spice it up with. Any thoughts on this is greatly appreciated!

A way to simply solve the last of my listed problems is to get hold of a strong-willed lead, someone or someones who can hold fast to a vision, pure blood into that, and make other people interested/fascinated. Is there a better way to make all who want to contribute, work toward a similar of not same goal?

Similar project that already are out in the wild got mentioned

They don’t really cut the cake but they are worth research: Biggest and best of the mentions comes first Angels Fall First (AFF) — To me it is Star Wars and Star Trek sans aliens and Hollywood cliché, to bad this is not truly open for us. Second is the Tux world — to me this hardly even makes it to this list as it is somewhat lacking in ingredients, even white the aid of freedroid.

I almost forgot, go post your thoughts on the fgd forum too!