Hmm. I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I actually wish you all the best, but I recognize myself at a younger age and would like to offer mentoring-ish advice.

A multiplayer online game for your first game is going to be a very tough project(in order of toughness, typically: single-player -> local multiplayer -> online multiplayer -> MMO ), and from what I'm seeing there, your chances are low because there's too much noise - too much talk, not enough action. The fact that you are going to such lengths to document and reach out is, in fact, a huge red flag.

Just consider - how much time will be spent shooting videos and administering that forum, that could instead be spent on game-making? And having school and anything else on top will suck up enormous amounts of time. I had lots of trouble making progress at gamedev until college because my time was so fragmented and other things were stressing me, and I wish I had realized then what scale I should have been working at to make progress.

It'll be harder to make the game than to talk about it at first because you don't know the process yet, but just by spending time thinking up tasks that are related to the game(e.g. how to implement "x" feature, how to create "y" assets), and then coming up with prototypes and examples that resolve them - not even full/integrated solutions, necessarily, just demonstrations - you'll gain some understanding and momentum. Put all your attention on the basic skills and the most fundamental elements of the game, and then make something with that, even if it isn't your original plan.

This.

Also, if you guys really want to make a video, use a tripod or something. That picture is moving back and forth, it makes me seasick.

Any major complaints for that date? It'd be good if we could set a sort of definite date by the end of the month...

People should stop arguing about language semantics and get some code written already. 

I'll have my term finals shortly after, but hey- the best way to succeed is knowing when to relax and steam off.

So it's a good date for me as well :D

I imagine a game with him should feature two buttons dedicated solely to drinking and one-liners.

BEST. GAME. EVER.

It reminds me slightly of Wall-E.

I'm working on a 3d rpg game for practice.
Why not 2D? Well, I have a lot of interest in 3d design in general, so 3d games would be seen fit.

You're going to break your teeth just during practice then :D

I find that for general purpose practice, making classic games such as, Pacman, Tetris, Space Invaders, etc. are the best. If you want to practice 3D Design/3D engine programming/3D whatever, just do them in 3D

Which would you prefer?

It's up to you man, no one can tell you how your creation is best- especially with no screenshots :D

(SFML is lovely...it's all like...nice C++...not dirty C)

I find C (especially the SDL) lovely to embed in C++.

Sdl is lower level than Allegro.
If i'm not mistaken, allegro uses the sdl in its implementation.

I personally adore the SDL, but it's not the case for everyone.

This project is awesome.

Continue. This is an order.

We should still try for London - if we could work out a similar deal with a café to the one we had for BIGJam, for example, that would be ideal.

Agreed. Do you have anything in mind? Surely there has to be some cool, open minded cafes in London. I'll only be arriving in the UK in mid september though, until then I'm in the US, so sadly I can't go exploring around at the moment.

Whoa, to me internet access is so essential, it's inckuded in the definition of venue. For sleeping, if we do it in oxford, i'll be able to host 2-3 people. (based on how many pints of beer they donate to hum...my...cause)

[Location:]

Status:Date set, now looking for a location

So I thought we might as well start a new topic since we've been talking about this in the other thread...

Location: It seems like most people do not want London due to the cost there- it seems a smaller, student city such as Cambridge or Oxford would be just as easy to go to, and much cheaper.

Date: Probably on the weekend from December 4th to 7th.

People willing to help for organization:

• Guillaume: I'll be in Oxford for the year starting from mid-September, and I'm definitely willing to help if we settle down for Oxford, a little bit less if elsewhere.
• Corpus: Available for helping out

Interested TIGers:

• Miroslav Malešević
• Hideous
• Synnah
• C418
• György Straub
• Terry
• Titch
• Don Andy
• Lifesnoozer
• Rostiger
• Alex May
• Reverend Kachowski
• Xander
• Gravious
• Ed
• chrisjan
• bento_smile
• smn
• bateleur
• Vitamin Powered
• Bezzy
• Increpare
• Notch
• Hayden Scott-Baron

I'll try to keep that first post updated as much as possible. 

I'll be going to uni in Oxford next year, and I'd definitely like to contribute the organization of a TIG Jam: UK. Not doing it in London but in Cambridge (or Oxford!  ) sounds like a great idea to me.

Hey guys!

Posting here to get some advice from the artsy members of TIGsource.

I wish to become better at drawing, primarily so that my games have something more than programmer art. My drawing on paper is pretty bad (few examples:

http://noxneo.net/guillaume/indie/elements/miner.png
http://noxneo.net/guillaume/indie/elements/copernic.png

), and unfortunately I don't plan to attend art school or whatever.

I was thinking of buying a drawing tablet (such as the wacom bamboo) since my drawings will be digitalized anyway, and then try to do stuff with it until I succeed.

Do you guys think I can get anywhere with that approach? I'd hate to spend 60$ to realize that my drawing skills will never get anywhere. Any feedback from self-taught illustrators is more than welcome.

Cheers 

Smeone please use this link to the source code to make a Mac version:

http://www.fileplanet.com/hosteddl.aspx?/hst/b/l/blender8/gravitybone_src.zip

This sounds really interesting!

Ha, Mac users. Who's all fancy schmancy now?

[/personal rant]

Blueberry Garden takes half an hour to play through on your first time.

This.

I think most of the guys here are complaining because they feel their doing a better job at graphical design but they receive less credit than blueberry garden, for example.

I thjnk you guys should just stop debating and play games instead and see if the are good as a whole.

I know a bit about animation movies, and i could have dozens of example where rhe visual style could be called "horrid" by many, but it is still coherent and fits the movue greatly, achieving a solid creation.

I love both knytt  and oblivion for exploring around, and they both have very diferent art styles. That doesn't change anything about how much i like both games.

I shave face when I start to feel disgusting, or when girlfriend complains about it, whichever comes first.

As for the rest of my body, my pilosity isn't too developed, which is good because I think I'd shave it of it was hairy- I don't like it. (plus I'm looking at getting back in swimming next year, and swimmers need to be smooth  )

When it comes to sexy part, stuff like Nair is just awesome.

90% of the indie games should be playable on low end machines, ie. netbooks or 500$ laptops, with extra tweaks for rich geeks.

Then we'd all be happy.

Hey all,

Just wanted to talk a bit about this website concept I have, heavily inspired on several similar attempts in the music industry. Please tell me what you think of it, if you'd use it (as a developer or gamer), etc.

The idea would be a website where the developers post their projects- at first concepts and artworks, and then demos, screenshots, developer blog entries, etc. They then set various milestones (alpha, private beta, release).

The users can view all these projects, and then invest in the project they think are worth it. They can invest any amount from $1 to the sum they wish. That sum is not given to the developer yet, though.

When the game is released on sale, all the investments go to the developer. The revenues are then split; for example 70% to the developer, and 30% shared among the investors. Each investor gets a free copy of the game as well.

If the game does not make it to release before the set release date, then all the investments are fully refunded to the investors.

The investors also have access to bonuses, like the private beta, maybe bonus levels or credits, etc.

What do you guys think?