Inspirational Motivation

[heartbone]

I've not been programming much over the past few years as I watch in amazement the movie like productions being created by the big entertainment conglomerates.
Nowadays a game's credits can have well over a hundred names.
Unfortunately this tends to discourage this old school DOSBOX style programmer,
as simpler programs do not seem to generally get much attention or respect.
Then recently I've seen crap like the Birds games do well, and think that maybe simple is still desirable.

Today while looking for news about the release of Trusty Tahr,
I saw this article and it has inspired me to actually write something simple.
Because if they think this has a market...
Disgusting Pimple-Popping Game Released in the Mac App Store

[Zach]

I used to think along similar lines as well.

Especially with my TextRPG. But then I realized, I was really making it for myself more than anything, and if other people liked it after the fact, then maybe I could do something with the idea then.
But no use really worrying about it.

[tj1010]

This has nothing to do with design and programming and everything to do with pure economics.

The more AAA games or AA mobile games consume the market, the more expensive it is to get a marketable product produced, for yourself or as a freelancer. Peoples expectations raise so high it eventually becomes unprofitable and even unpractical to produce software if you don't have a large team. The same kind of goes for utility software now days.

It has the same affect as when you 'cut out the middle man' in any industry. It sets off a major sociological chain reaction where there are only two productive parties and a lot who are totally cut out of the system, and lazy explanations follow..

Flappy Bird, Candy Crush, Angry Birds are all platforms, but given how there are no stable unified development tools and artists able to charge high prices, an indy dev struggles to compete or even produce a product with a market, and are considered too high a risk by any type of investor that would provide funds for the indy to sub-contract some of the work out..

[PB]

> simpler programs do not seem to generally get much attention or respect

They do if they're entertaining or useful. Make them so if they're currently not.

[heartbone]

> simpler programs do not seem to generally get much attention or respect

They do if they're entertaining or useful.

I wish that were true.
More and more, (just like everywhere else) in software it's not what you do, it's who you know.
With the right hype, big budget, buggy as hell garbage can win.

Make them so if they're currently not.

Stating the obvious for me?
LOL
[sarcasm]Gee thanks for that sage advice PB.[/sarcasm]

But seriously, this thread is about Inspirational Motivation.

I found something inspirational that beats anything that a mere compiler can create.
The genius of the creative human mind.

"This is no 20 GB video file, painstakingly pulled from a render farm. All of it was generated in real time by one tiny algorithm. And it's amazing.

Every Easter, the town of Saarbrücken, Germany, plays host to Revision, a demoparty where hundreds of programmers and artists get together for four days of showing off. This year, the demoscene group Mercury unveiled an incredible 64k intro called The Timeless. Since the file size is limited to 64 kilobytes, the graphics and music are all generated algorithmically in real time—this is called procedural generation.

"Demos" are snippets of graphics and music that show off the author's skill as a programmer. The term emerged in the late 1980s, when..."

more at the link above

A direct link to the YouTube video of demo.

65536 bytes?
I haven't been this impressed in decades, since the early Amiga demo days.
I'm guessinbg that this demo relies on high end graphics and audio cards,
but those clever algorithms probably could be reworked to run with more mundane hardware.

With a tool like PureBasic at our disposal, who knows what possibilities lay ahead?
Something big I hope, although it probably won't be coming from me.

[tj1010]

Just curious if you guys know there is a science called game theory? Also don't forget to acknowledge what it took to make the games that are so popular. It's all about investors and marketing, the guys behind these games were already high-level players in the industry with major capital and just invested in research then fast turn-around via a large team..

I've actually seen talented programmers try to market projects, they all tank because there aren't enough game mechanics, bad art, or they don't serve a demand or niche as utilities..

[Danilo]

- Less Talk - More Rock

[tj1010]

I'll stick to criticizing design("stage 2") before writing millions of lines of code..

A lot of things in life, especially around sociology and accomplishments, people aren't going to have your best interest in mind.. A management level software engineer in a major development infrastructure("Crew 10" during the reference period) proposing a seat-of-pants strategy("sounds like an excerpt from a marketing or management course") to single-coder development pipelines seems like ones of those..

[PB]

> thanks for that sage advice

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass. Plenty of simple and useful apps exists that
were written by a single person. ImgBurn is one example: it's the world's best
CD/DVD burning utility (according to reviews) and it's a solo effort. Just saying.

[tj1010]

> thanks for that sage advice

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass. Plenty of simple and useful apps exists that
were written by a single person. ImgBurn is one example: it's the world's best
CD/DVD burning utility (according to reviews) and it's a solo effort. Just saying.

And around the same period of it's release dozens of vendors came and saturated the market, 3 dominated by having suites that catered to mostly piracy.. There is no paid license and constant support for ImgBurn, it has no business model..

Buy hey I could be wrong.. The Wright Brothers made a plane, so why can't we build a F22 Raptor with some free scraps and our tool boxes?

[Zach]

> thanks for that sage advice

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass. Plenty of simple and useful apps exists that
were written by a single person. ImgBurn is one example: it's the world's best
CD/DVD burning utility (according to reviews) and it's a solo effort. Just saying.

And around the same period of it's release dozens of vendors came and saturated the market, 3 dominated by having suites that catered to mostly piracy.. There is no paid license and constant support for ImgBurn, it has no business model..

Buy hey I could be wrong.. The Wright Brothers made a plane, so why can't we build a F22 Raptor with some free scraps and our tool boxes?

That's some pretty warped logic. Especially considering you're comparing apples to oranges.

Now for a realistic example, see http://www.starwraith.com
Every game on that site was done by one man, over many years, in a niche and often thought "dead" market. Practicality often trumps shiny bits.

Plenty of games coming before have looked better, and played differently. Many in the future will. That doesn't make a product worthless.

[tj1010]

> thanks for that sage advice

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass. Plenty of simple and useful apps exists that
were written by a single person. ImgBurn is one example: it's the world's best
CD/DVD burning utility (according to reviews) and it's a solo effort. Just saying.

And around the same period of it's release dozens of vendors came and saturated the market, 3 dominated by having suites that catered to mostly piracy.. There is no paid license and constant support for ImgBurn, it has no business model..

Buy hey I could be wrong.. The Wright Brothers made a plane, so why can't we build a F22 Raptor with some free scraps and our tool boxes?

That's some pretty warped logic. Especially considering you're comparing apples to oranges.

Now for a realistic example, see http://www.starwraith.com
Every game on that site was done by one man, over many years, in a niche and often thought "dead" market. Practicality often trumps shiny bits.

Plenty of games coming before have looked better, and played differently. Many in the future will. That doesn't make a product worthless.

FYI starcommander,raven,starwolf are based on the same source code, so are starwraith, starwraith 2, starwraith 3, starwraith 4, riftspace, evochron, evochron alliance, evochron alliance 2.0, and the rest of the 3D titles.

The timeline for releases and the success reflect "warped logic"..

Wait a few months.. Someone will make a indy game that studios pay over 30 million USD to have made by buildings full of talented people and you'll be able to criticize my logic instead of validating it..

[kenmo]

Flappy Bird, Candy Crush, Angry Birds are all platforms, but given how there are no stable unified development tools and artists able to charge high prices, an indy dev struggles to compete or even produce a product with a market, and are considered too high a risk by any type of investor that would provide funds for the indy to sub-contract some of the work out..

Just want to point out... Flappy Bird does not fit in there! Candy Crush and Angry Birds are made by dominant and controversial mobile game companies, but Flappy Bird was made by one guy who did not expect or even want it to explode in popularity. It's a strange story, it was a hectic couple of months for him.

[Danilo]

Wait a few months.. Someone will make a indy game that studios pay over 30 million USD

Are you talking about Overgrowth?

- Overgrowth on Steam -- What is Overgrowth?
- Overgrowth Alpha 205 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 204 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 203 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 202 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 201 changes - Wolfire Games

- Wolfire Games YouTube Channel
- Wolfire Games Website: Overgrowth

[tj1010]

Wait a few months.. Someone will make a indy game that studios pay over 30 million USD

Are you talking about Overgrowth?

- Overgrowth on Steam -- What is Overgrowth?
- Overgrowth Alpha 205 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 204 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 203 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 202 changes - Wolfire Games
- Overgrowth Alpha 201 changes - Wolfire Games

- Wolfire Games YouTube Channel
- Wolfire Games Website: Overgrowth

4 guys using venture capital funds and loans from their parents... next

I actually am wrong about flappy bird though, but it has no infrastructure or business model, it just tapped a niche market and uses core game-theory and took almost no time to produce.. To create profitability it'd have to be expanded and marketed more..

Again, I don't like being technically right about this as a freelancer and indy developer.