Unfortunately, the ethanon engine isn't ported to Linux just yet... the code that it runs on top of doesn't support OpenGL at the moment, so it's tied to Windows. Too bad, too, because it looks amazing.
The edgeloops are so-so at best. I think in general you ultimately have to retopo when you make a mesh that way, but I could be wrong. I might ask on the zbrush forum.
Well, it's very easy for me to convert it to a high-res mesh and export that in obj format, although at the moment I'm out of town and I won't have access to it until Monday. :)
> My guess is that people who are afraid of "scary text editors" (because scripting is for superhuman geniuses?) are likely to give up long before they turn out a good quality level.
I'm going to have to object to this on the grounds that I'm an excellent coder, and spend most of my day inside a text editor and don't mind it at all. That being said, if I can edit most aspects of a game level without having to mess around with scripting, I'll enjoy it more. To put it another way, if I want to dabble in level editing (which is what gets a lot of people started), I'm going to be a lot more likely to do it if I can bring the level-editor up in-game and tweak things using a graphical tool than if I have to shut the game down, read a bunch of docs, fire up a text editor, write a bunch of code, figure out how and where to save that code, save it, shut down the text editor, and restart the game.
There's a common view in the FOSS world that I think hurts us sometimes, and that's that you aren't a worthwhile user if you don't dig through pages of documentation and use a command line or a text editor. There are a lot of people out there with talent for art and dialog and storytelling who aren't programmers, and if we're going to tap into those talents, we're going to need to provide these folks with tools that play to their talents instead of insisting that they learn to code.
And just to reiterate, I'm not saying that this is necessarily appropriate for *all* FOSS games, or even a majority of them. However, it would be good to see some FOSS games do this.
The big caveat with Freesound is that the default license is Sampling Plus, which isn't nearly as open as it sounds. However, most of the artists there are happy to release their work in a compatible license if you contact them.
Regarding the idea that a certain barrier to entry is good because it keeps down crappy submissions, I would tend to disagree, for two reasons:
* Things with a high barrier to entry are generally less fun and intuitive to use. The best interface is one where everything flows naturally enough that you can use it without thinking about it -- that way, you don't have to spend your time trying to find something that *should* be obvious. So by raising the barrier to entry, you're generally making things harder for your experienced users.
* No artist starts out making great work (or at least none that I've ever met). There's always going to be a learning curve, and if you can engage the people who have the desire to learn, they'll stick with your community and become excellent contributors. Furthermore, a rating system is a great way to avoid inundating your players with lower quality work. Have it show up in the "New" section for a day or two, and if it doesn't receive a good rating by then, put it somewhere more out of the way and make room up front for more popular content.
@Pompei
In general, I prefer in-game editors. Any time you can remove an unnecessary step (stopping the game, starting the editor, saving your map, stopping the editor, starting the game, loading your map), you're going to encourage people to make more content.
I also want to acknowledge that what I'm talking about here is hard. I'm not outright saying that every game ought to have an integrated content editor, particularly since if there's no game, there's nothing to create content for. As developers, our time is a limited resource, and we have to prioritize. Plus, you need some existing content to get people to even notice your game (as well as give your users some blocks to build with). But, if you're spending a lot of time on content creation, you might find that making an easy-to-use integrated content editor (complete with network support) actually *saves* you time in the long run.
Unfortunately, the ethanon engine isn't ported to Linux just yet... the code that it runs on top of doesn't support OpenGL at the moment, so it's tied to Windows. Too bad, too, because it looks amazing.
Just a heads up. www.cubecreate.com leads to a test page. You might want to instead forward it to cubecreate.com, which works. :)
Bart
Hey pfunked, can you re-link your blender template file for OSARE?
Here we go:
http://i.imgur.com/djOdp.jpg
The edgeloops are so-so at best. I think in general you ultimately have to retopo when you make a mesh that way, but I could be wrong. I might ask on the zbrush forum.
Well, it's very easy for me to convert it to a high-res mesh and export that in obj format, although at the moment I'm out of town and I won't have access to it until Monday. :)
> My guess is that people who are afraid of "scary text editors" (because scripting is for superhuman geniuses?) are likely to give up long before they turn out a good quality level.
I'm going to have to object to this on the grounds that I'm an excellent coder, and spend most of my day inside a text editor and don't mind it at all. That being said, if I can edit most aspects of a game level without having to mess around with scripting, I'll enjoy it more. To put it another way, if I want to dabble in level editing (which is what gets a lot of people started), I'm going to be a lot more likely to do it if I can bring the level-editor up in-game and tweak things using a graphical tool than if I have to shut the game down, read a bunch of docs, fire up a text editor, write a bunch of code, figure out how and where to save that code, save it, shut down the text editor, and restart the game.
There's a common view in the FOSS world that I think hurts us sometimes, and that's that you aren't a worthwhile user if you don't dig through pages of documentation and use a command line or a text editor. There are a lot of people out there with talent for art and dialog and storytelling who aren't programmers, and if we're going to tap into those talents, we're going to need to provide these folks with tools that play to their talents instead of insisting that they learn to code.
And just to reiterate, I'm not saying that this is necessarily appropriate for *all* FOSS games, or even a majority of them. However, it would be good to see some FOSS games do this.
The big caveat with Freesound is that the default license is Sampling Plus, which isn't nearly as open as it sounds. However, most of the artists there are happy to release their work in a compatible license if you contact them.
How's this?
http://i.imgur.com/RU50h.jpg
@Julius
Regarding the idea that a certain barrier to entry is good because it keeps down crappy submissions, I would tend to disagree, for two reasons:
* Things with a high barrier to entry are generally less fun and intuitive to use. The best interface is one where everything flows naturally enough that you can use it without thinking about it -- that way, you don't have to spend your time trying to find something that *should* be obvious. So by raising the barrier to entry, you're generally making things harder for your experienced users.
* No artist starts out making great work (or at least none that I've ever met). There's always going to be a learning curve, and if you can engage the people who have the desire to learn, they'll stick with your community and become excellent contributors. Furthermore, a rating system is a great way to avoid inundating your players with lower quality work. Have it show up in the "New" section for a day or two, and if it doesn't receive a good rating by then, put it somewhere more out of the way and make room up front for more popular content.
@Pompei
In general, I prefer in-game editors. Any time you can remove an unnecessary step (stopping the game, starting the editor, saving your map, stopping the editor, starting the game, loading your map), you're going to encourage people to make more content.
I also want to acknowledge that what I'm talking about here is hard. I'm not outright saying that every game ought to have an integrated content editor, particularly since if there's no game, there's nothing to create content for. As developers, our time is a limited resource, and we have to prioritize. Plus, you need some existing content to get people to even notice your game (as well as give your users some blocks to build with). But, if you're spending a lot of time on content creation, you might find that making an easy-to-use integrated content editor (complete with network support) actually *saves* you time in the long run.
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