> http://opengameart.org/ seems to be a neat effort to provide that kind of public ___domain art.
I like OpenGameArt and I hope to see it really prosper but right now it's still relatively small, at the industry scale.
I wonder if something like OpenGameArt could disrupt how smaller/indie games are made if it grew to a critical mass of art assets. Certainly, a clever developer can do a lot with what's already there, but imagine if there were dozens upon dozens of complete, consistent sets of art covering everything you might need to make a game of a given genre there. Perhaps we'd get a lot of identical-looking games competing on mechanics alone for the right to be the "definitive" game to use this or that tileset, sprite set, etc. I wouldn't mind seeing that.
>They helped create and grow a market that the developers of RPG Maker now successfully sell to via Steam and other audiences with the latest versions of their product
Looks like it's played out like a Microsoft-type strategy for them, whether deliberately or not. A lot of kids from who cut their teeth on doing horrible things to pirated copies of Windows 9x, NT 4.0 or 2000 are now Microsoft's paying customers. I think Gates talks about this in an interview somewhere.
>A Blurred Line's developer was snapped up by Turbine to work on games like LOTRO
That's good to hear. Although it probably means that the rumors of him secretly developing a remake/continuation of A Blurred Line are not to materialize.
>I look back on the year or two I spent helping run rpgmaker.net pretty fondly, even if they were a harsh introduction to the real nature of the internet (remember eFront?)
I participated in smaller, "local" RPG Maker communities and was mostly read-only in the larger ones but they were a constant source of discussion, art assets, tips and, of course, new games. With that in mind I have to thank you for contributing your part. It was certainly an interesting environment for a young aspiring game developer to be in.
On a sad note, too bad all such communities (and I don't just mean individual website or forums) eventually peter out. I feel that a lot of game development expertise disappears with them. Maybe a constantly evolving (free and open source?) game making tool could gather a similar community around it that would then last longer.
I like OpenGameArt and I hope to see it really prosper but right now it's still relatively small, at the industry scale.
I wonder if something like OpenGameArt could disrupt how smaller/indie games are made if it grew to a critical mass of art assets. Certainly, a clever developer can do a lot with what's already there, but imagine if there were dozens upon dozens of complete, consistent sets of art covering everything you might need to make a game of a given genre there. Perhaps we'd get a lot of identical-looking games competing on mechanics alone for the right to be the "definitive" game to use this or that tileset, sprite set, etc. I wouldn't mind seeing that.
>They helped create and grow a market that the developers of RPG Maker now successfully sell to via Steam and other audiences with the latest versions of their product
Looks like it's played out like a Microsoft-type strategy for them, whether deliberately or not. A lot of kids from who cut their teeth on doing horrible things to pirated copies of Windows 9x, NT 4.0 or 2000 are now Microsoft's paying customers. I think Gates talks about this in an interview somewhere.
>A Blurred Line's developer was snapped up by Turbine to work on games like LOTRO
That's good to hear. Although it probably means that the rumors of him secretly developing a remake/continuation of A Blurred Line are not to materialize.
>I look back on the year or two I spent helping run rpgmaker.net pretty fondly, even if they were a harsh introduction to the real nature of the internet (remember eFront?)
I participated in smaller, "local" RPG Maker communities and was mostly read-only in the larger ones but they were a constant source of discussion, art assets, tips and, of course, new games. With that in mind I have to thank you for contributing your part. It was certainly an interesting environment for a young aspiring game developer to be in.
On a sad note, too bad all such communities (and I don't just mean individual website or forums) eventually peter out. I feel that a lot of game development expertise disappears with them. Maybe a constantly evolving (free and open source?) game making tool could gather a similar community around it that would then last longer.
Edit: expanded last paragraph.