Linux Game Company Opens Doors [LWN.net]

Linux Game Company Opens Doors

Posted Nov 7, 2007 1:13 UTC (Wed) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227)
Parent article: Linux Game Company Opens Doors

I'm going to agree with everyone else so far.  This game's ransom should be, at tops, maybe
$1000.  $40,000 is insane for this project.  I've seen people crap out more involved and
visually appealing games in a semester long "Making Games 101" at community college.  :/

I mean, if this game were complete (and not just, as the project page implies, only a partial
collection of the game's chapters), I could see paying $5 for this.  And even that's a hard
bargain considering that you can get some of the unbelievably awesome NWN modules for barely
more than that (and NWN as a whole costing only $20 with expansions these days).  So at $5,
you'd need 8,000 people to want to play 8 measely chapters of this game for this pledge to
ever work.  Given the apparent quality of the game and the abundant competition from already
Free games, I can't see this working.

I'm a bit disappointed, too.  After reading the summary, I thought we might have had an
actually good game development house on our hands.  Looks like instead we have the development
(and economic) skills of a pair of 13-year-olds, which we already have quite a few of in the
free games community.  Oh well.

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Linux Game Company Opens Doors

Posted Nov 7, 2007 4:10 UTC (Wed) by alan (subscriber, #4018) [Link]

You're comparing the $20 per-copy cost of NWN to the total amount of $40k for this game
project?  The free software community is awfully large, if 40k individual people looked at
this game and decided to donate $1 and never played anything other than the demo levels, then
this project would be successful.  There are people that will donate simply because of what
this project is trying to accomplish.

I agree with the idea that this "ransom" model is worth exploring.  It may prove useful for
other kinds of software, not just games.

As for this particular project, if the game sucks, people may still peruse the code and look
for ways to improve it.  Thats the idea anyway.

Linux Game Company Opens Doors

Posted Nov 7, 2007 5:55 UTC (Wed) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227) [Link]

"You're comparing the $20 per-copy cost of NWN to the total amount of $40k for this game
project?"

Sure, and why not? I'm not talking about development costs or initial sales figures. Right
now, today, you can get ancient technology in a very long game with a toolkit and still
vibrant user community (NWN) for $20 a copy, or you can donate a few bucks to get pre-historic
technology in a short and incomplete game and get source that probably isn't all that
interesting or novel.

"I agree with the idea that this "ransom" model is worth exploring."

For this, I agree very much. I was very excited when I read that was how they were
approaching this game. I just dont't think that this particular work is worth a third of what
they're asking.

I'd be far more interesting in ransoming a more modern engine with a toolkit and/or reusable
game art and audio assets (which is what we Free Software coders tend to need more of - we
have plenty of code, but little data to use with that code, and starting a new project when
you have no models, textures, or other assets to use for even testing is a huge show stopper
for many).

"As for this particular project, if the game sucks, people may still peruse the code and look
for ways to improve it. Thats the idea anyway."

There are a billion Free games with similar premises. Physics-based space shooters are
nothing new. If you want code to hack on, why put out money for it?

I'm all for supporting the community with my dollars, and I have and will again donate to
projects that I feel are a benefit, but this just isn't one of them. That the press release
even compares this game's usefulness to the community with Blender or Ryzom is kind of silly.

Linux Game Company Opens Doors

Posted Nov 8, 2007 12:55 UTC (Thu) by zotz (guest, #26117) [Link]

"I agree with the idea that this "ransom" model is worth exploring.  It may prove useful for
other kinds of software, not just games."

Oh, I think it couldwork for a lot more than just games or even just software.

I can see it working for movies, music, photographs, whatever.

all the best,

drew

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