New Press Release

[Second]

Truth is, we're just a bunch of geeks that want to make a "quest for glory"ish adventure game.  I don't know why anyone would see the need to trumpet on about any specific member's abilities to the visitors.

Hahah, that's awesome! I was quite hesitant with posting (as you noticed, there was a three month gap between my post and the "press release"). It may not be an easy situation you are in right now, but it's superb that you have an easygoing view on it

The "creative dictator" who wrote that press release was booted from the team some months ago.  I feel like we've come back down to earth now that he's gone, but I think the project has never been in such a disarray.

Oh no, and nobody told us - that's horrible - and I mean the "creative dictator" situation, not the disarray

I blame the lack of public communication on distrust.  You can never tell the quality of each member. ... Large projects get complicated and do require some form of leadership.  Unfortunately, there are some leaders who like to toot their own horn rather than bring substance to the table.

Yea, and it's not always about major personality clashes, fighting and distrust either - getting to the point where a person can rely on him- or herself to turn out content as promised is just as much a private psychological situation. Some people learn how to motivate themselves right away, some need more practice. Some never learn, which is a shame. You surely know what I'm talking about.

Lastly, I hope you won't take any offense in me issuing forth an idea, though: As far as production workflow goes, have you guys ever experimented with a members-only wiki? It takes a while to set one up (this is usually the hardest part, as there's no wiki without materials and the manpower - could take months, easily), but once you get the materials set up, it becomes increasingly easy to introduce new members to the existing data - and better yet, to add new content. Similarly, the game vision slowly becomes etched in the minds of the readers and contributors. Hyperlinks really add that additional edge to normal storyboards and documents, for instance. It's so easy when you can just paste an URL to a newcomer instead of explaining everything from head to toes - and the time spent explaining rudimentary features can be spent on explaining something more important.

Are you guys in a position to talk about your current (and previous) team members setup? I'd be interested in hearing how you guys have been working like so far. If you think this is confidential (NDA! NDA! NDA!), it's okay

[PHattiE]

we've been talking about setting up a wiki for several months now .  I think it's a good idea, but for some reason we never got around to it....  too much work setting one up I guess =/

I think if I were to start a project of my own, I would keep it a small team and have everyone install "BeInSync".  This tool basically makes a folder(s) on your computer be shareable across any invited computer(s) you chose.  It's perfect because if I copy my art into a speciifc folder, it automatically pushes it up to all the other team member's computers;  don't even need a website to share work.  Everything is local

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say much about the current situation (I am sure there are some members who think I've said too much already).  In the past we had a private website (custom built) which had links to each of the project's sections (art,music,programming, etc).  Each section had a forum, a map, news, etc. (see screenshots below)

I think having the sections split up like this might not have worked so well.  It gets to the point where you are only viewing a specific section (such as just going to the art section if you're an artist),  and you start to lose touch with the rest of the team.

Here's a screen shot when you login:


Here's the art section (with a popup window of what happens when you click on a screen in the map- you can basically upload the art for that scene):

[Swift]

Darkseed's helping us install the wiki. He'd have done it sooner but there were certain unexpected delays.

[Second]

I hope nobody in the team feels their trade secrets have been spilled out like beans - I just find it hard to contain myself whenever there is a possibility of talking about organizing workflow and team communications in general, it's fascinating!

I think with a project like Hero6 - one with an immense amount of history and work behind it, the most complications may occur in maintaining the whole, the entirety - everything that is potentially laying around (online, on hard drives, in the minds of team members). I'm happy to hear you guys keep on going. PHattiE's suggestion of "BeInSync", too, sounds like a very interesting application for any kind of project. I had yet to hear of this program and am excited about it, personally I feel the more a production environment resembles a local area network the better. A sense of immediacy is a great thing. In any case, the setup you guys have seems more than just potent! Man, I've never seen a web setup as lavish and customized as that, you guys are more than 100% equipped technically.

I'm sorry to digress so, but as far as wikis go, I personally adore Pie immensely. The developer is more hands-on than most and I've had several requests implemented in the software already, but for such a big project like you guys are running, it may prove too simplified. MediaWiki has come to be synonymous with wikis anyway, so I assume you guys are going for that?

[Rulic]

Phattie, thanks for making me drool over those screenies.  I know I haven't posted because I don't want to do the typical "peek in-peek out" post (which this may turn into).  Granted you said you may phase that format of data out, but nevertheless its given me enough to respark an interest in giving you guys a pat on the back about getting stuff put together.  Its amazing how the most random of cookies you throw at the kids will still make eyes twinkle.
Yeah, actually I emailed Servant a couple of weeks ago for the purpose of seeing if there's any odds and ends tasks that an average joe can do for the team but I'm sure you know how the reply went.
Anyhoo...
As a visitor I know I don't have productive input, but I will say that you guys are still doing a splendid job regardless of the setbacks. 

[lazygamer]

You said it man.  I hate game projects that take themselves too seriously.  Anyone with an interest and enough time can make an adventure game now days.  Issuing "press releases" just makes you sound self conceited and special.  Truth is, we're just a bunch of geeks that want to make a "quest for glory"ish adventure game.  I don't know why anyone would see the need to trumpet on about any specific member's abilities to the visitors.

The problem with projects and open memberships, is that you get a wide variety of different people who have different ideas about how things should be done.  The "creative dictator" who wrote that press release was booted from the team some months ago.  I feel like we've come back down to earth now that he's gone, but I think the project has never been in such a disarray.  There is virtually NO public communication between the team anymore (the member's site is no longer used).  At the same time, work is definitely being done by some dedicated members... that work is shared privately now between select few over IM.

I'm surprised to hear you guys booted Servant. I didn't feel there was anything wrong with his press release though. It seemed very professional and corporate and that seemed appropriate considering Servant's background. Rather than thinking he was conceited I thought "wow this guy means business and is really going to get this project going". Sadly, I was wrong though.

I gotta give you credit Phattie, you've been with this project for a long time and you still haven't given up that is very cool.

[blandish]

Hey!  First Post.

I'm very excited to hear their is still development happening on QFG type games.  My absolute favourite.  I haven't heard of BeInSync before, but what I use for my development projects is a free program called "TortoiseSVN".  It works quite well for keeping all the development files in sync with the team.

Also, if you guys are looking for programmers, let me know and I'll fire a resume.  I would love to contribute to this game.

I'm excited to follow the development of this.

Cheers guys!