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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:16
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Yeah, I know, it's been rather quiet around here of late, so here is a brief synopsis of how, why, and what we are doing.
As you all know, I suffered from another 'bout with my own personal demon, Pancreatitus. Not fun, and it incapacitated me for a couple months.
I'm back from that now, but I am not the only member of the team who's suffering from real life dilemmas.
Dale, our stalwart code leader, who picked up where our previous code master left off, has seen his personal time dwindle to near-nonexistence, by virtue of a big promotion from work (Go Dale!) 
Further, our forums are still down, and we're not entirely sure when we will be getting them back (we believe it is possible, but again, real life time pressures on the folks who have access to the corrupted databases are the reason for the continued delay.
Further still, not long after my recovery from the above, I "popped the question" to the girl of my dreams, and she said yes, so there's a wedding in my future (slated for this coming October).
All of that combines to leave us in what first appears to be a bad position.
Rest assured that this is not the case.
It'll be a while, but we have discussed our options privately, and have agreed upon a course of action. I believe it to be a good one.
As soon as I get the upcoming wedding funded and paid for, my intention is to seek out a coder and pay that person from my own pocket to work on Candle'Bre.
I'll be able to afford $250.00 (USD) per month for said person. Now I grant you...finding someone in the States to work on the game for that price would not get me anyone "full-time," however, some folks who have been following the game's progress have told me that in other countries, this would actually be a good salary.
This then, is the heart and soul of the plan.
In the meantime (while I'm busy funding the upcoming happy wedding event), there's plenty of stuff we CAN be doing, including a rules re-write (necessary for when we bring someone new onboard, and long overdue in any case), continuing to refine the event engine, and continuing to polish and expand the art for the game.
I said at the outset that I was willing to do most anything to see that we cross the finish line, and as soon as I am in a position to do so, I'll be putting my money where my mouth is, in that regard.
Details about our quest for a coder will be forthcoming as we draw closer to the time.
At present, what we know is that we'll be collecting resumes, having them reviewed by our code savvy members of the team (as well as reviewing prior work of all the coders who are interested), and we'll be having a competition involving creating something FOR the game that all the finalists participate in as they compete for the job.
Just didn't want you guys to think we were dead....we're not.
Not by a longshot. 
-=Vel=-
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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:16
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Well good sir, if we ultimately fail in our quest, it won't be for lack of trying like a bunch of Hellions! 
Seriously, there is no doubt in my mind that we WILL cross the finish line. It has taken us so much longer than I ever anticipated (should have paid closer attention to Mark, Ron, and the rest when they were telling me THAT!), but despite the vast amount of time and all the hurdles we've faced (and perhaps BECAUSE of them)...my belief that we'll cross the finish line is as strong as it ever was.
And Thor! Thanks for the link! I had not heard of them yet, but I'll surely check it out!
To those readers out there who are beginning to lose faith and heart...bear with us. We've not come this far for nothing, and as SOON as I'm in a financial position to do so, we'll do something that, to my knowledge, no other indie project featured on 'poly has done, we'll mix our volunteer talent with paid talent, paid from my own pocket, and we WILL get there...
-=Vel=-
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hexagonian
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Gnawing on your mind...
Jun 1999
time: 23:16
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Well, I'm not going anywhere...
This is where the artwork stands. Conceptually, the artwork is done (UI screens, maps, buttons, buildings, units, leaderpics, messageboxes, and eye candy screens). And it is all created and in a layered format.
All that remains is to finetune the art in relation to where all the text will go, and what text will appear on each screen. This is minor work, that can be done in an afternoon.
But I cannot do any of this until I see the game in action as an alpha build. So my part in this project is on a holding pattern. And I'm the type of person who, although having successfully Modded gamefiles in the past, is really not suited for conceptualizing and analyzing how all the various game elements will work together. I generally have to see the game in action (and play it too) to be able to put it all together.
(AG and Vel are the geniuses in that dept)
I've said it before privately - without the programming, this game goes nowhere. We have tried to do this via volunteer without success - because coding and programming is the least glamorous, most time-intensive part of the job of creating a game.
Frankly, I'm glad that Vel has taken on the responsibility of paying a coder because this may be the only way it'll ever get done.
So the ball is back in his court. I do not worry about it getting done, because this project is driven by his passion (more so than the rest of us).
Just get your life settled Vel. The game will get done when it gets done. And with what has happened to you over the past 2 months, you have more than enough on your plate.
Life is much more important than a computer game...
Last edited by hexagonian on 21-12-2004 at 05:18
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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:16
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Master Hex!
Thank you for the vote of confidence! (although, a point of clarification for the readers in this forum, AG is the genius, and I am the "Jean-A$$" )
I know that FreeCiv got a huge anonymous donation, and that this has enabled them to hire a coder, but to my knowledge, we're the first Indie project I've seen on 'poly to actually begin to blur the lines, with plans to hire someone to work on a specific area.
Then again, I've said from the start that we're doing this our own way...that means blazing a few trails, so break out the axes and machete, cos here we go!
Time-frame:
The Wedding is in October (exact date not yet known). I'll not be in a position to actively start saving for the wedding till the end of February, so that means, beginning in March, and running till the end of September, I've got seven months to put together $8000.00, from a cold start. Guess I'd better keep my downstairs renter happy!
Three months in the rest of '05 (Oct - Dec), and at least one of those will be needed to pay for misc. expenses involving the combining of our two households, so IF I can do it more quickly than January '06, it'll only be by a matter of 1-2 months more quickly.
Based on that, I think the estimate of January '06 before I am in a position to start paying someone is a sound one. A bit far off, to be sure, and there are a number of things that could affect it (like if I get one of my books to a traditional publishing house, for example). And, there's no shortage of stuffage I can be doing in the meantime.
So hang tight gang....we'll get ourselves in a position where we can start putting the wraps on this thing....well, that'll make it the "end of the beginning" anyways...
-=Vel=-
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Leland
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Hmm, just out of curiosity, if someone were interested in volunteering for programming duties in near future, what kind of talent would be required? C++ for sure, but what else in particular? What libraries and such are being used? Are there any convenient "chunks" that one could take care of, or is the whole thing still in an early phase where you are figuring out the architecture and how to put the stuff together?
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ouch!
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Australia
Jul 2001
time: 15:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Leland
Hmm, just out of curiosity, if someone were interested in volunteering for programming duties in near future, what kind of talent would be required? C++ for sure, but what else in particular? What libraries and such are being used? Are there any convenient "chunks" that one could take care of, or is the whole thing still in an early phase where you are figuring out the architecture and how to put the stuff together? |
Hi Leland,
The main libraries we are using are...
For the interface:
DirectX for graphics and FMOD for sound.
For the game logic:
tinyXML for data description and Lua for logic description.
We have the architecture figured out and there are many chunks of various sizes that could be divided up.
Presently we have the project's workload split between presentation and logic.
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LDiCesare
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La Ferté sous Jouarre France
Jan 2001
time: 05:16
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Good luck with finding a (good) coder, Vel. I'm not sure how much coder time you can hire for that amount, but you can probably get something done. You might try to use students in computer schools, but I'm afraid they wouldn't produce very good code (I know one school in France where I trust students to program cirrectly, but most new coders just don't code well). You'll probably be able to find someone in India or China, or maybe even Poland.
I promise to apply should I get fired.
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19-12-2004 01:52
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