as a single developer (that is, mainly a programmer), my resources are very limited and i don't have the time,
nor the experience in all fields of dev., to create the games i'd love to create.
i have some good ideas for larger projects but there's no way i could finish all the gfx,sfx,music etc..

this forces me to produce smaller games with low amount of content, like puzzles etc., but there are already so many puzzle games out there it's not funny anymore,
and every month/year players expect a higher standard of technology, more features in games and so on, so i think in the long term i will not be happy,
and not successful with selling small games (but don't get me wrong, i know that even a small project can be fun and challenging enough to finish).

the only ways to escape this would be to get help from some talented friends in my area (which i don't have), or hire some artists online which is not easy (will they really do the good work i want them to do? will they quit after a few weeks? too expensive? etc.).


the only positive thing i can see at the moment is that, unlike many others, i know my limits and don't try to create too huge projects. i'd like to get some opinions here, especially from people who too started out alone. did or do you plan to hire some people for later projects?
or will you continue alone with smaller projects; will those smaller games sell at all in a few years?



thanks for the new forums, at first it's hard to read and find all the threads, but i really like it :)

While there will always be a market for great games with crap graphics it's a shrinking pond. It's about time programmers who can't draw faced the reality that they're in a development that requires another kind of skill.

There's no harm in sharing the workload with someone who's good at what they do. A lot of people lament the loss of the one-man-band but in just about every other aspect of human achievement it's been shown that two brains are far, far better than one. With the input of an artist perhaps a game will be "four times better".



Cas :)

I think if you're in the indie biz you should learn to draw/model/render. Hiring artists is great, but if I absolutely had to I could do the graphics, sound effects and music and still produce reasonbly high production values. Indie game development is a jack-of-all trades kind of thing.

I personally think there will always be room for someone clever to fill a niche on their own. Sometimes it might mean doing your game in a clever stylistic way. If you can only draw in crayons like a child? Well then how about a game that looks like it takes place in a child's coloring book... and so on...

- Steve

One man can still create a great game, although it will be much easier for a team or a duo to do so. Problem is to find partners who have the right mixture of commitment to the project, talent and chimestry with each other.

I would have never come this far with my game unless I was able to hire a graphic artist. I have great programming skills, but my graphic skills are a perfect example for what they call "programmers art".

Sure, I spent more money than most do, but the experience, commitment, talent and quality of work were worth every dime i spent. I think it was a great desicion hiring a graphic artist.

I think the days of the lone programmer with little artistic ability are drawing to a close; even casual gamers have come to expect a certain level of quality that goes beyond programmer art or even average quality art. With the rise of decent game engines, I think it's still possible for a lone, artistically-inclined person to make great games on his/her own. There may still be a few years left for games with average production values, but the future of game development sits with the artists, which IMO is the way it should be. And, since I'm one of those programmers with little artistic ability, I'm actively searching out more artistically-inclined partners. :)

Originally posted by svero
If you can only draw in crayons like a child? Well then how about a game that looks like it takes place in a child's coloring book... and so on...

- Steve

That reminds me of some game I saw a few years ago. Quite funny.

http://www.digipen.edu/gallery/studentpages/alumni/1999/FrankW/s3dk76.htm

I just "hired" an artist who I think I can work with.

The reason I'm interested in working with an artist, is simply because they "see" things differently than a programmer.

That kind of vision can really help a product gel.

I'm hoping it turns out as well as I think it can.

I dont think one man bands are dead though. Dedication will show through no matter what. Most one man bands simply dont know which way to go is all.

Phil.

Originally posted by Nexis
That reminds me of some game I saw a few years ago. Quite funny.

http://www.digipen.edu/gallery/studentpages/alumni/1999/FrankW/s3dk76.htm

Hehe... wow... just what I was thinking. Actually I was thinking of this one episode of the great cartoon Dexter's Lab which was done all stylistically in kids drawings.

There are games that their poor/simple graphics are actually their main feature/gimmik.

take "Stick soliders" or "pencil whipped" for examples.

but you cant get away with that all of the time...

Originally posted by gilzu
There are games that their poor/simple graphics are actually their main feature/gimmik.
but you cant get away with that all of the time...

Or even most of the time: making poor looking graphics "work" still requires some skill. Even if the intent is to use simple graphics as a feature, they still have to be aesthetically pleasing (as contradictory as that sounds) and coherent. To take an example from the film industry, The Blair Witch Project got a lot of attention because of its seemingly amateur camera work, but it was actually carefully done to achieve an amateur look. If I tried to make that movie, it probably would be a huge flop. :)

Originally posted by kerchen
Or even most of the time: making poor looking graphics "work" still requires some skill. Even if the intent is to use simple graphics as a feature, they still have to be aesthetically pleasing (as contradictory as that sounds) and coherent. To take an example from the film industry, The Blair Witch Project got a lot of attention because of its seemingly amateur camera work, but it was actually carefully done to achieve an amateur look. If I tried to make that movie, it probably would be a huge flop. :)

exactly.
this shows that good/bad graphic can help the game ONLY if you know how to use it well. you can have the most outstanding graphics and not make use of it, and well, you got the contradicting side well enough.

so having a great music/sfx/graphic/concept is not enough to make the game to a success.

If you hunt around there are plently of sprite, sound, music, 3D model and texture libraries that can be purchased (license free) for fairly cheap. I find it's easier to edit existing work to suit my needs than to create it from scratch.

If you could amass a budget of even $500 - $1000 dollars you could easily set yourself up with everything you need to produce many games without having to deal with contracts.

There are free resources too, although the quality is questionable and license issues can be dodgy - even if they claim "license free".

I guess I'm coming at this from another angle. I'm an artist that taught himself to program.

I think one man teams will always be around. I think there will be fewer in the future though because of the massive amount of time, dedication, and constant study it takes to be a really good programmer and a really good artist.

I've been very seriously into art since I was 4 years old and I've worked in commercial games as an artist for about 11 years. On the other hand I've only been programming seriously for about 5 years, in my spare time. So, needless to say my programming skills are far behind my art skills, and probably always will be somewhat behind. But, I intend to keep studying programming and improving. My programming skills currently are up to writing most types of games.

For those that are determined to go it alone and are willing to put in the time to be good at art and programming I think it will always be possible to work alone.

Remember Joe Spark's creation, Radiskull and devil doll? They were flash animations featured on shockwave.com. He used ultra-simple graphics to great effect and since he's also a musician (and I'm guessing a fan of the beasty boys) he put together these awesome animations.

Granted, it's not a game, just a series of flash animations, but my point is that sometimes work from one-man teams can be especially charming.

They will always be around. A decent modeler and musician with minimal scripting skills could make a great but simple blitz basic game.