Hmm, I was wondering and probably most of you guys may shoot this idea down; but I just had an idea that should make the community come together...hopefully. Anyway, I was thinking that many click members if not all (the prominent ones at least), make a game together as a team effort. If something like that happens, I think it should be an epic game and I do understand its difficult to coordinate such a thing but its definitely possible. I dont know, I think if it does happen it will be great. One way of doing it could be to create teams and each team then makes one level or a certain aspect of the game. I dont know. Just throwing an idea out there
It's being done every year or so. Different projects, different leaders, different people, but it all ends up the same. The leader loses focus, the troops also lose focus, then the whole project collapses.
Or most of the time klikers have very different ideas about how things should go. Some klikers like a certain type of gameplay, the others **hate** games like that (pong, platformer, strategy, RPG, whatever) and quit.
You're welcome to try at the idea again
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
It could work, if there were the proper environment available. My understanding of team projects is that they fail because it's apparently quite hard to maintain communication effectively, or hard to keep files syncronised and such. I've never done a team klik project, but I have worked with other people in a collaboration. The secret isn't in having to maintain a contact list with AIM or MSN or whatever, it's in a much simpler, older technology: IRC.
IRC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irc
Ventrilo (or other similar clients) can also work, but not everyone may have mics/headsets and moderating actual noise may be a doozy.
So everyone is able to communicate with each other now, but you're still unable to keep files and such together. There are several ways to get around this. IRC can allow you to share files via DCC (direct client-to-client), though it only works between two people instead of being open to the channel. (DCC also promotes piracy, so many colleges prevent IRC connections. Servers may also have DCC turned off to prevent legal troubles.)
There's also this handy thing by Google, called Google Code: ( http://code.google.com/ ) You're limited to starting 10 projects, though. You can use one project to host several different downloads, so you'd effectively be able to turn one project into an SVN. You can add extra people to your project, too.
There's also something called Dropbox. ( https://www.getdropbox.com/ ) I don't remember how it works or if it's free, but I know that some friends of mine use it (in conjunction with IRC) to collaborate on their music and share StarCraft maps.
And then if you need to test multiplayer (over a LAN), you can use Hamachi. Hamachi basically spoofs a LAN connection over the internet, so it's a good way to implement LAN-based gaming if you want that in your game. It probably wouldn't work so well if you're testing an MMO.
1. The leader must be organized.
2. Make a project page so that all of the members have a way of communication.
3. Have each member work on different aspects of the game at the same time.
Organization is the key, because if one does not have a guide to go by then it is easy to lose focus on the project. My suggestion is having everything for the game written down before even making the group and then hire positions for each job needed.
I think working together with so many members who each have their own ideas and inspiration about what makes a good game would be hard to organise and get underway but I guess it could be possible however I think it may be lots easier if everyone gathered together and had a tdcjam thing as that might help I think for such a large project consisting of so many people.
Originally Posted by Yami 2. Make a project page so that all of the members have a way of communication.
Realtime chatting, such as provided by IRC, is more effective to tell everyone (or whoever is in the channel) something. Forums are useful for getting a message out when everyone is offline or as the guideline. They both have their strengths, but I think more group projects would be successful if project members used IRC (or group chatting functions in MSN or AIM). Clearly, I prefer IRC.
I think it would be helpful for these sorts of things (large projects, but also all projects) if a project had in addition to public and private forums there was a chatroom only for project members. It wouldn't need to detect whether the person logged in was a member of the project because the project pages already filter people from the private forums so it could be stored in there.
On another note, how does the DC Chat thing log you in? Programming-wise? I'm curious.
From all the things said here I think it boils down to this:
1. Have both an IRC channel and a forum (IRC for quicker discussions an a forum since you can't expect people to constantly be available on IRC). Have scheduled meetings on IRC and if someone still can't make it, post the main conclusions from the meeting on the forum.
2. Have some brainstorming in the beginning of the project, deciding on the design and such, and then each members gets a task and THAT'S IT, otherwise someone will always think his idea is better in someone else's field.
3. Having a server with all resources available and have a build of the game updated daily, so even while each person has his own field you know where you're going.
All those things, of course, require someone to collaborate all that, maybe it's even best he has nothing to do with the development itself or at least not a major role, so everything will always work properly and won't fall apart due to poor communication.
LOL. As it is, I'm sure figuring out the right method to even begin with is going to take a few weeks
I think the real trick is for you to find people who think in the same way as you. After that, it'll be natural.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
I agree with M. There's so much thats needs to be done but I still maintain its possible especially after the ideas you guys have presented. But first, we need someone who's really committed to the cause and is really experienced in mmf. I for one, unfortunately, am not that good though I have been a member of this community for a while now.