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Geek Culture / Making your own game company

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Beast E Gargoyle
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Location: Sunny San Diego, CA
Posted: 21st Mar 2008 03:46 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 16:33
hey,

We'll my friend and I were hashing out what are the best ways to start your own game comany. Okay, so let me give you a list and add and subtract as we go.
KEY POINTS-
*Need all major positions filled as follows: need 1 music composer, a programmer, a character modeller/ animator, level modeller/ builder, a team represenative does buisness for the basement studio, and a company mascot.
*Next you need money to pay each team member for the couple year project
*You need to decide before you start any game which genre your striving for
*You need to advertise your comapany and make a name for your company with the type of games you make( the first game will really show if your talents are paying off with the genre of game you designed)
*A original and brillant story for the game(s)
*gameplay needs to work great and keep the player wanting to finish the game and not abandond it
*Lots of free time and mountain dew, amp, vault, surge
*A clear mind and determinded attitude
*promtness and persuasiveness with directing the project
*A solid computer ready to tackle endless nights excuting the build and playing through a level just to find out 1 bug

More to come as I can think of more. This is just a rough sketch too and not a concrete plan as stated. ALthough, i thought i'd post on the subject because I'm trying to make a basement game company. All the best,
Beastegargoyle

Streets of Rage the best 3d beat em up ever check out the wip on apollo forums!
The Last Great Swordsmen Wip here http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124414&b=19
Michael S
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Location: Why do you ask?
Posted: 21st Mar 2008 04:12
You do realize that team requests are not allowed on TGC.


Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 04:12
Quote: "Next you need money to pay each team member for the couple year project"


Or you just hire slaves, like MISoft.

Quote: "A solid computer ready to tackle endless nights excuting the build and playing through a level just to find out 1 bug
"


You're gonna have alot more than 1 bug, and you better make sure you have more than 1 computer for all your crew to work and test with

Quote: "Lots of free time and mountain dew"


What if I don't like Mountain Dew?

Quote: "A original and brillant story for the game(s)"


Better make sure you and your crew don't foul up the brilliant storyline with crappy gameplay

Beast E Gargoyle
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 04:18 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 04:20
Yeah left out the gameplay plan will add. Dude this is not a team requets but like agent dink stated a thread to settle which way to found a game company is best.

Streets of Rage the best 3d beat em up ever check out the wip on apollo forums!
The Last Great Swordsmen Wip here http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124414&b=19
Mobiius
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 04:25
The best way is to create a game which people like, then sell it. Then make a bigger game and ask someone to help. Sell it for more.
And so on and so on, until your a huge company with many offices!

3700+ Athlon 64 - Geforce 7600 GS - 2GbDDR2 RAM - 40Gb Hdd (In this pc) - Windows Vista Ultimate (x86)
xplosys
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 04:42
Quote: "The best way is to create a game which people like, then sell it. Then make a bigger game and ask someone to help. Sell it for more.
And so on and so on, until your a huge company with many offices!
"


That's pretty much the way it works.

Best.

Sid Sinister
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 07:37
Quote: "You do realize that team requests are not allowed on TGC."


He wasn't posting a team request...

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
-Computer Animation Major @Baker.edu-
Megaton Cat
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 08:17
Dear Beast E Gargoyle

It's my displeasure to inform you that I've read through your forum post and could not find a hint of satire or sarcasm, therefore leaving me with no choice but to believe you're actually serious.

C-

Formerly known as Megaton Cat
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 10:41 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 10:42
Hot tip: 1 good coder and 1 good artist, buy music and sound as needed. No salaries, just split the costs and earnings.

[center]
Blobby 101
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 10:45
@dink: is MiSoft a Real Company Then? as in, your registered? i've always wondered that...


thanks to deathead for the sig! please Click on it!
SunnyKatt
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 13:36
I dont think he means real.

We can't ALL be Chris Taylor.

5867Dude
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 14:52
Quote: "@dink: is MiSoft a Real Company Then? as in, your registered? i've always wondered that..."

The first thing that comes up when I search for MiSoft is <icrosoft. I guess thats a real company
LOL


Was Cool Kid
Jimmy
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 15:33
Quote: "It's my displeasure to inform you that I've read through your forum post and could not find a hint of satire or sarcasm, therefore leaving me with no choice but to believe you're actually serious."


So... sassyyyy

"Oh hey, nice website Jimmy, it's really nice and fancy." -- That C++ Nerd
Visit. Website. NOW!
kaedroho
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 15:55 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 16:05
Turbogames tick most the boxes

Quote: "*Need all major positions filled as follows: need 1 music composer, a programmer, a character modeller/ animator, level modeller/ builder, a team represenative does buisness for the basement studio, and a company mascot."


Yep (but no actual studio or mascot)

Quote: "*Next you need money to pay each team member for the couple year project"


Yep (sort of)
Quote: "*You need to advertise your comapany and make a name for your company with the type of games you make( the first game will really show if your talents are paying off with the genre of game you designed)"


Our games are made for performance hense "Turbo" and the name also comes from Turbodog, our website (http://www.turbodog.co.uk)

Quote: "*A original and brillant story for the game(s)"


Sorted

Quote: "*gameplay needs to work great and keep the player wanting to finish the game and not abandond it"


Pretty good actually

Quote: "*Lots of free time and mountain dew"


I have lots of free time but no mountain dew

Quote: "*A clear mind and determinded attitude"


Yep

Quote: "*promtness and persuasiveness with directing the project"


I hope so

Quote: "*A solid computer ready to tackle endless nights excuting the build and playing through a level just to find out 1 bug"


Yep

Megaton Cat
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 16:09
Those tips are all nice and sweet, but it's got nothing to do with making a "game company".

Formerly known as Megaton Cat
Beast E Gargoyle
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 16:30 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 16:31
We'll I made this list while talking with a friend at Taco Bell from a 5hr session of being bored working the closing shift. Although, I was serious about some of the finer gameplay point's because he(Chris at work) says if I can code a game I should start my own game company, but I'm stating it takes alittle more than 1 person to make a game company. I apprecaite all the thoughts and keep them coming. I started the thread to make a final list, please add points if you want, and show it to him that more people than me think it's hard to start a buisness alone or with a freind if you don't already have thousands of dollars. Best,
Beastegargoyle

Streets of Rage the best 3d beat em up ever check out the wip on apollo forums!
The Last Great Swordsmen Wip here http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124414&b=19
tha_rami
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 16:33
MISoft is getting to 'as real as it gets'. The real name is MISoft studios, by the way.


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Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 16:50
MISoft at this point isnt a registered company, but Matt keeps saying it's gonna happen soon, so we'll see. Maybe we should get his input in here on that.

Samoz83
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 18:12 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 18:23
who made MISoft's website? because it looks great

edit: silly me

www.firelightstudio.co.uk
Keo C
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 18:21
Quote: "who made MISoft's website? because it looks great
"

Look at the post above you.


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BiggAdd
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 18:28
The best way to do it is make a game first. Split earnings 50 50. There is no point in concerning yourself in making companies if your not earning anything from it.

Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 18:45
Quote: "Quote: "who made MISoft's website? because it looks great
"
Look at the post above you."




David R
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 19:42
Quote: "MISoft is getting to 'as real as it gets'. The real name is MISoft studios, by the way."


Not registered = Not real.


09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
Matt Rock
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 20:33
We're registering this spring (or early summer, apparently it's more of a process than we thought it was in NY). We have a bigger dev team than a lot of other indie developers. We've released three games since 2005 and have four games being released this year, and some mainstream studios can't keep up with that (I'm looking at you, Neversoft!), even though our games are a heck of a lot easier to produce, but whatever, it's still cool lol. And for all the joking around we do, we take everything as seriously/ treat everything as professionally as any mainstream studio out there could under the same conditions. Long story short, even if we aren't technically considered "real" until we register in a few months, you'll have an excruciatingly difficult time trying to convince anyone on our team of that .

Jeku
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 21:00 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 21:02
You're not counting "Cheney Hunter" are you?

Quote: "We've released three games since 2005 and have four games being released this year, and some mainstream studios can't keep up with that (I'm looking at you, Neversoft!)"


Ok, I've heard enough. Comparing yourself to Neversoft? :p

The average game costs over $10 million to make today. None of us can hope to compete unless we hit it big like Popcap. Please let's not compare our so-called "companies" until we actually make some kind of profit.

I would say the only companies making money from DBC/DBP nowadays would be the StarWraith folks and TGC with their driving simulator. Fog has the poential of hitting it big with his series of shooters (Mono, etc.) but that's all I can tell from the WIP board as of late. I haven't read every WIP thread so please don't roast me!

I'm not trying to be an ass, but I'm a realist. I sold a few copies of WordZap but wouldn't consider it comparable to a release by, say, Big Fish games or Popcap.


Osiris
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 21:24
@Jeku
What about Geisha House (if thats wrong sorry)?

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
Beast E Gargoyle
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 21:41 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 21:42
Well Jeku you are right, but than again every company starts off with 2 pals breaking off from a major comapny and making there own little studio. I can prove this look at developer company called "Game Cock" they broke of from there main comapny and took some fellow's with them and started Game Cock. Although, yeah I would def not consider any company viable if they have never made a game with money pay off's from it. I was just making a point that if a small talented group of guys/girls got together and made a basement studio they have as good a chance as making a full fledged 3d game as a cell phone game developer. Keep the input coming. All the best,
Beastegargoyle

Streets of Rage the best 3d beat em up ever check out the wip on apollo forums!
The Last Great Swordsmen Wip here http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124414&b=19
Venge
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 21:57 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 21:58
@Matt or anyone else at MISoft:
Is there a minimum age requirement for employment there? I'd like to apply for 3D artist, but I don't have much of a portfolio and I would probably be too young.

There are over 100 billion galaxies in our observable universe, each containing up to a trillion stars.

Feeling small yet?
Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 22:38 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 22:59
Generally we don't let anyone in unless you're 18. If you have a really nice looking portfolio / show alot of promise then we might make an exception with a sheet your parents can sign.

Actually we are looking for artists, so hit me up at my e-mail or other various contacts below my post with maybe a few shots of your work if you have some and your age and stuff and we'll look into it.

Quote: "You're not counting "Cheney Hunter" are you? "


Like it or not, that game was pretty popular for awhile (1000s of downloads)



Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 22:58 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 22:59
edit: crap double post

David R
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 23:10
Quote: "What about Geisha House (if thats wrong sorry)?"


Cash has a publishing deal, but I still think it has little chance of being completed, let alone making money. Don't get me wrong, it looks nice, but publishing deal (if it's still there that is) != success or release


09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
Dream
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 23:11 Edited at: 21st Mar 2008 23:12
Im up for hiring i charge 1million pennys for good service
Roxas
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Posted: 21st Mar 2008 23:33
Mountain Dew.. How can you drink something like that?

Your signature has been erased by a mod because it was too big
Osiris
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 00:10
Quote: "Mountain Dew.. How can you drink something like that?"


How can you not drink Dew from a Mountain??

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
Agent Dink
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 00:23
Quote: "Mountain Dew.. How can you drink something like that?"


Boys who want to be girls drink mountain dew.

Samoz83
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 00:53
Quote: "Boys who want to be girls drink mountain dew."




www.firelightstudio.co.uk
Keo C
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 00:58
Quote: "Boys who want to be girls drink mountain dew.
"

Spits out Mountain Dew.


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Agent Dink
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 00:59
There's a rumor that goes around about yellow 5 food coloring, sorry

Samoz83
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:07
thats a myth, there is apparently no proof of that

www.firelightstudio.co.uk
Antidote
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:08
At this stage you don't really want to form a company, you just want to form a team and call yourself a company because it sounds cool. Just make sure if you start a team, you're actually willing to contribute, no one likes the guy who just comes up with all the ideas.


Shameless plug:
http://waterfallstudios.abbeyvillasoccer.com

David R
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:14
Quote: "There's a rumor that goes around about yellow 5 food coloring, sorry"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrazine#Myths


09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
Agent Dink
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:17
Quote: "thats a myth, there is apparently no proof of that"


Fine, go ahead and believe everything the FDA says but if you can't have kids someday don't blame me

Venge
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:43
I sent you an email, Dink

There are over 100 billion galaxies in our observable universe, each containing up to a trillion stars.

Feeling small yet?
SunnyKatt
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 01:59
Way back to Jeku's post; I think he's exactly right.
Just my opinion..
I prefer to stick to 2d games because you can make them look professional. You can (almost always) EASILY tell an indie game from a professional 3d game. EASILY. You have to admit it.
Since 2d games aren't really professionally developed anymore, The indie developers can take over where they left off, and hence they look really good because we can afford to use blending and transparency and tons of particles and large game files etc.

Antidote
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 03:13
It's not so much about avoiding 3D and sticking with 3D, but making a system that looks good in it's own way, and avoids trying to look photo realistic. Photorealism is for the professionals, but that doesn't mean you can't do 3D. For example I'm working on a toon shaded project right now that looks great, but requires little texture art skill.

Megaton Cat
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 03:51 Edited at: 22nd Mar 2008 03:56
I think all of us DBP guys go through phases of "game company" stage, each one getting less epic than the previous.

Everyone starts off with "game company". It's like playing house/family/doctor when you're a kid.

Ok I'm the president, we're gonna need to hire programmers and lead modellers and designers and a website + promo guy.

Then suddenly it's just a group of guys working together on a game in their free time.

Soon after it becomes something only you are working on, with various contacts throwing you in things, along with collaboration.

You gotta remember that you can be as much into this hobby as you like, but in the end you still gotta make a living. I am not Matt Rock's girlfriend (unfortunately) so I don't know the details of his life, but something tells me he's not paying rent and bills with his game dev ambitions.

Typically I'm skeptical of guys who just kinda hang around and talk about the next big thing there gonna put out there, along with their next big company and how it's gonna flatten existing successful real companies. I'm scared of the guys who're quietly beavering away somewhere on their own. If anyone remembers the Alienware Comp, the winning game Room War, came out of no where and killed everyone else.

Formerly known as Megaton Cat
Gil Galvanti
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 07:37
Quote: "Ok I'm the president, we're gonna need to hire programmers and lead modellers and designers and a website + promo guy.

Then suddenly it's just a group of guys working together on a game in their free time.

Soon after it becomes something only you are working on, with various contacts throwing you in things, along with collaboration. "

Sadly, you just perfectly described my past with Pirates of Port Royale . Now I just develop it by myself with various contributions, and will hopefully just be able to use it to add to my portfolio to aid in getting a real game developer job (and maybe make a few bucks off of it in the process, but that's not my goal).


Agent Dink
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 08:31 Edited at: 22nd Mar 2008 08:37
Quote: "website + promo guy."


Somehow I feel that was aimed at me xD

@Aikicat - Whether or not MISoft will be successful we can't say, who's to know? But the core members? We are giving it a helluva try. I know you won't believe it until you see it, and I'm just as skeptical about a huge success with the company as the next guy, but it's worth giving it a shot. Just cause you and your various group projects never came into fruition doesn't mean someone else's team won't succeed.

I've learned and added to my skillset a whole lot over my time working with MISoft and some of our up and coming projects are going to hone my talents even more so even if I don't make a single red cent off any of it at least I've learned a crapload of stuff. That in itself is good enough for me to keep going with it.

And it's not all about making a million and becoming a successful company. We're all having alot of fun, trying out ideas and working as a team. I quite enjoy it. If we finish some games, it'll look hot in a portfolio and on resumes in the future as well, sooo...

tha_rami
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 09:54
I thought Room Wars sucked, by the way. Extremely repetive and no fun at all. The only cool thing was that slide move to the left or right, and that was cool like, three times. If that killed everyone else, jeez.

As for Geisha House, I don't see Cash quitting on that. Nor do I see Bizar Guy quitting on Dream. Sadly, we've almost seen zzz drop Soulhunter but luckily, he's finishing that as well.

MISoft, funnily, seems a lot more organized than anything I've seen besides Starwraith 3D Games. Not that I'm convinced they'll make millions, but it sure is a lot of fun and hey, they're releasing tons of nice DarkBASIC games. I'm not complaining.

Quote: "I would say the only companies making money from DBC/DBP nowadays would be the StarWraith folks and TGC with their driving simulator. Fog has the poential of hitting it big with his series of shooters (Mono, etc.) but that's all I can tell from the WIP board as of late. I haven't read every WIP thread so please don't roast me!"

Echoes and Mono are fun, but I don't think they'll generate a lot of income. I think Dream has a chance at selling itself, actually.

The StarWraith folks are having a hard time, but we're doing something funny: we're switching our multiplayer system over to Tempest. And heck, if you've got Shawn coding at that, you get an extremely stable WINSOCK, router-circumventing, P2P session. We're surprised Benjamin dropped it, it's extremely good! In any case, any sale of Evochron Renegades, or Arvoch Conflict would really help StarWraith out to make even better games, or some day, we'll have to revert back to arcade games *shudders*.

You know there've actually been rumours about a SW3D realtime strategy game? There's no way to poll the correctness of it, but I've heard the term fly around a few times on the forums.


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Van B
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2008 12:55
Room Wars was a complete joke, lets be honest here. The competition was supposed to be about using a supplied model in a game - then RW wins by making a 1 level tech demo where the alien is barely even visible. If I sound bitter then it's probably no more than the other people who put in months of work on a game, only to be beaten by a model.


less is more, but if less is more how you keeping score?

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