Interesting that the Eternal Destiny project gets spoken of in this way here, I have for a long time felt pretty much the same way of the project, all I have ever seen of it is a screenshot of a rather shabby looking matrix and relentless posts from a guy that sounded very much like a noob and yet trampled other noobs for being noobs...
Then there was a change, I think RPG realised he was being a noob trying to make a massive project as his first game and being unrealistic in his goals, infact I remember a post/appology to this effect, but rather than admit defeat he seems to be truly determined to finish his project.
There is some credit in this attitude, but regardless it remains an ambitious project to pull off as a first game.
Hearing this news "waiting on U6" is actually very bad news in waiting for the project. No update of DB has ever been a magic wand - I write my games in what is available NOW, waiting on an upgrade will only mean migration issues and ultimately a re-write of at least a substantial part of the game code.
I see no reason why an RPG could not be written in the current version of DBP. I see nothing in U6 that says RPG's will be substantially better because of it, especially when you consider that it is almost certainly (like all previous versions) going to have new bugs to be descovered and worked around and changes in the way some things work. "Waiting on U6" meens "Waiting on U7" then it meens "Waiting on U8"...
Hearing that they are still looking for people to build media is also bad news, media is the heart of a role-play game, not the programming. Take a typical fantasy game and you are looking at atleast half a dozen humanoid creature models, and probably more...
However RPG does seem determined, so my position is: "Judgement Reserved.".
My games may not be cutting edge, they are not big, they aren't particularly brilliant except for two things: They are finished & polished; New games appear at regular intervals.
I'm not the best programmer here by a long way, and my games are far from the best examples of DB projects, yet my words carry a weight of arrogance around here reserved only for the elite, why?
Because I deliver, regularly, polished & playable games. Not because I have the biggest bestest project in the world that's going to revolutionise the freeware community or be the next best thing. Not because I write big and complex games. That's impossible for a freeware team to do.
I write moderately complex projects, but never big projects. That's the stuff of corporate games development - and they are welcome to it. This is a hobby and I dont want it to be a chore.
As much as I like big projects and wish ED and various other teams sucess the fact remains that all these big projects really do is starve the DB community of lots of games.
Assuming that there are still a few large groups working on big projects out there (I dont keep as close an eye around here as I used too) then consider this:
If the few long standing big groups actually broke apart it could benefit the DB community and the team requests forum as more people are unleashed to work on shorter-term, realiseable projects, which would serve to provide a more regular release of DB freeware games and make the community more vibrant and exciting to be a part of.
I really liked the recent Duo game, but despite my checking of the program announcements forum regularly I have not seen another polished and finished game from the community in a long time.
I hope I have not stepped on too many toes with this post, I write it because Pandorra's box is already open, and because this is my opinion. RPGamer in particular is a nice guy and I enjoy talking to him when I do so I seriously intend no harm in what i've said.
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
That's the motto I program by, that's why Banshee Studios is as well established as it is, that's why our games get tens of thousands of downloads instead of a few hundred.
God created the world in 7 days, but we're still waiting for the patch.
