Quote: "I believe that Fallout said it was lack of media that killed projects. I stongly disagree with that. I've found a plethora of media available for use with Geisha House, and some very talented artists have lent me their talent. Every project I've seen fail has failed because of the programmer(s). An incredible amount of work is necessary, and it isn't possible to break it up evenly among different people like it is with art and music. I've seen team projects that had nothing to do with DBP, with gorgeous artwork and music, fail because the programmers couldn't deliver."
Well, I think it all depends where your skills lie, what you demand for your project, and what type of game you're making. IMO, an RPG is always going to have more code than an FPS or other type of shooter, because it's just vastly more complicated and detailed. You know that.
So you're coming from the perspective of constantly having to add new game elements, code them, debug them, script some stuff, add some more elements, etc. Most games like shooters, platformers, FPSs, are a lot less detailed, and once the core engine is done, the majority of the remaining work is often just story/scripting and the dreaded media.
With my projects, most of the time has been spent on media. I think the most time I've ever spent on programming was making my level editor for Claymore Island, but that was a very complicated app which generated files that pre-processed lighting, AI, pathfinding, visual culling, entity movement etc. If somehow someone stuck all the Claymore Island levels, monsters with animations, weapons, textures etc. in my lap today, I could finish that game in a month, easy. As it stands, it took me the best part of a week to make that one monastry level by myself.
So, like you said, other people can help you with media, but normally to get media you either need to get in with some good artists, accept poorer quality work, or pay for decent stuff. One of the reasons why I do everything myself is because I have very strict requirements on my media. For example, certain texture sizes, walls of an exact scale, doorways of an exact with, all unnecessary polys removed. Also the exporting (from 3DWS), has to be done in an exact way to suit my culling engine. It's the same with my 3D models .. they have to have an identical bone structure, and be made in the right app, so my animations apply to all monsters. They have to have the right polycount, and have a shadow version for shadow shading. Just a few example of how personally, I need my media to follow exact criteria, which means I can't often use free stuff, and people who want to help me out have to follow exact guidelines that half the time they can't understand (as they're often not coders themselves).
I think it's project dependant. It appears you definitely have a project with a coding bias due to it's complexity, but most of the projects I've started have a media bias, and one that it's very hard for me to satisfy with free media, bought media, or outside assistance.
