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LGP Announces Game Development Project
michaelsimms writes "Linux Game Publishing is excited
to announce our newest project to increase the appeal of Linux gaming. We are sponsoring the development of a from-scratch Linux title! We are looking for developers to work in a team to produce this game, and we will be publishing the game they make! If you are interested, please follow the link to our detailed announcement and within there you will find the rules, requirements, and application process. If you have wanted to get into the gaming industry, if you love playing games, and if you are a creative thinker, not afraid of a challenge and a bit of risk, then you need to take a look." I don't know whether to be happy about anything that promotes Linux gaming, or disappointed that people are being asked to work on a commercial project without a salary.
Maybe you should read the article. The development team gets 90% of the game royalties to split amongst themselves. The average publisher today gives the development studio less (probably much less) than 15% of the royalties. If the game sells well, the extra 75% will more than make up for the lack of a salary.
My bad, it's 70% instead of 90%, but my point still holds.
The difference is everything.
I work on FOSS because I believe in freedom.
I would rather money didn't exist, so I don't want to put my efforts towards freedom into something the promotes consumerism.
(If they only charge for distribution 'costs', that's ok)
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
How about SDL, developed primarily by Loki? Pretty decent so far, from what I've used of it.
Beer wants to be free
We have resellers round the world and have products in physical packages already. The game will sell in a DVD-style box, same as many newer games do.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
You have some good points so I'll try and answer them.
The developers will all pretty much have one motivation - to create good Linux games. That will be a good starting point. Some of them will want to be in it for the money, some for the creativity. But the goal will be the same. Differences apart from that can sometimes be bad, sometimes be good for teamwork. You never can tell, it is the risk we all take starting a new company with new people.
LGP cannot simply pull the whole team out. We cannot pull any member out unless HALF of the team requests it. If the whole team is messing up and not putting their back into it, then we can tell them that they need to improve or they risk not getting a publishable product at the end.
The only direct leadership we will play is to supply a project manager to the group, to help them stay organised.
I agree 100% that passion is more important than someone looking for a paycheck, which is why we feel that this is a good thing. People applying for this will know they dont get paychecks every week, they are going to have to create something good first. They get out of it what they put into it. Schmoe looking for a paycheck wont even apply.
As for you rlast point, yes, if you have a good game, come tell us about it, we'll look seriously at any serious proposition we are offered.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
You are making a VERY good point.
The developers will be the ones to decide on the type of game, and then as soon as it is appropriate we will get onto finding artists, musicians and the like. The time of WHEN we do this is not fixed, it is for the developers to decide, and LGP will advise them to th ebest of our ability.
If they want artists and mucicians in right at the start, then thats what they get. Their call.
LGP is a guide here, not a master, they have creative freedom and decision-making freedom. We just nudge occasionally {:-)
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
You are right, the Linux market pays less money than other game markets. But, the fact is this. I started LGP cos I am a gamer and because I am a Linux user. I dont do it to make me rich, I do it because I am getting games for the platform of my choice.
This project has the option, they can also make their game for windows, consoles, anything. They have that choice. LGP has contacts in windows publishing houses to pretty much guarantee we can get them a good windows publisher too. The only restiction is - it must work on Linux - not exclusively on Linux.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
Thanks for picking this one up, its always nice to hear someone say we have a reputation for being honest and solid. Thanks! {:-)
Yes, you are correct, we have paperwork ready for people that are chosen for the project. We would never ask people to work without an agreement in writing, otherwise, it is as dangerous for us as for them.
In effect, the agreement structre will be
LGP will have an agreement with the dev company (which will be a legal entity, I will have a UK Limited company formed for the development).
LGP will pay that company.
That company will have agreements with the developers. The developers, having 90% stake of the company, can then completely control the money received without LGP being able to interfere.
LGP cannot fail to pay that company, we would be in breach of contract and the company could take LGP to court and claim the money. It will be watertight. The documents are drawn up already.
And as a final note, it is *so* not in our interests to screw anyone over. The long term goal of this is to help form a self-sustaining game development company that is Linux-friendly. This will give is all more games, most likely published through LGP, so we would be stabbing ourselves in the foot if we screwed the group over.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
I'll reply directly to you for my question...
What difference is this linux game, and garage games "$100 per license of the Torque engine (with all tools) and garage games will publish the game", deal?
And... the developers probably have to hold onto day jobs, so it'll be VERY difficult to produce anything graphic intensive (well, it can happen, but the graphics will be FAR outdated by the time the development is over).
AND... the standard game developing ratio is 10 graphic artists/animators for every 1 developer. Is there going to be enough artists for the project??
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Huh,
Been living in a closet? We have SDL (http://www.libsdl.org) and FLTK (http://www.fltk.org). Not to mention OpenAL nor Miles sound system.
Winex is good for those games that either had a developer who would never port to Linux (aka Microsoft).
As for DirectX, well if you follow any game related mailing list you'd know DX9 has been causing a lot of issues with games...
StarTux
Game development is VERY HARD, and game marketing isn't a bag of easy either. Add to that the fact that today's linux game market is so tiny, and you have a recipe for "being in the red."
Wrong. Mike Simms just needs to sell enough to cover printing costs which are not huge. He's done it before, using dvd cases (check tuxgames.com).
The development costs to him are zero.
No one is going to get rich from this, but it's a pretty cool deal.
For ten hours a week you get to work on a linux game that actually gets published and possibly even make a little cash.
At minimun its nice resume material for the aspiring game developer.