Hey there guys,
So about a week ago I showed up and just started to dive into topics, posting thoughts i'd had regarding the direction of this game. I figure it's about time I make a post to introduce myself and explain how I see myself contributing to this effort. This is going to be long so bear with me.
First; a little bit about myself. I am a Systems Administrator working in Vancouver, British Columbia for a Visual Effects studio that focuses on feature films. What this means, is that I work on a team that maintains some of the most powerful and expensive gear on the planet. My personal role involves artist-facing support. I along with one other team member take care of all production hardware/operating systems/production tools for roughly 250 artists and production staff. I work on a daily basis with every aspect of a production studio including Modelling, Animation, Rigging, Texture, Lighting, FX, Compositing etc.
More specifically (and this part is going to appeal to developers more) I follow the DevOps methodology. The full explanation is super complicated, but the bottom line is that I belong to a "New Wave" of Systems Administrators focused on integration between software development, QA and Operations (me).Traditionally, Software Development and Operations exist as two separate entities in a business. This worked great in the 90's when Information Technology was in it's infancy, but now that it's starting to become more mature people are realizing the old model just dosen't work efficiently. DevOps seeks to improve reliability, consistency of product and reduce developer time spent customizing build environments.
What does this mean in practical terms? Well, it means that i'm an expert at planning, building, deploying and maintaining production development environments. I take care of everything infrastructure related in order to free developer/production time to focus on their passions. This includes web servers, source code control, asset libraries, production pipeline development and documentation.
In addition to all that, I have a huge passion for the great age of sail. I focus primarily on Naval Architecture (including interior fittings of ships) as well as history and culture. I'm by no means an expert, but I have a voracious appetite for knowledge and research. I've exhausted just about every naval fiction book out there and have started into old shipbuilding textbooks. Until recently, all of that seemed to be an interesting diversion.
A few months ago, during conversations with a developer at my organization, we concocted the idea to create a napoleonic age-of-sail mobile game. It was to be called seafarers and would be historically accurate to the greatest degree possible. Sort of a tactical/exploration/rpg sort of thing. We got into the development process, with my developer friend learning how to develop mobile games while I gathered massive amounts of source material and prepared game mechanics (Why, that's precisely the same stage Hearts of Oak is at!)
Unfortunately, the business world is fickle and my company went straight chapter 11 bankrupt. This has had far-flung consequences but the bottom line is that I still have a job, the company got bought by a chinese/indian consortium and our business has changed dramatically. But my developer-friend got laid off and moved back to Toronto for another job.
So, looks like Seafarers is dead. Oh well, life goes on. But in one of my searches for source material (that I was still carrying out in the hopes the project would be spontaneously resurrected) I found your community and it seems like a perfect match.
So, all that fluff aside what do I hope to bring to the table (gold star if you're still reading)
It seems that there exists in this community a great deal of talent and passion. Finding these elements is usually the hardest part about embarking on a project this bold. The team has already been forged by creating mods for popular games and has reached the point where when dicking around with stupid engine limitations the thought "Why the hell am I doing this, I could just re-write all this crap for the amount of effort i'm putting in" comes up often.
What I think is needed is organization. Not in a restrictive way, but simply a framework that allows people to focus on their passions. Modellers shouldn't have to worry about things like "oh where did I put that model" or "okay it's finished... how do I get it into the game". Coders shouldn't have to worry about maintaining web presences or creating source control libraries and so on. I'd like to see a few systems implemented that allowed people to really start concentrating and focusing their effort towards the final product.
Now, anyone who's been involved in a community effort knows that one of the greatest dangers is ensuring that everyone plays nice and it dosen't turn into an endless spell of bickering. Many a great and noble project has been torn apart by minor diferences that would be prevented with clear understanding of roles and universal respect for opinions. I'm concerned myself that coming into this project with the stuff that i'm working on, and my passion to see something like this completed is going to upset the balance you have. I just want to be totally upfront and put on the table that's not my goal. I don't want creative control or to "lead" this thing in any way shape or form. I want to put tools in the hands of professionals and help all of you achieve your goal. If I get to assist with designing game mechanics along the way, bonus.
So anyways, that was way longer than I intended. I'd like to hear some feedback regarding my intended role for this project and where you think I might fit in. I'm totally flexible and want to help however I can. I don't really know who's filling the role as "leader" or that sort of role, which is what i'd usually look towards to see if they thought I could contribute. In leu of that I suppose community consensus will do.
So, what do you guys think?
-B
So about a week ago I showed up and just started to dive into topics, posting thoughts i'd had regarding the direction of this game. I figure it's about time I make a post to introduce myself and explain how I see myself contributing to this effort. This is going to be long so bear with me.
First; a little bit about myself. I am a Systems Administrator working in Vancouver, British Columbia for a Visual Effects studio that focuses on feature films. What this means, is that I work on a team that maintains some of the most powerful and expensive gear on the planet. My personal role involves artist-facing support. I along with one other team member take care of all production hardware/operating systems/production tools for roughly 250 artists and production staff. I work on a daily basis with every aspect of a production studio including Modelling, Animation, Rigging, Texture, Lighting, FX, Compositing etc.
More specifically (and this part is going to appeal to developers more) I follow the DevOps methodology. The full explanation is super complicated, but the bottom line is that I belong to a "New Wave" of Systems Administrators focused on integration between software development, QA and Operations (me).Traditionally, Software Development and Operations exist as two separate entities in a business. This worked great in the 90's when Information Technology was in it's infancy, but now that it's starting to become more mature people are realizing the old model just dosen't work efficiently. DevOps seeks to improve reliability, consistency of product and reduce developer time spent customizing build environments.
What does this mean in practical terms? Well, it means that i'm an expert at planning, building, deploying and maintaining production development environments. I take care of everything infrastructure related in order to free developer/production time to focus on their passions. This includes web servers, source code control, asset libraries, production pipeline development and documentation.
In addition to all that, I have a huge passion for the great age of sail. I focus primarily on Naval Architecture (including interior fittings of ships) as well as history and culture. I'm by no means an expert, but I have a voracious appetite for knowledge and research. I've exhausted just about every naval fiction book out there and have started into old shipbuilding textbooks. Until recently, all of that seemed to be an interesting diversion.
A few months ago, during conversations with a developer at my organization, we concocted the idea to create a napoleonic age-of-sail mobile game. It was to be called seafarers and would be historically accurate to the greatest degree possible. Sort of a tactical/exploration/rpg sort of thing. We got into the development process, with my developer friend learning how to develop mobile games while I gathered massive amounts of source material and prepared game mechanics (Why, that's precisely the same stage Hearts of Oak is at!)
Unfortunately, the business world is fickle and my company went straight chapter 11 bankrupt. This has had far-flung consequences but the bottom line is that I still have a job, the company got bought by a chinese/indian consortium and our business has changed dramatically. But my developer-friend got laid off and moved back to Toronto for another job.
So, looks like Seafarers is dead. Oh well, life goes on. But in one of my searches for source material (that I was still carrying out in the hopes the project would be spontaneously resurrected) I found your community and it seems like a perfect match.
So, all that fluff aside what do I hope to bring to the table (gold star if you're still reading)
It seems that there exists in this community a great deal of talent and passion. Finding these elements is usually the hardest part about embarking on a project this bold. The team has already been forged by creating mods for popular games and has reached the point where when dicking around with stupid engine limitations the thought "Why the hell am I doing this, I could just re-write all this crap for the amount of effort i'm putting in" comes up often.
What I think is needed is organization. Not in a restrictive way, but simply a framework that allows people to focus on their passions. Modellers shouldn't have to worry about things like "oh where did I put that model" or "okay it's finished... how do I get it into the game". Coders shouldn't have to worry about maintaining web presences or creating source control libraries and so on. I'd like to see a few systems implemented that allowed people to really start concentrating and focusing their effort towards the final product.
Now, anyone who's been involved in a community effort knows that one of the greatest dangers is ensuring that everyone plays nice and it dosen't turn into an endless spell of bickering. Many a great and noble project has been torn apart by minor diferences that would be prevented with clear understanding of roles and universal respect for opinions. I'm concerned myself that coming into this project with the stuff that i'm working on, and my passion to see something like this completed is going to upset the balance you have. I just want to be totally upfront and put on the table that's not my goal. I don't want creative control or to "lead" this thing in any way shape or form. I want to put tools in the hands of professionals and help all of you achieve your goal. If I get to assist with designing game mechanics along the way, bonus.
So anyways, that was way longer than I intended. I'd like to hear some feedback regarding my intended role for this project and where you think I might fit in. I'm totally flexible and want to help however I can. I don't really know who's filling the role as "leader" or that sort of role, which is what i'd usually look towards to see if they thought I could contribute. In leu of that I suppose community consensus will do.
So, what do you guys think?
-B