FreeGameDev

Hi all

I'm considering releasing a project on which I already worked hundreds of hours, because I'm not able to finish it alone and I know I wont have time to do all the work it needs.
I'll tell you a little bit about it. You can take a look at a video trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u98nBX8ZvQ

The project
Palyndrome Riding Simulator is meant to be a successor of Microprose GP500, a Riding game of 1998 which has still a huge community of players and content developers. In order to be successful at this, Palyndrome has to be:
...A simulator. Which means the performance of the bikes has to obey physics and dynamics and be as accurate and realistic as possible. It is not meant to be an arcade game.
..editable. Which means that players and developers must be able to create and convert new 3d models of bikes, tracks and riders, as well as textures, skins, physics, interfaces, etc. Is has to have all the conversion tools, as well.
..complete. Which means that it has to have all the common game modes such as online multiplayer, battle against the IA's, etc. It does not mean that the game has to be released with a lot of content, since the community (which already exists) is who will create that content.
...modern. Which means that has to have moderns graphics, effects, etc.

Current state
The project is already quite advanced. The physics engine has already a good base, and it is the most important and difficult part, and the one which has to make the game different. As you can see on the video, bikes perform well and realistically. There is still a lot of wok to do, but the project can be viable since the current level is already good.
The game is also editable already. A basic sound engine is also already working. There are basic graphics, and record saving. There are still a lot of things to begin, such as online functionality, IA's, etc...

Tools
The whole game is written on c++ on windows -however it is meant to be multi-platform.
The physics engine is coded using ODE for physics and a library of my own for the geometrical calculations.
The graphics are written with raw OpenGl and SDL.
The sound functions are written using OpenAl.
The input functions are based on SDL.

Next steps and what I need
-Optimize and organize the code and keep it gathered and clean. The project needs some kind of "project leader" which should do that. It should be somebody with experience on C/C++. (more than me, but that's easy! I know a couple of things abouth maths, physics and motorcycles, but could know more about coding...)
-Improving graphics. The project needs somebody expert in graphics, which helps us to port it to OGRE or a similar engine. The same can be said about sounds.
-Improving physics: I will do that. Some help would be welcome in this but It's not needed.
-Creating the IA's system. I will do that. Some help would be welcome in this but It's not needed.
-Creating the online system. The project needs somebody with experience on this field.
-Lots of other little (and not so little) things.
As you can see, I don't need betatesters, nor content creators. The GP500 comunity will do that,
.

Where is the code?
It is not still released. As I said at the beginning, I am considering it. If I find people interested and I see it can be done, it will become an open source project. If I don't see it clear, then the project will stay kept in the closed for now.

So please, if you are interested, ask anything you need to know and tell me everything you think I have to know about you in order to decide.

Thank you for your attention, and sorry for my bad english!

That looks pretty neat... please don't be over protective with the source Every "child" has to leave the house and live its own life at some point

However since it seems like it is really a rather hardcore simulator I would probably ask around on some open-source simulation game forums... much higher chance of finding people interested I guess.

That looks very impressive and stacked with potential.

You should make a decision. Either open it or don't. You should not put this decision on anybody else. It is yours to make and if you want contributors then you should just open it and develop openly, and if the project is intriguing (and I believe it is) then people will come and help out.

Either you plan to do something commercially with this game, in which case keep it closed and invest yourself fully in it, or money is irrelevant and you want this project to flourish and openness is the key to getting additional help.

We are a strictly FOSS forum so until you decide I'll have to move this to Developers/Programming or ? maybe Qubodup has a better plan of action. (I'm not saying that to force a decision!)

EDIT: other places to ask might be sites like SimRacingWorld.com where you're more likely to encounter Moto enthusiasts.

I am interested as a player, tester and reviewer of open source games on the 64bit Linux platform. I am able to compile on that platform when I'm given instructions. Although I'm not sure that's the kind of interest you're looking for(?)

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

If I find people interested and I see it can be done, it will become an open source project. If I don't see it clear, then the project will stay kept in the closed for now.

Would you like advice or aid in setting up an open source project infrastructure? Or are you simply looking for contributing developers?

Already being open source and being playable and enjoyable is the best condition for an open source project to attract developers.

Julius {l Wrote}:However since it seems like it is really a rather hardcore simulator I would probably ask around on some open-source simulation game forums... much higher chance of finding people interested I guess.

charlie {l Wrote}:EDIT: other places to ask might be sites like SimRacingWorld.com where you're more likely to encounter Moto enthusiasts.

Thanks you guys, good idea. I will ask there as well.

charlie {l Wrote}:You should make a decision. Either open it or don't. You should not put this decision on anybody else. It is yours to make and if you want contributors then you should just open it and develop openly, and if the project is intriguing (and I believe it is) then people will come and help out.

Either you plan to do something commercially with this game, in which case keep it closed and invest yourself fully in it, or money is irrelevant and you want this project to flourish and openness is the key to getting additional help.

We are a strictly FOSS forum so until you decide I'll have to move this to Developers/Programming or ? maybe Qubodup has a better plan of action. (I'm not saying that to force a decision!)

Well, I understand this. however, it's difficult to me to decide releasing it before having somebody interested on it, since I don't even have the knowledge to make it properly released... Also, the idea of releasing it as open source has come to me recently, when I realized that I was not going to be able to finish it myself... And I'm not going to have a lot of time on next months or (if things go as I expect) years. So I think it's the best option.

I will decide soon, in a few days.

Thank you, guys!

qubodup {l Wrote}:I am interested as a player, tester and reviewer of open source games on the 64bit Linux platform. I am able to compile on that platform when I'm given instructions. Although I'm not sure that's the kind of interest you're looking for(?)
Would you like advice or aid in setting up an open source project infrastructure? Or are you simply looking for contributing developers?

Playing and testing is not the most needed now, but it would be welcome. And the other offers are very interesting. Helping to the port to Linux and maintaining that branch would be great. And about setting up the infrastructure, it would be great since this is (or would be) my first experience in Open Source projects and there are a lot of things I don't know and would need. So, thanks! We will keep talking about it.