Bloodfrontier post mortem

[Julius]

Bloodfrontier is dead and you can read about the reasons here:

http://www.bloodfrontier.com/

The latest posts gives some good tips what to avoid during development, but actually the drama that follows is an equally good example of what to avoid (but is not unlikely to happen; been there done that ).

So definitely a good read (if you can endure the rants) and lets hope that the drama doesn't spill over to this forum

[qubodup]

I thought there was just a rebranding: http://www.redeclipse.net/

gonna have to read that! Although my rant sense is tingeling

PS: oh wait, you said "rant" so there's no need for senses really

PPS: worst trailer video ever

[charlie]

Dead!?!? /o\

Rebranded!!! \o/

[andrewj]

Yeah he makes a lot of good points in there.

I agree 100% with the first item (Don't release something before it's done) -- it doesn't have to be a completely finished polished game of course, but it does need a stable foundation (the engine is solid) and the game should be playable. This missing stuff should be stuff that's easy (as possible) to add, like textures and sounds and models -- stuff that contributors could start adding right away. A game which crashes a lot will annoy people and drive them away.

The one place I disagree with was the section "Do NOT Upgrade ANYTHING That Already Works". I'm actually doing that right now with one of my projects, I'm finding better ways to implement certain functionality and this is part of the "fun" of working on this project. It only becomes a problem when it is released too early where it doesn't work 100% well, and you get the negative feedback about it --- which is the same "don't release stuff before it's done" advice as mentioned before.

[Julius]

Dead!?!? /o\

Rebranded!!! \o/

Well since most of the media of BF will not be in RE it isn't really a rebranding, but rather a new project with the same code base.

Lesson for programmers... try to convince your contributing artists to use a free license otherwise they might at some point disagree with you and disallow you to use their assets...

[TheAncientGoat]

I agree 100% with the first item (Don't release something before it's done) -- it doesn't have to be a completely finished polished game of course, but it does need a stable foundation (the engine is solid) and the game should be playable. This missing stuff should be stuff that's easy (as possible) to add, like textures and sounds and models -- stuff that contributors could start adding right away. A game which crashes a lot will annoy people and drive them away.

Go charlieG go! Stand up for your Release Early 'n Often mantra

[Julius]

I will, but honestly this doesn't contradict what he wrote. You should release early, but not while the base of the game is still totally unfinished.

IMHO a good way in between would be to open SVN etc access very early, but do not provide precompiled binaries to avoid giving normal users a crappy first impression. And I really agree that it does not make sense to build a community too early, since that will just interfere with your development vision and deadlines.

[charlie]

I agree 100% with the first item (Don't release something before it's done) -- it doesn't have to be a completely finished polished game of course, but it does need a stable foundation (the engine is solid) and the game should be playable.

Can't disagree with you more.

Release early, release often. Unstable releases are healthy.

The problem here is there was not enough caveats, nor enough strength to stick to 1) the original plan and 2) ignore community wishes.

It's open source. If some members of the community do not like the direction, they can fork and make a different game. That's the beauty of it.

The fingers here are pointed in the wrong direction. Part of being an effective lead is making hard choices.

[qubodup]

Lesson for programmers... try to convince your contributing artists to use a free license otherwise they might at some point disagree with you and disallow you to use their assets...

I have asked in the past on #bloodfrontier why the art was closed and I was explained that the artist wanted to have control over the project and not allow the coders do what they want with it.

[Julius]

Well, my point exactly, and this proves it.

Never a good idea to work with a "control freak" anyways.

Just like I as an artist would refuse to work with a coder over the internet who doesn't open (and upload regulary) his code, the same should be true for programmers in regard to artists. It's just too easy to dissapear (or disagree) on the internet to take chances with that.

[Sindwiller]

1: Don't release something before it's done.
...
11: DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT
...
Team Fortress 2 is updated constantly, and it continually involves community members and keeps them interested. But one thing to keep in mind is that before there was a community, there was a finished game, and that makes ALL the difference in the world.

He got it. R.I.P. Bloodfrontier

[ghoulsblade]

Pity that there's no art to scavenge, some foss/linux singleplayer fps would be great, besides penumbra (which is rather riddles than combat), i'm not aware of anything 3d.

[qubodup]

Pity that there's no art to scavenge, some foss/linux singleplayer fps would be great, besides penumbra (which is rather riddles than combat), i'm not aware of anything 3d.

Sauerbraten (nc media) has a few SP missions. Penumbra hardly counts, with the art being proprietary. There's angstron2, which is retro/minimal and freeware-art old style Marathon(s).

[TheAncientGoat]

You can play Raznarak on Syntensity ad infinitum That should count, no?

[Julius]

Also not completely free (only free as in beer media), and sadly not fully implemented, but I think Transfusion would be the most promising Open-Source FPS singleplayer game ( http://www.transfusion-game.com/ ) if development wasn't so dead Edit: Oh there seems to be a bit of life again: http://forums.transfusion-game.com/view ... 6&start=90
At least it's about the only one that works with a relatively up to date engine (Darkplaces) and it could make a nice development project to update Darkplaces singleplayer features.

Edit: This post continues my fruitless effort to get a skilled coder to take up that game again I really think collaborating with Nexuiz/Xonotic could make this THE base for singleplayer FOSS FPS games.
Well unless Doom3 gets a source release of course, but this is actually looking less likely nowadays.

[MCMic]

The only lesson here is don't try to have total control on your free game!
Do your version, release all under free license, integrate what you want to, and if it doesn't suit the community they'll fork.

The problem here is the closed license of some assets, and the fact that two peoples (or more) that wanted different orientation for the project try to work together no matter what. They should have maintain each their own version earlier.