I''m currently planning a new project - so far I''ve worked for Sony and Nintendo as a games programmer and while I have a project right now that I''m getting paid for it''s just not the type of game that interests me. I''m trying to establish two things concurrently - a game design and some preliminary tools for development. Does anyone know where I can get 3ds max models suitable for testing a game? I tried turbosquid but it seems pretty useless unless you have cash to spend on all your artwork. That''s something that would be useful for getting temporary graphics to work with. I''m surprised there isn''t a source of free shared content for game hobbyists - source code, APIs, exporters, models, textures. It would encourage a lot of new projects and match people who might be a good team for future work. The other issue is game design. I tried EQ but couldn''t get into the tedious sorcery magic fantasy thing. But I am interested in a persistent world and the idea of things happening and evolving independently of the player. Some of the principles of Black and White interest me although the game itself sounds too boring to play for any length of time. The games that hold my attention the most are GOOD platform games - Perfect Dark and Banjo Kazooie 1 for example. There is more variety than that but I want to combine the scripted event-driven nature of that kind of game with a persistent world and some non-linearity. Another element I''m uncertain about is story. Most games have apalling storylines, very contrived and childish. Almost as if it was just written by someone who spends too much time programming... But I really dislike games that impose huge cutscenes and long dialogues on the player. I didn''t have the patience for playing Homeworld for too long but that was the best (and most literate) background story I''ve seen in a game so far and it improved the game a lot. Any ideas are welcome on this potential project... Artists are encouraged to offer free artwork... Meanwhile I''ll think about the design and work on my Max exporter...

You may find Source Forge useful for source . www.sourceforge.net There are also several free .3ds models available, but I don''t have my URLs handy. I''ll try to post again when I do.

As far as design goes, I''m not sure persistence and the arcade games mix (I don''t know about PD, but isn''t Banjo a platform jumper?) Persistence usually mixes well with some kind of growth model, but I don''t see how your players could grow.

Pardon if this sounds rude, but I sense a patience problem inherent in your design goals. You don''t want to wait for a story to unfold (Homeworld cutscenes too long??), and it sounds like to gradual growth or exploration are too boring, but you''re thinking about adding non-linear story? I guess you could have a really fast paced story. But I think right now you have to give careful thought as to exactly what it is that players in your world do. Was EverQuest too repetitive? Or not fast paced enough?

It will be hard to give feedback until you firm up some of the details.








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Just waiting for the mothership...