The Road Ahead in Aught-Six
posted by Scott Hsu-Storaker at 12:01 AM
So, asking where I am going and where I plan to take the Co-op are really two different things. I have some very definite and specific plans for what I want to do this year, and most of that I will do under the aegis of the Low Poly Coop. I'll get to those in a little bit. The biggest, most daring plan I have for myself, though, is to grow this group beyond what I can do by myself. I will say this many times over the coming year, and will work on making it reality over time, that the ideals of this project can and should live beyond my own personal involvement. I passionately believe that what we are doing here can have significant and long-lasting benefits for the commmunity and by extension, each one of us. And I want to see that thrive. It is a delicate balance. My own personal goals are intrinsically tied with those of the gestalt and I will want to push and pull the groupmind in directions I think are important. But, ultimately, the only way to allow this horse to run is let loose the reins. That, there, is my main goal for the year -- do what I can to help this baby grow.
More pragmatically, though, I do have a few concrete goals for the year. All of these are achievable by just having me plug away at the work day after day. I would love to take a few friends along with me -- it'll make the walk all that more enjoyable. But, I pledge to work on getting these done during the year.
1. Gilman. I plan to finish this content pack off and release it on August 12th. The number of models in the pack is still in flux, but I am hoping to have 50 fully textured models ready to be imported into your favorite game engine.
2. Increasing the infrastructure to allow for more artists to actively participate.
3. Spread the word. Get our names out there. Invite more artists to participate. Find more partners-in-crime who are as passionate about the open content philosophy as I am.
4. That's it really, the rest is all frosting.
~---~
This brings me to my next point, a kind of challenge to myself and to all of you out there.
The Thousander Club
1000 hours, 1000 models, 1000 visitors, 1000 downloads.
As part of these overarching goals, I am issuing a set of challenges to myself and the community as well by creating the Thousander Club. It is based off the somewhat well-know idea that practice is just as important as talent (I read about it on the great GBGames blog) and that mastery of a skill is achieved after 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. That even 1000 hours can lead to the level of experienced expert. I've probably devoted more than 1000 hours to modelling and developing art for games in the past year or so. But, it's been kind of all over the place. So, this year, I am going to focus. I am focussing on the Co-op. And I will be challenging myself to dedicate 1000 hours in 2006 to creating artwork for here. That's a lot. That's more than 20 hours a week, more even, considering the fact that I will be off the clock for a couple months when the new baby arrives. I am also requiring myself to only count art time. This blog does not count, answering emails or posting to the forums does not count, unless the forum post is specifically devoted to the creation and discussion of particular artwork. I don't expect anyone else to devote even a fraction of that amount of time to this particular project. But, I do challenge you to do this for yourself. Right now, the Thousander Club is a club of one -- just me. But, I would love to have some company. C'mon, join up with me, there's a certain comfort in doing things together. Pledge to devote yourself to working on your own project for 1000 hours this year. Keep track, I will. Give progress reports, I will . In a year, we can all look back and count ourselves as experienced experts. Think of the Christmas present you will be giving yourself in 2006 -- confident assurance that your skills can take you where you want to go.
I dare ya.
To go along with this, I have some challenges to throw out to the Low Poly Coop community. I can devote myself to the 1000 hours, but I would also love to see us accomplish some major feats in the coming year. Together. As a group. Take up a little of the challenge if you will. Or laugh it off as Scott's hubris and keep doing what you're doing. I know for certain that these are things that I cannot do on my own and I only really have my own drive and passion to offer up as inspiration to you all. It's really up to each of you to decide if this is something you want to devote yourselves to.
1000 models
I would love to see us have 1000 models completed by the end of the year. They don't need to be textured and I will be counting models that we did in 2005, but they should be done to a point that a game developer could download them and use them in some way. We have about 50 in the pipeline now and, if I do not spend much time texturing, I can crank out maybe over 200 myself, but it really will be up to how many artists contribute and how much time they can dedicate to the project. It is a pretty lofty goal, I know. But, think, with 1000 models this will easily be the biggest, most vital resource for free models anywhere in the community and will even dwarf many of the outlets that sell models. You could be on the forefront of a whole new movement and I will do my best to let the world know how your contribution is helping shape the way indie games are made.
1000 vistors
I really want more people to see our work. I wouldn't be doing this if I just wanted to keep my artwork shoved into the back of a drawer at home. The urge to show people my work has been strong for many years, going back to when I published my own comics in the early nineties. This stuff must reach an audience in order to be vital. I want more people to see it. So, I want to shoot for a goal of having 1000 unique visitors to our site each month. I think it is doable. As long as we keep creating quality art, people will come.
1000 downloads
In keeping with the idea of having more people see our work, I would love for more people to use our work. What we do is not just pretty pictures. The models are functional elements intended to be used in games, and in order to be used, the files must be downloaded. I want to shoot for having our work downloaded 1000 times by the end of the year. We are already up to almost 50 downloads, a lot of that is even on work-in-progress content packs. I think, once we get some solid, easily digestable, chunks of work ready for download, this number could easily grow.
~---~
I will be blazing my own path in this project. Anyone who wants to follow alongside is welcome to join. I will not be running this like most indie team managers do. I am not really in charge of anything here. I will keep the house clean and orderly. I will keep the lights on and the door ajar. I will work hard on improving my own artistic skills and voice. But, I will not be telling artists what to do. I will not be handing out assignments or setting milestones or releasing betas. I will not be drawing up contracts. Mostly, I hope that my example of hard, consistent effort and belief that quality work can and should be free will inspire others to do great work as well.
Stay free.
~shs~
A question I ask myself quite often is "where am I going with this?" It's a natural question. It's a question I would expect to hear, and do hear, from the people who have expressed interest in helping out or who are already contributing to this project. It's not an easy question to address -- not for lack ideas, mind you. There are plenty of great ideas floating around through the ether and bouncing around in my head about where we can go in the coming years. That's not a problem. The problem is that the question implies that this is a question I should be the one to answer. It implies that I am the de facto leader of this loose confederacy of like-minded artists. I don't see myself as being in charge here. I've travelled this road before, more than once in fact, and I know from experience that I should not be viewed as the leader. Pioneer, maybe. Trailblazer, I hope. Moral center and standard bearer for artistic ideals and excellence, OK, sure. Experienced guide, that's as close as I can get. But, Man-in-Charge, nope.
So, asking where I am going and where I plan to take the Co-op are really two different things. I have some very definite and specific plans for what I want to do this year, and most of that I will do under the aegis of the Low Poly Coop. I'll get to those in a little bit. The biggest, most daring plan I have for myself, though, is to grow this group beyond what I can do by myself. I will say this many times over the coming year, and will work on making it reality over time, that the ideals of this project can and should live beyond my own personal involvement. I passionately believe that what we are doing here can have significant and long-lasting benefits for the commmunity and by extension, each one of us. And I want to see that thrive. It is a delicate balance. My own personal goals are intrinsically tied with those of the gestalt and I will want to push and pull the groupmind in directions I think are important. But, ultimately, the only way to allow this horse to run is let loose the reins. That, there, is my main goal for the year -- do what I can to help this baby grow.
More pragmatically, though, I do have a few concrete goals for the year. All of these are achievable by just having me plug away at the work day after day. I would love to take a few friends along with me -- it'll make the walk all that more enjoyable. But, I pledge to work on getting these done during the year.
1. Gilman. I plan to finish this content pack off and release it on August 12th. The number of models in the pack is still in flux, but I am hoping to have 50 fully textured models ready to be imported into your favorite game engine.
2. Increasing the infrastructure to allow for more artists to actively participate.
3. Spread the word. Get our names out there. Invite more artists to participate. Find more partners-in-crime who are as passionate about the open content philosophy as I am.
4. That's it really, the rest is all frosting.
~---~
This brings me to my next point, a kind of challenge to myself and to all of you out there.
The Thousander Club
1000 hours, 1000 models, 1000 visitors, 1000 downloads.
As part of these overarching goals, I am issuing a set of challenges to myself and the community as well by creating the Thousander Club. It is based off the somewhat well-know idea that practice is just as important as talent (I read about it on the great GBGames blog) and that mastery of a skill is achieved after 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. That even 1000 hours can lead to the level of experienced expert. I've probably devoted more than 1000 hours to modelling and developing art for games in the past year or so. But, it's been kind of all over the place. So, this year, I am going to focus. I am focussing on the Co-op. And I will be challenging myself to dedicate 1000 hours in 2006 to creating artwork for here. That's a lot. That's more than 20 hours a week, more even, considering the fact that I will be off the clock for a couple months when the new baby arrives. I am also requiring myself to only count art time. This blog does not count, answering emails or posting to the forums does not count, unless the forum post is specifically devoted to the creation and discussion of particular artwork. I don't expect anyone else to devote even a fraction of that amount of time to this particular project. But, I do challenge you to do this for yourself. Right now, the Thousander Club is a club of one -- just me. But, I would love to have some company. C'mon, join up with me, there's a certain comfort in doing things together. Pledge to devote yourself to working on your own project for 1000 hours this year. Keep track, I will. Give progress reports, I will . In a year, we can all look back and count ourselves as experienced experts. Think of the Christmas present you will be giving yourself in 2006 -- confident assurance that your skills can take you where you want to go.
I dare ya.
To go along with this, I have some challenges to throw out to the Low Poly Coop community. I can devote myself to the 1000 hours, but I would also love to see us accomplish some major feats in the coming year. Together. As a group. Take up a little of the challenge if you will. Or laugh it off as Scott's hubris and keep doing what you're doing. I know for certain that these are things that I cannot do on my own and I only really have my own drive and passion to offer up as inspiration to you all. It's really up to each of you to decide if this is something you want to devote yourselves to.
1000 models
I would love to see us have 1000 models completed by the end of the year. They don't need to be textured and I will be counting models that we did in 2005, but they should be done to a point that a game developer could download them and use them in some way. We have about 50 in the pipeline now and, if I do not spend much time texturing, I can crank out maybe over 200 myself, but it really will be up to how many artists contribute and how much time they can dedicate to the project. It is a pretty lofty goal, I know. But, think, with 1000 models this will easily be the biggest, most vital resource for free models anywhere in the community and will even dwarf many of the outlets that sell models. You could be on the forefront of a whole new movement and I will do my best to let the world know how your contribution is helping shape the way indie games are made.
1000 vistors
I really want more people to see our work. I wouldn't be doing this if I just wanted to keep my artwork shoved into the back of a drawer at home. The urge to show people my work has been strong for many years, going back to when I published my own comics in the early nineties. This stuff must reach an audience in order to be vital. I want more people to see it. So, I want to shoot for a goal of having 1000 unique visitors to our site each month. I think it is doable. As long as we keep creating quality art, people will come.
1000 downloads
In keeping with the idea of having more people see our work, I would love for more people to use our work. What we do is not just pretty pictures. The models are functional elements intended to be used in games, and in order to be used, the files must be downloaded. I want to shoot for having our work downloaded 1000 times by the end of the year. We are already up to almost 50 downloads, a lot of that is even on work-in-progress content packs. I think, once we get some solid, easily digestable, chunks of work ready for download, this number could easily grow.
~---~
I will be blazing my own path in this project. Anyone who wants to follow alongside is welcome to join. I will not be running this like most indie team managers do. I am not really in charge of anything here. I will keep the house clean and orderly. I will keep the lights on and the door ajar. I will work hard on improving my own artistic skills and voice. But, I will not be telling artists what to do. I will not be handing out assignments or setting milestones or releasing betas. I will not be drawing up contracts. Mostly, I hope that my example of hard, consistent effort and belief that quality work can and should be free will inspire others to do great work as well.
Stay free.
~shs~
posted by Scott Hsu-Storaker at 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
You don't seem to have trackbacks, so I just thought I would let you know that I posted about the Thousander Club.
Good luck to the both of us. B-)
6:49 AM
Woohoo. We are both in for it now. If you read the jan. 9 post you'll see that I have put in all of 2 hours so far.
I'm still new to this blogging thing, I've got some things to learn it seems.
~shs~
11:03 AM
Hey it's Paul from 11series. I'll be doing this too working on AIP, and whatever time I have left over from school will be spent working on the ole portfolio I imagine.
9:27 AM
Awesome, man! I can't wait to see where AIP goes.
Scott
10:16 PM
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