Re: Content

[Bob <mantic@mbo.net>]

Brandon J. Van Every wrote:

> I think the strategic contest between visual and print media was decided a
> long time ago.  Whereas there can still be a "battle for the eyeballs"
> between TV and computer/console games, to use former Intel CEO Andy Grove's
> phrase.  One's visual and passive, the other is visual and active.  Attempts
> at Web TV, Microsoft's launching of the XBox, these are all gambits for the
> future of entertainment.
> 
> But to judge the intermediate results, I think DVD is going to win.  It's
> mostly passive, so people can space out, which is what most of them prefer
> to do.  And then there's the extra "gimmie" of being able to hit a few
> buttons to learn more about something, which feels like activity.  Games
> will have to deliver truly *amazing* experiences to the audience to compete
> against this satisfying baseline of "mild" interactivity.


	I agree. There may be a movement to include more button pushing in the
name of interactivity but what we are already seeing with DVD
presentation has taken the market by storm. That is something that may
well compete directly with cinema and television. Whether it will
compete with games is less clear. I remember clearly the trend of
'interactive video' games that came with the popularity of CD media.



> > But ease of use and expense of modelling and animation
> > technology is not so great a barrier (3ds Max and Maya are not the only
> > options).
> 
> The cost of the software isn't the issue!  It's the clunkiness.  The number
> of man hours you'll use up trying to animate some damn thing.  I've hated
> all 3D modeling/animation software that I've yet used.  We need cheap,
> perfect motion capture and surface fairing.  That's going to be awhile,
> there's no mass market economics to drive it.
> 
> Anyways, regarding freeware and volunteer projects: been there, done that.
> Almost got the T-shirt, still got the floppies.  It's a waste of time.  The
> pitfalls of human cooperation are a lot broader than one author's humility
> or lack thereof.  See "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred P. Brooks.


	Although I agree that many of the most popular and expensive software
packages are not a pleasure to use, they do avail the work suitably for
a trained and talented artist. Looking for motion capture and other
automation is part of that renaissance programmer problem; clearly there
is need for assistance but you look to the machine.

	Regarding freeware and volunteer projects: you infer that open source
engines and amateur artists are not available to professional or
commercial projects. A game built with the Genesis3D or Crystal Space
engines can be commercial. An amateur artist becomes a professional
after you offer him or her a contract. And cooperation has much, if not
everything, to do with humility.


								--Bob