interested in helping out

[awakened]

Hi all,

I found the Pangea website recently while researching a bit about various 3d engines,
and was astonished by the scale (lifesized planets ftw)
As i was a sucker for space sims of any kind all my life, and geist3d creates a feeling of
scale i have never before seen in a game,  im very interested in how this project turns
out, and would like to offer my meager skills to contribute to its success ^^

Long Version, tl;dr below
I'm 24, native german, and studying for my physics diploma (entering 7th semester)

I'll give you a overview of my skills and/or interests so you can decide if and where i can
offer some useful assistance.

As i am a (somewhat) aspiring physicist, i obviously have some knowledge of physics,
although i didn't try to apply that in a (complex) programming or gaming context yet.

I have also some programming background, although mostly in Python, and about
nothing in C++, and some work-induced memories of perl and vba i'd rather forget.

I am also actively working on my own rpg, with focus till now on internal workings,
not so much graphics engine or non-text user interface. as of now the most current
iteration spans some 5000 lines of python code and includes a flexible battle system,
complete with buffs and debuffs (both permanent, and various timer or event based
variants), character development, overland and dungeon topology, and some content.

i've also dabbled in some things like semantic networks, natural language processing,
random item generators, a trading/collectible/standard card game framework, and a
generalized html/xml-IO module (which i use for de-/serializing various things in my
game for example) amongst other things, although i've only started seriously programming
about a year and a half ago, shortly before starting to work part time as a student worker
in a automotive software development department. Although this was the start of me
doing serious programming, my first experiments date back to Basic on an intel 80286
some 15 years ago.

On the other side, i have been a hobby artist for about as long as i could hold a pen(cil),
and although i wouldn't say i'm great, im not abysmal either. I draw mostly pencil on
paper, and have done some digital work via a wacom graphics tablet. Sadly work and
university forced me to cut back on my pursuits of the arts a bit, resulting in a bit of a
hit/miss situation when trying to draw something lately (chances of it looking good and
it looking like shit are about equal). I've also spent quite some time making quake3 levels
at some time (that time being far too distand past) and modeling work in 3d studio max
and maya, so i'm not a total noob at 3d stuff, but it's been long enough for me not being
able to instantly create something awesome.

TRIVIA START
As it's already quite a lot of text, i'll just add a bunch of not really relevant information
that you may feel free to skip, but it may nevertheless give a more round picture of myself:

I speak german (not surprising i guess), i'd say pretty fluent english, decent (comprehension)
to average (speaking) japanese, mediocre korean, and some chinese.
I play electric guitar and an assortment of plastic instruments (rock band, guitar hero), as
well as other rhythm games, and listen to music of nearly every genre whenever i can
(including but not limited to: classical, rock, metal, jazz, oldschool hiphop, asian pop/rock, electronic)
I've been an avid gamer all my life, this encompasses both digital (pc, consoles, mostly ps3 atm),
and analog (both traditional and modern board games, pen&paper rpgs)
Although im on hiatus currently, i do some sports (Capoeira, Tricking, Archery, general Acrobatics stuff)
I read a _lot_ when i was younger, and i still read a lot by most peoples standards i guess.
TRIVIA END

tl;dr:
I could do some highlevel programming, some 2d art, some content creation, and some background/story.

As a last point, some examples of my 2d works (click for full size):

a few linearts
     

a few sketches/wips
 

a few colored works
 

May not exactly be what you have in mind style-wise, but i can adapt.

And with this, my already much too massive introduction comes to an end.
If you think i can be of help, im happy to, just point me to where i can do something useful

~awakened~

[StormGnu]

First I just want to say welcome to the Geist3D forum!

Second, you really got some art talent and i don't really believe that 50 / 50 ratio at all. I too have programmed mostly in Python but also some C++. LUA is the scripting language used in Geist3D, though, just so you know. But LUA is very easy to learn if you already know Python.

If you feel like you want to start out right away, some concept art is very much needed as well as ideas regarding the story of the game. Check out the narrative part of the forum but don't feel limited by the discussions / ideas presented there because nothing is set in stone.

Again, welcome!

[Jochen Stier]

Hi awakend,


It’s good to have someone else come aboard. I think at this point, artwork is one of the main areas where we still need support. I have come to realize that designing and modeling quality art for a game is a lot of work. Not to mention the underlying mechanics that makes the game exciting. I think that’s why in most game Studios artists seem to outnumber the developers.

I would like to start conceptualizing a game from the ground up. I think that an MMO as it has been the focus so far is quite challenging, so I would like to refocus our efforts a little bit. While the MMO is definitely the final goal, we could develop a subsystem and launch it as an independent game. Two things are in my mind here; either a single player planetary racing game where you have to fly a spaceship at a predefined path though mountainous terrain at high velocities, while picking up points, shield, boosters. Or, maybe a little more advanced, a team-based combat game like BF1942 where the fighting occurs anywhere from the lower atmosphere to outer space. Both of these goals are probably more achievable than an MMO, and if we do it right, most of the artwork can move on to the next game. I will start a new thread about this in the Journal section later.

From the images you posted it seems that you are an outstanding artist! Maybe you would find it interesting to take on the challenge of designing the essence (for a lack of a better word) of a game. I have never done that myself, so I do not know what’s involved, but I assume it includes defining all the entities such as ships, vehicles, characters and how they interact using weapons, shields, sensors etc. It will probably also include some of the GUI components. You may also decide to go back the Maya or 3D Studio and build a model yourself.

Also, keep that Python system alive you are building. When we build an MMO there will be an environment server written in C++ which basically maintains the physical state of the system. And, there will also be a game server that maintains a database and keeps track of the semantic state of the system. That one will likely be written in a high level web development language such as Python. I think Eves Online uses Python for that same purpose.

It looks like there are now two native German speakers in the forum. I was born and raised in Miltenberg, but I have been living in Victoria for a while now.

Cheers
Jochen

[Destroyed]

Welcome to geist, its great to have someone new ^^ especially one who can draw so amazingly, im slightly jealous xD

[TorakunSama]

Grreettings! Oh Awakened one!
Welcome to Geist3D!
I shall be expecting great things from you!
I believe my drawing skills are at 65%, so yours might be at 70%. Nice drawings btw!

Tora out!

[Fred]

Hi, and welcome!

It's nice to see a fellow musician, and from what little I can tell, you draw amazingly too.

Good to have you aboard!