3/13/2008

Why OSS game developments suck

Firstly, this is not a rant about OSS game developments(Open-Source-Software for those that don't understand geeky abbreviations), so don't take it personally.It's just some random thoughts I have after observing various OSS game projects.

1.retarded precise versioning
Almost all open source games use a 3 tier versioning technique,that is,Major.Minor.MinorMinor,as you may wonder:WTF is MinorMinor? MinorMinor is the actual version number that gets incremented by 1 every time a release is published.An example
game version 0.0.1(initial alpha)
minor release = 0.0.1 + 0.0.1 (takes 1-3 months)
major release = 0.0.1 + 0.1.0 (takes about 10 minor release)
breakthrough = 0.0.1 + 1.0.0(takes about 5 major release)

So...let's work out the formula
Development of an Open Source Games would take 5*10*(1-3months) or 50 months to 150 months to reach 1.0.0,I bet most players will be scared after reading this if they do play 0.0.x version of an OSS game.

2.Irresolute Cautious to do release
OSS developer always over-cautious about the quality of a release,whether it's alpha,beta or release candidate,this further increases the delay between minor releases.

3.More people make the project's development faster???
OSS developers believe more developers will make the project's development faster,this is simply NOT the truth.Sometimes 1 good developer with iron-fist style development style will be a lot faster than 2 good developers or more,since with more than one experts in one field,the actual works on code will be replaced by endless flamewars expert-exchanges between the developers.

4.Write perfect game not perfect code and documentation
An impatient player who cares only about graphics will take a look at the in-game graphics and say:this game looks like 80's,then uninstall it and never install it again.

An average causal player who cares more about gameplay will play the game for a few minutes,and he will uninstall this game if the controls/user interfaces is uncomfortable.

The most patient and wise player will try his best to play throughout the game and will only uninstall this game if it has no replayability or depth.

5.Mess with the best die like the rest
Exist libraries have been used/field-tested for years and they are ready for production,while some developers irresistibly want to write libraries from scratch for their game,because they think the exist wheel is not good enough,unfortunately their ambition usually ends up as a broken wheel,with a broken lib/core the game project's death will be imminent.

6.Get bound by your own freedom
What would you feel if your painting can be reworked by anyone including those who are not even artists and those who alter it in a destructive way?
To satisfy the project host,distro distributors,OSS project admins are forced to dupe convince the artists to release their arts under GPL/CC-by-sa.This behavior particularly pisses artists off,cause artists care more about the integrity of their arts and their names being mentioned as original author.

Please note that avoiding the problems I listed won't guarantee your project success,but it should help prevent your project from being slow-downed or killed by the pitfalls that creep in OSS game development.The key contributes to an OSS game project is still your dedication,and the best way to motivate yourself is to play and learn to love the game you are developing.

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