[crossfire] Getting more artists

[Anton Oussik]

On 11/04/07, ERACC Subscriptions <subs at eracc.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday 11 April 2007 05:00 am
> Anton Oussik wrote:
>
> > If we could attract an artist (or 5 or 6) who would be willing to
> > create 3D models of things, animate them, and then produce a complete
> > tileset of the universe from those, it would be ideal.
>
> Call me crazy if you wish. :-p I prefer the 2D version we have now. Granted we
> could always use more and better 2D graphics. But 3D and animation then locks
> out a lot of marginal graphics makers (like me for example) that could "make
> do" with the 2D tiles. Once we go 3D we would *have to* have some 3D artists
> on board the project to go forward.

2D reduces portability and ability to animate graphics. For example,
if someone creates an animation of a running orc, and someone else
creates an animation of an orc swinging an axe, given the models, some
3rd person can easily add an animation of an orc firing an arrow.
Generating everything from a different perspective or of a different
resolution can then also be automated, and colours can be easily be
adjusted over all frames featuring the same model. A talented 3D
artist should be able to get more work done, and be able to keep the
work easy to change better than several 2D artists might. As a bonus,
same models can be used to make CF truly 3D some day, instead of
3D-rendered snapshots as currently proposed. Since I think some day
within the next 10-15 years CF needs to make a transition to 3D to
stay current, this would be a natural evolving route to take.

> The problem with that is good 3D graphics folks are not easy to find and keep.

That is true, and there are good chances that none will be attracted.

> The really good ones are probably working only on closed source projects for
> a salary. I say this based on the lack of excellent 3D graphics in the open
> source projects I have seen. I am willing to be proven wrong though. ;-) But
> I still would prefer we keep Crossfire a 2D game.

3D-rendered tileset can be provided as alternative to the 2D one, and
even after transition to full 3D if the game is still tile-based there
is no reason current tileset can not be used in 2D mode.