December 26, 2013 at 15:28Hard Trucker - An Unfulfilled Dream
Good day, dear residents of Habr. Some time ago, I published a post about how we created a remake of such a wonderful game as Truckers-2. Hard Trucker Those who are interested, please, under cat.
Unfortunately, nothing came of this very good idea. As you know, everything started with enthusiasm. There were practically no financial investments; each of our like-minded people gave the project their free time, their soul, but alas.
Immediately after the publication of the article on Habré, the number of our associates grew to an incredible number: 700 people in a couple of hours. Among them were really cool programmers, modelers, designers. Almost everyone was ready to devote 8 hours a week to development. Problems appeared literally from the first minutes ...
It still remains a mystery to me why the CEO decided to make the game just a single at once. This, IMHO, is extremely stupid. How many potential players we would lose. The vast majority of the development community was precisely for the principle of MMO with the ability to create the development of their own company, competition and all the delights of the genre. But alas ... From this idea were immediately.
Again, the CEO intervened, he did not heed the rationale for using Unreal. Instead, it required implementation on Unity. Perhaps, in some cases, the choice is good, but the most ordinary human greed intervened. Yes Yes. It is greed, but more on that later. By the way, most programmers were just Unreal specialists.
Another human factor and, as you might have guessed, from the CEO. There were people who were ready to help with the creation of the site and even providing hosting for free. But our competent leader decided that we will create the site ourselves and help, I’m not afraid of the word, we do not need cool specialists.
As I mentioned above, the project was built only on enthusiasm, but as soon as the first results of our work appeared, the management immediately wanted a lot of money. That is why they abandoned Unreal in favor of Unity. The explanation is very simple: we will immediately do it under all possible platforms. Everyone did not care that the programmers, and there were only five of us, had already delved into the essence of the work and had a huge number of developments. And so much work has been done that it was possible to assemble a pre-alpha version. And yes, as I promised, the demo was ready.
Naturally, the project was bent. But it was closed not from reluctance to continue working, but from the fact that the CEO, who was little versed in development matters, issued another portion ... I don’t even know what to call it. His ideas were as follows:
With a group of like-minded people, I wanted to continue developing Hard Trucker. we asked to give us all the best practices, all the artworks. But we got none of this. We got a complete ignore and ban in the official group in contact. That's all.
First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone who had hopes for us, who provided us with all possible assistance. Thanks guys!
I would also like to give some advice to enthusiasts like us. Perhaps they will seem obvious to many, but still.
Thanks to everyone who worked with me, you are great guys. I know you will read this post.
PS I sincerely ask you to inform in PM about the found spelling and punctuation errors.
Immediately about the bad
Unfortunately, nothing came of this very good idea. As you know, everything started with enthusiasm. There were practically no financial investments; each of our like-minded people gave the project their free time, their soul, but alas.
How it was
Immediately after the publication of the article on Habré, the number of our associates grew to an incredible number: 700 people in a couple of hours. Among them were really cool programmers, modelers, designers. Almost everyone was ready to devote 8 hours a week to development. Problems appeared literally from the first minutes ...
Problem One: Concept:
It still remains a mystery to me why the CEO decided to make the game just a single at once. This, IMHO, is extremely stupid. How many potential players we would lose. The vast majority of the development community was precisely for the principle of MMO with the ability to create the development of their own company, competition and all the delights of the genre. But alas ... From this idea were immediately.
Problem Two: Technical
Again, the CEO intervened, he did not heed the rationale for using Unreal. Instead, it required implementation on Unity. Perhaps, in some cases, the choice is good, but the most ordinary human greed intervened. Yes Yes. It is greed, but more on that later. By the way, most programmers were just Unreal specialists.
Problem Three: Self-esteem
Another human factor and, as you might have guessed, from the CEO. There were people who were ready to help with the creation of the site and even providing hosting for free. But our competent leader decided that we will create the site ourselves and help, I’m not afraid of the word, we do not need cool specialists.
Last Problem: Greed
As I mentioned above, the project was built only on enthusiasm, but as soon as the first results of our work appeared, the management immediately wanted a lot of money. That is why they abandoned Unreal in favor of Unity. The explanation is very simple: we will immediately do it under all possible platforms. Everyone did not care that the programmers, and there were only five of us, had already delved into the essence of the work and had a huge number of developments. And so much work has been done that it was possible to assemble a pre-alpha version. And yes, as I promised, the demo was ready.
Obituary Epilogue
Naturally, the project was bent. But it was closed not from reluctance to continue working, but from the fact that the CEO, who was little versed in development matters, issued another portion ... I don’t even know what to call it. His ideas were as follows:
- Freeze the project and start developing your own (!!!!) graphic and physical engine! Think of the number of programmers
- Completely refuse to collect donations on sites like Kickstarter
- Remove most of the developers and designers from the project and hire professionals instead. Let me remind you that there are no financial assets and there weren’t
- The most ingenious change: Start development of the next clone of the wonderful STALKER game. Comments are redundant here.
With a group of like-minded people, I wanted to continue developing Hard Trucker. we asked to give us all the best practices, all the artworks. But we got none of this. We got a complete ignore and ban in the official group in contact. That's all.
Conclusion and Conclusions
First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone who had hopes for us, who provided us with all possible assistance. Thanks guys!
I would also like to give some advice to enthusiasts like us. Perhaps they will seem obvious to many, but still.
- Be sure to chat with the project management. Find out if they have an idea of what needs to be done.
- Even if the project is non-profit, get ready for financial investments
- Never refuse help
- And most importantly: Do not give up your idea, your dream. Always go to the end, even if it is not victorious
Thanks to everyone who worked with me, you are great guys. I know you will read this post.
PS I sincerely ask you to inform in PM about the found spelling and punctuation errors.