Unseen Studios

In light of Karl's latest post, "Licensing and Content", I say we take a break from discussing what this game is and isn't and focus our efforts on what will really contribute to the project -- finding models.

What's really being sought after are 3D modeling companies (or solo modelers) for hire. Free and/or cheap 3D models are great too but for time, budget, and programming purposes 3D teams would prove more useful. What's important is that the models have a uniform standard (size, style) to go by so that implementing them into the game is easy on Karl, rather than forcing him to tweak model after model so they can work with one another. Another advantage is that most teams or solo modelers will have thier own style and techniques when it comes to modeling, such as making only low-polygon count models, and thus give the game its own unique, personal style.

Now I know everyone here would like to contribute to this project in some shape or form, and really people, this is the best you can do. It's obvious just how excited everyone is about this project, but without our help Karl cannot be expected to produce the amount of content needed for a release anytime soon.

All it takes is maybe ten minutes a day. Just hop on google or whatever search engine you prefer and look around for some modeling teams or models available. Once we know what our options are i'm sure everyone would feel more enthused to making a donation to the project. Knowing Karl i'm sure those who contribute a good deal will not go unnoticed.

I think we can put together a modeling team ourselves to collaborate on models.
I know a professional modeler that would be willing to work for free that has played xenimus before, and made some nice models. In fact I know a few.

Thadius that's great that you know someone, however, i'm not sure you understand exactly what it takes to model properly and efficiently for a game. There are many factors such as polygon counts, what methods are being used, animation, and so on, that can throw the models out of whack with one another. Do please talk to your modeler though and ask him to contact Karl.

I know what all that stuff is, and so does he.

Thadius, a potential issue I see with "donated" content is that it can't be requested, scheduled, managed or delivered on a timely basis. I have no leverage. A company with whom I've established a relationship is very likely to respond when I shoot them an email saying "hey your latest model isn't up to par, what's going on?" or "can you fix these animations for me by the end of the week?" because I have something they want: money. I'd love to do this whole project for free, but I can't just say to you or your friend "Yo, I need this model now, oh and by the way I want you to spend hours reading over this material and working with me to get this right," because you have a life which preempts any obligation to contribute. If I kept that up, I'd lose the both of you and we'd be back where we started.

I know you really would like this project to succeed, and I love your enthusiasm; however, this is the stage of business known as raising capital. At this point, I'm trying to gather interest in a project with little to show for it but an idea and some screenshots. In the "real world," venture capitalists give a budding company money in return for (currently, worthless) shares that they hope will appreciate in value when the company succeeds thanks to their funding. I need capital to buy content for this game; in return you get the (currently worthless, but hopefully worth money in the future) return of account time when the game is running.

I hope that helps make sense of things.