Anyone interested in a game swap?

[SusanTheCat]

Are any of your projects languishing because of a lack of motivation/energy?

Two things that help me get energy are:
- working on someone else's project
- have someone work on my project

So I would like to combine the two!

It would work like a Secret Santa. (with less emphasis on the secret part.) The participants would pick one of their projects and a couple of things they need done for it (nothing that would take longer than a couple of hours). They also list what types of things they would be willing do for someone else's project.

Example:
SusanTheCat
Camp Renard
- Sprite of Janice
- CG of Tina on Vixen Rock
- Romantic scene with James and Tina
Willing to work on
- Coding, Sprite, Editing

After everyone has submitted, I'll match people and projects up. Then the participants work on the new project and produce something before the deadline.

Anyone interested?

Susan

[Arowana]

I think this sounds like a cool idea!

The only issue I see is that if I wanted someone to, say, do a sprite or CG for my project, I'd want them to all the sprites or CGs so they'd be consistent. And that would be a long-term commitment rather than just a few hours.

However, I think editing, coding, and perhaps concept sketches would work fine for this type of trade. Perhaps you could also add "fanart" or "fanfic" to the list, since I believe that was something people would also request during Secret Santa. Hmm, and maybe also game reviews or beta testing?

[SusanTheCat]

I think fanfic, concept art, play-testing would all work. That's why I would leave it up to the owner of the game to decide what they wanted done.

I find that seeing someone else's take on a character or scene will inspire me to think outside my confort zone.

Susan

[CheeryMoya]

So are you choosing who works on what or letting everyone decide what they want? I want to know how everything's going to get organized first before I put in my own project here. Besides that, this is a pretty neat idea O:

[Sapphi]

I find that seeing someone else's take on a character or scene will inspire me to think outside my confort zone.

I'm this way too. Nothing I write or draw ever feels permanent because I'm so used to editing it. Consequently, all my ideas feel abstract and shapeless in the void of my mind and creative work can sometimes start to feel like I'm failing my arms around in the darkness. Sometimes it's really comforting and refreshing to have a drawing of your character from someone else's hand, or a piece of short fiction from someone else's mind, so that you can sit back and appreciate your characters/story from an outsider's perspective.

That being said... I don't really have any projects I think that I can volunteer up for this right now. I wouldn't mind doing fan art or fan fiction at all... in fact, I've been tempted to make fan art for some games here several times... but I always tell myself "No, you have projects you are supposed to be working on!" (And then I sit down to work on them, and the crushing stress of perfectionism kicks in, and I put them aside...)

[SusanTheCat]

I would probly write a piece of code to randomize/best fit the projects and participants.

People could also PM me in advance if there was someone they could not work with.

[lepapillonrouge]

Hmm, I'm interested. But a lot of my games are kind of lacking in content to be honest...I have one with placeholder sprites because my sprite art person disappeared ;w;, the other one I'm rewriting to be more of an otome game parody, the other one I have a fiction story written but I haven't entirely converted it into vn format...ahaha. I'm not even sure where to begin asking for help hahaha

[wakagana]

I'd be open to working on other peoples stuff for the experience of getting shit done, but I probably wont let anyone near my baby. :< -tucks project into covers and then locks it in an underground bunker-

It's a good idea, and would give people the ability to get to know one another a bit more with the community and such. =) I approve!

[Reikun]

This might be a more attractive idea if both devs/groups agreed to work on each other's projects instead of being matched up by a randomizing program, like a skill-trade, rather than a secret santa (e.g. Dev A agrees to help Dev B out with programming a mini-game and in return Dev B make some GUI graphics for Dev A). Like Arowana pointed out, quality control and consistency of assets is important for a lot of projects (this of course applies more to art/writing/music than it does to programming).

[Kuroneko_rg]

I would find it very hard to trust my project on someone else.
However, I wouldn't mind doing work for others (Assuming I have spare time of course).

Sounds like a good proposal, and it seems like people who are stuck with their work might get and extra push with it :3

[SusanTheCat]

This might be a more attractive idea if both devs/groups agreed to work on each other's projects instead of being matched up by a randomizing program, like a skill-trade, rather than a secret santa (e.g. Dev A agrees to help Dev B out with programming a mini-game and in return Dev B make some GUI graphics for Dev A). Like Arowana pointed out, quality control and consistency of assets is important for a lot of projects (this of course applies more to art/writing/music than it does to programming).

Then it become the recruitment thread.
Another problem is if you get somebody that everyone wants to work with. There might be hard feelings if they don't pick you to work with.

Keep in mind:
A: there is no obligation to use what they've done. It is there to give you inspiration. If it turns out you really like it, you can work further with the person.

B: you only have to reveal as much as you want about your project. Even just stuff you would put in a WIP thread.

examples:
Concept art of a character: Janice is a girl with attitude. She is a 16 year old African-Canadian girl with a wild sense of fashion.
CG: Tina has just swum out to "Vixen Rock". She is standing on the rock when a big wave hits her. (Provide images of Tina and Vixen rock)
Scene: Tina and James are having a picnic in a field. James is a shy, bookworm character. Tina is energetic and bubbly. In the conversation the discover that they both love fantasy books.
Concept art: No project, but a wild idea about a VN with ants taking over a picnic.

The picture in my head is that I'm stuck on my project because I can't think of how to get James and Tina together. Having someone else write a short scene with what they think will help me get over my writer's block.

Susan