Which one are you (Poll)

[EwanG]

I'm dubious that the poll does tell you the rough composition of the forums. Look at the current results; they indicate virtually nobody can do background art. Is that even vaguely related to the actual situation?

To be honest, the fact that BG and composition are toward the bottom are pretty much what I would have expected also. Sure , I do BG's for my VNs, but I do a tracing from a photo, and then add in color and shading. I suspect that most folks do that, or use one of the repositories of free BGs out there. And for music, I rely on others as well. So in that aspect at least, I think the Poll is reflecting reality.

[Koveras]

Of course, the RPG number system is subjective, since a 3 means different things for different people. I would recommend that we just order it from 1 to 5 in order. So I would order it like this:

5. Artist
4. Writer
3. BG Artist
2. Programmer
1. Composer

The problem with this is that it doesn't reflect the differences between one's skill values. ^^ I'd therefore suggest a hybrid for, with both rank and score (myself):

5. Author (5.0)
4. Programmer (5.0)
3. BG Artist (2.0)
2. Artist (0.5)
1. Composer (0.5)

[Jake]

I'm not going to rock up to a meeting and declare that *I'm* the programmer

Good. Because if you "rock up" to any MAB meetings at my place, I'll send you home again until you learn English.




Seriously, though - I would say I'm probably a bit better at programming than art, although I couldn't quantify it. On the other hand, I prefer doing art than programming by probably a similarly small margin, probably because I do programming all day at work. And I honestly couldn't say I was better or worse at character or background art, I think I'm probably equally skilled in both areas, one way or another. I really wouldn't like to try and position my writing skill against my programming or drawing skills.

So there's at least three choices that I literally cannot pick just one of. So the only option is to not vote, because the poll doesn't let me give the answer I should honestly give.



(And I agree, it's a terrible way to try and come up with a breakdown of the community. Firstly you're going to exclude most of the jack-of-all-trades people for the reasons above, and secondly you're going to totally ignore any skills which are commonly held as a secondary skill. Background drawing is probably one of these - I think most people I've seen do BGs can do them more or less as well as they do character art, and in some cases better - but if you ask most artists, they'll be a lot more confident in their character drawing than their background drawing, for some reason - even if they're actually stronger at BGs. BGs take longer, and a lot of people seem to be afraid of even trying, but most artists are at least a little bit capable of them.)

[ficedula]

To be honest, the fact that BG and composition are toward the bottom are pretty much what I would have expected also. Sure , I do BG's for my VNs, but I do a tracing from a photo, and then add in color and shading. I suspect that most folks do that, or use one of the repositories of free BGs out there. And for music, I rely on others as well. So in that aspect at least, I think the Poll is reflecting reality.

Perhaps a more realistic question is "do you really think there are 11 times more people around who can do character art, than background art". I could believe that some people might only do character art and not want to do backgrounds at all. But that many?

The thread's been useful, but only because people have been posting more details about what they can/will do!

Good. Because if you "rock up" to any MAB meetings at my place, I'll send you home again until you learn English.

That's the business lingo, man! How else d'you think I convince people to pay my high hourly rate except through business-speak?!

[chunderbunny]

It occurs to me that I can't actually do any of the things in this poll. Well, maybe programming, but I have never actually done that for a VN.

You want debugging, proof-reading or editing though? I can do that. I'm also available for fetching pizza and coffee for those late night NanoReno sessions.

[DaFool]

BG Artist

There. Happy now?

[ficedula]

It occurs to me that I can't actually do any of the things in this poll. Well, maybe programming, but I have never actually done that for a VN.

You want debugging, proof-reading or editing though? I can do that. I'm also available for fetching pizza and coffee for those late night NanoReno sessions.

You wrote all the enemy scripts for Renaissance. That's sort of programming. I expect when people in this thread say 'Programming' they probably mean more 'scripting' than 'writing your own engine'. Most of the time, anyway.

[JQuartz]

I expect when people in this thread say 'Programming' they probably mean more 'scripting' than 'writing your own engine'. Most of the time, anyway.

Yeah, I thought when it said programming it meant scripting. If programming was really programming, I would have scored a 0 in programming.

[Jake]

Yeah, I thought when it said programming it meant scripting. If programming was really programming, I would have scored a 0 in programming.

Scripting is still programming, you know? In the same way that sketching with pencils is still art, even if it doesn't feel so arty as painting the ceilings of chapels.

[JQuartz]

Scripting is still programming, you know?

I see but the scales would be different for programming that means scripting and programming for real programming. Let say I can make menu using renpy. This would score something like a 1 if programming means scripting but it would not even score a 0.1 in programming unless it was really technical. So I put a 3 for programming because I can make some stuff using renpy. But if scripting only counts as beginner programming, I would probably just score 0.1. I wonder if I explained my opinion clear enough...

[papillon]

And then there's the interesting subject of skills totally left off the list...


... like, say, Design/Balance.

Which is less relevant to VNs than it is to many games, but not entirely, nor is it entirely subsumed into Author. In the case of a choice-free story, then design/balance is largely nonexistent. If you have multiple endings, then there are design and balance issues that go into deciding how many there are, how difficult they are to achieve, their 'equality' in terms of content, and so on. If you have any sort of hybrid gameplay going on, then there's obviously design and balance to do - the programmer carries out the design, but might not invent it. And your code can work, but still be horribly broken from a balance perspective.

Balance overlaps somewhat with Testing, another high-end skill that's easily overlooked...

[chronoluminaire]

And then there's the issue that what you like doing in your own projects is rather different from the role you'll contribute to other people's projects.

I'd say the skills that I can contribute to my own projects are:
Author - 5 (I love writing and thinking about story structure, even if that may not be reflected in all branches of ER)
Programmer - 4 (I really enjoy programming too, but in my core identity I'm more fundamentally a writer rather than a programmer)
Proofreading - 4 (it's kind of implicit when I'm doing the writing)

But to other people's games, I'm likely to contribute:
Proofreading - 5 (it's a very "modular" skill that it makes sense to do when I don't have much time)
Programming - 3 (I'm happy to program for other people's projects, but it's a bigger undertaking and needs a lot more communication between me and the author; it also needs me to be fairly convinced that the game will reach completion)
Author - 1 (it's theoretically possible I might write a story for someone else's game, but I can't see me having the time or enthusiasm for someone else's idea the way I do for mine)

[Novinha]

Copying yummy's 5 point scale (larger points = better ability):

- Artist: 2.5
I have published a comic book and am now working on another. I also draw my own avatar I use here (a friend helped with coloring since I don't color well yet), she's a character from the comic.

- BG Artist: 2
See artist.

- Author: 3
I've won best new writer award at Imperial Secrets RPBEM in Island 5 around a year before its collapse Also has several flash fictions and an unfinished 350-pages novel draft collecting e-dust in my hard drive, as well as a short VN concept I'm now working on (no, it's not Scelta - it's the introductionary prequel. Will present it as soon as it's finished, perhaps it can make it into this year's NaNoReNo).

- Programmer: 2
It's my formal educational background, but I haven't done much programming lately since I'm in Sales

- Director: 2
Taken a bit more leadership roles than I'd like (or can chew?).

- Translator (Indonesia<--->English): 3
Bahasa Indonesia is my mother tongue, my paper-based TOEFL simulation score is 670 out of 677.

- Proofreader: 3
I'd admit that I'm more nitpicky than some people would like ^_^;

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Yummy:
Is your avatar the Petit Ferret mascot?

[azureXtwilight]

Let's see... All of the things I'm good at, huh!? I'll write them from the best I can do to the worst!
1. Drawing
2. Writing
3. Programming (But not the complicated ones, duh)
4. BG artist
5. Making Music! (Aww I have good sense of music but I just don't know how to use music-making softwares.. XD

[Korkofilaki]

Drawing characters would be my best choice, though I still have some problems with body proportions. But if you ask me for a portrait, that's my strong point. I can draw backgrounds too, though not that good (proportions, remember?) and I tend to draw them too plain. I keep practicing though cause I like drawing and I want to get better.

About writing... meh. I get flashes of interesting ideas, but I can't expand them as I'd like. I've started many comics and games with my own scenarios and characters but after some time I get stuck. Thats why I prefer fanart. Come to me if you want little ideas on already planned plots.

About programming, I know only basic stuff. I learn quickly though and if the program is not too complicated I'll do okay.

And lastly... about music. I like music and I have a good ear, but I can't make my own. So if I put any music in my games it will most likely be from soundtracks of movies or other games or series. In short, other people's music.