Jump to content

The HyperSpin Project


djvj

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 284
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Often it depends on the progress already made on a specific system.

When a database is being made, testers help speed up the progress of deciding which exclusives to include and to leave out.

Then there is a long process of resource collecting. More than 95% of the time I spend on doing artwork sets is spent on finding quality images and such.

The main reason this project needs a lot of help to be successful is because a large part of the people leave again after a short while unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brolly,

For us non-photoshop and video types. How can we help out. Is it as simple as just goolging for box covers on missing games or is it more indepth? I'm guessing it is.

Yep, pretty much it collecting artwork is something that requires a lot of time especially for larger systems so if this burden can be taken off the artists it will be a great help since they will then be able to fully focus on the photoshop work. Like I've been saying over and over there's no reason for anyone to think they won't be able to help, anyone can collect artwork.

The main reason this project needs a lot of help to be successful is because a large part of the people leave again after a short while unfortunately.

Right on, this is exactly the main reason for things not to go as fast as planned. Usually people sign up to help and get all excited in the first days, but then they simply stop contributing and will eventually disappear. I've seen this happening over and over in the past years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... anyone can collect artwork.

LoL, nice sales pitch :P

I've actually had a lot of fun discussing all kinds of things with the people involved in the projects I am currently working on. I can tell everybody that it's 100 times more entertaining to work with a small, but active group, rather than doing everything by yourself.

I can easily relate to the people being bored out of this work because a minted set easily takes months to complete. Also taking into account that people get caught up in real life stuff in this duration. Makes the situation unfortunate, but very understandable. This should be expected and I believe there has been made room for this as well.

It merely explains why any help is appreciated and nobody should see themselves as unqualified.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the Gameboy stuff is coming along. When I find a bit of spare time I'm hunting around for rare artwork and if I can hi res box art that is missing. Gameboy Color once we reach it is gonna suck big time as the art that has been uploaded as box art is in fact cartridge scans. There is a lot of art to collect there and most can be found it is just very very time consuming. ;) so the two guys doing art appreciate me pulling the artwork while I am busy with real life stuff.

Yeah this stuff could take a long ass time. But when it is all complete damn it will look good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second what Brolly said about contributing. Knewlife and I are pumping out the Photoshop work on Game Boy Wheels. Polemicist has been organizing and hunting down the source art for us. It's working quite well so far. As far as the time needed to mint up a set. Some of these sets could take a year or so if only a few peeps are working on it. Not that I'm in a hurry. Heck, I chose Game Boy just cause there was very little already done for it.

Hey, Brolly. How many active Project members are we running right now?:shakehands:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Few Questions:

So what happens when this project is complete?

Will you be able to pay to download it? (obv without roms)

How many members are on board?

Whats the estimated time of completion?

Great questions!

1) What happens when it's complete? The question should be if it's going to be "complete".

The size of this project is enormous. Never ending in fact. Because databases will be added to newer systems not supported yet and games will be added to current systems there will always be a need for new artwork. Like most other areas of Hyperspin "complete" is never a fitting description.

2) Hyperspin is free and so is most of the content surrounding it. Do yourself a big favor though and upgrade to a gold or premium account for easier access to this content on the ftp. With a premium account you can even automatically sync the artwork as new stuff gets released. A worthwhile investment considering how many hours it would take to get everything set up correctly manually.

3) It's very hard to put it into specific numbers. As I stated earlier in this thread. People come and go. Considering the size of the project though, too few in my opinion.

4) My first answer should answer this as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe we should start rewarding prolonged contribution. With a free membership upgrade for instance. I'll pm the big boss.

I totally agree with such an initiative.

Hey, Brolly. How many active Project members are we running right now?

Right now there are roughly 50 members, not all of them are active at the moment and some are more active than others as expected due to several reasons.

And I totally agree that working with other members in a project can actually be much more entertaining as you'll have some to discuss things with or get help from if you get stuck and you'll see the work progressing faster which is always very rewarding. There are things that are better done by on person only though like doing db's, one db cannot be done by multiple persons or it will turn out being a mess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

okay, so if I have read the last page and a half and if I am correct it seems the main issue is sourcing artwork.... now this recommendation is based on an outsider's view, but why don't you open the project up and make it easier for people to see what you need and to submit what they find. Move away from assigning work and just have the community brute force it and make it more of an assembly line. By this I mean:

1. Screw the FTP and all the management issues that come with that.

2. Have a senior member of the project decide what artwork we need.......or to lessen the scope, what is our goal for that specific week (i.e. GBA A-D)

3. Make a public list on pastebin or a thread of the week for artwork we need. Make it a global forum announcement just like the IP address announcement. Literally have it say:

Week of 11/4/13:

GBA Tiny Toons box art

GBA Tomygun fun

PSX Puzzletime 2

N64 Banjo Kaboom

4. Set up a dropbox, an easily accessible ftp that you can only write to (no user/pw, anyone can simply click to access), or an email address which users send found artwork to. No organization what so ever, make it easy for the HS grunts to upload and that is it.

5. Have one or two senior members go through the contributions and send them to our photoshop people. At the end of the week they clean out the repository of stuff not needed and a new needs list is created by the senior member in step 2.

6. Photoshop guys do their thing and Brolly or whoever manages the database and final artwork.

In my mind this keeps the project more "fresh" since it means memberXYZ is not always stuck looking for the same artwork and getting bored doing the same thing. It opens the project up to the whole HS member base as anyone can see what we need and if they are bored they can spend five minutes googling for what is on the list. I figure if you have 50 members looking for N64 Banjo Kaboom box art and it is not found in a week then there is a 99% chance it does not exist and it is time to move on.

Maybe you guys are already doing this.....but from my view of things it looks like you are trying to keep it professional and super organized. It doesn't need that. It needs a 100 grunts mining gold, a few photoshop guys, and a few senior members to direct traffic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

heres whats happening to old artwork apprantley but if anyone wants me to still sort out the old packs ill continue with that

brollys response

We are already doing just that in the HS Project, that's the whole idea behind it. Except that we are creating new artwork for every single system, because let's face it for most systems the current sets (especially boxart ones) don't have enough quality or aren't accurate enough (wrong spines, custom covers, wrong dimensions, etc.). We won't be using any of the old/existing art packs except on very rare circumstances where we feel the existing ones are good enough quality wise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We tried that before (not here) and didn't turn out too well.

But actually I have something along those lines planned, to have a system each month or so where we would focus and try to get complete artwork for, didn't have the chance to try this out yet, but I guess it's worth a shot and see how that goes.

I wouldn't say sourcing artwork is the main issue, lack of experienced PS artists is the main problem as even though having all the artwork saves them a lot of time, editing it can take a lot more especially for older systems where artwork won't be great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+ 1 i think one machine should be concerntrated on at a time less confusing that way i think the problem is people were trying to hard and rushing in to it

ive also noticed people mainly work on mame only most these days so maybe its time a new system was addapted and planned for the future

or maybe even have a chart up telling you to pick a project to do and stick with that so people know whats going on and being worked on perhaps set one like hyperlisting way where it shows percentage of how much is done for each system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't say sourcing artwork is the main issue, lack of experienced PS artists is the main problem as even though having all the artwork saves them a lot of time, editing it can take a lot more especially for older systems where artwork won't be great.

Then in that case forget about what I said. I think your idea of doing one system at a time would work out well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there an IRC room for the project? Would help alleviate the feeling of working in a vacuum if there were a place to hang out with other contributors.

This could probably be a good idea, I will check what's the current status of the HS IRC server.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That whole focus on one system idea could be good. Take all the little systems and knock them out of the road first then start moving up the food chain. If we can complete all the systems that are definitely final and have them all minted with all artwork then all we are left with is the constantly ongoing systems like MAME and such. You'd have to assign letters / work etc to people to avoid duplication but it could work.

Actually now I think about it from a psychologic stand point if we all work as a collective group on one system and complete it quickly it leaves the group with a sense of accomplishment. Knowing they can do this and that there is light at the end of the very very long tunnel is a definite moral booster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That whole focus on on system idea could be good. Take all the little systems and knock them out of the road first then start moving up the food chain. If we can complete all the systems that are definitely final and have them all minted with all artwork then all we are left with is the constantly ongoing systems like MAME and such. You'd have to assign letters / work etc to people to avoid duplication but it could work.

+1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not a bad idea, but there are a few issues with focusing on one system at a time. The more people working on a system the more time and effort needs to go into personnel organization to insure that work isn't being done twice. There's an optimal workforce for a given project and anything beyond that can impair efficiency. Also, some people are more passionate about, or have more experience with, certain systems and are more motivated to work on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...