I wrote this a while back. I would just tell people to go search for it, but searching seems to be broken. So, I did the work for you and hunted it down. I added a few things, too. Given the seeming anxiety for the masses to get their hands on CGE, I would like to remind you there are plenty of things you can do until it is released.
----Posted 1/17/2001----
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Originally posted by sanehatter:
I think I just might start a "What can I do until Coldstone is released?" FAQ. Additions are welcome.
You should have your plot FINISHED. When a film crew is producing a movie, they don't have to deal with the scriptwriter coming back and saying, "hey, we have to do these three scenes over again, sorry guys," because it's a tremendous waste of time and money. For the independant game designer, it is simply a waste of your most valuable resource: time.
I personally found that doing character design and plotwriting at the same time worked well. Others may not.
Once you've got your plot done, make out a list of things that need to be designed in detail: characters, places, spells, monsters, bad guys, etc. This way you can know, for example, that you have exactly twenty-five areas to design in detail, and you need to detail out twelve solid characters, good and bad. You don't need these details necessarily, just a quantity, as if you were filling out a purchase order, "OK, I need 403 different monsters, the power of which lies on a general bell-curve."
Again, I found it best to figure out my areas and monster quantities simultaneously. You can leave room for the addition of a monster or two, and minor tweaking, but having a list of everything you need to do is tremendously helpful, believe me.
Decide if you want music for your game. If so, are you going to write it, hire it out to a musician, or find some stuff you like and ask if you're going to use it. Don't steal. If you're investing all the other time and effort into your game, you don't want to be sued for copyright infringement on the music you use.
You're also going to need sound effects, unless you want to limit yourself to whatever ships with Coldstone.
If you are doing your own artwork you can begin the monumental task of actually producing it. At the very least, you should have your art direction down pat. What is art direction? Style, color palette, animating principles, how to do cutscenes, etc. Make up your mind whether your characters are going to be limited in detail and animation (like Exile/Avernum, Realmz, Final Fantasy I-VI, etc), or well-animated (Fallout, later FF games). Animating takes a lot of time and effort (again, trust me, I know).
I'll see what info can be released about sprite formatting, but for now, you should have as much artwork as possible (land, objects, people, monsters) in as far of a stage as you can take it without actually making the sprite. For me, this would be have things modelled, textured, posed, and animated in my 3D program. Since I don't know how you're making the artwork, I can't offer any additional advice. Keep in mind that Coldstone's Graphics engine does use 2-D sprites, so whatever methods you use, you should be aware that at some point you need to "flatten" it.
(/B)
you should also be aware that SkipMiere replied with:
----Originally posted 1/19/2001----
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I have absolutely no disagreement with what Sanehatter and Et'he have said...
But I must interject a word of warning. Sanehatter has a 'not-quite-complete' development team. One of the key players is missing and, when included down the road could throw the entire project back to a very early stage.
The missing team member is the 'programmer'. In this case a released, feature-complete Coldstone and a very good working knowledge of it. What it is capable of, how well (read fast) its product (your game) can handle your features, what features of your game that are supported poorly if at all.
Yes, do as Sanehatter does, but realize that you are going to have to learn a great deal about Coldstone once you have it in hand before you can actually produce a game.
It would behoove you to also be planning a game with very simple graphics and no animation that has an relatively deep plot with interesting storyline and quite a bit of 'action' for the player. Practice dialog, battle scenes, shops, sound effects, camping/resting, magic effects/items, types of weapons/armor--- All on a very elementary level. So that when you actually get Coldstone, you have something small to 'play' with and to discover its'/your limitations on 'coding' a game.
Then start on your Magnum Opus with all the bells and whistles. Get the 'programmer' involved before going too far!
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People who claim the sky is falling obviously aren't aware the earth is falling, too.
(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 02-21-2001).)
(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 02-21-2001).)
Seriously, it is a good idea 