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Hrmm... Still waiting on John to finish his part, I don't really wanna go on until I know what the one before me looks like in completion.

I hope he is not dead. :(

Time to get reacquainted with my old friend Flash. Best of luck to everyone!

I actually decided to wait until the person before me finished theirs to see what colors to use and whatnot. Not the most ideal situation but yeah....

I recommend this to people who are worried about continuity: if you introduce a new element that could reappear at some point, give it some flat colors before handing in your storyboard. In at least one frame.

Tom,

Got a question for you about the Construct 2 Game Jam:

Is there any limit to how many games can be entered/contributed to by one person? I'm assuming only one of his/her games would be eligible to win a prize, but I am thinking of both creating my own and collaborating with others.

Oh boy, I'm in a collab with Jom? My life has meaning now.

Storyboard done, PM sent!

ADD ME AGAIN D:<
My evil plot to take up most of the slots has failed already, since it took this long for the fla to get to me! Curse the world!

At 4/8/14 09:58 AM, Diki wrote: Moneys

Diki, just for reference purposes, may I ask a few questions?
- What is your highest level of education & degree if applicable?
- How many years have you been working in the industry?
- Have you had any major jobs (i.e. by "big name" clients)?
- What rate did you start at professionally (i.e. your first "real" contract, not something you did for a friend)?

You situation is indeed similar if you handle both the coding and graphics of a website. Although I also feel like as someone with a college degree and two years of experience in my field I should be a little higher up than I am right now, so I guess this is turning into a thread about me after all haha.

At 4/5/14 03:13 AM, VigorousJammer wrote: Okay, so... this is the "Continue the story collab", previously known as the "120-frame collab"

I've been re-tooling the rules so often that the previous topics had blatantly wrong rules in the opening post, forcing me to make a new topic each time. So, from now on, to prevent me from making any more new topics... I'll be posting the rules in this text document, where it's easy for me to update:

Rules, Specifications, & Contributor Queue

Click that link above if you'd like to see what this collab is all about, and how to join.
Click below for a preview that I animated.

5-Second Preview

Hey, nice. I saw a third thread and got confused but I really like your new scheme. Would have been better to have this all sorted out before hand but I'm glad you're thinking :). This seems like it'll make this much smoother.

At 4/5/14 08:51 AM, Graham6742 wrote: I think it's because I'm on a rather small tablet, I have to rotate to achieve certain shapes and comfort, but this is catch 22 in the fact some directions are harder to draw in meaning it has to look sketchy, or jagged. So, I'm just gonna have to get used to it and adapt.

Does Flash have canvas rotation? I know Photoshop CS4 and above has it, and Paint Tool SAI has had it forever. I use it all the time. It's really handy.

But yes, learning to draw properly in the difficult directions is ultimately the best path :P I totally know what you mean, because after 6+ years of digital illustration and going through art school I still can't draw a totally steady line to the left.

Also make sure your tablet's aspect ratio is the same as your monitor's. My first tablet was square while my monitor was wide.

I'm cool with that font.

Might want to update your alternate email password too if you have one. Add mobile protection, etc. ...

Do any of you actually know the full story of DN?

I'd destroy the fuck out of it.

Graham, if you are getting jagged lines with your tablet, one of three things could be happening:

- Your drivers are not properly installed
- Your tablet pen's batteries are dying / not connecting
- Your computer is having trouble running the program while recognizing your tablet at the same time

The first issue can be resolved by visiting your tablet manufacturer's website. The second is self explanatory, unless the conductor inside is broken. The third can be tested by using a lower-impact program such as Paint Tool SAI or even MS Paint to draw and see if it disrupts your lines.

Anyway...

I should have never looked at the queue D: I am getting super anxious waiting for my turn.

At 3/30/14 06:23 AM, Secretmapper wrote: You said you want to have better sense of the market, but the problem is you haven't really defined your market!

Since your example is a game however, let's go with the gamedev market. This is actually too wide too, since there's mobile, flash, console, unity, etc.

So yeah, there is really no way to answer your question, because it is too unlocalized. However, if you are interested in assessing your rates, SE has a pretty nice writeup here.

Hmm. Thanks for the link Secret. It was pretty helpful. Lots of good insight and ideas, for my own practice as well.

For future reference, the market would be global mobile game development (iOS and Android). Assume that all art and other assets are already completed. The problem with the global market is that there are a lot of people from low-income areas who are willing to work for 1/4 the rates that people like myself are. So the figures I see from this market are horribly distorted.

Ideally I'd like to just see someone's rates and then take a look at their work. So if anyone can also provide public examples of their work that would be awesome.

At 3/29/14 03:10 PM, sharpnova wrote:

At 3/27/14 09:28 PM, Zhon wrote: With that said, you don't have to be a thundercunt to share your experiences.

I'm a dick

Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch, but the word "joint project" generally means that more than one person is working on something. A simple click on my profile also reveals that I am an artist. Extrapolation is an important skill in life, no?

I'll concede that I didn't include enough information as to how or why I am coming across these contracts, however, if you'll kindly note, at no point did I ask for advice on this in my original post. I have no problem securing leads and interviews. I just want to know figures.

As such my statement remains the same.

Graham, the point of waiting is that you are supposed to build off the last person's animation.

At 3/27/14 08:53 PM, sharpnova wrote:

At 3/27/14 06:46 PM, Zhon wrote: Now, I don't have nearly enough skills to even begin pursuing a job like that

and then right after that you said:

I am trying to get a better sense of the market before embarking on my next joint project.

You are doing the wrong thing.

Work on developing your skills.

What you charge is usually the result of undercutting other bidders and therefore isn't a fixed amount that can be told to you here.

I've been paid as little as $20/hour to work on a project.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've been paid a quarter million to spend two years working on a project which reached completion to the satisfaction of my employer. This averaged out to $625/hour because I had the entire code base and most of the infrastructure already completed from a private project which I never reported to said employer and simply built off of to get the project done fast.

tl;dr - build your skills and get a clue. Something which it seems almost no one on these forums has.

You misunderstand me.

I am an artist. I run an art and design collective through which I collaborate with programmers to secure larger scale jobs that none of us could tackle on our own due to our specializations. Most of these people program as hobbyists and have never charged a dime for their work, so they have no idea what to charge clients. I've never even programmed outside of Basic4GL and Actionscript, so I am equally clueless. I've looked at other projects to get an idea, and have some idea based on my own freelancing as an artist, but I want some first hand feedback from real programmers.

With that said, you don't have to be a thundercunt to share your experiences.

I came across a freelance opportunity recently to program a game for $2,000 - estimated 3 weeks of work for an experienced programmer. This evens out to about $16.50/hr working full time.

Now, I don't have nearly enough skills to even begin pursuing a job like that, but I was just wondering what some of you freelancing programmers out there charge for your services. The game seemed pretty basic and it was a 2D platform.

So, estimated bid for a projected 120 hour project (or your hourly rate)?

I am trying to get a better sense of the market before embarking on my next joint project.

Werdz up. Just checking in to let you know I'm still alive, haven't been around in a while.

I see I'm up next. Set the bar high, John. :)

At 3/14/14 10:48 PM, Sr-Estroncio wrote: You are asking two different questions here.

First of, is it pointless? Well, depends, what's their point? Copying a photo to the point of actual realism might be good practice for some, it's a study. It can also be done as a challenge the artist proposes to self, ''how realistic can I get?'' There are several other reasons for doing so. While you certainly can criticize someone's creativity in some drawings, you can't say an artist is not being creative when he is studying something, it's a study, after all.

And second... ''Skilled?'' Why say that sarcastically? Just because said artist made a ''copy'' of a photo, does that mean he is not truly skilled? Have you ever tried making an exact copy of a photo using colored pencils? It's not as easy as it sounds.

Yes, I have. Countless times, with various media, as a rudimentary exercise in college. I see it as nothing more. I acknowledge that it is a skill to be able to replicate something from a two-dimensional reference, and a valuable one at that. Perhaps calling it completely pointless was a bad overstatement.

I guess my primary gripe is when these sort of artists are labeled as "awesome artists" and "super creative"... There is absolutely nothing creative about copying a photo in its original form, first of all. You are not even responsible for the composition. And secondly, drawing from a photo is a second-hand replication of reality. You're making a copy of a copy, and all of the basic color choices are already laid out for you. There is barely any "challenge" in that - drawing from life, on the other hand, presents much greater difficulty and by the very nature of human biology forces you to make creative decisions.

Hello good people of the art forum,

I just watched a video of someone replicating an almost exact copy of a photo using colored pencils.

Is it just me, or is doing this completely pointless? The way I see it - you already have the photo, and you have not manipulated it in any way. You are just acting as a sub-par photocopier.

I am totally all for using photos as references to get proportions right, colors, shape, etc. But when someone just copies a photograph verbatim to a sheet of paper and everyone is blown away by how "skilled" they are... It annoys me.

Your thoughts?

I highly enjoy these posts. Just thought I'd share.

At 3/13/14 11:14 PM, Satan wrote:

At 3/13/14 10:46 PM, Zhon wrote:

At 3/13/14 09:27 PM, Satan wrote: No harm in that, I'm not trying to be a dick, but you're taking a bit of fun way too fucking seriously.

I got this same line of shit about my art and gaming when I was in high school. With my status as a professional freelancer and competitive eSports on the rise, I'd say shoot for the moon kid.

Difference is your goals are completely realistic, and achievable. OP's goals on the other hand are completely unrealistic and will amount to nothing.

There's a big gap between a freelance artist and a famous rapper. By telling him to "shoot for the moon" you are doing nothing but setting him up for disappointment. The world is a brutal, horrible, shitty place, and the sooner he realises that the sooner he will be able to set himself realistic goals in life, and grow up.

That is what I am trying to get across to him anyway.

I'm camping out on a satellite - my moon is still years away. Perhaps he may not become a famous rapper, but he may end up with some musical success, land a small label deal, and accomplish something in his life that he and his family can be proud of. Or he might become famous and achieve his dream. Thing is, you'll never know if you stay on the ground - all the famous people had to get there somehow. Trust me, I know the state of the world just as well as the next guy - but to have a self-defeatist attitude is to feed into the problem and make it worse for the next guy. Besides - he seems like a sensible kid, and if he can realize after years of effort that his work is going nowhere, he can put it on the backburner and focus on something else. As long as it doesn't consume his life and make him into a worthless oxygen waster, the only harm that can come is from NOT going for it.

Spanks, show us what you're made of.

At 3/13/14 11:12 PM, Richard wrote:

At 3/13/14 11:00 PM, Zhon wrote: I am in the market for a laptop for my girlfriend. I am interested in these brands but want some first-hand reviews that I can trust are not full of shit. If you own one of these, can you attest to their lifespan and overall efficiency? Please try not to be biased and give an objective observation. Comparison to the quality level of HP and (pre-acquisition) Compaq would be nice too.

Also if you can recommend any good ones under $600, feel free. Needed for light gaming, longer battery life preferred. Dedicated graphics card and NO touch screen are musts.

Find a deal on woot.com Why are wanting one of these laptops in particular so bad? There are many quality laptops that can do what you have defined. As for light gaming, it depends on what you define as light gaming. My desktop rig has got all the power, but this laptop I'm using has 4 gigs of ram, a processor at 2.0ghz, and a radeon 4800. I've got several games I can play on it. Doom 3, baldur's gate EE, Icewind dale, simcity 4, sid meier's pirates, civilization, and I just recently downloaded OpenRA which is an updated and balanced version of the old command and conquer game red alert. It's pretty fucking awesome.

I paid 350 for this laptop. I mostly use it for university work. Do NOT get anything labeled as a gaming laptop. They will be overpriced and underpowered.

I buy most of my computers from HP because I like that you can start with a crappy laptop and upgrade it to fit your needs. I understand that buying prebuilts is a waste of money in the first place, but I don't trust myself building a desktop, let alone a laptop. Anyway, I am interested in these two brands because I've never tried either of them and I saw some sweet deals for them on Newegg. I shall check out woot.com.

By light gaming I mean the following games:
Minecraft
Age of Empires III
From Dust
The Sims 3
The Sims 4

Preferably all playable on medium graphics, or better if it is within the budget. From Dust and Sims 4 are the most intense games on the list.

Also, C&C was my bitch back in the day. I'll have to check that out.

I am in the market for a laptop for my girlfriend. I am interested in these brands but want some first-hand reviews that I can trust are not full of shit. If you own one of these, can you attest to their lifespan and overall efficiency? Please try not to be biased and give an objective observation. Comparison to the quality level of HP and (pre-acquisition) Compaq would be nice too.

Also if you can recommend any good ones under $600, feel free. Needed for light gaming, longer battery life preferred. Dedicated graphics card and NO touch screen are musts.

At 3/13/14 09:27 PM, Satan wrote: No harm in that, I'm not trying to be a dick, but you're taking a bit of fun way too fucking seriously.

I got this same line of shit about my art and gaming when I was in high school. With my status as a professional freelancer and competitive eSports on the rise, I'd say shoot for the moon kid. Besides, some people only enjoy something when they are giving it their all - I am one such individual and I know how it feels to be surrounded by people who don't think your passion is worth putting serious effort into. Ditch the lazy fucks and put it in AWD, cuz the road ahead is rocky and full of trash but with enough passion you can amaze yourself.

Besides - even if you miss the moon, you'll land among the stars.

At 3/13/14 08:41 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: If you're losing sound and getting it back just by moving a speaker, that sounds like a bent wire.

Yeah, it's absolutely the wire.

I've had this problem with pretty much every set of computer speakers I've ever purchased. After a while, the wiring gets fucked up unless you maintain them well and they weren't cheap parts to begin with.

You can try taking them apart and securing the wire (as the break/bend is most likely on the inside) or, as was suggested, invest in some modern speakers.

At 3/13/14 06:39 PM, Insanctuary wrote: Words

I didn't come here to argue dear, I was just passing through and thought you sounded like an idiot.

My theory is that you waste your time thinking about things you can't even begin to logically grasp through scientific reasoning.

My other theory is that Sekhem's gravitational pull is so great, that the moment he approaches you, you cross the event horizon and are stuck up his ass for all eternity.

At 3/13/14 10:57 AM, ShadowSonic91 wrote: Entertain me.

Do you have any idea where you are you halfwit? Go play a fucking flash game.