Fan submissions.

[Tryst]

It would be nice for some game companies to offer the chance for fans to submit stuff like music and such to be added to the game. After listening to some of the fans stuff for various games after they've come out, I wonder why games developers pay so much for a professional composer. They could make a call for fans to have a go and pick the best ones to add to the game and add the composers name and song title to the credits.

While browsing another forum, I found this gem and thought it was spectacular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc-Lx0KMeXA
While it wouldn't fit into Thief, it made me wonder how many fans would be willing to create great pieces of music for their favorite game and only ask for their name in the credits.

It works both ways, for the game company, it saves money on development and for the aspiring musician, it's something beneficial in their portfolio if they could say they wrote a track that was used in [insert video game title here].

[joseywales1027]

Awesome idea, I really like it. We have a very creative group of individuals here, and in hiding, so I'm sure they could create something amazing.

[Master Taffer]

Wouldn't work on multiple fronts. Cohesive aesthetic would go out the window, licensing would be a nightmare, NDAs all over the place, etcetera.

[Platinumoxicity]

The only problem I would notice would be that there's no telling whether copyrighted material was used in creating fan-made assets. So they couldn't be used in a commercial product.

...then again, think about it. Why? Why is it a problem? -Why of course because using copyrighted material is a commercial product is illegal. Why is it illegal? -Well, because it's against the law. -Wh...WE DON'T WANT ANYONE TO BE ABLE TO EVEN REMOTELY GAIN ANYTHING FROM WHAT WE HAVE PRODUCED EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD HAVE ZERO NEGATIVE EFFECT ON US!!!

Yeah, the whole legal system around trademarks and stuff like this, is based on legislated enforcement of jealousy. Common sense is not allowed. When a Rally car has Budweiser painted on the side, that company is giving money to the rally team. But when a videogame has a one rusty can of Coca Cola in it, the videogame company has to pay licensing fees to depict a real-world object in a realistic virtual world. Not only is sponsorship entirely out of the question, but even free use of a trademark is off limits. Why? Because that would mean that someone is making money out of using that trademark. Except when you think about it using a brain, they are not. They are making money out of making a videogame. The trademark just happens to be in the game world, just like trademarks exist in the real world too. You could make the same argument that someone who likes the color red is gaining from the existence of the Coca Cola trademark. The company isn't losing anything, but that person sees something they like. And the apparently, that's a no-no. Nobody can benefit from anything in any way, without asking and getting permission from the owner of that something.

So if there would be a game company that would accept fan-made assets, there should be a service that accepts no responsibility for any unintentionaly infringements. Afterwards, the game company could define all the copyrighted or trademarked assets they have in the game as having been produced by fans, and give a big, perfectly reasonale middle finger at everyone who would otherwise have sued them. Because they accept no responsibility.

When Counter-Strike was still a free mod for Half-Life, it had real-world weapon brands and models, and exact weapon specs and ballistics. When Valve bought the game, they needed to change all that, because they would be making money out of it. Now tell me... what was it exactly, that from the perspective of the trademark owners, distinguished the effect the free mod had on them from what the commercial game would have had on them?

That's right. Absolutely nothing. Thinking is not allowed. Laws are meant to be obeyed. They are not guidelines for right and wrong.

[Anakara]

There are several reasons why this doesn't work as well as some people think it does.

Originally Posted by Tryst

It would be nice for some game companies to offer the chance for fans to submit stuff like music and such to be added to the game. After listening to some of the fans stuff for various games after they've come out, I wonder why games developers pay so much for a professional composer.

What? Why? Because they want a job done well...I'd rather pay for a professional vs someone who doesn't have experience in terms of working on a game team. There is a world of difference between say composing music, and how to incorporate it into a game. If that makes sense.

While browsing another forum, I found this gem and thought it was spectacular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc-Lx0KMeXA
While it wouldn't fit into Thief, it made me wonder how many fans would be willing to create great pieces of music for their favorite game and only ask for their name in the credits.

It works both ways, for the game company, it saves money on development and for the aspiring musician, it's something beneficial in their portfolio if they could say they wrote a track that was used in [insert video game title here]

I'd rather be paid then just have my name in the credits. And even then it doesn't really mean it gets your foot in the door...not always.

Problems with doing this method could include: licensing issues, if they use tracks from a few fans they have to be constant as well as fit it into the game, NDA's might be involved which can be a nightmare, the development studio and client might not agree on payment and schedule ect as well as many other problems. I can understand if a fan won a contest to do something for a game but that's it.

If they can make it work then fine.

[Tryst]

Originally Posted by Anakara

What? Why? Because they want a job done well...I'd rather pay for a professional vs someone who doesn't have experience in terms of working on a game team. There is a world of difference between say composing music, and how to incorporate it into a game. If that makes sense.

If you've heard as many fan composed pieces as I have, you'd probably have other thoughts. Much of the game music for the early games on Amiga etc came from people writing music in MOD trackers.

I'd rather be paid then just have my name in the credits. And even then it doesn't really mean it gets your foot in the door...not always.

Bitmap Brothers never hired a single professional for their tracks and most of the writers of the MOD music went on to write stuff for well known artists.

Problems with doing this method could include: licensing issues, if they use tracks from a few fans they have to be constant as well as fit it into the game, NDA's might be involved which can be a nightmare, the development studio and client might not agree on payment and schedule ect as well as many other problems. I can understand if a fan won a contest to do something for a game but that's it.

If they can make it work then fine.

Why NDA's? Who really needs to see the game if the devs are looking for an ambient track, with spooky undertones, I am sure someone would have written one like that. If not, they could just ask and a few would rise to the challenge.

If you've seen the development of the online game called "Infinity" you'd see that much of the ship designs and music has been created by forum users all awaiting the beta phase. It's taking a long time to develop but it's only a small development team. It started out as a few forum users sending in designs but soon, the company realised that they could save a lot of time in development if they had fan submissions for these and also the music. They could concentrate on the engine and other things while fans developed ships in 3D packages and music by the cart load.

Now imagine trying to get a job in the games industry as a model designer or a music writer. The first question asked: "Have you had experience in developing for the game industry before?" Now, you could point to the game and say, I had a fan submission in [insert title here] and even provide the prototypes from your own PC.

Even with Thief, we have modders who have made stuff like the Dark Mod and T2X and made a fantastic job of it too. It doesn't take much to realise there are a lot of talented people with time on their hands who could contribute. Sadly, I'm not one of them.