Within the last few years open source applications have really come to fruition. What was once considered a "novel concept" has moved in to the spotlight in a major way. Apps such as FireFox, OpenOffice, GAIM, VLC Media Player, CygWin, etc... All fully mature products used by hundreds of thousands of people. Why am I telling you something that is readily apparent to damn near everyone? It's a segue in to my topic.

A few weeks back I added a small blurb to the bottom of a post regarding the open source NeoAxis engine. Today I felt like delving in to open source game development as a whole.

For the past few years I've felt that solid game development has gone by the wayside in the mad scramble for better graphics. Storyline is basically just an added bonus at this point. Coupled with Electronic Arts insatiable appetite for game developers I had begun to worry about my favorite past time. Normally I'd go on a tear here about how the next generation of gamers are a bunch of retards, incapable of complex thought thus forcing game designers to stupid up their products. But I won't. :)

The saving grace came in the form of Ogre3D and a slue of other amazing open source applications. These apps allow indy developers, such as myself, the flexibility to create decent looking games without having to invest our own time or money in to graphics development. Suddenly powerhouse game developers (like EA) no longer had a strangle hold on the market and the notion of 3 man programming teams didn't seem to ridiculous any more. (Well maybe it's still a bit ridiculous but at least I don't need 50 other programmers.)

To re-reference my subject line: "Roll your own", as it relates to game development, means exactly what it says. You, the programmer, completely design your own game framework. From 3D core(Ogre3D), to physics(ODE), to sound(OpenAL), to networking(?), etc..... The onus is on you to be creative.

The only real hurdle left is artwork. I would contend that any programmer, given enough time, could come up with a game. But if it looks like shit whose going to play? As a programmer I've often said that artists are a necessary evil. Obviously that is an over simplification and I happen to have friends who are artists, even a few for game companies. Enter procedural algorithms. The idea here is that art (textures, models, etc.) are designed programmatically. This isn't to say a day will come when artists aren't needed, that's just absurd. What it does mean is that if I want a simple brick wall texture I don't need to pay someone $500 dollars for their time. It also means that same artist can focus on more detailed work like player models and in game paintings.

*Procedurally generated grate texture.

Rambling on as I do I'd like to try and close this all up. Both indy game development and open source have come a long way in the last few years and it doesn't look like either will stop. With bigger companies like EA focusing more on graphics than gameplay it is my hope that this new openness will breath much needed life in to the gaming community.

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