~ Project Leads on CCG Workshop ~

So, you can say I've been around for a while, and although I'm not as old school as nipa, to most people I've been around for so long that whenever there is a problem with gatlingNet, my IM get buzzed by people I hardly know. That, however doesn't give me the right to bash anyone though, and this blog does not intend to do that. Rather, I'm going to briefly (Hah! as if this will be anything brief) encapsulate my thoughts about what makes a good Project Lead and who should apply to be one.

Before I start though, let me define a term.
Hobbit: People who pester to become a Project Lead, but after being granted the status of being a Project Lead produces absolutely (or close to) nothing.
(Yeah, that's right, another Tolkien reference, the CCGW world is littered with them)

Over my tenure as a Project Lead, I've seen numerous Hobbits hanging around the engine. (Why Hobbits? Think Trolls, but CCGW wise) Of course, one doesn't know that they are Hobbits until after they are made a Project Lead. Hobbits will do everything in their power to become a Project Lead - send in the Non-Disclosure agreement, write reviews, give regular tours, patrol the forum religiously and answer all questions posted there, stuff like that. Of course there are others who do most of that as well, so that's not a distinctive mark of a Hobbit. And of course, those are the things done by normal Project Leads anyways (or should be done by them!)

So what qualities should a person have who will succeed in coding an entire game for CCGW and not end up as a Hobbit? Assuming that said person is qualified (have a working knowledge of coding languages, knows his - basic - way around graphic programs, can work a computer, etc.) the following qualities are ones that I'd recommend a prospective Project Lead to have:

Firstly, it's drive. A person has to be really really really really really motivated to get a particular game onto the engine, particularly their first game, to succeed at it. I've seen people get on the bandwagon to become Project Leads because "everyone else is doing so", or because they wanted to play games for free on the engine and those people usually end up as Hobbits. The losers though are the fans of the game that said person was going to adapt and CCGW.

A person with drive, will "make time" to code the game, however busy their life may be. I know BugLaden is always amazed that ShadowJump manages to squeeze in an hour of coding everyday just before work whenever he's actively working on developing a game. An hour a day works out to quite a lot over a year. It doesn't even have to be an hour a day... even half an hour a day can produce marvelous results.

Drive also means that, for example, should I have to choose between watching TV or coding a game that is uncompleted, 50% of the time, I'll choose coding to ensure that at least some coding gets done. Of course, life shouldn't be dictated by adapting (or updating) a game, so I try to spend half of my leaisure time doing other things... like going out to a posh restaurant for dinner with friends, or watching a movie, or just making lists and more lists.

Drive on its own is not enough though. There have been a number of very driven Project Leads who have ended up as Hobbits. One's interests change through time and if the interest change before they complete (or even start) adapting the game, then those Project Leads end up as Hobbits.

The second quality is perseverance. Martin used to have a signature that said something along the lines of "If Plan A doesn't succeed, try Plan A". In other words, work on it until it works. I mention every once in a while in my regular blogs (this isn't regular, notice the tildes in the title and the lack of cards in this post?) that I almost gave up when adapting my first game. That was Babylon 5 and I tried for about 4 hours to get the cardback to work and nothing happened. I did nothing for a month. Had it not been people pestering me to complete the game, and others offering their help, I doubt I would have finished my signature game.

A subset of perserverance is a dedication. I'm not talking about exclusive dedication, although some Project Leads are actually exclusively dedicated to one game, but rather to the sort of dedication that will see the Project Lead stick with the game, through good times and bad, through difficult coding spots as well as the easy ones, through periods of low game play and periods of heavy game play. A dedicated PL will often be found doing the optional extras for the game - adapting and creating custom cards, creating and maintaining webpages and sites devoted to the game, updating the respective's game pages on CCGW, etc.

I'm also not talking about slaving away all the time to the game. As I mentioned above, a project lead should have a life, and life's normal activities - sleep, food, showers, time with family - should take precedence over coding. It's a sad thing when people give up sleep to adapt a game, often times, not only does the health of the lead suffers, but the quality of the coding and the game suffers too.

Thirdly, a good Project Lead is proactive. He (or she) takes the initiative to do things without being told what to do. Personally, I think this is my biggest area of weakness as I'm spread across so many different games, but nevertheless, I still try my best to ensure that my games are updated and kept up to date as far as is humanly possible. Proactiveness also ties in with the above two qualities - motivation and perseverance.

This quality is especially important in the evolution of the engine. As gEngine is still in beta, every major change affects a game, sometimes drastically and fatally. Other updates exposes methods of doing things the engine has never been capable of doing before. As such each and every game needs to be updated after a major change. A Project Lead should not have to be told when to update his games with the latest technology made available.

Granted, it takes a lot to keep up to speed sometimes. That's why there are the online documentation to help out, and examples in other games. Failing those though, there are always other leads to ask and get advice from, which leads to the next quality.

Last on the list, but not least important is that a Project Lead has to have good social skills. A project lead has to be able to work with BugLaden and the other Project Leads to learn the tools of the trade and various other things related to the engine, to gNet and to CCGW. A project lead also has to cater to the fans and to be able to incorporate their opinions into their adaptation of the game. A project lead with bad social skills would at best, result in a poor quality game.

Even right now, I'm thinking, are those qualities enough? What keeps nipa so dedicated to his games, while kapa heads off to get caught in the quagmire that is WoW? Why does Martin move from strength to strength, while toon seems lost and adrift? How can ShadowJump make a resolution to "adapt 5 games this year" while kdevine still hasn't finished "Monkeys on the Moon" almost 3 years after he started working on it? Please note that I'm not calling anyone I've just mentioned a Hobbit, but I'm trying to figure out what do some people have that the others don't. I can only think of one more...

Although not essential (in my book at least), but nevertheless is crucial, is the element of curiosity. A project lead has to be able to think outside the box (sometimes) and experiment with what is currently available to produce what is wanted in the adaptation of the game. Ricochet's hand sorting scripts, for example, or Martin's game indicators are the sort of innovation that makes great games on the engine. A little bit of curiosity goes a long way sometimes.

In summary, to be a PL, one has to:

* Be computer literate (compulsory)
* Have knowledge about computer scripting (compulsory)
* Have knowledge about the basics of image editing (compulsory)
* Have the following qualities

1. Motivation/Drive
2. Perseverance/Dedication
3. Proactiveness
4. Good Social skills

(Curiosity is not listed because I don't really think it's compulsory, although it's a big plus to have) There maybe more, but those are the ones I can think of at this stage.

Adapting/coding a game isn't easy, but with these qualities applied, anyone can churn out games easily and quickly, and I'm talking from experience. Comments, are, of course, welcomed.