Key points:
Dwarfed is not using any old code at all, unlike cowed.
The community was already excited by the prospect of an open source cowed, so when that didn't happen, all that excitement had nowhere to go. However, all of that energetic enthusiasm was still here, so one tiny comment started a raging inferno of dedication to the first thing that came up.
Data: it is *your* fault that ensured such a great level of support for this, otherwise it might have 10 people interested and likely die after 25 or so posts, but with cowed, the open source debate, and then cancelation, you ensured a dedicated audience would be here to lend a hand, or a post, or even just some encouragement.
Also, I believe that the goal will likely be to start with something generally like cowed, only much simpler, and quickly start developing in an entirely different direction, focusing on the features *we* want. Within a week, the only similarities to cowed you will probably find are the general pattern of the name, the fact that it is a 2D multiplayer BYOND game using multiple Z-layers, and the fact that the existance of cowed inspired the current flurry of development and early publication of it's existance.
You can keep all of your art and code, we don't need it anyway!
(Also, you need to get people excited about the concept of the game, then once they are, mention that you are working on it and would accept help. It would probably be a good idea to release some base art like player icons to encourage contributions, and be open to other help. Once you have a team starting to help, re-evaluate your current developers, and eliminate those who are no longer helping. Also consider removing poor quality admins and looking for new ones. With an active dev team, and more/better admins, people will be more interested in helping, especially if you give even just the appearance of being fully open to help. However, the possibility of getting the entire Bay12 community has been lost, because you waited too long or simply didn't ask.)
Try this: go to some forum that is fairly active but has never heard of cowed. Post some of the key concepts but not the name, saying it's a game idea you have been working on, and requesting ideas for it. After a few days, give a more clear description of what you have so far, and mention that you could use some help adding to it. Then, a few days after that, give a link and encourage contributions. Be ready to give them more access than others(give a few of the more trusted people partial admin abilities, make some or all of the art resources available to interested artists), so that they feel special and that, since you have given them something, they might feel more inclined to help you in return. Plus, it is far easier for an artist to work on something if they already have many samples from the game. ALSO, some artists will want to work by creating a better version of an existing icon, and by having the original, they have an idea of how to create theirs and can use it as a template to add more deail to.
But remember, you will get a worse response if you say "Art plz. kthx, put it here" and hope that *someone* wants to contribute than if you establish a presence, show your idea to them, get them interested, and only then ask for art. And if you give them access to your current art in return, they will be able to resprite the ugly parts of your game and contribute art that matches the game graphically far easier than if you just gave them a few screenshots and let them discover everything else exclusively by playing your game.
The attitude you currently have would probably only work if you were paying the people who helped and it was your money that would be wasted if things don't work out. However, and contributions will be made for free, so that attitude won't work here.
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Topic: Dwarfed - OP is now updated (Read 49847 times)