I agree with both sides here. Unless you've grown up through the initial inception and evolution of computer/video games, I think we've all thought the way you are Lenn. In addition, I agree with you. Many of the games created by blitz users COULD be cloned in a few weeks.
WarrenM put it perfectly however, you're missing the bigger pictures. Creating those games has been such an iterative process, and so many times the amount of work and effort which makes those games play so well is what you'll never see. When it comes to games, it truly is the quality of what you reject that makes them either classics or somehow awkward working prototypes which have/had 'potential'.
I'm the first to admit I haven't done much around this blitz community, and I double many people (if any) even know me. I do hope that to change in the far future, as I've decided to hang back a bit until I see what blitzmax has to offer (yeah yeah) and in the mean time work on designs, concepts and small personal prototypes in a range of different languages. Nobody will ever see what work, and yet I hope it will be what makes my final products stand out.
The thing I've done that I'm most proud of in blitz is a pencil rendering demo, only to have someone beat me to releasing one by a few days (which incidentally was quite similar in code and structure, however his presentation with the sketchbook was better). It doesn't matter though, because I learnt so much in doing it. I can't speak for the person who did that demo, but I certainly didn't arrive at that solution instantly. Sure we all could clone that demo in a night or two, but initially coming up with the concept and cultivating it into something which works is another story.
My version began with using a pencil texture mapped to all the geometry in an attempt to rotate it depending on the perspective of each tri relative to the camera. Pretty stupid now looking back, but it was where I began as I wanted pencil lines in different directions and wanted their width to scale based on distance from the camera. Obviously I never got it fully working, but in trying it I realised...lines going in all the directions were so distracting that they actually took away from the depth and believability of the world, rather than add to it. To cut this short, I eventually ended up with a single overlay attached to the camera, etc etc. Yet in doing so I learnt a lot about design and rendering concepts. It's that process which developers go through which makes knocking off games in a week unfeasible.
However...if you do happen to have the vision to see the perfect solution the first time...can I work with you? I believe that blitz currently is capable of great things, but managing the project is quite difficult as it grows. I also believe this will soon change.
WarrenM put it perfectly however, you're missing the bigger pictures. Creating those games has been such an iterative process, and so many times the amount of work and effort which makes those games play so well is what you'll never see. When it comes to games, it truly is the quality of what you reject that makes them either classics or somehow awkward working prototypes which have/had 'potential'.
I'm the first to admit I haven't done much around this blitz community, and I double many people (if any) even know me. I do hope that to change in the far future, as I've decided to hang back a bit until I see what blitzmax has to offer (yeah yeah) and in the mean time work on designs, concepts and small personal prototypes in a range of different languages. Nobody will ever see what work, and yet I hope it will be what makes my final products stand out.
The thing I've done that I'm most proud of in blitz is a pencil rendering demo, only to have someone beat me to releasing one by a few days (which incidentally was quite similar in code and structure, however his presentation with the sketchbook was better). It doesn't matter though, because I learnt so much in doing it. I can't speak for the person who did that demo, but I certainly didn't arrive at that solution instantly. Sure we all could clone that demo in a night or two, but initially coming up with the concept and cultivating it into something which works is another story.
My version began with using a pencil texture mapped to all the geometry in an attempt to rotate it depending on the perspective of each tri relative to the camera. Pretty stupid now looking back, but it was where I began as I wanted pencil lines in different directions and wanted their width to scale based on distance from the camera. Obviously I never got it fully working, but in trying it I realised...lines going in all the directions were so distracting that they actually took away from the depth and believability of the world, rather than add to it. To cut this short, I eventually ended up with a single overlay attached to the camera, etc etc. Yet in doing so I learnt a lot about design and rendering concepts. It's that process which developers go through which makes knocking off games in a week unfeasible.
However...if you do happen to have the vision to see the perfect solution the first time...can I work with you? I believe that blitz currently is capable of great things, but managing the project is quite difficult as it grows. I also believe this will soon change.