@Runedrake: Honestly, those create a tremendous amount of work, and would to some extent defeat the purpose of the kickstarter, since I'd be having to spend that time working specifically on the contests and not on improving OGA.
If you see a user spamming, you can go to their user account and click the delete account button, then select the option to delete the account and all of its content.
As a warning, please be very careful when doing this. Occasionally comments look kind of spammy but aren't actually spam if you check into them.
Here's my current project description for the kickstarter page. Funding amount and goal priorities are not finalized. Comments would be appreciated. This isn't done yet, so don't be alarmed if something important is missing -- just let me know and I'll add it.
UPDATE: Added Swag Store, moved Supporter Account section to goals.
About OpenGameArt.org
Founded as a hobby project in 2009, OpenGameArt.org (also known as OGA) is now the place to download free and Creative Commons licensed video game art on the web. OGA is home to a friendly and diverse community of artists, gamers, and developers from the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), and commercial Indie gaming scenes. We currently host over 30 gigabytes of art, and serve over 2,000,000 pages to almost 100,000 unique visitors per month.
Why Kickstarter?
I (Bart Kelsey) currently do the vast majority of coding and maintenance on OGA by myself in my limited free time. I also pay for the majority of site expenses (server costs, art commissions) out of pocket, with the help of some donors. In all honesty, OGA is now to the point where there's a lot more to do in terms of coding and maintenance than I have time for. As such, now is the time to do some vital work on OGA and put it in the position to generate sustainable income so that I can switch over to working on it full-time.
Goals
The OGA Kickstarter campaign has a number of goals, focused on improving user experience and giving artists and game developers more tools to work with.
More Art Categories
One of the most frequently requested features is a finer grained set of art categories. These are simple to add from a programming standpoint, but my experience with large numbers of art categories in the past is that without someone to keep the art organized, art submissions will frequently be put into the wrong categories. This goal is in two parts: First, we'll get ideas from the community about what categories to put the art into, and secondly, I'll need to manually sort through the archive and categorize each submission, then make sure new submissions are correctly categorized when they're added to the archive.
Game Project Pages
Another often requested feature is to allow game developers to create pages for their games on OGA. This would have several benefits:
Game developers will be able to flag art submissions that they're using in their games. The art will show up in a gallery on their game page, and their game will be listed in a "Games using this art" section on the art page. It's a great way for artists to show off who is using their work, and game projects to promote themselves.
Game developers will be able to generate a complete set of credits and licenses for the OGA art in their game page in a single click, taking the work and worry out of licenses.
From the game project page, game developers will have the option to purchase an advertisement for their game to run on the main page.
Artist Features
Artists will have the ability to add multiple links to their profile, to promote their personal portfolios, deviantArt pages, and whatever else. These links will be visible alongside their art submissions, as well as a box displaying thumbnails of other art that they've uploaded to OGA. From artists' profile pages, they will (like game developers) have the option to purchase advertising for their portfolio pages.
Game Ready Art Certification
We'll develop a set of requirements (that vary depending on the type of art) to certify that a particular piece of art is "game ready" -- that is, ready to be put directly into a game with minimal fuss. For example, for a 3D character model to be considered game ready, it will need to be rigged, textured, animated, and free of glitches and defects.
Supporter Accounts
Supporter accounts will have access to features that are still in beta, and will be able to turn off advertising. They will also come with a medal that will be displayed by your username with your forum posts, comments, and art submissions. Supporter accounts will cost a small recurring monthly charge. All funding gifts $100 and over come with a lifetime supporter account.
Swag Store
A store where you can buy OGA merchandise, such as shirts, hats, mugs, mouse pads, etc.
Other Improvements
We'll be adding better integration with PayPal so that users who donate to the site can be automatically recognized for their contribution with a medal.
Stretch Goals
Completely Open Source the OGA Codebase
OGA runs on top of Drupal 7, and the vast majority of the code that power it is already free and open source, including some of the modules that I developed for it myself. Most of the code remains proprietary is glue code, specific to OGA itself. Unfortunately, opening this code is not just a matter of releasing it into the wild, since it depends on the underlying custom data structures in OGA's Drupal database; hence, it is completely useless without those data structures to go along with it. In order to open source the codebase, I need to write code that will sanitize the existing OGA database and remove all user information and comments and the vast majority of the art, so that people can download a working (minimal) instance of the OGA database to experiment with. This will allow other people to participate in development and add features to the site.
Redesign the Site
This was probably the most frequently requested change. It wouldn't be a stretch goal except for the fact that it will be incredibly time consuming (not because it's necessarily hard to do from a coding perspective, but because a lot of thought and testing will have be put into it in order to get it right). Redesigning the look and feel of the site will not require a rewrite of the backend code; however, plenty of custom frontend code will need to be written or re-written.
Version Control for Art
One thing that art sites often fail to build into their designs is that art, much like programming, is an iterative process. If this stretch goal is met, features (such as an visual art timeline with embedded comments, "forking" or remixing of art, etc) will be added to OGA that will make it easy to collaborate on art development. Combined with game project pages, this will make OGA into a complete suite for managing art for video game development. Game studios will have an option to pay OGA for private storage of their art, similar to the GitHub revenue model of charging for private code repositories.
Fake Internet Points
If this stretch goal is met, we will implement StackOverflow style points to encourage users to take part in collaborative creation and curation of content. As you earn points, you will be able to re-tag and reorganize art, create art contests, earn months of supporter account status, and get snazzy medals. You will also receive the recognition, admiration, and fulfillment that only fake internet points can provide.
$5 - a medal and a high five if we ever meet in person
$10 - a medal and two high fives (deliverable in series or parallel) if we ever meet in person
$20 - Sara, printed as an 11x17 poster and signed.
$30 - An audio CD containing selected tracks from OGA.
$50 - A custom OGA mouse pad.
$75 - A custom OGA mug.
$100 - Run an ad for a month on the front page, OR run a one month contest, OR a personal chat with BartK (online).
$200 - Your choice of any of the $100 prizes, plus an OGA T-shirt.
$300 - Six months on the front page ad rotation.
$500 - A 16x16 pixel art sprite to your specs, with up to 20 frames of animation.
$1000 - All the gifts from lower tiers.
$5000 - A custom modeled 3D character, based on reference images you provide.
$10000 - BartK will fly out and speak at your conference (if in North America) or speak through teh internets otherwise.
All tiers receive a medal. All tiers $100 and over get a lifetime supporter account Users with supporter accounts can turn off ads and will get access to features that are still in beta. Supporter accounts will cost a few dollars a month otherwise. There are also $100, $200, and $500 tiers with just the supporter account, for people who don't want the other stuff that comes with those tiers.
Originally the reason I added the digital delivery option was because I didn't want to get stuck with worldwide shipping costs, which can be vastly higher. Kickstarter allows you to add a surcharge for worldwide shipping. I think I'll just remove the two digital delivery options.
I'd think in many cases most or all of the 15$ donated would be spent on the fees involved with printing & delivery; I've heard it said by kickstarter project runners that a lot of problems outside of your control may pop up with creation & delivery of physical stuff, so the costs & time can quickly grow out of your hands.
Printing an 11x17 full color page is about 25 cents. A 9x12 envelope is about 50 cents, and mailing it is less than a dollar. All told, the expense would likely be about $2.
An uncompressed digital download of selected music tracks from OGA." - This suggests that opengameart generally withholds uncompressed music (and maybe by analogy other high-res versions of assets) for unpaid users, while this is not true; it's antimarketing
I'm not sure I agree with that, but I'm curious what the general consensus about it would be. I know that, for bandwidth reasons, there are some songs I've personally made that I have not uploaded in uncompressed wav form, although frankly ogg sounds pretty much just as good.
You're correct that the tiers don't include the rewards from previous tiers. I've been trying to make the rewards cost roughly 20 percent of the total -- including previous tiers would basically double that.
Also, I didn't list the medals on later tiers for brevity. All tiers will receive a medal, and everything $10+ will get a mention on the thank you page.
A year ago I would have said definitely go for it, but given that we're close to a big fundraiser (which will, among other things, pay for implementing a specific NSFW feature similar to the way deviantart does it) I'd say wait on it for a couple of months. If you want to upload doll-like unclothed sprites that's fine, but for the time being avoid any graphic nudity.
@Runedrake: Honestly, those create a tremendous amount of work, and would to some extent defeat the purpose of the kickstarter, since I'd be having to spend that time working specifically on the contests and not on improving OGA.
Just a note to admins:
If you see a user spamming, you can go to their user account and click the delete account button, then select the option to delete the account and all of its content.
As a warning, please be very careful when doing this. Occasionally comments look kind of spammy but aren't actually spam if you check into them.
Here's my current project description for the kickstarter page. Funding amount and goal priorities are not finalized. Comments would be appreciated. This isn't done yet, so don't be alarmed if something important is missing -- just let me know and I'll add it.
UPDATE: Added Swag Store, moved Supporter Account section to goals.
About OpenGameArt.org
Founded as a hobby project in 2009, OpenGameArt.org (also known as OGA) is now the place to download free and Creative Commons licensed video game art on the web. OGA is home to a friendly and diverse community of artists, gamers, and developers from the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), and commercial Indie gaming scenes. We currently host over 30 gigabytes of art, and serve over 2,000,000 pages to almost 100,000 unique visitors per month.
Why Kickstarter?
I (Bart Kelsey) currently do the vast majority of coding and maintenance on OGA by myself in my limited free time. I also pay for the majority of site expenses (server costs, art commissions) out of pocket, with the help of some donors. In all honesty, OGA is now to the point where there's a lot more to do in terms of coding and maintenance than I have time for. As such, now is the time to do some vital work on OGA and put it in the position to generate sustainable income so that I can switch over to working on it full-time.
Goals
The OGA Kickstarter campaign has a number of goals, focused on improving user experience and giving artists and game developers more tools to work with.
More Art Categories
One of the most frequently requested features is a finer grained set of art categories. These are simple to add from a programming standpoint, but my experience with large numbers of art categories in the past is that without someone to keep the art organized, art submissions will frequently be put into the wrong categories. This goal is in two parts: First, we'll get ideas from the community about what categories to put the art into, and secondly, I'll need to manually sort through the archive and categorize each submission, then make sure new submissions are correctly categorized when they're added to the archive.
Game Project Pages
Another often requested feature is to allow game developers to create pages for their games on OGA. This would have several benefits:
Game developers will be able to flag art submissions that they're using in their games. The art will show up in a gallery on their game page, and their game will be listed in a "Games using this art" section on the art page. It's a great way for artists to show off who is using their work, and game projects to promote themselves.
Game developers will be able to generate a complete set of credits and licenses for the OGA art in their game page in a single click, taking the work and worry out of licenses.
From the game project page, game developers will have the option to purchase an advertisement for their game to run on the main page.
Artist Features
Artists will have the ability to add multiple links to their profile, to promote their personal portfolios, deviantArt pages, and whatever else. These links will be visible alongside their art submissions, as well as a box displaying thumbnails of other art that they've uploaded to OGA. From artists' profile pages, they will (like game developers) have the option to purchase advertising for their portfolio pages.
Game Ready Art Certification
We'll develop a set of requirements (that vary depending on the type of art) to certify that a particular piece of art is "game ready" -- that is, ready to be put directly into a game with minimal fuss. For example, for a 3D character model to be considered game ready, it will need to be rigged, textured, animated, and free of glitches and defects.
Supporter Accounts
Supporter accounts will have access to features that are still in beta, and will be able to turn off advertising. They will also come with a medal that will be displayed by your username with your forum posts, comments, and art submissions. Supporter accounts will cost a small recurring monthly charge. All funding gifts $100 and over come with a lifetime supporter account.
Swag Store
A store where you can buy OGA merchandise, such as shirts, hats, mugs, mouse pads, etc.
Other Improvements
We'll be adding better integration with PayPal so that users who donate to the site can be automatically recognized for their contribution with a medal.
Stretch Goals
Completely Open Source the OGA Codebase
OGA runs on top of Drupal 7, and the vast majority of the code that power it is already free and open source, including some of the modules that I developed for it myself. Most of the code remains proprietary is glue code, specific to OGA itself. Unfortunately, opening this code is not just a matter of releasing it into the wild, since it depends on the underlying custom data structures in OGA's Drupal database; hence, it is completely useless without those data structures to go along with it. In order to open source the codebase, I need to write code that will sanitize the existing OGA database and remove all user information and comments and the vast majority of the art, so that people can download a working (minimal) instance of the OGA database to experiment with. This will allow other people to participate in development and add features to the site.
Redesign the Site
This was probably the most frequently requested change. It wouldn't be a stretch goal except for the fact that it will be incredibly time consuming (not because it's necessarily hard to do from a coding perspective, but because a lot of thought and testing will have be put into it in order to get it right). Redesigning the look and feel of the site will not require a rewrite of the backend code; however, plenty of custom frontend code will need to be written or re-written.
Version Control for Art
One thing that art sites often fail to build into their designs is that art, much like programming, is an iterative process. If this stretch goal is met, features (such as an visual art timeline with embedded comments, "forking" or remixing of art, etc) will be added to OGA that will make it easy to collaborate on art development. Combined with game project pages, this will make OGA into a complete suite for managing art for video game development. Game studios will have an option to pay OGA for private storage of their art, similar to the GitHub revenue model of charging for private code repositories.
Fake Internet Points
If this stretch goal is met, we will implement StackOverflow style points to encourage users to take part in collaborative creation and curation of content. As you earn points, you will be able to re-tag and reorganize art, create art contests, earn months of supporter account status, and get snazzy medals. You will also receive the recognition, admiration, and fulfillment that only fake internet points can provide.
I adjusted the funding levels a bit:
All tiers receive a medal. All tiers $100 and over get a lifetime supporter account Users with supporter accounts can turn off ads and will get access to features that are still in beta. Supporter accounts will cost a few dollars a month otherwise. There are also $100, $200, and $500 tiers with just the supporter account, for people who don't want the other stuff that comes with those tiers.
Originally the reason I added the digital delivery option was because I didn't want to get stuck with worldwide shipping costs, which can be vastly higher. Kickstarter allows you to add a surcharge for worldwide shipping. I think I'll just remove the two digital delivery options.
I'd think in many cases most or all of the 15$ donated would be spent on the fees involved with printing & delivery; I've heard it said by kickstarter project runners that a lot of problems outside of your control may pop up with creation & delivery of physical stuff, so the costs & time can quickly grow out of your hands.
Printing an 11x17 full color page is about 25 cents. A 9x12 envelope is about 50 cents, and mailing it is less than a dollar. All told, the expense would likely be about $2.
An uncompressed digital download of selected music tracks from OGA." - This suggests that opengameart generally withholds uncompressed music (and maybe by analogy other high-res versions of assets) for unpaid users, while this is not true; it's antimarketing
I'm not sure I agree with that, but I'm curious what the general consensus about it would be. I know that, for bandwidth reasons, there are some songs I've personally made that I have not uploaded in uncompressed wav form, although frankly ogg sounds pretty much just as good.
You're correct that the tiers don't include the rewards from previous tiers. I've been trying to make the rewards cost roughly 20 percent of the total -- including previous tiers would basically double that.
Also, I didn't list the medals on later tiers for brevity. All tiers will receive a medal, and everything $10+ will get a mention on the thank you page.
Thanks for the heads up about this. I didn't even realize there wasn't a report spam button there. The issue is fixed now.
Apart from the submission guidelines linked from the art page, no. :)
Bart
A year ago I would have said definitely go for it, but given that we're close to a big fundraiser (which will, among other things, pay for implementing a specific NSFW feature similar to the way deviantart does it) I'd say wait on it for a couple of months. If you want to upload doll-like unclothed sprites that's fine, but for the time being avoid any graphic nudity.
Yes, POV-Ray art is just fine. You may include the source code if you like, but that's not necessary.
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