Learning by tryin' while getting better and better

People like me have awesome opportunities and I'm not speaking of job offers (but just in case "hello there, you're welcome, let me freelance it"). Knowing how to do stuff like me is luck or sometimes it even feels like destiny. I'm talking about the ability, to make dreams come true.

I create Open Source stuff and still have many unfulfilled dreams like the one of working for a triple A title in the game industry or the deeper meaning of getting paid for doing so. People like me don't really need all the financial background, they just do what they want to do (main requirements: food, water, electricity). You need to know about 3 or 4 things in order to mod a existing game >> 3D, Texturing or Scripting / Editing in general. If you have the mainly important artistic skill, you will be able to realize whatever you could dream of (of course only virtual stuff). The only thing keeping you from doing it is the bunch of work that it includes. While doing a copy and paste of a config file with minor adjustments can be done on the fly, other things like modeling can go mad on little details.

Recently I red of a April day jocke and that a blog got payed by Facebook. I also saw that one insanely talented modder posted his newest creation in usual fashion as freeware but also as payware on turbosquid.
Many modders would agree with me: The amount of time needed to create a good Addon exceeds every expectation. Some would start a discussion on the importance of keeping the zerro $ menthality. I'm just saying, my own opinion differs a bit since I had to realize that most things don't even get considered. I mean many Addons lack on quality. Some modders are for example great with import/export jobs which usually is a lot of work. Others are great modelers and some are excellent texturizers and everything in once is pretty hard to get, see me as another example, I lack on something, too – to name it on configs. And then theres the time issue and real world living. Today I stopped further development once again because after a nice modeling session with some basic texturing and data handling I started the engine to test my creation. Yeah it was big fun, using my very own vehicle for floating like a boat, diving like a sub and early flight tests. I'm working on some kind of combo-craft and everything was good untill I had to remind myself that after the test drive I will need to look after:

- Cockpit and instruments
- Moveable parts (e.g. flaps animation)
- Materials (e.g. transparency for windows)
- VFX (e.g. engine glow effects)
- Config Parameters
- Data handling
- Polycount optimization

I did this or that a couple of times, recently by creating my own Sci-fi vehicle prototypes and testing them. It's always the same with me, I'm playing with so many different shapes that after hours of spare time consumation and while I reached milestone after milestone there was always something left on the todo list.
In such a case, work ain't gets finished at all but that's my very own kind of problem. I think that a good Addon shows that someone really took care of making it a brilliant example and such things are always rare goods.

Micro Crowdfunding. That's what I would call a solution for the as seen everywhere lack of ultra HiRes + mega features. That's because only a few modding projects are done by more than one person, especially where ingame items or objects get produced. Guess what I think that we all should support those who realize our dreams (be it just by modding a game). This means I would pay for the triple A ingame content but different to a DLC I would try to support individuals instead of companies since niche gamers have no big publishers or game studios. With a easier way to donate like a handy function for generic forums we could not only support the makers, also we could take care that those hand picked talents can sweeten our life just like we are a aid to them.

Speaking of me, having a blog ain't a good way to monetize my software skills but it still gives me spare time satisfaction. Releasing my own mods for free is a must and still a thing of personal interest. But if I could I would profit with some support. Since modding is fun to me I don't need anything else and so the good things come for free. If I run out of money and end up unseen you can play the guess what happened game. ;)

Conclusion with the formula for triple A mods:
Creators own satisfaction + skills + support = Evolution in modding

Happy virtual live out's folks!

Requests: On the need of finding something of use

Inspiring Submarine designs with a lot of Steampunk

We need more fancy rides, so I seeked for 3D Meshes for futher implementation into some Simulators and what I had to find was that most things don't even exist in the virtual world. While researching I found out my preferences are somehow unseen or let's say if you ask me, I would reflect a very specific nerd-faction. This means I'll take my opinion and I'm asking in the name of all vehicle related sim players that want to be early adopters, too. Here is some opinion leading for all of us. I hope you agree with me in particular. This list is aimed to bored Modders in search of something special. Thanks in advance!

These are some of the 3D-Meshes or Mods me and others would love to see:

Marine
U-Boat Type XXI (kewl design, hot historical specs)
U-Boat Taifun Class (huge and modern)
Seabreacher X Shark, Dolphin or Orca (fun and innovative)
Sailing Boat Dehler Dehlya 25 (tiny and cute)
Deepflight Black Hawk or Deepflight I or Challenger or Super Falcon Mk II

...

Air
The Jet from the movie G.I. Joe 1 (the non AI two-seater variant)
Synergy Aircraft (a crowd funded futuristic plane)
Mi-24 (a russian helicopter)
He Triebflügel (epic WWII concept aircraft)
He 112 (good looking, good manuevering)
Some Horten Glider Planes (one-wing concepts, needs flight skills)
Wingsuits (YAY, needed)
...

Space
Mars Attacks Flying Saucer (kewl design, epic gadget)
The Flight of the Navigator (unique design, for fantasy purposes)
BSG Rising Star (one of the most beautiful ship designs ever)
A super movable Spacesuit (needed for some)
...

Terrain
Some more very freaky Concept Cars (from real manufacturers).
Some hotter Mech Warrios (more sleek, please).
More different Byclicles or how about some virtual Inline-Skating?
...

Notes
All should have cockpits, except the two last ones. Thanks for developing! Ah and thanks for creating any awesome vehicle design that not got mentioned in here. Keep up the good work! :)

This topic is sheduled to be filled from time to time with whatever I end-up researching while looking for hot mobiles. Soon with pictures and more fancy entries.

A future retrospective

Way back in the 30's – a postcard showing a German city (Stuttgart, called "Benz Town") and how they expected the future to look like. Seems Moore's law wasn't available for guessing the trends. :) ...I can tell you I've been there often and nothing there looks like the picture below: 

Greetings! As always, I hope I didn't touch any copyrights. And by the way, this also was a real postcard, I'm not kidding. :)