DrJones's WSAS project

1) Basics

1.1) Write a small introduction to yourself. Welcome, I'm an amateur game designer and programmer that has experience in design, coding, composing, writing, illustration, translations, 2D animation, proofreading, beta-testing, gameplay, etc. I'm the best at drawing animals and Disney/Warner style animation, but also know a bit about pixel art.

1.2) State your preferred email address. karlos1982 (at) hotmail (dot) com

1.3) If you have chosen a nick/screenname for the Wesnoth forums, what is it? DrJones

1.4) Why do you want to participate in the Wesnoth Summer Art Scholarship? My brother has been following the development of Battle for Wesnoth everyday since 2007. Even though I have a wacom graphire 2 since 2003, I've been lent a much better tablet (wacom wireless) for this summer, and was looking for a project to use it. My brother suggested me to visit Wesnoth and aid them in creating the graphics, animations, and portraits they want. My brother is the expert here in knowledge about the game.

1.5) What are you studying; i.e. subject, level and school? I'm currently studying the last course in a 5-year career at Computer Science Engineering in University of Murcia at Spain (the second-best public university in the country).

2) Experience

2.1) Are they any art projects you have worked on before, if so, what are they? I've done the art for some websites, such as logos or mascots. I also worked in a project of children books for wikipedia, but left due to the absolute lack of direction.

2.2) Have you created art in a team environment before? I've done some illustrations for card games, in which the art director wrote a description of what they wanted and I had to submit some sketchs before the final work. I also made a calendar between the users of an art site.

2.3) Open Source

2.3.1) Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement. My only involvement with open source projects has been timely bug reports and proposed solutions, specifically in GUI design, good coding practices, algorithm optimizations, gameplay issues, security risks, and treatment of corner cases.

2.4) Gaming experience

2.4.1) Are you interested in playing videogames, and if so, what genres are you interested in? These days, I don't have too much time to play videogames, but when I do, I usually play games with artistic quality: good story, art, or music. Adventure Games, Bullet hell shooters, Puzzle games like Scribblenauts, Laser-disc Arcade games like Dragon's Lair, etc. I also like turn-based strategy/tactical games such as Heroes of Might and Magic, Masters of Orion, Magic: The Gathering, etc.

2.4.2) Are you more interested in story or gameplay? I think gameplay is essential to make a good videogame, but the current state of stories in media (videogames, movies) saddens me. It's as if good writers had vanished. Whenever I watch the latest blockbuster, I usually find myself saying "Hell, I could do this a whole lot better". If I had to choose, gameplay everytime, but I have played a lot of poor games (gameplay-wise) just because the story/art was wonderful. If I were confined to work on a poor game engine, I'd switch my focus in getting the story right and enjoyable.

2.4.3) Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long. We do not plan to favor Wesnoth players as such, but some particular projects require a good feeling for the game which is hard to get without having played intensively. I haven't played Wesnoth because having a brother that plays every single day for three years makes me fear that it might be too addictive. However, I have the luck of having a personal expert by my side, so I can concentrate in work instead of playing.

3) Communication skills

'3.1) Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English. I can read english perfectly fine, and I can convey all ideas I want to communicate without difficulties. I think I could be considered fluent in that aspect.

3.2) Are you comfortable with giving and receiving very technically-oriented criticism of your work, or do you feel that art should be exempt from criticism? I've been the moderator of an art site for three years, and I were usually the one giving constructive criticism. I've got a pretty trained eye for defects and know that the defects on your own works are difficult to see until some time has passed. I think criticism is very important to become a better artist, alongside with having no fear in testing new things, and a lot of passion for what you do.

3.3) Are you patient enough to simultaneously give attention to good, productive criticism, whilst not being inflamed by incorrect or offensive criticisms? Of course, and I also know VERY WELL why did you ask this question.

4) Project

4.1) Did you select a project from our list, if so, which one? Otherwise, if you have invented your own project, please describe the project and the scope. I haven't picked a project yet. I'll look at one soon.

4.2) Why did you choose this project, and what do you expect to gain from doing it? I chose this project because I wanted to do something art-related this summer, my brother asked me to help this project he loves, I've got a tablet to use, and I want to get some more practice with Graphicsgale and other animation tools I've got here to help some friends that make commercial adventure games. I think it would be a win-win situation for everyone.

4.3) Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to mention other obligations like "I've booked a holiday between A and B" and "I have an exam at ABC and will be occupied, at that time". I have exams till 6,july. I'll be on a trip from 26-28 july, and I plan to take a summer break of 7 days somewhere in august. I'll be free the rest of the time for the project.

4.4) What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of this scholarship? Having fun and meeting nice people.

5) Practical considerations

5.1) What computer platform do you use? (e.g. Windows/Mac/Linux) Please note which version. (e.g. XP, Vista, Tiger, Leopard, etc) I mainly run Windows XP, but also have Windows 7 and Linux Ubuntu 9.04 installed and running.

5.2) Do you consider yourself to be good with computers? If you've done easier things like making a website, you've probably got the skills necessary to write up the scripts to see your work in game. Over half of our artists do, and being able to immediately see your art in-game is a great way to 'proof' it. I'm a computer expert and know how to hack a compiled program to fix a bug or a typo in it. I can also know how to extract resources and insert them again.

5.3) Have you ever used IRC? IRC is an online chat program, and we use it to form chat rooms where our team members discuss and plan. I've been using it for years, but recently stopped using non-browser-based apps due to trojans being detected both on windows and linux.

5.4) At what hours are you awake and available to communicate? (Please specify them in the UTC time zone, rather than your local time zone. There are numerous websites which can convert this, this is one: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html ) I'm available most of the day and night, specifically when working on a project.