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From the Blood Frontier Lead Developer: Quinton "quin" Reeves.
You may be well aware of this by now if you're following the project closely, but there has been a considerable stall in one specific area of the project: artwork. Unfortunately, our Lead Artist, Anthony "Acord" Cord, has not made any significant contributions to the project for almost two years now, and has firmly asserted that nobody else is allowed to fill that void because the project is his portfolio piece. To me, this has become an unacceptable situation, and the excuses I keep being given have worn so thin the seams have broken.
Blood Frontier is the sum of my last six years of work, and is just as much my portfolio piece as anyone else's; and it has become increasingly disheartening to be stalled in such a pivotal way that no progress can be made with our core ideals (visual elements, and the cooperative campaign). I will be halting all new development on the project until this situation is rectified (only fixes will be contributed at this point), and I'll be focusing my attention on another outside project during this period. This is where the community comes in.
As of today, I am opening contributions up to the public, regardless of Acord's stance on the subject. One can only speculate if he will even notice this, considering the small amount of time he even spends around the community now, but should he have any problems with this I have one simple response: Things need to be done or I will be leaving the project to pursue a more reliable hierarchy (by either finding another project, or forking Blood Frontier into a new one in which I have unilateral control).
Our first priority is the models: players (neutral, alpha, beta, gamma, delta), weapons (pistol, shotgun, smg, flamer, plasma, rifle, grenade, rocket), and possibly most mapmodels all need replacing. New models are waiting to be created (like new weapons, zombies, turrets, soldiers, and [mini-]bosses). A high emphasis is being placed on the new models being openly licensed to avoid future problems, preferably with commercial use being allowed.
You may be curious as to that last part, others may already know what I am alluding to. Once Blood Frontier is a stable base as an FPS, I will be heading up a commercial initiative to create "spin-off's", the first of which will be a side-scrolling platformer. Anyone who is familiar with my previous work will know this is an area I'm very interested in; I eventually see Blood Frontier as a free First Person Shooter that entices players to purchase our other "DLC" adventures under the same umbrella, most likely using Steam. Those of you rolling your eyes saying such an initiative "should be free" need a healthy dose of the Real World(tm).
Don't think this entire effort is thankless, those who prove themselves in the open source side of our project will be among those given the opportunity to make some real money when the time comes. I already have some considerable capital waiting for investment in this venture (due to the recent payout of my inheritance), which will hopefully become quite a successful and lucrative business. Those who contribute to the commercial project will not need to wait for profits to come in before being paid, contracts will be made and payment will be given when the work is completed. It will not only be a good supplement to your income, but a real chance at contributing to something noteworthy.
If you care about Blood Frontier even half as much as I do, you will understand my intentions, and I urge you to help us find some reliable artists to help bring this game up to the level it deserves to be at. Should you wish to discuss this with me further, please feel free to drop in a comment, or talk directly with me on our IRC channel (webchat). The goal here is to have fun, and hopefully be successful while doing so.
External Links:
irc://irc.bloodfrontier.com/bloodfrontier
http://www.bloodfrontier.com/chat
Source: Blood Frontier Blog
http://bloodfrontier.com/blog/2010/04/05/state-of-the-project-development-ransom/
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