Just learning from the past: Last year we use proprietary software for creation of graphics assets but due to not everyone having the same versions (especially of me not having the latest Adobe CS) we could not open the proprietary formats and not change the graphics later on or not work together which was not what we wanted.
On the other hand we need the ability to store in a native format (not PNG, TIFF, JPEG) to be able to store applied actions (filters, layers) to easily modify the art if needed. We will need to adapt the art many times during the making of this game. Therefore the current situation is not acceptable.
I think the solution is that we really must do without commercial products and concentrate on freely available software products/ file formats:
I propose to:
- For every artwork document the process of creation thoroughly so somebody else can reproduce it or change it later.
- Make comments (in a text file) and save the artwork in a comprehensive file format which keeps intermediate steps and is readable by an open or free software.
I know this means some kind of limitation and a bit more work but it is necessary in order to have a continuous development and in order to deliver a great game. We simply don't have money to buy commercial software for every contributor and I don't want to alienate potential contributors.
So what I can think of as good free software products are: GIMP, Paint.NET, Inkscape, ...
Of course there might be reasonable exceptions and we should discuss them here. For example commercial products that save into open file formats might be ok.
Anyway I will need to ask every artwork contributor to provide information about the steps taken in creating the artwork and about the software used.