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Don't focus on shaders at all as long as the game style and gameplay are total crap. Those need to be good first, otherwise no shader in the world would do any good.

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This is not a very smart statement at my mind.

You could even say: "Don't focus on textures" or "Don't focus on 3d, make it 2d".

And at the end I would even partially agree. Yes. Of course you have to create a good prototype that plays well, makes fun and addictive. After that you have to care for style, graphics and appearance. Textures, models and shaders are only parts of it.

But it is not very smart to say shaders are not for the Indies. You will simply loose against great projects like "Ankh" (made with Ogre and a lot of shaders).

Shaders are not a future technology. They are basic. A shader can help to render faster even faster than FFP in many cases. It helps the CPU because GPU can calculate besides it. It creates decent lighting and details.

They are standard and should belong to every toolbox and hey: Look at all the engines out there and you will realize that they already belong to every toolbox.

Get out of your caves!