ID:76006
 
I would like to form a team to complete a multiplayer overhead action/adventure game. I can program such a game very quickly, and can have the game engine done in less than two months. The other pieces of the process (pixel art, level design, etc.) take me much longer, though, so I would like to hire out those positions to other developers. Nothing about this project, besides its genre, has been set in stone, so now is the perfect time to get in on the ground floor where your decisions will be shaping the game.

Detailed project info: The game is an overhead action/adventure game, much like the 2d Zelda games in that regard. The world is not persistent or centralized; users are free to host their own world, and each user's save data is stored locally on their computer. The game will follow 1 central user who will play as the main character, but other players can join and leave freely. The concept is similar to Secret of Mana for the SNES. Joining users will be given control of a secondary character; they can also optionally load their own saved character from their saved adventure. All further details are yet to be determined.

Compensation: The project will feature subscriptions. Currently, I'm thinking that only persons with a subscription can be the 'Main User', but anyone they allow can then play as a secondary character in the main user's adventure. This subscription model could change with your input, though (or, if everyone agrees, we could drop subscriptions altogether). Subscriptions payments will then be split into equal portions, one each to the programmer (myself), the pixel artist, the level designer, the storyline writer, and the audio engineer. Besides the feeble monetary income this project may provide, you will, more importantly, be part of a project which will result in a completed, playable, original game.

Time Table: Barring any disaster, I would like to have the project completed two months after non-planning work begins (the planning phase may take two weeks, roughly). This can be accomplished because: 1, each person is only working on the area of their own expertise; 2, everything will be planned out ahead of time, so everyone will know exactly what they need to accomplish (no surprises); 3, the scope of the project is limited, we don't need graphics and sound for 9 clans, 34 hollows and 127 jutsu.

If you are interested, you can respond here (or via pager or email, etc.). You don't have to be the best, so long as you can produce what you say you can. Examples of your work are not necessary at this time, though they are very helpful.
Hey there, I've wanted to do something original for quite some time, my mark in the anime section plagues me, and I would like to prove I have the skill to think outside the box of a given storyline. I have skill in programming and pixel art, pixel art would probably be the task at hand in this case. I've mastered the failure art of pillow shading apparently, I'm not the best at all, I could show an example or two of my work and maybe we can move on from there? The idea sounds solid.
I'm not particularly a pixel artist or level designer, but if you come across anything rather perplexing in your programming work, feel free to hit me up as some unofficial consultant. No compensation is necessary really, and I doubt there's much you'll have difficulty with programming, but if the need should arise, don't hold back. I think you already have my contact info, but I'll list it here for convenience:

[email protected] (e-mail, Google Talk, MSN Messenger)
xhieadx (AIM)
---aaaand the BYOND pager whenever I'm on.

Best of luck to ye!
Sounds interesting. As far as level design goes, though, did you ever consider maybe having one main storyline and allowing and then maybe allow the end user to design their own storylines and maps from there? That would be pretty cool, though I don't know if you would want that in your project (it would be a nice subscriber benefit, as well!).
the "level designer" role sounds easy and all so i know it might get clamored for, but i'm interested. i think i have a pretty good eye for this stuff

what i want though is more information on the game or development goals (ie how long the game should be)

also i loved secret of mana

in case you want contact info: [email protected] email or YIM, currently
Jeff8500 wrote:
maybe allow the end user to design their own storylines and maps from there? [...] (it would be a nice subscriber benefit, as well!)

I've had a platformer idea brewing in my mind for ages; one of the main features of that project is the level designer I'd like to include. You're absolutely right that it would make a perfect addition to this game, too. I don't know how feasible it would be to try and work in a player made storylines, though. I cringe at the thought of an NPC AI editor, or an editor for event triggers and scripted events. I'll ruminate on it.

Bustercannon wrote:
I could show an example or two of my work and maybe we can move on from there?

Sure. If you have it, show it. :)
Bustercannon wrote:
I could show an example or two of my work and maybe we can move on from there?

Sure. If you have it, show it. :)

This would be a house I've recently made for a friends project, so it's going to be used haha.
http://www.byond.com/members/Bustercannon/files/house.PNG

I've also made a few things for my own project, Bleach: Las Noches, one of them I feel I did pretty good on is a pair of ice wings.
http://www.byond.com/members/Bustercannon/files/pride.PNG
The game has a night/day/dusk/dawn thing going, so the ice wings are a darker shade than they should be, it's the only picture I have of them at the moment, that ice dragon is also a technique for those wings, that I've made.
I can always adapt to new styles of pixel art, I really aspire to eliminate pillow shading in my artwork, it's just not something I have much of an eye for yet.
Zaole wrote:
the "level designer" role sounds easy and all so i know it might get clamored for, but i'm interested. i think i have a pretty good eye for this stuff

What I've learned from my quasi-secret 3 year and counting project is that level design is very important, and not half as easy as it looks. Level design literally is the task of creating an interesting world which the player will want to spend time in; you can't give the player five different spiral corridor dungeons and expect them to love it.

That being said, I may feel that way just because I have no knack for it.

what i want though is more information on the game or development goals (ie how long the game should be)

I don't want to tie us down to anything just yet, so what I'm about to say is simply how the project looks in my mind right now. It's all subject to change in the design period.

I'm seeing a project which is nonlinear in the structure of the game world, but is fairly linear in the way the player must progress through it. In other words, the player will be free to roam wherever they'd like on the overworld map, even visiting previously defeated dungeons (if we have dungeons, I'm working off a Zelda vocabulary at the moment) or dungeons that they arn't ready for yet. However, it should always be pretty clear what the next goal is, and I don't want to force the user to back-track to really old areas all the time.

Also, I'd like to focus on replay value (with friends!) more than the length of the storyline. Most of my NES cartridges can be won in one day by a very skilled player, but I can replay them to this day (and often do; I love Ninja Gaiden) because the action is so fun. We don't have that kind of game on BYOND.
I'm seeing a project which is nonlinear in the structure of the game world, but is fairly linear in the way the player must progress through it. In other words, the player will be free to roam wherever they'd like on the overworld map, even visiting previously defeated dungeons (if we have dungeons, I'm working off a Zelda vocabulary at the moment) or dungeons that they arn't ready for yet. However, it should always be pretty clear what the next goal is, and I don't want to force the user to back-track to really old areas all the time.

Also, I'd like to focus on replay value (with friends!) more than the length of the storyline. Most of my NES cartridges can be won in one day by a very skilled player, but I can replay them to this day (and often do; I love Ninja Gaiden) because the action is so fun. We don't have that kind of game on BYOND.

sounds like a challenge in the level design department. i like that, especially considering it'd be my only role so i can remake the general design until i get it right
IainPeregrine wrote:
Jeff8500 wrote:
maybe allow the end user to design their own storylines and maps from there? [...] (it would be a nice subscriber benefit, as well!)

I've had a platformer idea brewing in my mind for ages; one of the main features of that project is the level designer I'd like to include. You're absolutely right that it would make a perfect addition to this game, too. I don't know how feasible it would be to try and work in a player made storylines, though. I cringe at the thought of an NPC AI editor, or an editor for event triggers and scripted events. I'll ruminate on it.

Yeah, player made storylines do sound like a pain to make, though it would definitely add replay value.
Bustercannon wrote:
Bustercannon wrote:
I could show an example or two of my work and maybe we can move on from there?

Sure. If you have it, show it. :)

This would be a house I've recently made for a friends project, so it's going to be used haha.
http://www.byond.com/members/Bustercannon/files/house.PNG

I've also made a few things for my own project, Bleach: Las Noches, one of them I feel I did pretty good on is a pair of ice wings.
http://www.byond.com/members/Bustercannon/files/pride.PNG
The game has a night/day/dusk/dawn thing going, so the ice wings are a darker shade than they should be, it's the only picture I have of them at the moment, that ice dragon is also a technique for those wings, that I've made.
I can always adapt to new styles of pixel art, I really aspire to eliminate pillow shading in my artwork, it's just not something I have much of an eye for yet.

Also if you needed my contact info, my email is [email protected] , that's my MSN as well. (Could of just edited my post but I felt a little neglected =s)
Bustercannon wrote:
Also if you needed my contact info, my email is [email protected] , that's my MSN as well. (Could of just edited my post but I felt a little neglected =s)

Thanks for the info. I havn't decided how I'll be deciding who to choose for the artwork yet, but I will let you know by the end of this week.

...Er, I mean I'll let you know before seven days have passed.
IainPeregrine wrote:
Bustercannon wrote:
Also if you needed my contact info, my email is [email protected] , that's my MSN as well. (Could of just edited my post but I felt a little neglected =s)

Thanks for the info. I havn't decided how I'll be deciding who to choose for the artwork yet, but I will let you know by the end of this week.

...Er, I mean I'll let you know before seven days have passed.

Oh, sorry for being pushy then, I'm just excited.
I'd really like to put myself up for the story bit, but the problems are that I only have this bit of writing as an example (And looking over it again, I realize I hate it, but the same can be said for everything I write.) and, far more importantly, that I am quite unreliable.
[email protected]

i'm sure you've seen it, but feel free to view my art journals for a portfolio. i work, alot, on things other than art(like, you know, my job) so don't expect me to pump out a ton of art consecutively.
I want in
No doubt that sounds good to me. I am a good level designer and good story writer. So I think I can fit the part.