The project is in the very early stages right now, I will start working on the rough draft of the design doc aprox. April 25, by the end of May I will have the completed design doc and a definate development enviroment.
Before i get into specific details I'll tell you what i need:
1-5 Artists
1-2 Writers
1-2 Sound People
and maybe a extra programmer and developer.
As far as funding and license goes, I will be looking into sources after the completion of the design document and aquirement of the dev team (at least part of it). Unless some semi-miracle happens though, its gonna be self produced shareware, which means no gauranteed profits. That said, anyone that joins the project should be expecting no monetary compensation, internetwide distribution of your accomplishment is all I can gaurantee.
As far as the game is concerned, it will be a 2d roleplaying game, in the Baldurs Gate area. I haven't set a definate on perspective (top down, 3/4, etc.), I'm gonna try to hold that off until i can play around with the dev enviroments some more.
Speaking of that, I'm leaning towards either Java or Kylix(Delphi), obviously portability is my main concern. The game will be released for windows and linux simultaneously , and I am thinking about giving the linux version extra features, but thats not definate.
job descriptions:
Artists-- In a perfect world, i would like to have an artist for characters, and artist for terrain/worldmap , an artist for buildings and structures, an artist for the interface, and a art director to keep everyone on the same page. I would like to have at least a seperate artist for the terrain/structures and one that deals with the characters. In other words, i need one person to draw the tree's, and another to animate the people.
For the terrain, the standard 16 bit color pallete, it may be a tile engine or a pixel by pixel engine I developed in VB that i will try to port over. (It envolves taking a drawn map (no tiles) that is sectioned off and dynamically loaded as needed).
For the characters, pixel dimensions will vary depending on how tight i can get the engine and how detailed the artist can draw effectively, expect 4-32 frames of animation for the common movements, again depending on the engine and the artist(s) time.
No special software will be required, The Gimp will be great if your running linux, Paint Shop Pro by JASC or Adobe PhotoShop would be nice if your running windows. For the immediate future its bring your own hardware/software unless you live in the western michigan area. May be able to loan out hardware, but it will probably be situation dependant and have to wait at least 2 months (and you'll be stuck with linux).
Writers-- I need a writer to help with the specific dialogue and help develop subplots that tie together the main story. You will be working within the outline set out by the design doc, and will not be creating the plot from scratch. This is just to help me professionalize the dialogue, and make sure everything ties together. An additional writer would be helpful for non-critical npc development and creation of subquests.
Sound:
This would be a nice added bonus. If all else fails, ill get a CD of sound effects and use some free music i have access too. I would at least like someone knowledgeable in effects to oversee all that stuff, but im not getting my hopes up for some custom compositions for my shareware game. I hope somone surprises me, but I'll probably be investing in a good mic and banging pots and pans.
I can take on an extra programmer if things get too intense for me to hack alone. It might be a good idea anyway considering i dont want to be developing this thing for five years, but then again I don't want the modular jigsaw of no soul that is modern commercial developtment. If your interested in the project and know java or delphi , give me a holler, I'll find something for ya to do.
The game developer role is one that I've been thinking about after reading a article by Cindi Yans in a computer games magazine. I would like to have a female point of view to help access the relatively untapped resource of female would-be gamers. The key to shareware is getting it to people, and if i can appeal to a broader scope then anyone else than im that much ahead of the game. Most "female oriented" games are barbie shopping spree or don't-move-the-mouse-too-fast-you-might-hurt-yourself games. I'd like to draw in female audience without looking like im purposely targetting a female audience or taking away from the original design doc.
Anyway, if your interested in helping with the project, please contact me at kelood@netscape.net .
I won't be putting out notices in my area till at least the design doc is finished (and probably not till June-ish), so don't expect to jump in right away, but I want to open it up to members of the gemstone community and see what type of response i get.
Oh, and another thing, if someone is interested in web design, I will be needing a webpage eventually , and about the time I want one up I'll be knee deep in code.
So again, artists, writers, musicians, sound effects guru's, webmasters, and females interested in game develpment.
as far as credentials, im a big fan of stuff your proud of/ worked on but doesnt belong on your resume. just tell me what you know and how you know it. Everybody in the gaming industry wants a BS and 3 years experience standard, and i think thats BS.
as far as artists, just some samples would be nice, jpegs in the fantasy rpg genre prefered (unless your a terrain/structure person). actually, samples for everyone would be nice (nothing over 500k though).
Obviously the female developer is a different story, just tell me how your into games, gaming experience, and why you want to be a part of the team.
anyway, looking forward to the responses.
feel free to post here with comments or questions.
'lood
reg