Chaos

[Timothy]

Greetings members, I am Timothy. I perused the rules, and didn't see anything prohibiting recruiting, but if so feel free to close this thread moderators. I apologize.

I am the leader of an amateur development team. I am the teams animator, game designer, modeler, story author, and concept consultant. We are looking for a programmer with the following work experience.

1-2 years game programming experience in either C++, C, or Python (the game engine is in Python, but its easily learned if you are adept in another langauge)
1-2 years working with Ogre3d.

You guys can take a look at our game design document here, and see if this is a project you'd be interested in. If you do find yourself to be interested, contact me at [email protected] on MSN messenger, Timothy Braden Broskelisia on Facebook, [email protected]. I appreciate your time.

Thank you, Timothy.

[TheBigCheese]

That looks like a great game! I've got experience with C, C++ and some Python, but I've never used Ogre3D.

Also, I don't really have time for new projects anyway.

Hopefully you don't mind me asking questions, but I'm an inquisitive sort of guy.
1. How many people are currently on the dev team?
2. Do you have prior experience with game development?

On the subject of the game, I'm really surprised you're going with a fantasy/sci-fi theme for a stealth game. Especially since you also stated that the game is trying to be as realistic as possible (philosophy 1).

Stealth games thrive on the fear of the player (of being caught). That's where the excitement comes from. Looking at some of the best horror games, the thing that frightens people the most is taking something that they know well (eg. a worm) and turning it into something creepy that still bares resemblance, tieing things in to the player.

With a Sci-Fi game, it's hard to relate things to the player, because they've might not have a firm grasp of what everything is. This depends, of course, on the level of Fantasy you plan to implement. If you're talking aliens, it might work. If you're talking mythical fantasy (ie. dragons, etc.), I really recommend against it. It might just end up being unscary. Since it's a stealth game though, you do have a lot more flexibility, since the whole game is not based on the scariness. However, it's something to keep in mind if you want players to actually fear the enemies in the game. (check out Penumbra for a seriously scary game)

Boy, that was longer than I expected.
Keep us updated if/when you do make progress.

[Timothy]

Thanks for the speedy reply! Well the design is a little misleading. Its only the first draft so expect to see some more clarity in the future. Braden is able to cut loose from being stealthy as he's going for revenge now, subtlety is out the window. Its a more persona experience for him this time as opposed to being the merciless killer he was before he gained his freedom of emotions.

I've been around game development for several years, but this is my first attempt to undertake a project as the team leader.

As far as team members we curently have
1 vehicle modeler
3 character modelers
4 concept artist
1 level designer.

I believed this to be a good base to start with and build the rest of the team around my base as the time comes. The most important thing we could possibly have at the moment in my opinion is our concept artist. They will set the tone and style of the game, they are incredible. I would like to have 2 programmers sometime soon. Seeing as we are in the pre-visualization phase our programmers won't have substantial work to do for a couple of weeks to possibly a few months.

When I say assassin the term is used rather loosely in my games universe, he's not necessarily a kill you in your sleep kind of assassin. He's more like I'm coming for you and there isn't anything you can do kind of guy, he can tackle situations from many stand points, be it stealth, guns blazing, judo chop to the neck throwing (=p), or as I'll explain more indepth in the future design document, magical abilities.

[Sandurz]

he's not necessarily a kill you in your sleep kind of assassin. He's more like I'm coming for you and there isn't anything you can do kind of guy, he can tackle situations from many stand points, be it stealth, guns blazing, judo chop to the neck throwing

AKA: Hitman

Edit: Also, you might want to reconsider the control scheme. Using wasd is fine and all, but having to use b x and y in quick succession would be kind of hard. Try having those in a line on the keyboard instead of being scattered.

[Timothy]

I mentioned those controls pertained to the game pad. Of course this first draft of the design document is to give the gist of what will be in the game. I'll refine it more and more in short order. I had to produce something to give current team members what we are aiming for, and potential team members as well. We don't necessarily look at Braden in the traditional view of assassins, like I've said that term is coined loosely, the only aspect of an assassin that you could place upon him is that he has a mission to kill someone. No other stereotypes accompany him in our world about how he goes about doing that assassination, and seeing as he's not under orders to assassinate anyone anymore he's playing more of the role of judge, jury, and executioner.

He's out for the blood of those who betrayed him, they know he's coming, so our idealogy is we honestly didn't need this to be a stealth game, in fact we have no intention on it being a stealth heavy game. If the word "assassin" incites peoples which for it to be a stealth game which there is an over abundance of then we'll gladly be gone with the word. This is a 3rd person action adventure game, not a 3rd person stealth action game.

(Hehe, sorry I just realized that in the newest draft of the GDD I went more indepth about the controls, not the one that you guys have seen)

[Sandurz]

I mentioned those controls pertained to the game pad.

Ohhhhh, ok. I guess I didn't notice that. (that makes much more sense)

Anyways, I think the plot is a good start. I'm going to ask a few questions regarding the plot and main character, and I hope you consider these, as I think they will help develop your characters if you have not already answered them.

Are you going to delve into his past, and how he grew up under the Black Oasis Program? If so, how are you going to implement it? Is he going to assassinate ALL the UUN members, or just the ones that caused his families death? Is his wife a superhuman also, or just someone made to be perfectly compatible with him? How did the inhibitor break? Does he kill civilians if necessary? Will there be a choice in how he acts, i.e. a completely innocent person is being held hostage by an enemy, does he have the choice of killing the hostage, or trying to save them? If so, would it have some sort of consequence in the plot line? How much of their resources will the UUN use to try and kill you? And finally, if the whole game is just you assassinating members of the UUN, how will the plot culminate? The document says that you win when you finish every mission. Will there be one last, big cutscene after the mission, with an epilogue or something like that?

If you already have the whole plot down, I'll feel like an idiot, but still. I hope I helped!

[Timothy]

Hehe, ah yes. This is where the story gets interesting my friend. The stages of Braden growing up will act as the tutorial stages for gameplay, as he's growing up learning his trade so to will the players learn the gameplay mechanics. We have discussed about being able to manufacture Braden's DNA and choose his look and body style, but this is up for debate (and if we have a competent programmer). He doesn't have a past parse, he has the Black Oasis and that's all he's ever known. His wife is not superhuman, she is just a perfect human specimen.

As for the UUN, all of them voted for him to be disposed of, which in effect marks them all for death, but here is a twist. As you know from the design document, the Xerolien race is a newcomer to the universe, being here for about 500 years. Under their peaceful facade they are in fact out to conquer the universe. They believed Braden the perfect vessel to bring about doing this. They infiltrated the Black Oasis a couple of years before they came to the universe, they knew what Braden was meant for and in the disguise of Black Oasis scientist they made the slight alteration to his DNA, they knew when it would manifest itself to be known among all, and knew then how powerful Braden would be. I didn't mention this in the design document (second draft will have more information), but Braden has a friend named Jericho who serves as his hacker/operator. He will be able to give Braden real time environmental layouts of buildings and key locations. Jericho is in fact unbeknown to Braden a Xerolien, he steers Braden towards the course of destroying the foundation of each race the UUN represents. Killing just the leaders of the UUN won't quench his vengeance. The inhibitor chip was disabled by Jericho by orders of his Xerolien superiors, they knew he'd seek retribution more quickly with free emotions.

There will be information scattered through missions that will hint at a bigger plot behind the UUN, if Braden uncovers the pieces to the Xerolien scheme he can choose not to kill the last UUN member (besides the Xerolien representative), if you do not kill the UUN member that is not a Xerolien they will give you aid in taking down the Xeroliens.

As far as civilians, Braden will encounter many during his travels to different planets, its ultimately up to the player if they are willing to jeopardize their whereabouts to UUN and Black Oasis operatives searching for him, increasing the difficulty of his mission as the UUN and Black Oasis soldiers will realize he's on a said planet, and bolstering that targets defenders even more.

[Sandurz]

Wow, you're right! What a twist!

I wish I had more experience in programming, but sadly, I only have a little bit of C++ under my belt. I wish you the best of luck sir, and I hope this game turns out as you intend it.

[Timothy]

Thank you, I hope I can find solid programmers. I have a talented team that will be surrounding them. I'll be spoiling you guys with art and models as the time comes though.

[Sandurz]

Yummy!

[Timothy]

As a matter of fact I can let you guys get a snibbit of a little something now.

[TheBigCheese]

Wow! Nice!

What you might do is try the gamedev.net forums, if you haven't already. They have a Help Wanted forum for Indy, or Hobby developers can look for people to join their projects. Make sure to post the fact that you do have team members already (and good concept art). Too many people post claiming they'll be the 'idea' person, and they just need a coder to make it happen, so if you do post, make sure that the thread conveys anything but that.

Best of luck!

[Timothy]

Thanks BigCheese. I appreciate it. ^^ stay tuned for more art and ideas. =) Here is a look at a possible map layout.

[Timothy]

Ideal for a city level, I'll place emphasis on the fact this is strictly a reference of what we could possibly be aiming for. Inspiration for something to achieve.
you may drool if you want to...

[TheBigCheese]