Just wanting to get a quick show of hands in regards to who in these parts would be both free and willing to start work on a game-based project with a bit of a difference? I know there are quite a few teams circulating around out there already, so I thought I should at least put the feelers out to see if there'd be enough manpower for the kind of thing I'm thinking about - specifically, a "pitch kit" to be put together for a game/technology demo to be shown to a couple of people in the publishing industry.
By "pitch kit", I really mean the following:
1) Demo - most likely a cinematic, real-time MOD, coupled with a few small-scale gameplay elements - showing the level of graphical detail, rough intended gameplay, and styling intended for the final game title.
2) Conceptual design - high-quality concept work and design briefs of the intended product.
3) Technology design - Some demonstration work of some intended underlying middleware technology (with most being there on a demonstration, rather than functional, basis).
4) Other miscellaneous "stuff" - basically just "PR stuff", in some respects, but things that show it's something we're keen on doing, and doing well - think all the kind of stuff you used to get in an old-school Sierra game box, and you're pretty much there. =)
For those wondering about who I am and why you might want to bother (says Mr Just-A-Couple-Of-Posts), yes, I do have several years of prior industry experience (designer/writer on Freedom Force, most recently, but production and design work on a couple of other previous titles), and yes, this is something I do intend to take seriously if it looks likely to get off the ground. I've actually just recently been given a job option overseas with a nice solid game dev company... but if we could potentially start up something here in Australia using fresh talent, it'd be far, far more exciting to me. =)
Anyway, if this sounds like it might be something you think you could (at the very least) have some fun doing (which is what it should be mostly about, let's face it =)), and you like the idea of putting together something that could potentially garner some startup funding... and, of course, if you have the time... please raise your hand. =)
Cheers!
- Grif
Sounds good - count me in!
Check out http://www.gazunta.com/fun/fun_3d.htm and http://www.gazunta.com/fun/fun_design.htm for what I can bring to the mix - I can also do 2D. My most recent game was Ryan Starr which was showcased on Sumea a while back (thanks again, Souri!) and I'm looking to get some more games under my proverbial belt...so...um, yeah, there's my hand :)
Jacana - Hey, knowing Java's certainly nothing to be sneezed at. =) In fact, in this case it'll most likely come in quite handy with a couple of elements I have in mind that are quite important, so... =)
Gazunta - Ahh, Ryan Starr was yours? Good stuff! =) Very nifty demo, that one... nicely put together. =)
Idaho - Cheers for the link, Luke... some really nice stuff in there. =)
All right then, that's certainly a good enough showing to kick off with! =) Might be best to move to a more "proper" thread for discussion in the MOD section to keep this out of everyone's face in general at this point, I think, so... yeah. Anyone else interested, head down thataway and take a bit of a gander. =)
- Grif
Well, that's no worries, Daemin... any comments, constructive criticism, or whatever else you have to offer'll always be more than welcome. =) The more people that're thinking about this sort of stuff, the less likely it'll be for us to make some sort of oversight or totally boneheaded mistake, after all (which is all too easy to do, in my somewhat-pained experience). =) And hey, if nothing else we might get a nice bit of philosophical design discussion going, eh? =)
- Grif
Well, I certainly have a few ideas of my own about what this project should be, but I certainly don't want to simply hoist them onto everyone and dictate in a "this is what we're doing, and that's that!" sort of way. A bit of discussion about what we should be aiming to make and the reasons it should be our choice is pretty much the primary goal for now... I don't doubt pretty much everyone 'round these parts has at least a couple of great game ideas of their own, so we'll just have to nut out which we all think sounds like the best one to go with, I think. =) Wish I could be more specific, but, again, this isn't going to just be my project, so... =)
- Grif
I guess you guys (not counting myself) could start off with deciding what genre you would want to tackle the most, or what genres (mix of?), and from there come up with a setting, some sort of rudimentary background information, and the rest would follow.
I just hope that after the vision has been said, and all the ideas accumulated, that you guys can pull it off, and work on one common shared vision, since its too easy for internet teams (especially) to be working on the same project, but going after different goals and ideas of what the final thing should be.
I,m currently working over the net on a FPS game with an indy team, based primarily in the US. The work for this involves a wide range of modelling and 2d texture,concepts etc..My main roles is ptutting together the high end cut-scene cinematics.
There's some of my stuff on Sumea, or have a look at my website for a broader picture http://scepta.tripod.com
I'd be interested to be involved in a project that's Australian based, if you feel i can contribute to your idea let me know.
-Ben.
Daemin: Certainly the biggest uphill struggle anyone working remotely from a "central hub" is in making sure you're working to the same vision as everyone else, definitely. =) A big part of countering that is in making sure you're sharing a common vision from the start point, I think, and making sure that that vision is the sum of what people think should be explored in the eventual project. To that end, I should maybe be asking different questions in the other thread, eh? =)
watchmaker: You've got some really, really nice stuff on your site there, and the stuff you've posted to Sumea already looks really great. =) We'll certainly have need for someone with an eye and an eagerness for creating great concept work and cinematics and polishing them up to be as involving as they can be, I'm sure, so the offer of help is much appreciated, if you've got the time and inclination. =)
- Grif
sounds real interesting
hope i haven't missed the boat [:)]
all i have to show is here:
http://effectism.com/sample/
all the 3d is basically wip.
my hands in the air.
I'm interested. I just completed the course offered by QANTM. If you want to see what I'm capable of, check out:
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…
- Worms in tanks
Source code available at:url=http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wh40k_alpha_bin.zip
- Third person shooter based on the Warhammer 40000 universe that I showed off at industry night (that was a bit of a collaborative effort, someone else wrote the MD3 displaying code and rezn0r on these forums wrote the enemy code
EDIT: I have ported all those to DirectX 9, I just haven't put the binaries and updated code up
Fluffy CatFood: Nope, doesn't really matter. =) If this gets off the ground in a more official sense then new commercially licensed copies of whichever package is applicable will be bought, anyway, so... =)
ignlis: Wow, some nice stuff in there! And nope, certainly haven't missed the boat at all. =) We're still just in the formative stages here... be sure to check out the "game pitch" topic in the MOD forum, which is chugging along nicely right now, and be sure to throw in your input. The more the merrier at this point. =)
GooberMan: So the Warhammer one's a three-person effort? That's not too shabby at all, given the amount of actual functional content. =)
- Grif
Well I'll definately contribute if you want me, that is if this project starts some time towards the end of january. I'm currently doing some cel-shaded animation work for a low budget film, filming starts on the 9th of this month. I hope to be finished in around 2-3 weeks
Lead paint: delicious but deadly!
Hi, Murray Lorden here.
Sounds very interesting, guys, especially if it leads to both making an awesome innovative game, and also starting up a new Australian game development studio. :)
Go for it guys!
I work at Bluetongue Software, but I'm still very interested in joining discussions about the game!
GooberMan: Not bad going at all for such a short period of time. =) Have you continued working on the various bits of the engine since, or have yuo moved on to other stuff in the meantime? =)
Fluffy CatFood: Any offers of help are more than welcome at this point, so definitely, if you've got the time, the contribution would be appreciated. =)
muzboz: Well, fire away! =) The more ideas the merrier at the moment, so... =)
- Grif
I'm currently rewriting the AMGOS.exe base. There's a lot of code in there that I didn't like, and I've got better ideas on how to do other things now, so I'm rewriting it.
I haven't touched that game since except to port the code to DirectX 9. I will be throwing out all that code and starting again aswell. I did some silly things in it that I thought were good but ended out biting my ass towards the end of the project (the big one is that I decided sectors should own entities, which ended out in a messy implementation of passing entities from one sector to another - I'm not sure how I'll approach it next time, but I'm wary of doing that again).
Everything's always written better second time around when it concerns code :)
Apparently the reference to where this conversation continued might've been a bit too vague, so... sorry! =) The conversation about the actual design/game creation has been continuing at:
http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=221&whichpage=1
Again, sorry if you've just been sitting and waiting for things to proceed apace in this particular thread... got some catching up to do now! =P
- Grif
Hey Grif,
It sounds very interesting. So I guess one show of hand here :)
Not sure where I might really fit in... I have been programming in Java for about a year now and will start learning C++ in Feb.
I have done some work on games (online volunteer work) but tend to work more with the community in a role much more invloved with communication then coding.
-Jacana
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002