The US$100,000 Challenge :)

Forum
Game Engine

Hi everyone,

I have somewhat of a unique opportunity here, and I thought I would share it with you in the hope of getting some help or advice. I have some strong contacts inside an engine company based in Singapore. I've been helping them out quite extensively in building their business and they are looking to return the favour now that they are established. They have given me until Christmas to form a team, design a game, and create a demo. If they like the demo and they see that the team works well together, they will fund a small-scale development of the project to the tune of US$100,000... and they will also publish it. I plan to set up a small studio and work on it over summer with the crew who made the demo, and it's paid, naturally. Oh, also- the engine that I can use is state of the art, a mix of Doom3 lighting and HL2 (actually, Novodex) physics. It's really easy to use and I've got about a year's worth of experience working with it. And will be completed by the company, so only gameplay and upgraded AI needs to be coded.

Now, I'm not exactly new to the game development field. I've been designing games since I was 14 and I love leading teams to develop products. I need people to work on this with me. I have got my lead artist and an audio engineer. I'm looking for:

1 mapper: must have good folio and 3DS Max experience
2 modellers/animators: good folio and plenty of experience animating in Max
2 coders (1 gameplay, 1 AI): if you're interested, let me know and I will get more details for you; i was planning on asking at Flipcode for coders, but if there are interested coders here then all the better.

If mappers and modellers sometimes blur and do each other's work, then that is all the better. But some experience mapping is a plus for all modellers, and vice versa. On such a small team it's best to have a versatile skillset.

Also, I would like some advice too :) In a few days of reading the forums I found that you guys are pretty smart and cool, in general, and there seems to be a low quantity of idiots and trolls. Kudos :) What would you do in my position? I can't release all the details, but i'll let you know what I can.

Thanks,

Switchblade

Submitted by fuzzmeister on Sat, 16/08/03 - 11:17 AMPermalink

Switchblade, i am interested!. While i have been working on my demo and recentley looking for colaborators, i still need work, paid work. I have level design experience, although i have been focuesed on programming since early last year.

I'd like to know more about this opportunity, and if you are interested in my work let me know.

Tim

Submitted by Blitz on Sat, 16/08/03 - 8:03 PMPermalink

I'd be interested...however i don't have the time to actually be a part of your team :P
I am interested in it otherwise though. Whats the company developing the engine? Website etc.?
I think it sounds like a great deal, although US$100,000 isn't that much. You'll just be able to keep a team of 4 housed and fed for a year on that maybe...but it's still better than $0 and will mean that the majority of the team will be able to focus all their time on the project (and not have to be working 20 hrs a week part time or anything).
"If i was in your position" hmmm, what is your position exactly as far as work/time goes :) If you have the time to do it then hell yes i'd go for it :)
Btw, where are you located? If you plan to set up in an office if you get the contract, you'd probably be better looking for people who were already located nearby. Also, co-ordinating a large project that will require more than 10hrs of work a week from people can be difficult over the net. People are much more motivated when other members of the team are in close proximity in my experience.
Anyway, good luck!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Switchblade on Sun, 17/08/03 - 12:57 AMPermalink

Fuzzmeister: i'm checking it out now, we can chat online if you like :) Can you handle scripting, Ai or gameplay coding? Unfortunately, as I say in the post, it's not paid until Christmas- and that's not a definite, that's just if the company likes the game. But your stuff looks solid.

Blitz: I am not sure if I can release that info on the company or engine, so I won't just yet. Their website is in development now. It's a pity that you don't have time, cause I'm located in Melbourne; if we get funding, then I'll be setting up the studio here. What I plan to do is rent a large house in the suburbs, one with broadband internet, and set up office there. It's much cheaper than office space and is actually quite common where I live (eastern suburbs). With that money, I'm thinking more like a team of 7 or 8 fed and housed for about 4 or 5 months. The game will be smaller in scale than most games. I want to set it up so that we work fulltime for several months, flying people down from around Australia (given how cheap airfares are these days), and if there are any team members overseas, contract out development to them. Thanks for the tips on net work, I agree with you totally.

Thanks,

Switchblade

Submitted by Blitz on Sun, 17/08/03 - 5:24 AMPermalink

Hmm, my profile needs updating, i'm actually in canberra at least until the end of the year :)
The house idea is good. You can get really cheap rent on a big house if you're far enough away from the city!
Anyway, once again good luck!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by fuzzmeister on Sun, 17/08/03 - 9:53 AMPermalink

I've done no AI yet (we have covered it during my diploma course, but that's all), scripting, i can't say i've done any, and gameplay programming is pretty much where i am at at the moment... but haven't really written much (i think i'd be alright a it though!)

you have my hotmail address s ye by all means contact me via e-mail or MSN messenegr so we can talk more. I am interested in the idea, being in brisbane may be a problem we'll have to talk.

Tim

Submitted by FlyingMonk on Mon, 18/08/03 - 3:16 AMPermalink

So your starting at about christmas'ish then?

I'm in the middle of updating my portfolio but I can send you out a copy sometime.

Submitted by Satyrblood on Mon, 18/08/03 - 7:49 PMPermalink

Wow Switchblade, sounds like a fantastic opportunity. I'm based in Melbourne, but if I wasn't still at uni I'd ask to help... Don't suppose you need anyone to make you guys coffee (as all geeks know, you need caffeine to work), or photocopy anything? I make a mean latte. ;)

Good luck with it all anyway!

Submitted by Switchblade on Tue, 19/08/03 - 8:14 PMPermalink

FlyingMonk: Please do so :) We're starting as soon as the engine is ready, which is probably in a few weeks. Obviously, design and team building has begun already. We have got until Christmas or so to make a good demo using the next-gen engine tech I mentioned earlier. If we succeed in making a good demo, we can get US$100,000 in funding and a publishing deal. So it's a great opportunity, I reckon.

Satyrblood: That's ok that you're at Uni- what skills do you have?

Striker: Done :)

Switchblade

Submitted by Ninja on Tue, 19/08/03 - 9:18 PMPermalink

hi switchblade [:)] this deal of yours is pretty interesting...... ill contact u via MSN im located in melbourne as well.

Submitted by Damo on Tue, 19/08/03 - 11:12 PMPermalink

Sitchblade,
I'm in Melbourne and am currently living in the outter Eastern Suburbs too. I work fulltime so could not be a major contributer, but am potentially available for part time work as a support programmer (I spend most of my weekends working on my own games projects anyway so this would not be a problem). I know this isn't a role you have mentioned above, but having an extra part-time guy may make your life easier close to crunch time! If you are interested I'll send you a more detailed description of my background and skill set.
Cheers,
Damon

Submitted by Satyrblood on Wed, 20/08/03 - 4:43 AMPermalink

Apart from the obligatory skills at from my uni degree (we cover programming/tech stuff, marketing, EC, project management etc), I have just started some modelling etc. to give me some creative relief. I am willing to learn pretty much anything though, to give me experience. here's my MSN if you want to get in contact with me.....

MSN: devourerofsouls@hotmail.com

Oh, forgot to add that I have worked on a few (self-indulgent) mods with my mates. Mainly for fun, but they turned out playable.

Submitted by Switchblade on Thu, 21/08/03 - 4:14 AMPermalink

thanks Souri for moving thread and putting us on the front page :)

Ok guys, here's an update on how we're going... We've got a semblance of a team; one programmer (Strik3r), one programmer/mapper (Electro), one lead artist (Serpent Warrior) an audio technician (Mister) and myself, designer, manager and biz guy. I'm talking to a few others at the moment but those are pretty definite. We still need more people though, so artists especially if you can help, let me know :)

I've written up a basic design document for the demo and I'm working on one for the full game. It's going to be fairly small, because of the limited funding, but hopefully we can cram a lot of gameplay into it. I'm interested in trying out a few of my new design ideas too, in this game.

[url]http://www30.brinkster.com/entrada1/images/index.html[/url]

Here are a few renders of our first character, the raptor.

Damo: please send your descriptions, that would be good if you can help out on a casual basis for non-core things.

Satyrblood: talk to you on MSN

Take care all,

Switchblade

Submitted by Drift on Sat, 20/09/03 - 8:55 AMPermalink

Very nice, Switchblade. So how is the project going so far?

Submitted by Switchblade on Sat, 04/10/03 - 3:03 AMPermalink

Hi guys :) sorry for the late reply. Things are going quite well, I'm surprised and delighted at how smoothly everything's gone. We've got a great team, who are working nicely on the project. The engine company and my friend inside it has been extremely helpful and there have been no problems there - they've ensured a smooth adoption of their technology and they've kept us running when things went wrong.

A word of advice to budding team managers and game designers - when you are asking people to work for you for free, make SURE that there will be some cool stuff for each person to do. If everyone's having fun it makes it so much easier to keep team members. Share out the drudgery and share out the cool stuff and you'll find it all gets done so much quicker.

I'm so happy with the way things are going that I greatly look forward to coming home each night so I can get stuck into working on it :) I'll post some cool screenshots when we have them - right now we're just getting levels running in the engine, modelling plants and desks, and such. Soon, tho :) Soon.

Switchblade

Submitted by Gibbz on Fri, 23/01/04 - 1:12 AMPermalink

hey if your still looking for artist im interested , and i think my brother would be hes got his own engine...

gibbz1@yahoo.com <- email or yahoo!
www.bronson.2ya.com <- portfolio inc. old tech demo with my brotehrs engine

Submitted by toiletfreak on Tue, 17/02/04 - 12:33 AMPermalink

not applying or anything(still in high school)
just saying, this is nice, don't see stuff like this much... Australia needs more activity in the gaming area...

Submitted by Wizenedoldman on Fri, 20/02/04 - 10:15 AMPermalink

"the engine company didn't keep up with its end of the bargain - we made a good try, but unfortunately we decided to let it slide so that we could keep our sanity. we're still making the game as a hobby, but for fun this time."

This comes directly from the lips(to be more precise, his keyboard) of Switchblade himself. He forgot his Sumea login details and so can post no more... tis a sad day for us all.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 20/02/04 - 11:14 AMPermalink

There's a link up the top there which you can click if you have forgotten your password..

Submitted by Switchblade on Mon, 23/02/04 - 11:58 AMPermalink

Hey, alright, I'm here now.

Yeah, so things went kinda belly up there. The moral of the story - work on established tech as much as you can and don't take things too seriously.

Also, I've kinda re-evaluated my goals, and decided I don't want to get into the industry any more... lack of stability, lack of creativity, and so on. Haha, i decided that after attending AGDC, finding out what it was really like.

So yeah.

Lachie

Forum
Game Engine

Hi everyone,

I have somewhat of a unique opportunity here, and I thought I would share it with you in the hope of getting some help or advice. I have some strong contacts inside an engine company based in Singapore. I've been helping them out quite extensively in building their business and they are looking to return the favour now that they are established. They have given me until Christmas to form a team, design a game, and create a demo. If they like the demo and they see that the team works well together, they will fund a small-scale development of the project to the tune of US$100,000... and they will also publish it. I plan to set up a small studio and work on it over summer with the crew who made the demo, and it's paid, naturally. Oh, also- the engine that I can use is state of the art, a mix of Doom3 lighting and HL2 (actually, Novodex) physics. It's really easy to use and I've got about a year's worth of experience working with it. And will be completed by the company, so only gameplay and upgraded AI needs to be coded.

Now, I'm not exactly new to the game development field. I've been designing games since I was 14 and I love leading teams to develop products. I need people to work on this with me. I have got my lead artist and an audio engineer. I'm looking for:

1 mapper: must have good folio and 3DS Max experience
2 modellers/animators: good folio and plenty of experience animating in Max
2 coders (1 gameplay, 1 AI): if you're interested, let me know and I will get more details for you; i was planning on asking at Flipcode for coders, but if there are interested coders here then all the better.

If mappers and modellers sometimes blur and do each other's work, then that is all the better. But some experience mapping is a plus for all modellers, and vice versa. On such a small team it's best to have a versatile skillset.

Also, I would like some advice too :) In a few days of reading the forums I found that you guys are pretty smart and cool, in general, and there seems to be a low quantity of idiots and trolls. Kudos :) What would you do in my position? I can't release all the details, but i'll let you know what I can.

Thanks,

Switchblade

Submitted by fuzzmeister on Sat, 16/08/03 - 11:17 AMPermalink

Switchblade, i am interested!. While i have been working on my demo and recentley looking for colaborators, i still need work, paid work. I have level design experience, although i have been focuesed on programming since early last year.

I'd like to know more about this opportunity, and if you are interested in my work let me know.

Tim

Submitted by Blitz on Sat, 16/08/03 - 8:03 PMPermalink

I'd be interested...however i don't have the time to actually be a part of your team :P
I am interested in it otherwise though. Whats the company developing the engine? Website etc.?
I think it sounds like a great deal, although US$100,000 isn't that much. You'll just be able to keep a team of 4 housed and fed for a year on that maybe...but it's still better than $0 and will mean that the majority of the team will be able to focus all their time on the project (and not have to be working 20 hrs a week part time or anything).
"If i was in your position" hmmm, what is your position exactly as far as work/time goes :) If you have the time to do it then hell yes i'd go for it :)
Btw, where are you located? If you plan to set up in an office if you get the contract, you'd probably be better looking for people who were already located nearby. Also, co-ordinating a large project that will require more than 10hrs of work a week from people can be difficult over the net. People are much more motivated when other members of the team are in close proximity in my experience.
Anyway, good luck!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Switchblade on Sun, 17/08/03 - 12:57 AMPermalink

Fuzzmeister: i'm checking it out now, we can chat online if you like :) Can you handle scripting, Ai or gameplay coding? Unfortunately, as I say in the post, it's not paid until Christmas- and that's not a definite, that's just if the company likes the game. But your stuff looks solid.

Blitz: I am not sure if I can release that info on the company or engine, so I won't just yet. Their website is in development now. It's a pity that you don't have time, cause I'm located in Melbourne; if we get funding, then I'll be setting up the studio here. What I plan to do is rent a large house in the suburbs, one with broadband internet, and set up office there. It's much cheaper than office space and is actually quite common where I live (eastern suburbs). With that money, I'm thinking more like a team of 7 or 8 fed and housed for about 4 or 5 months. The game will be smaller in scale than most games. I want to set it up so that we work fulltime for several months, flying people down from around Australia (given how cheap airfares are these days), and if there are any team members overseas, contract out development to them. Thanks for the tips on net work, I agree with you totally.

Thanks,

Switchblade

Submitted by Blitz on Sun, 17/08/03 - 5:24 AMPermalink

Hmm, my profile needs updating, i'm actually in canberra at least until the end of the year :)
The house idea is good. You can get really cheap rent on a big house if you're far enough away from the city!
Anyway, once again good luck!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by fuzzmeister on Sun, 17/08/03 - 9:53 AMPermalink

I've done no AI yet (we have covered it during my diploma course, but that's all), scripting, i can't say i've done any, and gameplay programming is pretty much where i am at at the moment... but haven't really written much (i think i'd be alright a it though!)

you have my hotmail address s ye by all means contact me via e-mail or MSN messenegr so we can talk more. I am interested in the idea, being in brisbane may be a problem we'll have to talk.

Tim

Submitted by FlyingMonk on Mon, 18/08/03 - 3:16 AMPermalink

So your starting at about christmas'ish then?

I'm in the middle of updating my portfolio but I can send you out a copy sometime.

Submitted by Satyrblood on Mon, 18/08/03 - 7:49 PMPermalink

Wow Switchblade, sounds like a fantastic opportunity. I'm based in Melbourne, but if I wasn't still at uni I'd ask to help... Don't suppose you need anyone to make you guys coffee (as all geeks know, you need caffeine to work), or photocopy anything? I make a mean latte. ;)

Good luck with it all anyway!

Submitted by Switchblade on Tue, 19/08/03 - 8:14 PMPermalink

FlyingMonk: Please do so :) We're starting as soon as the engine is ready, which is probably in a few weeks. Obviously, design and team building has begun already. We have got until Christmas or so to make a good demo using the next-gen engine tech I mentioned earlier. If we succeed in making a good demo, we can get US$100,000 in funding and a publishing deal. So it's a great opportunity, I reckon.

Satyrblood: That's ok that you're at Uni- what skills do you have?

Striker: Done :)

Switchblade

Submitted by Ninja on Tue, 19/08/03 - 9:18 PMPermalink

hi switchblade [:)] this deal of yours is pretty interesting...... ill contact u via MSN im located in melbourne as well.

Submitted by Damo on Tue, 19/08/03 - 11:12 PMPermalink

Sitchblade,
I'm in Melbourne and am currently living in the outter Eastern Suburbs too. I work fulltime so could not be a major contributer, but am potentially available for part time work as a support programmer (I spend most of my weekends working on my own games projects anyway so this would not be a problem). I know this isn't a role you have mentioned above, but having an extra part-time guy may make your life easier close to crunch time! If you are interested I'll send you a more detailed description of my background and skill set.
Cheers,
Damon

Submitted by Satyrblood on Wed, 20/08/03 - 4:43 AMPermalink

Apart from the obligatory skills at from my uni degree (we cover programming/tech stuff, marketing, EC, project management etc), I have just started some modelling etc. to give me some creative relief. I am willing to learn pretty much anything though, to give me experience. here's my MSN if you want to get in contact with me.....

MSN: devourerofsouls@hotmail.com

Oh, forgot to add that I have worked on a few (self-indulgent) mods with my mates. Mainly for fun, but they turned out playable.

Submitted by Switchblade on Thu, 21/08/03 - 4:14 AMPermalink

thanks Souri for moving thread and putting us on the front page :)

Ok guys, here's an update on how we're going... We've got a semblance of a team; one programmer (Strik3r), one programmer/mapper (Electro), one lead artist (Serpent Warrior) an audio technician (Mister) and myself, designer, manager and biz guy. I'm talking to a few others at the moment but those are pretty definite. We still need more people though, so artists especially if you can help, let me know :)

I've written up a basic design document for the demo and I'm working on one for the full game. It's going to be fairly small, because of the limited funding, but hopefully we can cram a lot of gameplay into it. I'm interested in trying out a few of my new design ideas too, in this game.

[url]http://www30.brinkster.com/entrada1/images/index.html[/url]

Here are a few renders of our first character, the raptor.

Damo: please send your descriptions, that would be good if you can help out on a casual basis for non-core things.

Satyrblood: talk to you on MSN

Take care all,

Switchblade

Submitted by Drift on Sat, 20/09/03 - 8:55 AMPermalink

Very nice, Switchblade. So how is the project going so far?

Submitted by Switchblade on Sat, 04/10/03 - 3:03 AMPermalink

Hi guys :) sorry for the late reply. Things are going quite well, I'm surprised and delighted at how smoothly everything's gone. We've got a great team, who are working nicely on the project. The engine company and my friend inside it has been extremely helpful and there have been no problems there - they've ensured a smooth adoption of their technology and they've kept us running when things went wrong.

A word of advice to budding team managers and game designers - when you are asking people to work for you for free, make SURE that there will be some cool stuff for each person to do. If everyone's having fun it makes it so much easier to keep team members. Share out the drudgery and share out the cool stuff and you'll find it all gets done so much quicker.

I'm so happy with the way things are going that I greatly look forward to coming home each night so I can get stuck into working on it :) I'll post some cool screenshots when we have them - right now we're just getting levels running in the engine, modelling plants and desks, and such. Soon, tho :) Soon.

Switchblade

Submitted by Gibbz on Fri, 23/01/04 - 1:12 AMPermalink

hey if your still looking for artist im interested , and i think my brother would be hes got his own engine...

gibbz1@yahoo.com <- email or yahoo!
www.bronson.2ya.com <- portfolio inc. old tech demo with my brotehrs engine

Submitted by toiletfreak on Tue, 17/02/04 - 12:33 AMPermalink

not applying or anything(still in high school)
just saying, this is nice, don't see stuff like this much... Australia needs more activity in the gaming area...

Submitted by Wizenedoldman on Fri, 20/02/04 - 10:15 AMPermalink

"the engine company didn't keep up with its end of the bargain - we made a good try, but unfortunately we decided to let it slide so that we could keep our sanity. we're still making the game as a hobby, but for fun this time."

This comes directly from the lips(to be more precise, his keyboard) of Switchblade himself. He forgot his Sumea login details and so can post no more... tis a sad day for us all.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 20/02/04 - 11:14 AMPermalink

There's a link up the top there which you can click if you have forgotten your password..

Submitted by Switchblade on Mon, 23/02/04 - 11:58 AMPermalink

Hey, alright, I'm here now.

Yeah, so things went kinda belly up there. The moral of the story - work on established tech as much as you can and don't take things too seriously.

Also, I've kinda re-evaluated my goals, and decided I don't want to get into the industry any more... lack of stability, lack of creativity, and so on. Haha, i decided that after attending AGDC, finding out what it was really like.

So yeah.

Lachie