Hey, I'm part of a visual novel dev team (BCube Studios) and we're looking for 2 more sprite artists. Please know that everyone is working on this game for free (and spending our own pocket money for things such as hosting). If you think you will drop out in the future, I suggest you do not join. I understand that we all have life to deal with (people on our team occasionally take anywhere from a week to a month off the project to deal with life), so breaks are ok, just make sure to inform the team beforehand.
How the Team Works
Our main documents are situated in Google Docs (a lot of people on the team have mixed feelings about using Docs, but it works decently enough). We use Docs for meeting agendas/notes (covered later) and the overall game plot/structure. The Docs go much more in-depth, but as an artist, you'll only be using 1 or 2 of the Docs we have.
We use Skype as a chat program (we occasionally webcam). Skype is more for fun and giggles, but we do discuss work on their frequently. It's a great place for artists as we can get immediate (if your corresponding writer is online) feedback on our work. It's very chill in Skype; we discuss anime, visual novels, music, and shows. Think of it as a sort of lounge or hub of the group.
Every Saturday, at 5 PM PST (8 PM EST), we have a meeting either on Skype or Mumble. We usually use Mumble for the actual meeting, but we sometimes cam on Skype before the meeting. Meetings follow the Meeting Agenda doc in a structured format. So a basic agenda would looks something like this:
1. Department Updates //we go through each department and check their progress)
2. Talk about whatever //self exploratory
3. Idea Dump //here, you can dump your ideas for the VN. No matter how stupid it is, as long as it pertains to the VN, we'll discuss it
a. Idea 1
b. Idea 2
Meetings can last anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. The first few weeks of development, meetings would last 4-5 hours. That hopefully won't happen (or will happen, if you're like me and like meetings) again. After the meeting is over, you can leave the mumble server and go back to whatever it was that you were doing. Or, you can stay for the writing meeting (which may or may not happen). It might be ideal for sprite artists to lurk in the writing meeting so you can get feedback on your work if the writer was not on Skype. You'll also get to know the characters in more detail which will help in drawing them.
Lastly, we use a central Dropbox folder to store our art related work.
The Team
We originated from a Reddit post and we currently have 20 members. Some of our members are multitalented, so they fill up 2 or 3 departments. There are: 8 writers, 3 coders, 3 sprite artists, 3 etc. artists (photoshop, UI, BGs), and 3 on sound. There are US, UK, CA, and AUS members. Again, we're all very chill.
The Visual Novel
I'm told to keep this as vague as possible, but if you'd like to know more about the VN, feel free to reply to the thread.
Most Visual Novels focus on the first stage of adolescence--high school. We're going to the next stage; we want to create a VN that appeals to college-age kids like us. Our MC is a loser who barely made it through high school and is living life without purpose, until he gets a chance to go to one of the area's most prestigious from universities; his uncle offers the in and an opportunity to be the test pilot for some pretty incredible technology. What comes of the chance, however, is up to him.
Here is a prototype of the game.
We're looking for artists who can draw in a similar style as above. Similar coloring technique is not required, but if you do have a similar coloring style, bonus points for you. You'll most likely receive 2-4 characters to work on. Most concepts of characters are already finished, but we're very willing to accept more concept art. Work you may be doing:
Sketching
Linearting (either your own sketches or another artist's sketches)
Coloring in flats
Shading
Expressions
Most likely, you'll be making your own, full sprites.
Percentage of Work Done
Work becomes sluggish around April-Early June because of finals and tests. But we typically move fast during Holiday breaks and summer break (or winter break for the Australians).
Idea - 90%
Writing - 10%
Art (includes backgrounds and UI) - 5%
Coding - 5%
Sound - 15%
And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. -Shawshank Redemption
To apply, email a sample of your work to art@bcubestudios.com or just reply to the thread with a link to your work. We'll reply promptly.
If you have any questions at all, please reply to this thread so others can see the answer.
If you have any questions at all, please reply to this thread so others can see the answer.
