Recruiting Programmers, Writers, and Playtesters

[pk space jam]

Hello!

My name is Ray Weiss. I am a game developer, well mostly a *Published* Pen & Paper developer but my first love has always been video games.

Here is some of my previous work:

Everything Is Dolphins - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tim ... d-art-book
Cyberpanky N.O.W - http://www.cyberpankynow.com
Adversary - Currently in development for the NES, yes I am torturing myself with Assembly.

Ok so now that you have my resume, let me tell you about my game.

I want to make an RPG/Visual Novel. It draws heavily from Earthbound for the SNES, roguelikes, and some japanese fuwanovels. The goal is to eventually put the game on steam and sell it.

A quick overview of the game: You play as a 10 year old boy named Pickett who is forced to go to summer camp by his parents. Once at the camp, it becomes clear that the owners of the camp have a sinister scheme to summon extraterrestrials to the camp, and the camp over the course of 3 weeks turns into a battle royal type situation. The game flow is day by day, and there are 3 main arcs to the game that correspond with each week.

The game will include...

20 possible party characters

no 2 games are the same! characters will be randomized each scene, each playthrough

Permadeath! Game will delete your save upon dying.

Dragon Warrior style battles

NPC's with varying disposition towards you!

A mood tracker that tracks the players mental fitness!

Specifically, I could use a senior programmer or something along those lines. I need someone to help me figure out how to take the above concepts and apply them to RenPy using python. In terms of writers, there are at least 20 characters that need their own dialogue for every scene in the game (approx 21 X 5.) If you are interested in helping to create content and dialogue for the game, I would totally not turn down the help!

In terms of what I have finished, I have about 20-30 pages of game mechanics, story notes, character descriptions, items, and a whole slew of other fun stuff. I have both acquired an illustrator and a music/sound designer. The graphics style will be more like 16 bit as opposed to anime style graphics, in an attempt to try to make the game palatable for western tastes.

In terms of collaboration, I would be happy to split the sales of any future release with any potential collaborators. I don't really have any available funds at the moment if you prefer money up front, but I have some rare old video game stuff that I would be happy to part with if that works, haha.

Fuzzy Pickles

pk space jam

[Taleweaver]

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

Please provide additional information on your project and the help you need according to the rules and requirements for recruitment. We don't allow "I need anybody who's interested for a game I'm not sharing details about" threads.

[pk space jam]

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

Please provide additional information on your project and the help you need according to the rules and requirements for recruitment. We don't allow "I need anybody who's interested for a game I'm not sharing details about" threads.

Hey! Thank you so much for the heads up. I edited the post, please let me know if its ok now or if I need anymore additional information!

[SundownKid]

If you're looking for Dragon Warrior style battles, have you considered using RPG Maker? It's a lot easier to make an RPG with it since it already has the RPG basics built in without needing a programmer. I myself made an Earthbound-esque adventure game with RPG Maker XP, and sometimes VX Ace goes on sale on Steam.

The graphics style will be more like 16 bit as opposed to anime style graphics, in an attempt to try to make the game palatable for western tastes.

I think anime, or at least cartoon graphics would do just fine in the West. Most cartoons these days are amerime or based on anime anyway.

[pk space jam]

If you're looking for Dragon Warrior style battles, have you considered using RPG Maker? It's a lot easier to make an RPG with it since it already has the RPG basics built in without needing a programmer. I myself made an Earthbound-esque adventure game with RPG Maker XP, and sometimes VX Ace goes on sale on Steam.

Funny you should mention that, my idea was originally for RPG maker VX ACE, though the mechanics I've described above like the random npcs showing up in scenes would have to be scripted in Ruby, I know nothing about ruby and my attempts to find Ruby scriptwriters in my personal life failed.

I have built a dragon warrior like engine in python before, so I do know how to do that. What I need a better programmer's help with is using the GUI packages to build one specifically, along with a programmers help with the other above mentioned concepts.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! EDIT: And I look forward to playing your game

[SundownKid]

Thanks a lot for trying it out. Now, I think you should be able to find scripts on the RPG Maker forums, or at least pay people some nominal amount to program them. There are a ton of Ruby scripters online, though VX Ace does have a random variable generator so I think that may not actually need a custom script. Just make an event to set a variable a random number and the number it lands on adds a certain party member or triggers a certain NPC/NPC dialogue.

[pk space jam]

Thanks a lot for trying it out. Now, I think you should be able to find scripts on the RPG Maker forums, or at least pay people some nominal amount to program them. There are a ton of Ruby scripters online, though VX Ace does have a random variable generator so I think that may not actually need a custom script. Just make an event to set a variable a random number and the number it lands on adds a certain party member.

I would go the RPG Maker route but at this point, I am just more comfortable with python and as a developer, I would rather work with the tools I understand. Plus the amount of art I would need for an RPG maker game is also twofold, there would be potentially less money for the parties involved if i started taking on too many people.

I do have an idea for an RPG I would like to make in RPG maker sometime. That idea is much more traditional JRPG so it will be a piece of cake to do likely without the need for custom scripts. I figured I would focus on mostly the 2 games i have in development right now, but if you are interested in hearing more about my new RPG maker idea, shoot me a PM!

[SundownKid]

Thanks - I do offer UI design/programming in Ren'py but I only take upfront payments due to my busy schedule (same applies to any other programming). And, I also have a dream RPG so I'd have to get on that first =P Good luck with your game.

[Ferdokki]

The game concept sounds so cool! 8D
Though I am a chicken when it comes to playing suspenseful games, once I sit down with one, it's hard to pry away. By reading the description of your game, it sounds like the styles of Yume Nikki 3D, Why Am I Dead?, and another game I can't remember the name of in which a little girl is trapped in a museum filled with zombies and other unnatural things. (See? I can't help myself when it comes to these games, regardless of how freaked out I get.)

But additionally, I'm super great at writing suspense scenes. I can write mystery too, but I'm better at comedic mystery with dark themes, and I don't think that fits with what you're looking for.
Nonetheless, I can try my hand at serious mystery. =)
Oh, I left out the best part (well, I guess authors get excited about this more than I do)...I'll do it totally for free! =D...just as long as you mention my name somewhere in the credits. Like, it could be in super-tiny, distorted pixelated 8-pt font and in the corner of the screen, and I'd still be grateful. =)