No, I'm not running it, and with my track record for finishing projects I start, that's a good thing. I am designing much of it and doing the bulk of the programming, and we've already got a great level designer/writer and a finance guy, but this is going to be a pretty big project, and we could use some more people interested in jumping on the team. I was thinking about where I might be able to find some talented people and... well, hell, it's pretty much you guys, so don't let me down. ;)
Our first game project will be a single player, web-based Missile Command clone combined with RPG elements and world development.
We have a few mockups our non-artists have made:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910241/image00.png)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910241/colony-command-mockup-2---g.png)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910241/SamplesCity.png)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910241/SamplesGrid.gif)
We've got a lot of the general feel of the game mapped up, and we're working daily on giving it real form. We can pull it off with the people we have - but it would be hard, and it won't be as good as it could have been.
What we need are people to fill in our gaps, and help generate content, in the following areas.
Major Needs:
Art - We need someone with good spriting skills to do pretty much all the artwork for the game and help us decide on the best visual style. We aren't committed, so sell us on yours if you think your up to it. Max White is a go.
Writing - We have a general plot and some major elements done up, but we're going to have well over several thousand missions, and dozens of items, and hundreds of backstory "Lore" pieces that can be discovered.
Sound - We'll need music and sound effects for the game. Doesn't need to be the same person.
Lesser Needs:
Programming - Right now, it's mostly just me on this end. Could use some help on that front if we want this to get out the door at a reasonable speed.This will likely be HTML5 based, so JavaScript knowledge (or the ability to pick it up quickly) is important, but honestly we are still considering our options here. AS through haXe. Someone who can handle some minor AI scripting would be great too. Programming Team Complete! Thanks Siquo!
Level Design - We've got a great level designer right now, but there are going to be a lot of levels, and more content is NOT a bad thing. Plus, he's a really good writer and a halfway decent pixel artist as well, so if we have trouble filling those roles another level designer would be useful in giving him time to hit other areas.
Anyone interested or have any questions, let me know.
A quick mock up? Ok, I can do that. Although interesting to note, few games like this have an image of the ground and background. They are almost always generated at run time based on an algorithm, otherwise balancing the gameplay by changing the level layout requires you to redraw the image, making the testing iteration sooo much longer then it should be. As far as art goes, your should only need the images for the buildings, the interface, the effects and maybe the missiles, depending on how you want them. Even the colour of the buildings that show status, like your shield generators, should be a single sprite, changed by palate swap. You should talk with your programmer(s) about it.
But still, quick draft, just to see if you like the colour scheme.
(http://i51.tinypic.com/25i0z2e.png)
EDIT: That reminds me, even if I don't end up doing the art, to who ever does: Be nice to your programmers! See how I turned the three lazor cannons into a single omni-directional lazor shooting orb? Now the programmers don't need to figure out what point to shoot from, there is a single point of origin, and it still looks cool.
EDIT EDIT: Also, best to keep all building blocks the same size. Not required, as it is possible to program your way through it, but making the blocks the same size not only helps the programmer, but helps the player a little by making the height of buildings a little more predictable.
(http://i53.tinypic.com/2qitzza.png)
Nw just for lazors, missiles and explosions. I felt I had to preview now, as it looks so peaceful, shame to ruin it. Ah well, I'm using layers to an almost unreasonable amount, so getting rid of the chaos will be easy for me.
For evaluation by a real-life game developer.
Roughly a half of my story goes like this:
A video game development studio faces a prospect of their leader's bankruptcy.
Sidenote:The studio's HQ is at the leader's home.
The leader is the vision of the team, and works part time as a university professor.
But he's run into debt and his bank threatens him with eviction.
The studio has a month to present a prototype to potential producers, so they get down to work with desperate abandon.
After a week they find a businessman interested in financing their work. But the businessman wants to have a say in the design, and the leader just can't agree to his ideas. Two days later a power surge brings their main computers down, and they are forced to cooperate, to get money to recover their data and continue their work.
How plausible is that? Also, I've got no idea what I mean by "potential producers". Maybe potential publishers would be a better idea, but I'm not sure how fantastical it would be if the studio had to make a finished product within a month, considering that most of the storyline of the game is written during that month... and the mechanics of magic is implemented. On the request of the businessman.