Anyone looking for something to do this summer?
If so, I'm in need of some artists to begin serious work on a project I've been thinking up for the last few months. Without going into too much detail, I'm looking to build a low-cost, 3D, MMORPG based on the samurai/martial arts culture. My goal is to eventually have a game that's similar to WoW and Diablo 2 in terms of character development but completely reinvents the MMORPG genre in terms of gameplay.
Naturally, this task would be hard enough for a team of 20 veterans, let alone a small group of amatuers. I'm hoping that I can leverage a lot of the tools used with Quake 3 and an iterative design approach to achieve my goals. I've already got a basic engine that supports all the Quake 3 formats but it's definitely a long way from being ready. I've also got a license for the Torque engine that I bought years ago if it's worth a damn these days.
My first milestone is to develop the art direction, the story, and many of the gameplay mechanics (in terms of architecture, items, and characters). After that I want to get a very basic, "single player" RPG working and increase the complexity from there.
This isn't the "get rich scheme of the week". This is me deciding that if I want into the video game industy-if I want to achieve my dreams of becoming a game developer-I need to get serious. If you're interested in giving it a shot I'd love the help.
Starting summer project
Re: Starting summer project
Postulate A)bitWISE wrote:MMORPGbitWISE wrote:similar to WoW and Diablo 2bitWISE wrote:completely reinvents the MMORPG genre
Postulate B)bitWISE wrote:Quake 3
does not compute, but I'll be damned if I can say I'm not interested in seeing what you manage to come up with--good luck, dude!Postulate C)bitWISE wrote:small group of amatuers
I was thinking about getting some stuff down on paper but I wasn't sure if game developers still use the standard SDLC documentation methods or if there are some special formats. I need to look into that.Kat wrote:Have you got a basic design doc sorted out yet? You mention the basic ideas but peeps would be more interested if they knew you had a solid direction at least penciled in.
It might not be too bad to just get stuck in for now and worry about format later. So long as everything is broken down into sections (character type, what they do; enviroments how they're used and so on...) you should be able to transfer it all at a later date... and yes sketch your ideas out for now regardless as to how crap they may look compared to 'proper' concept art, visual brain dumps from *your* head are important.bitWISE wrote:I was thinking about getting some stuff down on paper but I wasn't sure if game developers still use the standard SDLC documentation methods or if there are some special formats. I need to look into that.Kat wrote:Have you got a basic design doc sorted out yet? You mention the basic ideas but peeps would be more interested if they knew you had a solid direction at least penciled in.
Re: Starting summer project
What kind of game design/modding experience do you have so far. FYI, being a game designer is a lot more than thinking up cool ideas for games. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Most game companies have too many ideas and have to strip most of them out to make it even possible to implement the mere 1% that finally gets in the game.bitWISE wrote:This is me deciding that if I want into the video game industy-if I want to achieve my dreams of becoming a game developer-I need to get serious. If you're interested in giving it a shot I'd love the help.
Don't get me wrong. I encourage development and creativity, and I hope you can reach your dreams of being a game developer, but we've seen numerous projects that die before they even get off the ground. So unless you have a really solid plan, you might want to think about other ways to get your foot in the game developer door.
Article to read:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/busine ... ide-03.pdf
Hope that helps. The article is a good read and should provide some insights for you.
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It depends on exactly what you're trying to do. Although you mention 'low cost' above it's not 100% clear if that 'low cost' in the figurative sense or the monitary; i.e. people will be buying the game. If it's the latter that opens up potentially a huge can-o-worms (TM) regarding ownership so anyone joining the team would need to be doing so under a clear understanding of 'ownership' rights.bitWISE wrote:Aight. Thanks for the tips. I'll let you guys know when I make some good progress.
How does intellectual property apply to games? I know you can't use someone elses media but what about story and other design features?
You could in theory have an informal written agreement that artists 'donate' their work to the project on the promise of renumeration once the project goes gold which would allow them the freedom to use screenshots and movies etc for their portfolios and what not. So ownership isn't so exclusive (like many mods try to have over their artists). The key is to try and be flexible becasue you're not paying them for their work, at lest not yet.
This is why you need to get your ideas on paper and flesh thing out like that, as Obsidian said, designing a complete game is a son of a bitch becasue you have to think of *everything*.
Don;t let all this put you off though, start small, do a good quality prototype and go on from there.
@BitWise:
Do you have an idea of the required skills and people for a such project ? what are your skills ? what can you do in that team and what tasks are you going to ask for someone else.
draw a diagramme with all the ressources your team will have to produce, then search for the people.
but before anything, you must, as Kat & Obsidian pointed at, draw et write everything on paper, and open a forum as communication core between team members. Make sure your forum is clean and that all informations access is quick and easy.
If you find someone ready to work with ya, you must be able to show him as much as possible. for a such big project, having someone with strong experience in leading a game developpement project is an interresting plus.
Do you have an idea of the required skills and people for a such project ? what are your skills ? what can you do in that team and what tasks are you going to ask for someone else.
draw a diagramme with all the ressources your team will have to produce, then search for the people.
but before anything, you must, as Kat & Obsidian pointed at, draw et write everything on paper, and open a forum as communication core between team members. Make sure your forum is clean and that all informations access is quick and easy.
If you find someone ready to work with ya, you must be able to show him as much as possible. for a such big project, having someone with strong experience in leading a game developpement project is an interresting plus.
Requiem AA
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If you're serious:
1) first see if you can make a simple Galaga or Qix or a Breakout clone (yes, I am talking about those old arcade games from the early 80's). You can use Torque2d or Torque3d or whatever (just not gamemaker). You can even c++ it yourself if you know how.
2) Torque3d will probably be your best bet being that its only 100 bones for a professional license and its the independant game makers engine of choice. It also has a great community for support.
3) register at http://www.gamedev.net and ask 1 million questions.
4) devs need to be inspired to work for you... so you will need a nice website (w/ exceptional art) explaining why they should work for you and no one else
5) make a design doc. figure out what skillz are required and figure out how you are going to secure talent (next to impossible). As soon as you say you are going to make an mmorpg, prepare to be ridiculed properly.
6) realize that you are probably going to fail at making anything that closely resembles an mmorpg, let alone a simple raster sp RPG. This is just the way it is.
7) if you do make something, but it fails, be glad that at least you tried and failed instead of never trying at all.
8) At this point you will realize that the world will not be bowing at your feet from the grandious ideas in your head. You will probably either quit game development or you will start your second logistically and rationally correct project.
9) complete your second project. Realize that it would have been better to start uber-simple and to keep your projects small and then work up to moorpg status... Work on a few more projects applying what you learned from each previous project and growing from that. Enjoy your work. Game development is to enjoy the work, not to blow everyones minds trying to revolutionize the industry (but thats ok too at a later stage).
10) then maybe, just maybe getting a job in the industry.
If you skip step 1, plan on adding an incalcuable amount of time to actually getting where you want to be. I forgot step 1 and it set me back approximately 12 months.
1) first see if you can make a simple Galaga or Qix or a Breakout clone (yes, I am talking about those old arcade games from the early 80's). You can use Torque2d or Torque3d or whatever (just not gamemaker). You can even c++ it yourself if you know how.
2) Torque3d will probably be your best bet being that its only 100 bones for a professional license and its the independant game makers engine of choice. It also has a great community for support.
3) register at http://www.gamedev.net and ask 1 million questions.
4) devs need to be inspired to work for you... so you will need a nice website (w/ exceptional art) explaining why they should work for you and no one else
5) make a design doc. figure out what skillz are required and figure out how you are going to secure talent (next to impossible). As soon as you say you are going to make an mmorpg, prepare to be ridiculed properly.
6) realize that you are probably going to fail at making anything that closely resembles an mmorpg, let alone a simple raster sp RPG. This is just the way it is.
7) if you do make something, but it fails, be glad that at least you tried and failed instead of never trying at all.
8) At this point you will realize that the world will not be bowing at your feet from the grandious ideas in your head. You will probably either quit game development or you will start your second logistically and rationally correct project.
9) complete your second project. Realize that it would have been better to start uber-simple and to keep your projects small and then work up to moorpg status... Work on a few more projects applying what you learned from each previous project and growing from that. Enjoy your work. Game development is to enjoy the work, not to blow everyones minds trying to revolutionize the industry (but thats ok too at a later stage).
10) then maybe, just maybe getting a job in the industry.
If you skip step 1, plan on adding an incalcuable amount of time to actually getting where you want to be. I forgot step 1 and it set me back approximately 12 months.
black & white blanket logic
Perhaps being a bit pessimistic? :P
Although I would agree that going from Quake 3
MMORPG is a rather large leap.
Maybe a more realistic goal would be first to create a simplistic RPG in the form of a mod, and then from there gather artists and whatnot to expand your vision, eventually forming a nice standalone from which you can expand and conquer the world. :]
Although I would agree that going from Quake 3
MMORPG is a rather large leap.Maybe a more realistic goal would be first to create a simplistic RPG in the form of a mod, and then from there gather artists and whatnot to expand your vision, eventually forming a nice standalone from which you can expand and conquer the world. :]
I can and have created games from scratch using a variety of languages and rendering technologies (breakout, tetris, solitare, texas hold'em with ai opponents, mario clone, old school final fantasy clone, etc).
I already mentioned that I've had a license of Torque for about 4 years now (in fact I probably have several versions of it sitting in my code folder as I type this).
I'm not expecting to turn my vision into a game overnight. That's why I mentioned an iterative design approach which implies that I'm starting simple and then adding layers of complexity until it's done.
The bottom line is that I understand the risks, the complications, the reality of the situation. I don't need everyone to tell me down their nose that I'm going to fail. I know I'm bound to fail, but I'm willing to take the fall and get back up again.
I already mentioned that I've had a license of Torque for about 4 years now (in fact I probably have several versions of it sitting in my code folder as I type this).
I'm not expecting to turn my vision into a game overnight. That's why I mentioned an iterative design approach which implies that I'm starting simple and then adding layers of complexity until it's done.
The bottom line is that I understand the risks, the complications, the reality of the situation. I don't need everyone to tell me down their nose that I'm going to fail. I know I'm bound to fail, but I'm willing to take the fall and get back up again.
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