itch.io

Hello fellow itch folk,

Our team is working towards a demo for our game Aemon. Aemon is a monster tamer set in a post apocalyptic setting where monsters used in a war that decimated the archipelago have been created using gene editing technology. Some of our goals for this game include creating a open world where the player can choose to play as one of three protagonists, each with a unique take on the world, and experience a narrative based monster tamer catered to veterans of the genre.

Our team has been working studiously for quite some time and have developed a robust game design document, world lore, greyboxed UI, Aemon dex, overall story and quests, revamped attack and ability dex, and many other key components of the game. I'm attaching our AEMON SLIDE DECK which illustrates many of the key features we want to implement in our game to make it stand out from other tamers you may have played while still having that familiar monster tamer feeling. We think of Aemon very much as a deepened player experience which focuses on giving player's agency and interesting choices.

The demo is intended to be a 30-60 minute intro to the game, which the player could easily extend by being thorough in exploration or just grinding some monster taming XP to see what the Aemon we include in the demo could evolve into. We have the demo outlined with a variety of tasks to learn about Aemon, the world mechanics, and introduce the player to key characters. In addition, the demo levels are drafted up, and we're working on assigning specific abilities and moves to the Aemon included in the demo.

If all goes well, the demo could easily support a kickstarter or other means of crowdfunding to launch what we hope will be a fresh take on the genre. I'd love to talk to anyone who's interested in the project and provide specific details upon request. The best way to reach me is via discord where my username is PheonixSlayer, but I will be checking here for messages too. (Public channels on our dis are out of date fyi - internal channels for devs much more up to date)

We currently are composed of several artists, a programmer, and a game designer. Specific tasks for which additional help would be welcome:

• UI/UX
• Art (especially environment) (fyi game is 2D - see slide deck for monster examples)
• Level design

Aemon Games, LLC is seeking a UI/UX/Iconography designer for our story heavy monster tamer game.

The game (a very short summary)

Aemon takes place in the near future in the Tanaman Archipelago which was almost depopulated during a war where humans used Aemon (AI enhanced monsters) as weapons, driving humans to retreat to a nearby continent. Those which remained have rebuilt settlements in the island in relative isolation for the past several hundred years. Now others are returning to the island to recover lost technology, forgetful of the devastation caused by AI and genetic engineering. You will explore a story rich environment seeking for historic relics, interacting with various political and religious factions, and discovering hundreds of Aemon.

The game is geared towards veterans of the genre and seeks to correct institutional problems and shortcomings of the genre while providing players new and meaningful choices in team and moveset composition. We are striving for a more serious story than other monster tamers while still maintaining a healthy humor making it accessible to everyone.

The art style for the game is a clean 2D style that I'd call more detailed than other monster tamers but not extreme. Here is a slide deck that contains some art related to monsters that will help illustrate the look.

Scope of services sought for

DEMO / proof of concept: I have a rough sketch for a number of UI menu's that you'd end up having in a monster tamer. We won't need all of them for the demo, but at a minimum a party screen, battle menu layout, and minimalistic pause menu and inventory. We'll also need a bunch of icons designed for our creature types, status afflictions, etc.

Beyond Demo: If the game goes beyond demo, which I think it has a good chance to do so, we'll design other menus. Breeding menus, creature hacking menus, etc...

State of the game

• The dev team consists of nine team members including five artists who are chiefly focused on character and monster designs (there are a lot to do).
• The game world lore is well established and the game design document first draft is complete. We continue to work through the design doc refining mechanics native to the genre and new alike.
• Art for the game to date includes chiefly concept sketches for many of the Aemon in the dex. Artists continue to work through the sketches while other artists begin to refine sketches into full character designs.
• We are in the process of building an internal test build so we can play around with overworld movement and interactions. We have rough level designs complete for the areas included in the demo.
• Battle mechanics are very close to done and battle testing can start soon after overworld testing.
• The demo narrative design is in process.
• The project is a revshare project with the team working at their own pace due to “real” jobs and life. I try to keep workload realistic and ensure family and health is not hindered by game development on the side.

Sounds interesting

If you are interested in working on the game please send me a dm and we can chat (or better, dm me on discord at the link below, I'm PheonixSlayer). I can provide more details to specific questions and send info from the game design doc upon request.

If you are interested in the game but not working on it, you can follow our discord here: https://discord.gg/HhXfqSQtbW

Aemon Games, LLC is seeking to hire a LEAD ARTIST and/or character/environmental artists for our story heavy monster tamer game.

The game (a very short summary)

Aemon takes place in the near future in the Tanaman Archipelago which was almost depopulated during a war where humans used Aemon (AI enhanced monsters) as weapons, driving humans to retreat to a nearby continent. Those which remained have rebuilt settlements in the island in relative isolation for the past several hundred years. Now others are returning to the island to recover lost technology, forgetful of the devastation caused by AI and genetic engineering. You will explore a story rich environment seeking for historic relics, interacting with various political and religious factions, and discovering hundreds of Aemon.

The game is geared towards veterans of the genre and seeks to correct institutional problems and shortcomings of the genre while providing players new and meaningful choices in team and moveset composition. We are striving for a more serious story than other monster tamers while still maintaining a healthy humor making it accessible to everyone.

Summary of game art scope

Below are short summaries taken based off the Game Design Document and game lore which can be shared upon request.

Environment: The nature of a monster tamer inherently lends itself to significant art services. Environments will range from icy regions to volcanoes, jungles to plains, beaches to swamps, and mountains to caves to name a few environs. Each environment will need battle background designs and overworld tile design.

Buildings and objects: The archipelago is divided into three primary regions which have distinct personalities due to the cultural influences of each. Kershan stems from a Mesoamerican heritage whereas Grappa and Ivatua indicate Polynesian and First Nations of the Arctic influences respectively. Architecture for buildings, particularly ruins from buildings prior to the war, will include influences from these heritages. Other features include bridges, boats, vehicles, shrines, arenas, building appliances, etc. these features are intended to have a semi-futuristic feel and alternative technological advances from the real world.

Persons and monsters: The people of the Archipelago consist of various religious, political, academic, and national groups which will flavor the identity of various NPCs throughout the game. The game is slated to consist of primarily 4 protagonist characters and 7 antagonists accompanied by their crew of henchmen. The monsters, Aemon, of the world are plentiful. The team has presently planned the overall idea for most of the Aemon to be found in the game and artists are conceptualizing them at the present time. Conceptualization progress is at roughly 50% complete.

State of the game

• The dev team consists of a dozen team members including four artists who are chiefly focused on completing the conceptualization of monster designs and a UI designer.
• The game world lore is well established and the game design document draft is complete nearing 65 pages to date. We continue to work through the design doc refining mechanics native to the genre and new alike.
• We intend to have an internal alpha build sometime Q3 of 2024 to begin testing and working out more marketing materials. To do so, we need to wrap up moodboards and begin work on the style guide, necessitating we hire a lead artist.
• As noted by the header, the project is a revshare project with the team working at their own pace due to real jobs, school, and other life commitments. I try to keep workload realistic and ensure family and health is not hindered by game development on the side.

Scope of services and qualifications sought for

• Familiarize yourself with the development team and the world lore.
• Some work has been done to prepare initial ideas for an art style for the game. As lead artist, you would have a large say in the development and finalization of the style. In general terms, it is anticipated the game will consist of 2D rendered art and may be completed in a 2.5D style allowing for dynamic lighting and shadows. Here is a link to art which we like and are considering modeling linework, textures, and tone after Aemon Style Mood Board subject to your input. See also this slideshow which illustrates some of the creature designs for our game.
• In conjunction with myself, organize a workflow for art development and coordinate workload between other artists presently on the development team based on expertise.
• Prepare conceptual and finalized art assets for the game.
• Prior lead artist game related work is preferred, although applications without prior lead artist roles will be reviewed.
• Key non-art skills include:
  • good communication, meaning timely thought out replies to inquiries from team members. Accommodating for work and life, within 24 hours would be preferred,
  • a willingness to work with others from diverse backgrounds,
  • organizational skills, which will be supplemented and supported by myself,
  • and passion to create a meaningful and fun project with a commitment to complete the project at a reasonable pace.
• Aemon is looking for individuals to work with, if you are representing an outsourcing firm for hire we are not interested in your services at this time.

Sounds interesting

If you are interested in working on the game please send me a dm and we can chat. I can provide more details to specific questions and send info from the game design doc upon request.

If you are interested in the game whether or not you want to work on it, you can follow our discord here: https://discord.gg/HhXfqSQtbW. Also, reaching out to me (PheonixSlayer) via Discord is a much quicker way to get a response to any inquiries.

Hello, as noted in the posting, the work is on a revshare basis and as such we are not looking to hire other companies. Thank you for your interest.

Aemon Games, LLC is seeking level designing talent for our story heavy monster tamer game.

The game (a very short summary)

Aemon takes place in the near future in the Tanaman Archipelago which was almost depopulated during the "Old War" where humans used Aemon (AI enhanced monsters) as weapons, driving humans to retreat to a nearby continent. Those which remained have rebuilt settlements in the island in relative isolation for the past several hundred years. Now others are returning to the island to recover lost technology, forgetful of the devastation caused by AI and genetic engineering. You will explore a story rich environment seeking for historic relics, interacting with various political and religious factions, and discovering hundreds of Aemon.

The game is geared towards veterans of the genre and seeks to correct institutional problems and shortcomings of the genre while providing players new and meaningful choices in team and move set composition. We are striving for a more serious story than other monster tamers while still maintaining a healthy humor making it accessible to everyone.

The Archipelago, the main explorable region, consists of four main islands of varying but comparable size, and many smaller islands. Small islands chained together provide navigable paths for players to island hop between main islands when desired. The Archipelago was created by volcanic action in this region and will be filled with dormant volcanoes now covered in lush environs, active volcanoes surrounded by more sparse and new environments, and cold southerly winds and a brisk current bring cold climates to the southern main island. Each island will be populated with ruins and the detritus from the Old War in addition to new settlements from recolonization. There will be much to explore and learn about the islands of the archipelago.

Scope of services sought for

We are seeking a person or persons to aid with overall world map development and level design. As noted above, we have a good understanding of major world elements to be included in the game and are looking now to hone in on the actual relationship between these elements and begin producing levels for gameplay.

It is expected that each level (map region) will contain elements similar to other games in the genre such as NPCs to interact with, towns, individual houses, hidden items, and areas which are hard or soft gated by game mechanics and storyline progression. In addition to these elements, Aemon specific elements include story areas such as explorable ruins, political / religious faction buildings, natural resource harvesting locations, and hidden lore documents and structures scattered throughout the world. Areas of the world will be connected by roads/routes which are populated with encounters and explorable content.

State of the game

The dev team currently consists of twelve team members, primarily comprised by artists.

The game world lore is well established and the game design document draft is complete nearing 70 pages. We continue to work through the design doc refining mechanics native to the genre and new alike.

The current goal of the team is to create an internal alpha build / demo by next summer to begin testing and working out more marketing materials. To do so, we’ll need to begin progressing level design for at a minimum the areas to be included in the demo.

As noted by the header, the project is a revshare project with the team working at their own pace due to “real” jobs and life. I try to keep workload realistic and ensure family and health is not hindered by game development on the side.

Sounds interesting

If you are interested in working on the game please send me a dm and we can chat. I can provide more details to specific questions and send info from the game design doc upon request.

If you are interested in the game for work or to follow along, you can join our discord at the link below which is also the best place to DM me for a quick response. https://discord.gg/HhXfqSQtbW

Jose,

I'm really bad at responding on itch, send me an email @ aemongamesllc@gmail.com and let's chat. Please send a link to some music and interests / preferred styles, etc.. thanks! Looking forward to talking with you.

Aemon Games, LLC is seeking artistic talent with a penchant for environment, building, objects, and/or UI design for our story heavy monster tamer game. 

The game (a very short summary)

Aemon takes place in the near future in the Tanaman Archipelago which was almost depopulated during a war where humans used Aemon (AI enhanced monsters) as weapons, driving humans to retreat to a nearby continent. Those which remained have rebuilt settlements in the island in relative isolation for the past several hundred years. Now others are returning to the island to recover lost technology, forgetful of the devastation caused by AI and genetic engineering. You will explore a story rich environment seeking for historic relics, interacting with various political and religious factions, and discovering hundreds of Aemon.

The game is geared towards veterans of the genre and seeks to correct institutional problems and shortcomings of the genre while providing players new and meaningful choices in team and moveset composition. We are striving for a more serious story than other monster tamers while still maintaining a healthy humor making it accessible to everyone.

The art style for the game is in process of development, if you are interested in helping you will have the opportunity to shape this. In general terms, the game will consist of 2D rendered art, propped up like billboards in the engine to allow for dynamic lighting and shadows in a 2.5D style. Here are some links to art which we like and are considering modeling linework, textures, and tone after: Building one, Building two, Building three, Character.

Scope of services sought for

Environment: The nature of a monster tamer inherently lends itself to significant art services. Environments will range from icy regions to volcanoes, jungles to plains, beaches to swamps, and mountains to caves to name a few environs. Each environment will need battle background designs and overworld tile design.

Buildings and objects: The archipelago is divided into three primary regions which have distinct personalities due to the cultural influences of each. Kershan stems from a Mesoamerican heritage whereas Grappa and Ivatue indicate Polynesian and First Nations of the Arctic influences respectively. Architecture for buildings, particularly ruins from buildings prior to the war, will include influences from these heritages. Other features include bridges, boats, vehicles, shrines, arenas, building appliances, etc. these features are intended to have a semi-futuristic feel and alternative technological advances from the real world.

UI: Design will include menus for the game menu, pause, battle scenes, inventory, maps, monster party tab, dex, guides/quick references, game mechanic pages, upgrade screens, etc… The desired vibe includes a sharp, clean look speaking to futuristic technology such as AI and nanotechnology. We want the UI to feel fresh within the genre. Most importantly, info should be shown in such a way to feel natural and easily accessible, providing a seamless experience for players. A monster tamer battle relies on heavily on providing players information to make informed decisions.

State of the game

• The dev team consists of nine team members including five artists who are chiefly focused on character and monster designs (there are a lot to do).
• The game world lore is well established and the game design document first draft is complete. We continue to work through the design doc refining mechanics native to the genre and new alike.
• Art for the game to date includes chiefly concept sketches for some of the 465 Aemon in the dex (will be 700ish at the end). Artists continue to work through the sketches while other artists begin to refine sketches into full character designs.
• We intend to have an internal alpha build sometime next summer to begin testing and working out more marketing materials. To do so, we’ll need to begin soon with environment and UI design. This ties into work being completed now to help determine an art style for characters and creatures.
• As noted by the header, the project is a revshare project with the team working at their own pace due to “real” jobs and life. I try to keep workload realistic and ensure family and health is not hindered by game development on the side.

Sounds interesting

If you are interested in working on the game please send me a dm and we can chat (not the most active on itch, also can email me at aemongamesllc@gmail.com). I can provide more details to specific questions and send info from the game design doc upon request.

If you are interested in the game but not working on it, you can follow our discord here: https://discord.gg/HhXfqSQtbW