Thanks to everyone who applied, an applicant has now been selected.
Introduction
Hi there,
My name is Christopher, I am the creator of Purpose, an Open Source chose-your-own adventure game created in Twine 2 using Snowman 2.
"Purpose is an episodic story about a young woman struggling with the loss of her sister in the Walker-infested post-apocalyptic world. Join her on her journey as you make decisions that influence the outcome of the story, in this choice-based text story inspired by Telltale Games' The Walking Dead".
Originally the game was entirely text-based, however, over the past ~5 months I have been working with a talented artist to bring some visuals to the game, and turn it from a text-based story into something that more closely resembles a traditional visual novel; see the Devlogs for more detail on this.
Up until this point, the team has consisted of me handling all the code and infrastructure, and DesDarkDesigns creating all the art and UI elements. Between the two of us, we've made a significant amount of progress, and the core gameplay loop is very nearly finished. However, I have recently started a new full-time job, and do not have as much time to contribute to the project as I have previously. That being the case, I would like to hire someone to take over for me in the coding department, allowing me to focus on the creative direction of the project.
Project Details
Tech stack:
- Game Engine:
- Twine 2 (HTML/CSS/Vanilla JS)
- With a custom "template engine" using HTML tags.
- Snowman 2
- jQuery
- A handful of custom "libraries"
- Audio (music & sound effects).
- Image Preloading.
- Gamepad/controller integration.
- Twine 2 (HTML/CSS/Vanilla JS)
- Cloud saving system:
- PHP
- MySQL
- Typescript
The custom "template engine" effectively takes stock Twine passages, and converts them into lists of instructions to be actioned one-by-one. I'll use a short example to explain:
This passage is ingested at runtime by the template "engine" and is actioned accordingly, such as in the image above:
- The "special" UI is selected.
- The Special UI consists of one character slot and one background image slot.
- The music file called "limping" is played.
- An Action is displayed.
- An Action is any text displayed on the screen that is not speech. Speech and Actions need to be stepped through by the play before the next tags/steps are actioned.
- The first character slot is populated with the "Sarah" character, using her "limping" variation.
- Some actions are displayed.
- The special (background image) slot is set to the "backstreet" image.
- Some actions are displayed.
- A list containing a single option is displayed for the player to choose from to further the story.
Most of the project uses this simple template system, with the exception being the menus, which still use vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. These Menus will be a focus area for the applicant as they are presently very lackluster.
Work Details
At a minimum, I am looking for someone who will be able to work with the artist to implement UI elements (read: menu buttons, backgrounds, loading screens, etc.) into the game using HTML, CSS, & JS.
If willing and able, I would like the successful applicant to continue where I left off in converting the game from text-only to the new visual novel style; this entails converting individual passages from text to the new template system and making small tweaks to the writing as required (e.g. splitting existing paragraphs over multiple new "steps" for easier flow/reading). Additionally, going through and adding in "extras" (i.e. gamepad rumbles, music, sound effects, etc.) using the template system would be a huge help; I'll explain how this works, it's very easy to implement.
All work will be committed publicly to GitHub.
If the applicant and I work well together, there may be opportunities for future employment on unrelated projects that could benefit from a front-end developers touch, if the applicant is interested.
Applicant Requirements
Must have:
- Experience with front-end development (HTML, CSS, & JS).
- A portfolio, however small, is required
- Eye for design and detail.
- Some experience with Git (or willing to learn).
- Two to three hours a week to work on the project.
- Good written communication skills.
- A Discord account (or willing to make one).
- Able to work effectively in a team.
- Able to operate independently, but able to ask the team for help when needed.
Nice to have:
- Experience with Twine 1 and/or 2.
- Experience with GitHub (creating Pull Requests, Issues, Code Reviews, etc.).
- Good verbal communication skills (talking over Discord voice chats).
- Experience working on visual novels (any engine).
- A sense of humor.
Any country/timezone is fine, so long as the applicant can understand English and is able to reply to messages in a timely fashion (within 24 hours).
Payment
I'm flexible and open to an agreed-upon fixed price, per-hour, etc. Happy to discuss payment with anyone that reaches out.
Money will be sent via PayPal, either as a Goods & Services payment in Australian or US Dollars, or the applicant can create a PayPal invoice that I will pay.
Applying
If you have any questions, please post them below.
If you would like to submit your expression of interest, please send an E-Mail to hello@purpose-game.com, making sure to include your portfolio. Please be aware I do work full time, and may not be able to respond to your E-Mail right away; feel free to post below that you have E-Mailed, as that will trigger an itch.io notification E-Mail to my personal E-Mail that I will see sooner.
I will edit this post when an applicant has been selected.
Thank you very much for reading :)