Hey all. I'm an artist and designer with some developer background. I've released couple smaller game projects commercially, took a break, and now I'm itching again to start creating. I'm looking to team up with someone to start small, improve and develop projects first as a hobby but with serious ambitions, if we click and concepts work out. I've learned from my mistakes not to jump headfirst into a multi-year project and want to approach this properly :)
The project
I primarily have couple of concepts for adventure/RTS/survival games with roguelike elements that I'd like to develop. They're pretty untried takes on the genres, which in itself doesn't guarantee anything, but might be more interesting to work on than another DayZ copy. One is an action roguelike game with building mechanics and emergent storytelling, another one is a mix of RTS and survival with bit of inspiration from Dark Souls and STALKER.
Both are reasonable in scope and designed to be tested first through a ~two month long project to get to know each-other, but expanded and iterated on if successful. I have the core concepts figured out but open to details and exact implementation. Of course, I am also open to your ideas within few other genres if we share the vision. I'm also interested in smaller online experiences, not only single-player.
I would like to take as "proper" approach as possible (within reason) on this project to reduce risks and avoid losing motivation early on. We will make sure the concept is solid and tested before jumping head first into development, we will design/plan ahead and develop project in stages, slowly expanding on an already solid core from a previous stage. We will aim to properly release any concept we believe in, scaling back until the scope is reasonable. We will pay attention to promoting the game, and building interest early on. You are someone who agrees all that is important, even if you're not interested in doing all that yourself as I will organize and do the most.
Looking for
I'm looking to team up with a programmer who has some experience of the entire dev process, and few years of programming. I strongly prefer working in Unreal Engine, so you probably know C++. Another great bonus is if you know/interested in networking. Also potentially looking for an all-around animator with focus on 3D. You're decent with 3D animation and maybe can do basic 2D. It'd be great if you also do modelling or concept art to help out with the art when possible, and know how to import and set up your stuff in Unreal.
You (and me):
- Active and communicative on Discord.
- Preferably within EU timezones or have a weird day cycle so our working hours sync up often enough.
- Have a stable life situation, but want to give indie dev a serious try and can dedicate some time to it every week.
- Have a basic interest in game design.
What I offer:
- I am not limited to art and design, but have tech and management skills.
- I can take and give feedback well, and easy to work with.
- A decent sense of style and quality that I push my work to live up to.
- I will work to fill in the blanks on the team to my best capabilities, and learn where necessary. Need someone to set up localization or help offload scripting? Sure.
- A serious interest in games as a medium and want to explore its different possibilities.
- High attention to details, I won't halfarse it and call it a day.
- I'm good at planning, creating and following documentation.
- Given it all works out, I have ambitions for larger scope and more serious projects.
- I am persistent in my goals and will follow through despite temporary hardships.
- I'll try my best to help you improve and deliver.
- I find game dev exiting and want to explore cool stuff, including your ideas.
About me
I'm a 30y old guy from Sweden. I come from a mixed background of development and design, worked as producer/game designer and UX designer, and now continue focusing on design and art. I love odd indie adventure games you can often find on itch.io (A Short Hike, Endless Express, A Night in the woods, Dicey Dungeons), roguelike games, griefing-free survival (The Long Dark/Subnautica/STALKER), artsy weird games, and anything that gives off that kind of a magical journey in a weird world feeling. Like watching a studio Ghibli movie, you know.
My skills are low-poly/stylized 3D art, level design, scripting, game design, project management, quality control and a fuckton of persistence. I'm not a pro but past the basics, have motivation, decent taste and looking to develop my skills further together with someone else I can rely on, possibly buildings a long-term team but starting with a few smaller projects. It's important to me that we share same general.. attitude to games.
I do 3D, and have participated in a few game jams as artist/designer. I have released two games commercially. One called Ninja PvP, an arena game now lost to the world of ad-filled web games sites, but available somewhere on google images, where I worked as a game and level designer. Another game, which I took all the way from concept to getting a publisher to release, is Empathy, where I was kinda jack of all trades ranging from level design and tech artist, to producer and project manager, to gameplay scripter and game designer together with a smaller team.
None of them were a roaring success or made me rich, but were an invaluable experience to learn from and improve. Now I think I got better approaches figured out and want to put them to test.
Contact
If you're interested, drop a line about yourself and how I can contact you. The project is an unpaid shot at something serious, and contracts will be put in place to compensate everybody on success.