I'm in the mood for a collaboration

I'm not a very good programmer; I just don't enjoy the process, and I find mathematics tedious. What I do enjoy is the creative/artistic aspects of game creation - creating art assets, game design and creative writing.

This is probably a long shot, but I'd be interested in teaming up with someone who is more adept at the technical side of things to make something interesting.

I'd be particularly interested in collaborating with someone to make any of the following types of games:

1) A Giant Robot/Monster (in the style of Japanese Godzilla/Gamera movies) action game.

2) A '3d 'pure' adventure game (particularly one with a "Hammer Horror" theme/visual style.)

3) A 3d RPG/Adventure hybrid with similar game mechanics to the Quest for Glory series (but absolutely not with a tedious elves, dwarves and wizards setting. I'd be especially interested in creating the artwork for a game that takes place in a fantastical Chinese setting.)

If anyone would be interested in working with me on any of these then I'd love to hear from you, either here or via email.

Oh, and here are a couple of early examples of my work that I've dredged up from an old post of mine, both concept 3d models for the "Hammer Horror" idea:

A "Peter Cushing as Van Helsing/Frankenstein" lead character:


His robotic assistant (although this style might work well for a cute giant robot game too, I suppose):

3D is a problem for me just now - gone so far into BlitzMax I wouldn't ever use Blitz3D again.

Good luck with it, though. Make sure you find somebody with a reputation for actually finishing things and don't let youself get taken in by other people's hot air.

Well, I won't be heartbroken if I don't get any interest, but thanks for the advice. I just thought that I'd try my luck. :)

your artwork looks superb... great models... as a matter of fact, even before i read the text, i was thinking that lil vamp guy did resemble Peter Cushing...

but, to be honest... your graphics style is so far away from what i'm trying to do, that we'd never be able to collaorate on anything... i'd just be trying to change at lot of what you're doing... and that would be a bad thing...

plus, i'm really involved in a couple of things right now that are occupying all of my waking hours... and if i can't commit 110% to something, i'd rather not get involved at all...

but hey... all's not lost...

you say that you're not a very good programmer... that means that you can code some, right... well, what about this...

seeing as you sound sincere about getting a game done, and you can do a lil coding... what about using my OOBlitz Engine to make your game in...

it is pretty easy to get into, once a few key concepts are understood, you should have lil or no problem getting a scene up and running, and putting your models into the scene...

of course i will have to write up the Vampire actor class, and any spells and such that you might need :) but at least this'll give you a means of concentrating primarily on your creative side, and not the coding part...

... and i can help a bit with the code parts you are having problems with...

now the engine... it is a work in progress, but there's more than enough done for the type of games you mentioned... i even started on a help file (.chm) that will get you familiar with it...

this will be good for both of us... you get the code, i get a test dummy...

oh yeah, btw... i hope you're planning on selling whatever you make... i really could use the money as well... how does 30% of the gross sound :)

no, really... i'm serious about the money thing...

:)


--Mike

Red, the main problems that I have are with such things as pathfinding, dynamic cameras, smooth controls and decent AI. You know - anything that actually requires an aptitude with mathematics! It's like some sort of mental block.

Generally I can hack things together that kinda, sorta, sometimes half-work (except in the case of pathfinding, for which I must admit complete and utter defeat), but this simply isn't good enough. I would rather focus my time and effort on the aspects of game design that I'm actually good at. Also, I have limited free time, what with my university studies and personal commitments, so the only way I can possibly achieve this is by teaming up with someone who possesses the skills that I don't have (and vice versa).

all the things i'm terrible at...

oh well, the offer still stands if you decide that you want it later on...

tell me... honestly... was it the 30% that broke this promising union apart before it got started...

:) juuuust kidding!!!

good luck... i'm sure you'll find someone here who is looking to complement a good art dev in a game...

--Mike

Thanks, Red.

By the way, in case anyone is interested in collaborating with me, I should add that I am not only interested in working on the game ideas I mentioned in my initial post - they are just the game ideas that I have a particular enthusiasm for. If you have an idea that you think might interest me then I'll consider it; just nothing that requires "realistic" art, settings or themes, please, I like working on stylised stuff.

How about putting the graphics .. rendered, for a 2d based game ? Ever thought of that ?

Yeah, I considered it, but I would much prefer to work on a 3d based game.

One of my scholarly interests is in how literary creative writing techniques can be adapted to work in interactive mediums. I am especially interested in how plot, story and characterisation can be used effectively in interactive 3d environments.

I know that sounds a bit arty-farty and pretentious, but it balances out when you consider that I also like chunky-looking robots, giant monsters and vampires. ;)

What about some episodic point-n-click adventures ? They seem to be the flavour of the month. If max3d was out, id consider jumping on board. Just like GFK, there is no way im going back to b3d!

Yes, I'm certainly interested in episodic gaming - and I think that both my concepts for an adventure and a hybrid rpg/adventure would work well in this format. Also, of course, this would help to split the game into managable chunks, which would help with development. Regardless of the format, I would want to streamline the game and keep it lean and mean, because it would be all too easy to let over ambition and feature creep bloat both of these types of games up to unmanageable and unrealistic proportions. I can understand why people might be extremely hesitant to help out with the development of such games (which is why I am open to the idea of something simpler and less ambitious that would also provide me with interesting modelling opportunities, like my first suggestion).

I do understand your (and GFK's) feelings towards b3d. It is a shame that max3d isn't available yet, or a stable, reliable alternative.

Involved in what? Planning your next "trying to avoid working on my game" thread? :-P

@JustLuke:
Just a few things.

1. You have decent art work, I'm curious why you haven't been eaten up by a coder somewhere. Most programmers (well, like myself anyhow, who have no nack for art as that side of our brain went dead after we started to program) would love to get ahold of a decent artist.
2. Working on games is long, tiresome work. You tend to get bored of the game your working long before it's even complete. However this doesnt deter most people from completing their efforts. Only issue is that artists tend to get bored and drop the project long before that point. Your thread subject "I'm in the mood for a collaboration" suggests that this is merely a passing fancy for you, and that you may be in the 'mood' not to finish what you start (the models above aren't even textured, even though they are nice looking models).

Please dont take this offensivly, I am just trying to give you an understanding why no one is biting at your proposal. Many of us spend a ton of time (A TON) working on a game (Even simple puzzle games) and dont like to get involved with people we haven't worked with in the past (not knowing if we can count on them to stick with it). For example, I am working with a gentleman that I have been doing puzzle games with for the past year now (2 complete titles, working on a third). I know he will see a project to the end, and thus I give him the same in respect. Can you say you can give hard time to someone for development?

No offense taken. :)

I do understand the amount of work that is involved in developing a game. Years ago I worked for Infogrames, only as a QA techinician, mind you, but working in that environment and interacting with devs gave me a decent understanding of the development process and how much work/time is involved. I have no problem devoting the necessary effort, in fact I'm finally at a point in time where I can do that (although I will need to juggle my spare time between development and my academic studies, obviously).

I'm only putting out feelers at this point, really, because it would be pointless and frustrating to make any grand plans if no one is willing or able to collaborate with me.

that plan has already been written and put into motion... and it's working quite well too... ;)

hey... i was just looking at your cloud thing DH... not too shabby... you might see some of your clouds over the ocean soon...

... and then again, i might get lazy and just put a simple transparency overhead.

back on topic though... what he just said is worth listening to Luke... look at all the great unfullfilled artwork in the gallery...

--Mike

lol, I try very hard to stay away from threads with your name as the author, as I know it will suck me in and I will not get any work done :-)

Perhaps I should have made a GenerateClouds() function to simply generate a ton of clouds. Oh well, hindsight....

actually... right now i'm putting to practice some of the texturing stuff i've been learning over the past few days... and waiting for the oven timer to ring for my dinner (roast chicken)...

i'm learning all sorts of new stuff... some out of necessity...

:)

i'll be looking more at your cloud maker tommorrow... see how i can integrate the clouds into my lil thing here...

--Mike

On topic though, I have worked with people that have not kept to their end of the bargins...

I worked with a development company (not to name a name) that just turned out to be a bunch of pot smokers with a game idea and a bit of cash to register a company name.. They never figured out what they wanted, and the project was dumped.

I worked with a really good local artist, but he never stayed focused. Would always create a model, and never be happy with it. Thus, I never got completed work out of him. I kept simplifying the projects (hoping that eventually we could just go to 2d, and he would have no reason to miss deadlines), still he would show partials and never complete work.

I worked with Project Plasma (twice I believe). Wont even go into that story (Lets just say that some people tend to get side tracked easily, while your bustin your butt on something, they show up with a public announcement for a new idea, or new artwork, or a new engine they have been working on).

Ouch, starting to feel bitter, better drop it....

Ok, ok. I guess I'll just try to hack and bodge something together. Maybe I'll have more luck attracting someone with a prototype to demonstrate the concepts. Of course, it does mean that I'll have to mercilessly blitz the B3d programming forums (no pun intended) with lots of annoying questions, but so be it...

:-)

I have a finished game which I've been told could do really well if I added more graphics, more scenes, etc. Lots of extra bells and whistles. I don't have time to do all graphical extras as well as all the coding extras, but if you're interested, I'm sure we could work something out.

The bonus being that the basic game is already finished, and that a distributor thinks it could do really well.

Content-wise, it's going to be cars and parking lots that are required, but anything else like characters and general graphics are entirely up for debate. We also discussed some other unrelated features which might include all sorts of odd graphics, so there's plenty of room for scope and creativity. I did the graphics in a realistic style because I *have* no style, but I'd be more than happy to do them stylized. In fact that might even be preferable.

Drop me an email if you're interested.

info@... ( Phil )