Recruiting for Hyper Dimension TC mod

[RealmRPGer]

The release of Unreal Tournament III is just around the corner, which means soon full work can get underway on my RPG mod project Hyper Dimension. So, I figured I ought to start recruiting anybody that would like to help. Here's some basic information and links to content related to the project:

What is it?
Hyper Dimension is, at its core, a unique blending of traditional eastern "J-RPGs" such as Final Fantasy with more modern western RPGs such as Oblivion. Anybody whose played both types of role playing games will tell you they're hardly even comparable. Oblivion plays out in no like Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts is closer to Oblivion in that the battles are real-time and there are no "battle screen" transitions. The reason why I don't, then, compare Oblivion directly against Kingdom Hearts -- as opposed to Final Fantasy -- is the fact that Hyper Dimension essentially plays out turn based, despite being otherwise very comparable to Kingdom Hearts.

So how does it play?
Because this idea is itself original (to an extent), it's important to detail the basic gameplay. In an effort to keep the bore-fest minimal, here are just some main "highlights:"

• The gameplay is mostly real-time. Enemies can be seen on the play field, and all action happens on this play field. When a melee encounter happens, however, the game pauses to give the player time to make choices. The engine always works in "turns," but when not in melee combat, it's just a smokescreen utilizing "cooldown" for ranged attacks.
• Even though the game becomes turn based, actions are still button-based. That is, no menu pops up where you pick choices and targets. When you press the attack button, you attack.
• The statistical mechanics are based much more heavily on eastern RPGs (no D20 rolling here). But saying that is actually a bit of a misnomer. The calculations are all custom. In a sense, very simplified and quite deterministic.
• The game handles agility in terms of commands per turn. This translates into characters being able to do multiple attacks during their turn.

Well, that's a little bit of detail behind things, but that's really only scratching the surface. It should, however, give you a good basis for how this game works.

The mod itself will actually only cover portions of the game, offering a "taste" or demo of what the full game WOULD be like if it were actually created. Currently there are plans for two to three releases, with the first release being the intro to the game.

Who are you recruiting?
The game is open to all positions. I'm an experienced programmer, so I shouldn't have much problem implementing this game. The difficulty lies entirely in figuring out how all the pieces of the Unreal code come together and play with each other. But having extra programmers never (well, almost never) hurts, and having somebody more accustomed to the Unreal codebase would definitely be a help. Here's a listing of possible positions I see as being likely:

• Programmers - I'm currently the lead programmer
• Artists (3D Modeler, Texturer)
• Level Designers
• Composers - I currently have a friend who's letting me use some of his music, but he's not writing anything SPECIFICALLY for the game, so it's a bit of hit-and-miss. There's currently nobody for writing sound effects, however.
• Writers - This game is an RPG, so it contains DIALOG and STORY. I'm decent enough at writing, and have a friend who's majoring in English who wouldn't mind helping, but if stories are your thing then you can take this position.

Feel free to ask questions about these positions or the game itself.

Resources
I recently started an RPG Maker XP project with the intent of drafting out some 2D versions of intro areas that my friend could then further craft (as he really likes, and is particularly good at, 2D level design), which would then be translated into 3D. The game, however, became more of an RMXP mod that showcased some of the unique things about the game. Of course, RPG Maker XP uses a battle screen, which the actual game won't, but this demo shows some of the aspects of the game, such as battle rows (there back row can't attack directly), agility -> multiple hits or overexertion, post-battle healing, and crafting.

The file may be updated as I continue to implement features and add maps:
http://files.realmprotectors.com/Hyp...nsion-RMXP.zip

Also note that you'll need to have the RPG Maker XP runtime RTP to play the game, which you can download here:
http://www.enterbrain.co.jp/tkool/RP..._download.html

[Caravaggio]

So it's all single player then?
What else have you worked on? Released any mini games, programs or mutators?
It's nice to see things planned out like this, but is there a summary of the story you can share? Something that might appear on the back of a "hypothetical" box? The part about using only bits of the full story might be a problem. It's smart not to aim too large with a mod but I hope it doesn't make the story too sporadic.

[RealmRPGer]

The game is single player, yes. If it were to be multiplayer, it'd be co-op.
Most of what I've worked on recently has been full-scale games in C++. I've worked with UT2004 as well, a little bit.

Maybe I'll write up a bit of the story, but the focus of this game is supposed to be its engine. Storyline is definitely important, however.

After the initial release, the next "piece" would be determined by what the fans want.