Maybe those kooks on the street corners were right: Repent or be punished by God. Strangely fitting words as we stand on the brink of starvation looking up to the skies. Now word is that our final hope lies not in the sky, but within wires and lines of code; that it sits in the frail hands of engineers! “Utopia is a data cycle away and it can be harvested!” Bold propaganda, but I refuse to believe a cure for our troubles would come that easy.
So here I sit with the last remnants of mankind, preparing for whatever awaits us on the other side. Give the sane access to the heavens, find progress, maybe even salvation. Give the desperate and hungry access... I guess we'll see.
So here I sit with the last remnants of mankind, preparing for whatever awaits us on the other side. Give the sane access to the heavens, find progress, maybe even salvation. Give the desperate and hungry access... I guess we'll see.
Note, this project was begun awhile back and we currently have a good deal of art assets. We went into hiding a bit while we waited for our first programming milestone. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, our lead programmer had to drop out, leaving us with a fairly big hole. With the upcoming release of UE4, a decision was made to hold off on any further progress until UE4 was released as it'd likely be easier to begin anew on programming than just try to fill that hole and repurpose. Now that that's happened, we're coming back out of the woodwork to continue.
The easiest way to describe the game would be a mix between Diablo (loot, character progression, etc) and Dynasty Warriors (Open stages, fluid chaotic combat). Players control single hero that gains levels and items, as well as a group of officers they can customize and command to move around the battlefield. "Quests" are broken down by stages, where the player/team of players will fight against AI controlled opponents on a stage. After completing the main objective, players gain experience/items and can move on to the next stage. At this time, we'll be focusing solely on single-player/co-operative multiplayer but depending on budget/timing we may add some competitive multiplayer functionality.
Here's some of our design goals:
- Unique, fluid combat system using WASD movement system. No simple ‘hold down mouse button until dead; repeat’. Each consecutive mouse click performs part of a combo. Enemies also cast area of effect or power attacks that can be evaded.
- Deep character customization on multiple levels (including underling officers), such as stats, skills, perks, etc, not “hit level 10, unlock X”.
- Rewarding gameplay with constant improvement (frequent leveling), not “Do 100 quests to gain 1 skill point”
- Give players a reason to repeat content outside of “This boss drops X and I need that.”
- Multiple hordes of enemies at a time (a’la Dynasty Warriors), not “only pull 1 mob at a time”, but also require strategic planning and active reflexes for encounters (no button mashing)
- Competitive Co-operation: At the end of each stage, receive scores based on a number of criteria. Compare scores between friends after the stage, or compare your team to others.
- MMO-style unique boss-fights that require proper positioning and have multiple phases, not “face-tank and spam left-click”. Stage bosses are unique encounters, not just enemies with higher stats.
- Diverse skillset to break monotony of left and right-click weapon attacks. Player-controlled hero has access to several skills to control and manipulate the battlefield.
Team Structure
Right now, the team is primarily freelancers doing a bit of work here and there for us. We've got some awesome character and enemy concepts in the work as well as some 3D stuff coming down the pipe. As a very young project, we're moving fairly quickly.
Talent Needed
Creative Designer (Hobbyist only):
While I'll be handling most of the production and systems design, I'm terrible when it comes to the creative aspect. This spot would be filled by someone who has extensively played similar game-types and has experience doing creative design, including story-line and universe shaping. Experience in Art Direction is also a plus.
3D Environment and/or Character Artist (Hobbyist/Freelancer):
Our 2D pipeline is in great shape and we currently have almost all planned characters accounted for and most environmental things are also in the works.
At this time, one of our larger needs is 3D artists for either characters or environments. On top of our characters and environments being awesome, the Isometric camera game-type means you can cut a few corners here and there, cutting down a bit of the time a job like this requires.
Character Animator (Hobbyist/Freelancer):
Self-explanatory.
Contact Method
Skype - CThomlison
E-mail - CThomlison@gmail.com
Compensation Plan
In some exceptional cases, I am willing to pay for work at indie (or less!) wages. Note, this is personally funded, not commercially. I'm always up for work/quote discussion, so feel free to contact me in any case.
As for hobbyists, everyone puts "you get money when game is released", but that never happens. You're probably not going to make money from this, but in the case that we happen to shake the foundations of the world, we'll figure it out when that stage gets closer.
Last Words
Again, our website can be found at http://www.divine-game.com. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Thanks!
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