Looking for co-developers

[Gregor]

I was thinking on starting a new game project and decided that this time I don't want to do it all alone again. So, I invite anyone interested (designers, programmers, artists, audio or business/marketing people) in starting a new indie project to join up.

My first indie game was Norloth (http://www.sapientstone.com), where I did everything by myself from scratch. Norloth was fun to make, but downloads/sales-wise was a complete disaster. :(

This time I want to do something much more accessible, maybe even casual.
So a new project with a small team of 2-3 people would be ideal for me, with splitting the possible profits equally between team members. :cool:

My skills:
- programming: excellent (c++, c#)
- art: good (2D and 3D)
- audio fx: good (all fx in Norloth are by me)
- music composition: excellent (all music in Norloth also by me)
- business/marketing: very very poor ;)

I'm interested in joining up only with people that alredy have good skills at what are they doing and don't need to learn the basics during the development process - I emphasised basics, because we all learn new stuff all the time.

Anyone interested please pm me or send an email to: gregor [at] runicblue [dot] com

[gpetersz]

I've downloaded and played it, and might give some feedback if you think.
About sales, well, I am not a pro, but I think this game is not really casual (as you wrote, you want a more casual one now). So it's satanic mood I guess haven't impressed the gamer-mums. The teen (and a bit more) aged boys bought Diablo II instead. I know, it is not really that, but something hack and slash only without a mouse.

You know yourself well. It is very well programmed, and built with a good taste for design. The graphics are good enough (more on this later), the effects and music are absolutely fit the whole.

Art: 7/10
Since art is my profession, I can give you the most feedback on this. It all looked quite good. I somehow didn't like the main character, it looked artificial, and 3D rendered (a bit too 3D for me). It was animated well (I only missed the diagonal animations). The backgrounds was quite good with great effects (heat, smoke and so). The perspective wasn't really good, I mean the background had a different perspective than the figures, that made it look a bit off, and the sprite sizes didn't work out well. I guess you wanted it to look as I control a giant monster while killing normal size people, but it looked if it were a normal size monster and rat size people.

Gameplay: 5/10
Look, it is subjective. I didn't like it really. I can't fight my way through on level 1. Killing the small people wasn't fun at all (it could be). The preview on later levels (when you quit the game) just looks awesome, but how I get there? The small people pour constantly, so I can't get their nest ruined, they kill me in no time. If I go away they follow, and eat what is left behind but it won't refill my life. I play computer games since 1983 and it is true that I am not the best, but I do it well. Maybe I should have spent more time on it, but it didn't excite me, so I haven't.

Sound&music: 9/10
It was really fine experience. Good effects and pro music. I am not pro at it, but I liked the mood the sound part was presented! I liked it very much!

So overall, good 7/10. There isn't any week parts of the presentation, maybe the gameplay what is not fun enough. Well programmed, well pictured, well sounding.

If you ask me, you don't need anybody to help you in your projects, and it is really a gift! You are good in all areas and it will save you many grands.

[mahlzeit]

What kind of game are you thinking about making?

[gpetersz]

I revise myself. The gameplay is better. At last, I've read the help and found the build altar and shield keys and I could fight the first level. :D

At the second it became harder, and loooooonger. I killed one other monster (glowing/greenish looked liked as me)

So it is 7/10 for gameplay, but it is not really one that I would play again and again. It is very good presented though (as I already wrote ;) )

If it is your first, then man, you'll produce great ones!

What does it mean if I upgrade my altar? I haven't experienced anything. And the small glowing "balls" flying around (giving mana and life as I see). It is a bit confusing for me.

[Gregor]

gpetersz: I appreciate very much your feedback, but at the moment I'm not looking for input on Norloth, as it was alredy given here (http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=3438) and on other sites when it was released. Now I'm just looking for a new team to work with.

Norloth has a lot of design/gameplay issues, I realize that, especially the thing about reading thru all that help text in the first couple of levels to start playing properly. I should have solved that in a much more intuitive way for the player. Like I said many times, when the player gets past level 2 and his Norloth becames a little more powerful, the game gets more and more fun and interesting. Maybe in the future I'll do a major rework on Norloth, like mouse only controls, more non-fighting gameplay(like puzzle solving or collecting stuff) in the first levels and so on.

Upgrading your altar increases it's health points and power storage capacity.
If you find some parts of the game confusing, please take time and read thru all the help hints in the first 2 levels. Everything shoul be clear then. The 'h' key will give you a help-hint history window with all the hints shown until a certain moment. Additionally, a lot of how-to-play stuff is covered in the manual that comes with the demo.

mahlzeit:
What kind of game are you thinking about making?
This should be decided by the team. It's very important for the team to have a common vision for the game and something that everyone can relate to. As far as I'm concerned I'm realy into fantasy/rpg stuff and something casual in that direction would be great for me. But I'm open to any ideas.

[wazoo]

Just thinking aloud here, but whenever you do get a potential group together, you might want to consider creating a small "scratch" project together just to see if y'all work well together.

ie. generate a space invaders clone or something.

Basically a project that you can knock together in a couple of weeks. There'd be no intention of selling it once you're finished (unless you all end up liking the game *grin*), but it'd be a good "intro" project to make sure that everyone wants to work together.

Nothings (and I mean NOTHING) is worse than everyone eager to do something, then having the project fizzle out like 6 months into it. That's 6 months of wasted potential.

Just my 2 cents..

[gpetersz]

gpetersz: I appreciate very much your feedback, but at the moment I'm not looking for input on Norloth, as it was alredy given here (http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=3438) and on other sites when it was released. Now I'm just looking for a new team to work with.

Norloth has a lot of design/gameplay issues, I realize that, especially the thing about reading thru all that help text in the first couple of levels to start playing properly. I should have solved that in a much more intuitive way for the player. Like I said many times, when the player gets past level 2 and his Norloth becames a little more powerful, the game gets more and more fun and interesting. Maybe in the future I'll do a major rework on Norloth, like mouse only controls, more non-fighting gameplay(like puzzle solving or collecting stuff) in the first levels and so on.

Upgrading your altar increases it's health points and power storage capacity.
If you find some parts of the game confusing, please take time and read thru all the help hints in the first 2 levels. Everything shoul be clear then. The 'h' key will give you a help-hint history window with all the hints shown until a certain moment. Additionally, a lot of how-to-play stuff is covered in the manual that comes with the demo.

mahlzeit:

This should be decided by the team. It's very important for the team to have a common vision for the game and something that everyone can relate to. As far as I'm concerned I'm realy into fantasy/rpg stuff and something casual in that direction would be great for me. But I'm open to any ideas.

I am sorry if it offended you, or bothered in any way. I haven't searched the forum for discussions on Norloth and that's the point you wrote, actually that's where Norloth failed as a casual game: noone will read through any help... ;) Since I am not a casual gamer (really), I've read it and liked it.

Good luck on your next project, I am sure it will be more succesful!

[Gregor]

wazoo:
Nothings (and I mean NOTHING) is worse than everyone eager to do something, then having the project fizzle out like 6 months into it. That's 6 months of wasted potential.
Not gonna happen, I assure you. ;)

gpetersz:
I am sorry if it offended you, or bothered in any way.
No, no, no... you didn't offend/bother at all! I really appreciate your feedback. Thanx.