About Me:
I am a C++ programmer with 6 years of experience in cloning a 2D tile-based MMORPG called Tibia (see: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opentibia/ ).
My most active participation on the project was the official client, which I made rather beautiful from the ugly husk there was when it was first started.
I’m also an active-duty U.S. Sailor about to start my first tour on shore duty. You’re supposed to have tons of free time on shore duty; so I figured it would be a good time to put serious effort into this game I’ve had on my mind for a little over a year now.
I do not have a CS degree; or any degree in fact. Programming has been a hobby since high school, and unless I can get a job where I’m my own boss that’s probably all it well ever be (I don’t imagine myself enjoying work in a little cubicle with insane deadlines and all)
About the Project:
The project’s working title is Arcane Lore, but that’ll probably wind up being the released game’s title too. It follows the young life of a boy who is sold into slavery and escapes into a crazy adventure full of loss, death, and destiny.
All funding for the project comes out of my pocket. I’m making middle-ranking enlisted military pay, so I can’t afford to pay salaries. Instead those who help will receive a portion of profits based on their activity.
Gameplay:
The game will be a 2D side-scroller reminiscent of the Castlevania series, although fighting will be much more intense and feel more like a traditional fighting game (IE, Mortal Kombat or the Soul Calibur series). It will “expect” your typical 4-button, 2-analog stick game controller (like the X-box 360 and Playstation controllers), but will also be playable via keyboard and mouse or touchscreen.
There will also be occasional need for acrobatics and puzzle-solving skills.
Story:
To keep it vague, the story starts before the kid is born. His parents barely manage to send the newborn down-river (yes, Moses-style) before they’re killed for being traitors. Of course, only the player knows that his real parents are dead throughout the game. He’s found by a young farming couple who had just lost their own new-born, and they raise him as if he were their own – never telling him this. Once he’s older, his adoptive mother dies while her husband is away and the upset husband blames the boy; choosing to sell him into slavery simply to be rid of him. He escapes from slavery before ever having to do any work, and enters the care of some circus freaks that protect him from the pursuing slavers. A few years later they’re killed by a small cloaked army while he is unconscious in a bush.
Angry that they had died while he was knocked out in some nearby bush, he begins beating on a tree, which draws the attention of a wandering martial artist who teaches him how to throw a proper punch. The martial artist leaves after treating his broken fist (which he gets from punching the tree too hard), and the boy wanders into the forest. The boy then meets a weird old man who decides to take him as a son, because he had never had one of his own. After a few days together it’s revealed that he’s actually one of the few remaining dragons, and he begins to teach the boy magic. A couple of years pass and the boy emerges as a powerful magician and an even more powerful warrior. Then the dragon falls ill and the boy goes out to find some herbs to make him feel better, returning to find their little meadow scorched and the dragon’s still body surrounded by the corpses of many men, with one particularly fierce looking man perched over him with his sword covered in blood. And then the story really begins.
Graphics:
As I said, it will be a 2D side-scroller. The graphics should be a mix of bright and beautiful and dark and creepy; depending on the area.
Music:
I’m hoping for an all-rock/metal OST. Preferably all with no-name artists as I want the game to sell because the story’s good or the game itself is fun; and not because I’m paying royalties to Coheed and Cambria and every other metal band out there. And because it’d be cool to meet some great unknown musicians.
Help Needed:
Sprites
UI Artwork
Concept/Website Artwork
Porters for OS X*, iOS*, Android*, Pandora*, and Linux/BSD*
Other C++ developers**
Rock/metal musicians.
-
- Okay, I have a Mac mini and a Windows 7 laptop that I could technically install Linux, the Android SDK/NDK, and one of the third-party Pandora toolchains on. But I only have the tiniest of development experience with these systems (if any), so I would prefer to have someone on-call that could take care of these for me.
** - I’ve never written a side-scroller before, and although I have ideas on how to do things I’m not certain they’ll work right and there will probably be better ways to do it. Plus, things tend to get done faster with a couple of developers than with just one.
- Okay, I have a Mac mini and a Windows 7 laptop that I could technically install Linux, the Android SDK/NDK, and one of the third-party Pandora toolchains on. But I only have the tiniest of development experience with these systems (if any), so I would prefer to have someone on-call that could take care of these for me.