Game Project: Modelers Wanted

brett

Hey guys! I am in the process of making a game with a few of my friends and we are in desperate need of a modeler and animator. Our game is being created from scratch and is coming along quite nicely. We are almost to the point where we will need the models, so if anyone is interested let me know.

Also, if you are skeptical about our project, just e-mail me and I'll hook you up with the details and some images of our game so far. My e-mail is uberkirscht3hl33t@comcast.net . Don't hesitate to ask me a question about it. I will try and answer any questions within a day that you e-mail me.

It would be nice to have some models for a project for a change. We'd really appretiate it if you could help us out. Unfortunately, there is no pay in it.... not yet anyway. If we make something big enough, there may be some salary involved. Models would really help us to get it that far.

KeyserSoze

You're not likely to get many responses without more infromation about the project. Some images (concepts, or screenshots of what you have so far) would help.

brett

Well, sorry I haven't gotten on in a while, but the game has made some big jumps over the past month or so and I happen to have some pics of what is going on. This site isn't much to brag about. I just quickly made it up to show you the pics thus far.

http://home.comcast.net/~uberkirscht3hl33t/Pictures.html

jzero

Judging from those images, this would be a DBZ game. Or at least, A DBZ-style game. Am I right?

/jzero

cholden

Hey Brett, here's a few quick tips for getting help with your game:

You don't own DBZ, using it is theft. Talent craves original ideas, drop all that DBZ mess if you want anyone to take you seriously. That piccilo model is a quake 2 player model, unless you have permission, using it is theft. If you do have permission, please credit the original author. L33t speak, like in your URL, drives talent away, and black text on a dark blue background doesn't read.

Oh, and I think that other model is Blade made by EvilBastard (thanks jon)

JO420

there was a company doing a free DBZ mod awhile back,the second the company who owns DBZ caught wind of it they sued like the wind and the mod makers had to dump all of their content related to the show

brett

Sorry, guys. Perhaps I didn't quite explain myself quite clear enough. The models that you see in the screenshots are not the final models that are going to be used in the game, but are instead placeholders.

You are correct in assuming that the game is a DBZ-like game, but only in art and style. The gameplay itself is nothing like DBZ with the exception of some of the attacks. We don't plan on using the models that you accused us of stealing. If we don't get any help modeling our unique characters, then we will ask for permission from the modelers and give credit where it is due.

pogonip

I don't think ive seen anything uhhhh..like that since Bryce 1.0 ... wow

CheapAlert

"Ki"

arghfknhgdnok it's another bid for power wannabe

KDR_11k

Ki is the chinese equivalent of mana. Well, actually mana is more like ambrosia but I think nobody cares nowadays that the Bible defines mana as edible. Would you prefer the caption MP or Mana?

brett

Actually, to clear up a few things, we are thinking about doing away with the whole Ki idea as of right now. Those pics are old. The programmer was just trying to get the words on the screen, what they say at this point doesn't make any difference.

I'm surprised how some of you jump to conclusions so quickly. You shouldn't just assume that it is a bid for power wanna be. For starters, our game isn't a mod, it is a real game. And when you see the gameplay, you won't think that it resembles bid for power or any Dragonball Z game out. From what I have seen in its early developement, it has potential of going places. It is definitely an out of the box idea. I'm also surprized that someone didn't catch the give away to the gameplay in the screenshots. It's there, in the later ones anyway.

KDR_11k

Smashbrothers-style "kick 'em out" gameplay with destructible terrain? That "dropping into 'unknown substance'" pic looks like it.

brett

Good call. That's what we are aiming for, Smash Bros. But ours is going to be a little different. Sure, pushing people off the stage is part of the game, but our game will go (I won't say beyond smash), but more like in a different direction. For one, your perspective is different and in a lot of games, the perspective means everything. A totally first person MGS, for example, would be a completely different experience than any of the ones out in third person. I was kind of hoping to wow everyone with this idea when it came out, but I shouldn't have given too many clues. It will be fun though. It's fun just messing around and blowing the terrain up without any enemies in the arenas. There will be a lot less melee than either of the smash brothers, but mainly the same idea. Rake damage, and smack off the stage. We are trying to make this sort of a tribute to the big fighting games that are out there. You may find some sort of test your might or destroy the car in there as well. All this is in planning right now though. We have the base gameplay ready to code, but as of right now, we are still trying to polish the core engine, like some minor particle effects up to full force. I can't wait until the programmer gets the lava effect fixed. That makes it look awesome.

brett

Well, do we have any other bidders for this one? I got in contact with a couple modelers. Unfortunately, one of which had some other projects to work on. the other one hasn't got back to me yet. The offer is still open if anyone else is interested.

jzero

So, that sounds like gameplay involves two characters beating the crap out of each other, The End. What clues did you hope you wouldn't give away? Attack types don't really qualify as game features.

/jzero

brett

so what if it is just two guys beating the crap out of each other? I didn't start posting here to get bashed for my game project. I have a team and a project that is coming pretty far along. If anyone would like to step up to the plate and help us out, that would be greatly appretiated. Until you know as much about the project as I do, I wouldn't go saying things about it, because from my perpective, it looks like a very fun and promising project. We'd get a demo out if we had character models.

brett

I know I have been trying to hide the gameplay from you guys up until now, but the posts above show just how wrong some of those guys were when they looked at our game. You guys would never have guessed what it was if I didn't feed hints. I guess I kept it well hidden anyway.

I challenge any one of the people who posted on here to show me a decent model that we could use for the game. You're all chickens for posting and bashing my game while you hide behind your computers. I wanted a modeler to assist my team, not to have any critisism about the game. Not one of you that posted on this forum were interested in helping us out. I have already gotten in cotact with a few modelers outside this forum who haven't gotten in contact with me in a while.

Then again, I can't really stop anyone from bashing this game, but at least I have one. I'm not looking for work. I am looking for an artist.

blankslatejoe

The game industry is a very close knit one, especially the art side, and polycount is one of the few web hubs for it. Your attitude is a good way to get yourself ostracized. good luck with your game. if you want serious talent to be attracted to your work, it might be worth investing some money to pay a freelancer.

brett

blankslatejoe, you do have a point. I went a bit overboard, but is it right to bash our game when none of them even knows what it is yet? We put so many hours into what we have now. That isn't even counting the failed projects. Basically, I was just mad at all the previous posts that bashed the game. I wasn't asking for people to tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing. I understand that people put a lot of work behind their models and I would never steal them. I was only asking for help modeling characters so we wouldn't have to use other people's models without their permission. However, I got no help out of the whole thing. The last shot we had at getting some close to professional help.

As for your other suggestion, money is always good at changing people's minds and softening them up a bit to do something for you. The bad news here is that we don't even make any money. If we had a decent modeler, and the game gets somewhere, we could sell it down the road. No one outside the team will take that chance though.

Maybe I do deserve to be ostracised. But hard work doesn't deserve to be bashed no matter how bad or misunderstood it is.

cholden

You may be confused, brett. No one has actually bashed you in this thread. (unless you count pogonip, that's all he does) People are asking you questions to describe anything about your mod to which you give no details. You confused questions and general criticism as insults because you don't have answers, and quickly jump to a defensive stance. It is actually you who are bashing us, calling us chickens, challenging us to present decent models. If you're offended by a criticism, it's most likely the truth you don't want to face. You posted because you were looking for a modeler, and ended up flaming all of polycount.

Look up this thread and who responded, you've got at least four professionals trying to give you advice that you're pushing away. Look at the requests thread, and you'll see plenty of game name stealing and over-ambitious ideas. Discussion is to present your ideas so that artists here can see if you're serious or another one of the flakes.

Brett, I suggest you take some time to cool off, and think about what everyone's been saying to you. Regroup, get your ideas together, resubmit your request, and always respond with a positive message.

For everyone else reading, this thread is an example of marketing suicide, and how not to present a game idea with a free help request.

aesir

Youre right, we really dont know anything about the game from those screenshots. For all I know, you might have a freaking amazing engine running with just some crappy art on the screen. However, I dont know that.

I think one reason people are being hard on you is that you want people to work for you, but wont tell us what the gameplay is that we should all be so excited about. Its like me telling you that I have a 200 pound gold nugget sitting in my bedroom, but I dont want to show anyone or take any pictures of it in case it gets stolen. You think keeping the gameplay a secret will create some kind of hype?? It wont. And it CERTAINLY wont make anyone desire to do any work for you. I can't see any reason you'd want to keep us all in the dark about your game besides the fact that you can make a big SURPRISE when you release it that the majority of the internet will never even notice cause they'd never been paying attention to you in the first place.

As far as the issue of paying money, if you willing to put in the thousands of hours to create an entire game, then I can't imagine what would stop you from hiring a freelancer to help you make it. You act as though you think you'd make a profit off this...

brett

I apologize for anyone who I have offended. You guys are right. But the advice that was given in the upper part of this whole post wasn't what I was looking for. I know as well as anyone that using characters that have copywrites is just plain out stupid. I guess I just misread the comments that were posted, because the way it was worded, I instantly picked up that people were instantly turning it aside just because it sort of resembles Dragonball Z. That's fine and dandy if any of you don't like DBZ, but to look down on our project because of its resemblence is wrong.

We don't want to steal people's models. The screenshots are only pictures of models we are using to fill the roles of the models that we are looking for.

The whole keeping it a secret for building hype is a little idea that I picked up from watching a few companies in the gaming industry. It seemed to me that they didn't have to say anything to get people excited about their upcoming games.

If it isn't too late, I'd like to apologize and start a clean slate with you guys. I'm not looking for trouble. I just misinterpreted some things in the posts and got a little upset. It was a misunderstanding on my part. I wouldn't be so on the edge if every game project I have ever started got scrapped because of the lack of art in the project. This is our one chance to finish a game and we are further than we ever have been.

I'm trying to make a website for the game that will give more information to the gameplay and whatnot. Unfortunately, my resources are limited at the moment, but I hope to get it done soon.

cholden

A great way to find talent is actively seeking them out (networking). If you find an artist doing characters that fit your game, ask them if you can use it for you game. For example, I was recently putting together a texture set that matched another polycounter's game concepts. He contacted me asking if I'd let them use the textures. This worked out great for us both since he get textures, and I get my textures used in game. Network to build relationships with talent. They may or may not help you today, but there is always tomorrow.

Don't worry, keep working hard, and others will respect your work.

This article may help
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=59505&an=0&page=0#59505

aesir

yea, cholden made a great point, back when I was working on finding a team for a game I was working on, I would often just scan people work in various forums or look on their portfolio sites, and e-mail them, asking if they could donate a model or some of their time.

Asking in the request forum or on ANY forum has an almost 0% chance of success just to let you know. We hear these requests all the time so we get a bit jaded.

MikeTehVike

Trust me guys, Brett knows what he is talking about. The game is REAL and GOOD. He just needs models. If nobody wants to help, just stay away from this thread. Posting random opinions and such isn't going to get models or a modeler. If you can help, then help.
Brett, if you need help with the site or finding a place to host it just lemme know.

The random Viking. (It's Vike for short)

jzero

Okay, next question, then... what kind of character models? We still don't know.

I have a partially-made 2500-poly security guard for a mod that went nowhere, but it may not be what Brett needs.

So what does he need? Armored space marines? Lizard men? Frankish warriors? Cartoon characters? Any of those? Doesn't matter?

/jzero

brett

jzero, thanks for asking. I should have told more about what I was looking for. Basically, I am looking for models with an anime, cell shaded style to them. Although, some of the characters I have designed are pretty serious looking. The universe it takes place in is one of a lot of technology, yet at the same time, there is still a lot of feudalism. I have been trying to incorporate a sort of mediecal flare to my characters. For example, on my main character, I wanted to imitate a knight as best I could. His clothing looks similar to armor, but isn't really armor. I'd show you some drawings, but the concept art needs a bit of work. We're a bit limited on artists at the moment, or I'd have some detailed sketches right now. I have an idea in my mind of what all the characters look like. I just don't have the talent to draw them the way I can vision them.

Back to the chase. Like I mentioned earlier, most of the characters have this knight-like look to them. They are all warriors. Some are more refined and classy than others. They all have their own different personality in their designs. Depending on what people need to model, I'll do my best to get to them as far as art goes. Even if it is a basic sketch that can be embellished. I don't want to limit the artists of this game, but I want to try and keep it as close to the original vision as possible. I can make sacrifices though.

Ironically, we could have used that security guard model a few projects ago.

brett

So far, the project is coming along pretty good considering we don't have models.

I figured that while things were going slow on our end, the least I could do is set up the story and get some feedback on it. What we have is pretty much in stone, but the parts not yet worked on are still open for debate if you have any comments. The problem is that with a lack of art, we also lack the ability to present a good story. I've thought of a few techniques that could work, but if we have models, we may be able to do cinemas.

I'll begin with the prolouge. This story takes place in somewhat of an alternate universe. Back about a thousand years ago, there was an aspiring smithy. He believed that he had a higher calling and began working on a sword that would give its user immeasurable powers. His goal was to help mankind, but instead, it resulted in a war between demons and humans, both good and evil for the sword that rivaled the heavens. The Smithy soon died of old age, but compared to our average death age, he was pretty young, about 50. But, the God of that world (based off of the Christian God) punished him with a fate worse than hell itself. He was to spend the rest of eternity on Earth amongst the living, watching the battles for the sword that he created, slowly making him go mad.

Now the sword was sought by many. The battles ravaged on until a demon by the name of Kappa, gained the sword and slaughtered any who got in his way. A small group of humans who were stronger than most men and women stood up to the demon on the side of justice and right. They called themselves the Elite, and fought Kappa bitterly, which led to the deaths of most of them. Four survived until the final battle with Kappa, and knowing they couldn't beat him, they sealed him up using a magic spell, so that the later generations could become strong enough to beat him. Then, they did the same thing with the sword, so that the later generations could destroy it when they became powerful enough. The sword was sealed by a man with great abilities over barriers and 8 orbs were created from the other three warriors' energy as keys to lock the sword. These keys were spread about the land and hidden so that the door to the sword could never be opened until the time was right. The four warriors died off, passing along their skills and abilities to the next generation.

Our game will take place in the present time, which consists of advanced technology and a lot of feudalism. A few large cities exist in the United States-like country and they are the technilogical cities. The rest of the map are countries ruled by kings and protected by knights. As one would guess after reading up until now, the main object of the game will be to fight through the game and collect the orbs that will unlock the sword. And as one may also guess, Kappa has been ressurected to make sure that this task is much harder than it would normally be.

And here are the three main characters:

Blade: Blade is the son of a great warrior who had once worked for the king. He has many reasons to go into battle, one of which is for his love, the princess of the kingdom, Adara. Blade is a knight in a lot of ways, but hates swords. He would rather use his fists and his energy in a fight than trust his life to a sword.

Mack: Mack is a technology expert and a good friend of Blade's. They met in a local martial arts tournament and have been close ever since, although they are from quite opposite financial backgrounds and have two opposite personalities. He uses a lot of technology in his fighting, but is a good martial artist.

Shadow Ryu: Shadow Ryu is a dragon who, at one time, wanted nothing more than to cause destruction and chaos through the land. He only allies himself with Blade in order to beat out the immediate threat of the newly ressurected Kappa and his forces, but plans on turning on Blade as soon as Kappa is defeated and the sword is brought to rest.