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fantasy cRPG project looking for artists

Project name:
Echo of Neghen Salle

Brief description:
First idea of this project was born almost a year ago, on October 14th, 2009. Ever since it has been slowly developing, as the team also grew with time. We are aiming to create a plot-driven fantasy game with more in-depth interactions and less flashy effects alike those from the good old days - Baldur's Gate is my inspiration forever.
However, due to recent developments in the technical field of our game, we moved away from the idea of 2D, and decided to go with bird-view 3D, which will allow us more customization of elements, and in many ways will be much more efficient (though more difficult in some, obviously).
We wish to give player a sense of freedom of choice and freedom of gameplay. It shall be up to them, how will they choose to play the game. We will offer variety of in-party NPCs, subquests and plot paths, each of them different yet none discriminating. I like the motive of shades of gray, where to play a righteous paladin or purely evil destroyer of everything holy may become tricky, regardless of intentions.
It is an ambitious project and the game looks like it will build up to become a real big thing, and so I've decided to only take on the first chapter of the project and see how we can manage with that, not burying ourselves under a massive amount of, at time tedious, challenge - overwhelming and disheartening to the team.

Target aim:
First chapter of Echo is supposed to be a completely freeware project that will let us test ourselves, hone our skills and have something to show in the future as our accomplishments and proof of great teamwork skills. The further fate of the project will depend on the opportunities that the time will present (after all, aliens may kidnap us all in 2012). No, seriously, I can't tell that now, so I wish not to give any promises that I will not be able to keep.

Compensation:
This project, as of now, is a purely amateur enterprise and for us it's a place to show our skills and potential. What we can offer are detailed credits that could be a proof of skill, and possibly an entry to the future portfolio of every team member (:

Technology:
Echo is being written in C++ with the use of DirectX library. Also our programming team is full as it stands, so I'll skip the details.

From graphical point of view - for 3D, our main tool will be Blender. Meaning that if one creates a model/animation in another program, it shall be then exported to Blender, as that is a freeware and good utility.
2D art... To each their own, there is no problem to convert anything to anything from anywhere at any given time.

We will obviously support alpha channels, also we do not plan on using pixel art in the project :)

Talent needed:

We are in need of artists of various kind, priority are 3D modellers and animators. Since the project is moving really fast, the graphical designers of our team simply cannot keep up with the programmers and music :P

There is all kind of things to do for 3D artists: from outside flora, furniture, architecture, various elements of the world to creatures and characters, so if you like particular thing more than the other, you could easily take care of just that.

For the sake of speeding things up, 2D artists capable of doing textures, loading screens and the like are also welcome!

Team structure:
Our team, as any amateur team I guess, has its ups and downs. People come and go, as real life throws them around. We are, after all, mainly college/university/however-it's-called-in-your-country students (:

We have a full programming team, a webmaster, a musician. We have a mathematic-geek who is doing the game's system calculations and balance. We have an architect, who should start delivering buldings projects. We have potential writers, and tool to write dialogues in incoming.

I myself am the leader of the project, right now I also take care of the main plot and graphic design of the game. Should that be a must, I will be trying to fill in the blanks in any other missing department, aside of programming that I don't have requisite knowledge for.

Website:
The website is under construction, but we have WIP forums at: http://eons.cba.pl/forum/viewforum.php?f=9
But nothing really can be seen there without having registered and being granted access to the hidden forums.

Contact:
Best way to contact me would be my e-mail that I have auto-checked regularly: red.nightshade@gmail.com
If you are interested in contributing to Echo in any way, tell me what would that be and show me samples of your work (if applicable, of course). Also, feel free to e-mail me any questions, I shall do my best to answer them.

Previous Work by Team:
This is our first project.

Additional Info:
The game's action is set in a fantasy world, but a bit derailing from your regular "fireballz r flyin'!" setting; the magic is present, but does not resolve everything.

The plot: I'm not going to put any spoilers here. Generally the plot is not based on saving the world and is more focused on player's character and other people they meet on their way (and will be able to influence during their journey). The plot is pretty complex, and divides into three (four, depends how you look at it) paths that will interwine, but stay separate and lead to different endings. Taking place on a specific isle, the story will also revolve a bit around the events and situation of Aharra, and possibly allow the player to delve deeper into the local politics.

We plan on having abundance of dialogue, yet making most of it optional, to give players interested in the lore and stories something to feel and indulge in, and those interested in faster progress and tactical challenges with plot in the background something that would suit them.

As for the actual development part, we will be having an extensive marketing campaign starting up soon. It will be an interactive fun part of the development process that will hopefully catch the attention of our fellow players and be an amusing experience for the team as well.
I guess examples of what we can do and what we have are in order...

Here you can see a sample of what NPC portraits will look like (they will be improved over time, I'm sure, as I'm too much of a perfectionist):

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy11/A-rien/Echo%20of%20Neghen%20Salle/rivmin.jpg?t=1286474002
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy11/A-rien/Echo%20of%20Neghen%20Salle/hyamin.jpg?t=1286474002

This, is what our music drafts look like (composed by Wanderlust):
http://www.box.net/shared/minbcbo25f
http://www.box.net/shared/qdxs7poth1

Since I'm right in the middle of redoing the whole GUI idea and style, I refrain for posting a screenshot yet :)

Have a lovely day,
~A-rien

Replies

  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    What does the 'C' in cRPG mean?

    Be sure to keep updating once you have game play designed and/or screen shots to draw more interest.
  • danshewan
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    danshewan polycounter lvl 8
    cholden wrote: »
    What does the 'C' in cRPG mean?

    It's 'computer'. I've only seen this used by RPG purists to distinguish between video game and pen-and-paper RPG's. Pretty much a redundant term these days.
  • Animesh
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    I am interested in modeling some stuff to help you guys out as long as I can use it on my portfolio. My focus is environmental modeling such as buildings, weapons and such. Please check out my website and let me know if your interested.

    www.ronfreemancgart.blogspot.com
  • A-rien
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    Animesh, I'm sorry that my reply comes this late, but in the fervor of examination session I have forgotten to check the forums on a later notice (and if I remember correctly the post had to be accepted first and so I couldn't bookmark it).

    I realize you might not even see this reply, but in case you did and were still interested, please contact me on the e-mail or leave me yours here, as I cannot send private messages here (or view user profiles for that matter). I also couldn't find your e-mail on the website, sadly.

    To anyone else who might stumble accross this topic - I shall update the post information once we have our website up, the project is still alive and ongoing.
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