   Divine: UT3 Total Conversion Mod. Melee combat and more!
Project name:DivineBrief description:I'll start by saying this, I've been around here awhile and pitched my "what-I-thought-were-cool-and-feasible-ideas" and I'm sure like everyone, it eventually hit me that I was an idiot. After some growing up (and some college), it seems to all make a little more sense that I was not going to make the next big game from scratch.With that said, Divine is a planned TOTAL (and I mean total) conversion Unreal Tournament 3 Mod, as I think that it provides the best balance between what we want to make/see and feasibility. While I do hope that through this mod, additional possibilities open up, I'm content with making something incredibly enjoyable even if it doesn't produce money in the long-run, and I believe that a mod gives us the highest possibility of achieving that.Reasoning aside, the best comparison I can draw gameplay wise is that Divine will play very similar to the game Dynasty Warriors, with a few key differences (because let's face it, Dynasty Warriors isn't all that great). Some primary inspirations are the WC3 maps DotA and Castle Fight (Message me if you want to play, I never lose at CF!). If you haven't played Dynasty Warriors, you basically are a general/officer that fights hundreds of troops and other officers on a battlefield. (Of course, I hope that our AI doesn't work like DW's where these troops circle around you staring.)I've done a general list of features in the Additional Info section as it isn't entirely easy to describe. The best I can say is that it is a fairly original concept or at least a combination of so many things it makes it original, so I at least urge you to read on to find out!Target aim:Making a small demo Mod, showing a general game-play, feature, and story outline to generate interest. Upon completing this, I'd hope to present it to various investors in hopes of snagging licensing, or at least presenting it to the Guild Hall (Game Development school in Dallas), where I have a few connections, and seeing if they can do anything for us. Of course, all that is a lofty goal and if it doesn't work out, I'd still enjoy finishing it as a mod.Compensation:I'm a poor college student so unless you want your paycheck to be two McChickens, I got nothing. If by some miracle, it blows people away (which may not be a miracle), then obviously we'll work something out if there's an influx of dinero.Technology:I've generally decided to use Unreal's SDK, as Source can't handle too many units on-screen at a time, but I have no problem switching it around if we find out it is possible and everyone prefers Source.Talent needed:I hate to be cliche, but I can use anything right now. My first and most obvious needs are coders and artists, but even if you just have some ideas or something you want to throw off me, I'm not going to turn anyone away. I'd be happy to hear from anyone interested, no matter what you do.Perhaps the most attractive thing I can say to recruit anyone is that this project is wide open, I don't have anything besides general concepts and gameplay that are set in stone, meaning you have a chance to shape this project into something you would like to see as well. This is not a project that you join and I just bark orders at you on what we are doing.Team structure:I have no specific talent to speak of, so yes, I'm that stereotypical "idea-leader-guy," but I have general knowledge about everything. I can read code fairly well and understand the level design, but actually doing it, probably not so successful. I'm also not 13 years old and therefore lacking any work ethic, drive, or communication skills (Not all of you). I learn fast, have a decent chunk of spare time, great leadership skills, and am a pretty smooth talker, so hopefully that gets me somewhere.This is my first shot at recruitment, so it is just me for now. I do have some friends that will likely provide some concept art and music, but nothing concrete. While I'm sure that sounds horribly unattractive for you to join, you have to start somewhere, and I promise this is not your run-of-the-mill let's make something cool team only to never appear again. It's unfortunate that I have no real crazy skill like art style or code snippets to showcase this early to convince people to join, but hopefully my words go far enough.Website:I actually do have some webmaster knowledge, so if there is interest (and there better be!), I have no problem with getting the resources to put up a site. I just didn't want to go ahead and put it up only to find out everyone hates me.Contacts:E-Mail: Chandler-T@hotmail.comMSN Messenger: Chandler-T@hotmail.com (If I'm not on, just e-mail me, I check my e-mail about 300 times a day)Previous Work by Team:I coded Collapse in my CS class at one point. I don't know how far that will ever get me, but I just couldn't bring myself to put none.Additional Info:Story: As I mentioned before, the story is a steam-punk, mechanical setting, but it is in some senses fantasy as there are various creatures (not elves and orcs). Rather than magic, I'm looking at more of an energy based system (I'm a Bleach fan, sorry). You are slaying entire armies, so it needs to look it, and there will be no shortage of over-the-top effects and abilities. I'd also like to add something based on some modern-day mythology including werewolves and/or vampires with a unique twist.Your character lives on war-torn earth (some point in the future) and everything has gone to crap, including your life. Without creating a wall of text here, your character is essentially placed into an artificial utopian world by the government (origins unknown) and thrown into a war (obviously there's a large back story on why and how). You learn that on this "world" there was a drug that was seemingly harmless and became a way of life (Brave New World, anyone?), but of course it backfired and people are now insane, cursed, crazy, whatever you want to call it (Mutation/Vampire twist). You excel in training and become a minor officer of the "good" faction and battle these crazies. Of course, there's some massive twists on if the two worlds are connected in some way, the typical is the "good" faction actually good, pretty ladies, and your actual character (hint hint the title). While that is just about the worst summary I've ever written, hopefully you get a general idea of what it is about. As you can see, it features politics, religion, love, drug abuse, and just about anything else you can fathom, so there's definitely a lot possible with it.And finally a quick feature list:- Completely Story-driven campaign. While it is a linear story, there are multiple ways to achieve or approach the ending, including consequences based on previous battles or speech (Officer deaths, Morale, etc.)- RPG, single-character, based system. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, it will not feature a playable roster of 938 characters. The player creates his officer to his liking, including weapon of choice/stat focus, and plays the same character throughout the campaign.- Melee-Focused, Combo-based, Third-person Combat- Multiple enemies on screen at the same time. I won't say hundreds because I don't quite know the limitations just yet, but you will be slaying hordes of people.- Battle tactics (Fire attacks, sieges, falling rocks) and squad deployment/leadership. You will have a large chunk of control over who fights in which battle, whether they all ride horses, or shoot arrows.- An ending that will likely make you cry. Whether that is sadness or joy, you'll find out.- I do hope to at some point include a multiplayer portion that, but I'd like to take it one step at a time. I'll be happy to describe the planned concept if it comes up, it's pretty freaking cool if you ask me.Feedback:I'd up for hearing anything anyone has to say, I just enjoy hearing from people, even if you want to trash it (as long as you provide reasoning).Anyways, hopefully you at least read parts of my text wall and are somewhat interested. Once again, I definitely plan to tackle this piece by piece and not bite off the whole campaign/game in one bite. The plan is to make a tech demo in a sense to garner attention before we go any further, so that we don't get too carried away in such a large project. I'd love to speak to you if even your slightest intuition was peaked and give you a more hands-on, simplified approach to this creation.Hope to hear from you soon,Chandler Thomlison[Edited by - ChandlerT on June 11, 2009 12:18:17 AM]
  Is this going to be 2d or 3d? Honestly, I can not tell from what you have written.   ;  It is possible that I went in so much detail that I didn't cover the basics. Touche sir.It is a mod for UT3, so 3D. I figured that was a given, unless people make 2D unreal mods, then I just look like an idiot.EDIT: Just changed the first UT3 to clarify. Thanks for letting me know.[Edited by - ChandlerT on June 10, 2009 7:09:11 PM];  I don't know what UT3 was, so I had to ask.   ;  Had some great success in finding a few talented individuals. Currently snagged a scripter working on our initial camera concept, a concept artist, and a modeler/animator that has a portfolio that blew me away, so we definitely have a good base team to start on this.But of course, we can always use more. No matter what your skill is, even if it is just encouragement or ideas, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me anytime if you'd like to know more. I really think you'll enjoy the project after hearing more about it.Anyways, I'll be updating the original post with some art very soon so you can get an idea of our direction.Look forward to hearing from some of you.   