   MMORPG in need of artists.
Project name:Kingdom of the ElementsBrief description:You are looking at the very early stages of an MMORPG in development. Up to this point,we've started modelling characters and are well on our way to making a working game engine with a terrain generator. our team already has its own professional dedicated server and we have started to write network code.I know MMORPGs are a huge undertaking, hard to create, require an extensive team and theres a huge amount of competition. So im looking for people who would enjoy the challenege of all of that =). This is not a pet project, but a serious  development which is just at its beginning stages.Brief story outline:The main idea of the game is a fantasy MMORPG influneced by many mmorpgs there including Everquest, WoW, DAOC, Anarchy Online ( the idea of introducing sci-fi elements havent been ruled out).The main plot of the game is a war between elemental races. For instance, wind elves are going to be a playable race (see concept skeches and images) who are a good race. At war against the fire elemental Orges, an evil race. Everything in the world will revolve around these elements, including environments, quests and equipment.Target aim:The aim is to eventually create a working MMORPG and then release it online, if and when it is high enough quality to start charging for a subscription that would be a huge goal.Compensation:When the game eventually generates revenue the team memebrs will all recieve a percentage of the profit earned from the game. this will be dicussed in order to decide on the fairest way to distribute compensation amoung the team.In early development the game wont generate renvenue, so im looking for people who want to help start a project and get experience in game devlopment and problem solving. The hope is to create a friendly, fair, working team who work together and encourage each other to produce their best work possible =).As a game hobbyist you get great expeience which could be used on a resume for a commerical game job oppurtunity. Technology:  Target system: PC  Programming language: C++ ( using APIs such as direct 3d, openGL and DirectSound )  Artist Tools: photoshop, 3ds max, any others  Sound tools: any  Team Structure/Talent needed:Artists:  Concept artists - using any medium.    3d modellers - We are very much in need of talented 3d modellers. Must be able to use 3dsmax to create high and low poly models and be able to paint their own textures and layout and apply them to a given character model. also experience with bump, specular and normal maps a bonus but not necessary because this can be learned fairly easily.  sprite/ui/logo artists - need 2d cg artists for everything from the load screens to the user interface to concept work. must be proficent in photoshop.Programmers: we are still in need of some programmers, we are looking for C++ programmer who've had atleast a little game programming experience. experience with direct 3d and/or opengl a bonus.Team Structure: At the moment we are a 7 person team, 3 artists (one of which is myself), 3 programmers and a composer.About Myself:  I have had experience in all aspects of game development before, including programming in c++ and in openGL. Art in 3dsmax, maya, photoshop, illustrator, combustion, flipbook, aftereffects, preimier, flash, and various sprite creation software. (art is my main area of expertise) Ive had experience mixing musical tracks digitially and the creation of sound effects for use in short film. Ive lead a large team before and look forward to working with team members in game design.  I've studied fine art and animation in a post secondary environment, in toronto, canada.Contacts:  Contact me about anything: (Interested in joining, suggestions for the project, feedback, etc.)  Email:  Blade_gamer@hotmail.com  MSN:    Blade_gamer@hotmail.com  I also have a ventrilo server.Additional Info:Images of delopment of wind elf:Concept sketches:These are early developmental images of the wind elf model and an ogre(high poly not final):World MAPWEST DETAILEAST DETAILWebsite:  Stay tuned.Feedback:Encouraging only please.[Edited by - Blade_gamer on May 30, 2006 12:09:09 AM]
  If you don't mind me asking, what school in Toronto did you attend? Being a Seneca graduate and University of Toronto student myself I'm curious.   ;  You're modelling looks good.  Maybe you should consider using an already build rendering engine to speed up development as that alone would likely take a year or so on its own.  Use RakNet for the networking aspect, OpenAL for audio, etc.Just an idea but to get all the talent needed to make a 3d engine AND a kick butt networking code base is asking a lot in all honesty when you basically have nothing at this point and a lot of hobby competition in this genre.Best of luck.Edit: Fixed a typo.   ;  Thanks for the suggestions, i will look into Raknet and openAL. I am aware of the trendous amount of work it is to create a working game engine so i will definately check those out.I graduated from Seneca college as well =)(york campus). nice to see more people from toronto on this board =);  Hey, after chatting a little about your ideas I may want to come onboard as a design consultant. Trying to get as much practice as I can right now.Can I take a look at your design document (mind posting it here?) If you don't have one my first question is that most 'elemental' features in games usually employ a rock-paper-scissors design, are you planning to rock-paper-scissors the entire races or is it just going to be a **nis-measuring contest in terms of powers/levels?   ;  Sure id love to talk more about the design of the game:The elements in the game are going to be compareable to the classes in everquest or WoW, when a player makes a new character they get to choose a race and an element instead of a race and a class, for example Wind Elf, Earth Gnome.each element will have specific powers and abilities similar in the same way a class would in an mmorpg.water element would be similar to a healerfire - magician or pet classice - similar to an enchanterwind - similar to a rogueearth - similar to a fighter or warriorlightning - similar to a wizard or dpsThis is by no means a full list and we are likely to change the way this is all implemented. Class balancing is always a huge issue in mmorpgs, argueable the most important issue, so as you can imagine we will have to tweak the way this system is intertwined and how each element relates to another. It will be in a groups best interest to get a party together with members of different elements, just as a party will need a healer and a tank and dps in other mmorpgs. Im also planning to have certain element types complement each other and produce very powerful attacks if the right abilities are used together. Comparable to  herioc oppurtunities in Everquest 2, or double and triple techs in Chrono Trigger. I would like them to have animations aswell like in Chrono Trigger. Certain races will only be able to have certain elements, and certain elements will learn more towards good or evil.Also certain equipment will be wearable only by certain elemental races.Email me or contact me on msn if you would like to know more.[Edited by - Blade_gamer on May 19, 2006 7:35:37 PM];  In further response to the question of a game engine we have decided upon the irrlitch 3d game engine. we are making good progress in the creation of a simple game demo, stay tuned =)   ;Quote:Original post by Blade_gamerI graduated from Seneca college as well =)(york campus). nice to see more people from toronto on this board =)Yeah, it's always nice to see more local representation in the industry. Good luck with your project.   