Hi, trapazza. I've moved your post to the Production/Management forum because you aren't asking how to design - you're asking how to manage team formation. And that is not a game design question.

So you have lots of years experience working in games, as a programmer. You must still know some game designers from that time. But you say you're not comfortable talking about your project with them - no wonder you're stymied.

To recruit people you need to talk to people. But that is much more difficult now because of the pandemic.

trapazza said:
what kind of designer should I try to get first?

What does your project need? If you need puzzles, you need a puzzle designer. If you have the main gameplay mechanic already figured out and working, then you need a game to wrap around it, and that means a “game designer”. If you just need the world to be built, then you need a level designer. Yes, the designer should be someone who would enjoy playing your game (not someone who would not play your game). If you have to ask “do I need a writer,” you do not need a writer.

Seems to me if you've been making your own game for a long time, you ought to know what genre it is, and what the core gameplay is. If you don't know these things, maybe what you've been making isn't so much a game as an engine. If you know what genre your game is, then you can talk about it in general terms to potential candidates, without giving away too many secrets. But what secrets are there really? It's unlikely that a game design candidate could take your idea and go off and make his own version of it without you.

@richardnoblitt , please don't necro. This thread is now closed to further replies.