Team name: Stainglass Llama Corp. Project name: Divergence: Online Brief description: "Divergence" refers to three games currently in development as a new intellectual property. The first of these games is what we're focusing on right now. The Divergence universe is a gritty sci-fi setting set 300+ years in humans history. Human beings come in half a dozen breeds now and alien species can be anything from cybernetic alien ninjas to specters with no physical form who must construct bodies for themselves from the environment. All 3 games carry the M-Rating for graphic violence, intense language and substance abuse. Target aim: Agile development. Three titles launched within four years. Compensation: We're hiring full-timers and part-timers with full pay and negotiable salaries. Technology: Currently the game will run equally well on both Windows and Mac. Talks of an XBox 360 are in the works depending on how much additional help we can bring on. The engine we disclose to potential employees however I will say that it is coded in C Plus Plus (The Website doesn't seem to like using the plus cybol - at least for me). State-of-the-art MMO-calibre server software has already been licensed and implemented (roughly 90% where we'd like it to be). We also make heavy use of phys-x (About 80% of what we'd like it to be). The game runs on Rackspace servers right now with 24/7 fanatical support. All game files and code are centralized (aside from backups) on a subversion network to ensure that all teammates are collaborating efficiently. Talent needed: We need reliable Programmers. That's pretty much it. Our biggest hangup of the last two years has been the lack of "local talent" in the region where our business entity is based and have been outsourcing practically everything. However we really need to get at least 2 or 3 actual "full-timers" on staff to keep the pace of work constant. Location is a non-issue. We couldn't care less where you live so long as you can connect to our SVN and thus collaborate efficiently and reliably. Team structure: "The team" consists of a handful of "World Builders" who mold the interior of the gaming world itself, one pool of 2d artists, two teams of 3d artists who work on demand (outsourcers), one team of gentlemen responsible for the server and the remainder of our programming team, which we hope to replenish as soon as possible. My role is "jack of all trades". I'm the most rounded person in the business and generally fill any holes as they arise but my legal role is Project Manager. Website: http://www.divergence-online.com Contacts: The absolute most reliable way to reach me is email at ethan@divergence-online.com There is a pretty hefty spam filter on that address however so if at first one gets a bounced back email, my personal address (which that address forwards to) is ash@the-shade.com Previous Work by Team: NDAs prohibit me from talking about our best project to date which helped spawn the startup but our 3d guys are responsible for the high-end graphics of many modern titles such as Mass Effect, Oblivion, Prey, and City of Heros. There's a lot of talent in there. Divergence definitely "looks" modern. we just need the coding power to take us the full nine yards. Additional Info: Many screenshots, concepts and a video are available via our website at: http://www.divergence-online.com Feedback: ANY [Edited by - EthanC on July 24, 2008 4:39:39 AM]

I emailed you. If you didn't receive it please PM me.

[Edited by - d000hg on July 24, 2008 8:29:56 AM]

This looks like a promising project, although I think that you are getting a little head of yourself and misleading people. You claim to have an "M" rating on your games; however, you do not mention anything about the ESRB (this also means that you have submitted a completed game ready to be released to the public). I understand intend this game to be for mature audiences, but your post sounds as if you were actually certified. Please update your post to prevent future misunderstandings. Good luck with your endeavors!

Quote:Original post by ZachMeyer
Am I to assume that this game is based off of a book called "Divergence" that has almost an identical "universe" to this game? Or is this some new IP that happens to be a coincidence with the book. If it is the former, do you have the rights to create such game?

Just a curious question, good luck with your game!

Thanks for the questions.

1. We created the IP. We have the rights :P

When I get asked at a convention or some place "out in the field" that same question I usually just go along with, "Yeah it's game based on a book". Chronologically speaking though that's all wrong. The IP was envisioned, the company was formed to facilitate a set of online games based on it, and a handful of small books and book ideas sprung out of it as spinoff stories. From what I've read (which is almost everything) the books are mostly sidestories and backstories, sort of like The Silmarillion.

It just so happens that games like this take much longer to create than things like books, so here we are hoping to publish books based on a game this year when the game that those books are BASED on will end up being released AFTER said books.

Meh, what can you do.

2. I doubt any potential freelance programmers care enough about their next jobs ESRB bonifidas of all things to feel "misled" by the implication-but-not-guarantee-of a mature rating, friend. :)

What kind of experience and what exactly are new hires going to be working on? I'm interested, just wondering what the job will entail.

Quote:Original post by stupid_programmer
What kind of experience and what exactly are new hires going to be working on? I'm interested, just wondering what the job will entail.

Do you mean what kind of experience do new hires need as a prerequisite?

If I got that right then I guess the answer would be that I'm *told* (because once again i'm not a programmer myself, thus I don't speak the lingo) that anyone with a year or more of C Plus Plus can pick it up very quickly. That's the engine at least.

Other tools you'll be working with are the server and you will be trained to a small degree in using the various formats that the engine and game use/support such as DAE for models, TGA for textures and so on. This is just some basic ground-floor info to help you "get in" things that are otherwise simple and prevent anyone from having to wait for assistance from a senior programmer later on down the line.

If you meant "what specific things will we be doing" though I think a good example will be taking what we have now and furthering it, such as the combat system, inventory system, npc interaction and that kind of thing. Things like making sure that the glass of X window uses convex decomposition through the phys-x extensions we use and making sure the guy points the gun in his hand in front of him while aiming instead of pointing it behind him in some weird contortionist fashion (this took us 3 days to figure out!).

Those kinds of things.

As an update, we found several good people from gamedev.net and still have room for a couple more, so feel free to contact me with your resumes if you are interested.