Team name:
Fractal Entertainment
Project name:
SideQuest
![concept_111223.png](http://temp-name.com/sidequest/design/concept_111223.png)
Brief description:
SideQuest is a next generation browser MORPG.
The original concept came out of a variety of flash games (Mostly from Kongregate.com), the most heavy influence being Monster Slayers by Nerdook.
You don't play as an entity of the game world, but instead manage a party of adventures.
The basic game play is fully automatic, allowing for very simple and relaxing play, but allowing the opportunity to think up various strategies.
The game uses Unity (www.unity3d.com). This allows us to use heavier, and prettier graphics than are available to a flash game.
SideQuest is fully 2D, but the variety of shaders, particle effects and layers would be deadly to a flash engine.
See the design document.
(Not that this document is a little out of date, so not all information is accurate)
Also a video showing an arena battle:
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(Note that the design is in the very early stages and subject to change)
Here are a few screen shots of the more polished art direction.
Harvest Fields
Arena
You can play the development version of the game at:
http://98.247.71.86/WebPlayer/
Note that this is a dev enviroment and is not mantained.
Target aim:
SideQuest will be a stand free to play model.
The majority of the profit will come from micro-transactions (we see this as a necessary evil).
Our original release will be on Kongregate only. The alpha and beta stages are going to be a little bit touch and go as we balance our server loads.
Releasing first on Kongregate will allow us to work out our bugs, and also take advantage of Kongregate's relatively high ARPU.
Once the Kongregate version stabilizes (around 2 or 3 months) we'll move to creating an independent web-site, and use Facebook as an advertising source.
Currently, there are no plans to release an actual "Facebook version" as the game doesn't really lend itself to the typical Facebook integration methods.
Compensation:
A contract will be signed.
Artist will be paid a upon completion of works.
The Scope of Work will be discussed on an individual level, as well as compensation.
I would estimate the value of this position to be around 5k to 15k USD.
Time-frame:
SideQuest is expected to have a 6month development cycle, at which point we will release the first 3 areas of the game world.
The next area will be released 1 or 2 months after that, with the final area being released sometime before September.
Funding:
SideQuest has a solid amount of capital. If you are interested in the actual figures please contact me privately.
Technology:
The game uses Unity, making it releasable on Browser and Smart Phone.
Team structure:
Currently the team consists of 1 programmer and 2 artists and 1 writer, all with professional experience.
I (the programmer) am American, but the artists are Japanese, and as such don't speak much English.
Obviously this makes your job harder, as you will have to go through me in order to communicate with the other two artists.
Position details:
Talent needed:
We are currently looking for an artist with the following skills:
Animation
Effects
Animation is set up like 3D animation, but we use 2D models instead of 3D ones.
At the moment we are simply doing the animations in Unity, however the enviroment is less than ideal, so you are free to use whatever method you like (As long as we are able to export it realatively easily)
Effects well be a combination between particle effects and animated sprites. Being able to work with both is ideal, but a good sense of particle effects is the higher priority.
This position can be full-time or part time, as we will discuss on a case by case basis.
In the part time version you will be given a list of animations, and effects to produce, and paid as you produce them.
In the full time version you will be considered part of the team, and be paid by a schedule that we negoiate.
How to apply:
DEADLINE: January 31th
First, send an e-mail to sharsnik@gmail.com answering the following questions:
1) What is your favorite (online) game, and why?
2) How much experience have you had in the online gaming world? Both MMORPGs and browser games.
3) What is your professional experience? (If not in the game industry, then with writing/design work)
4) What are your short term goals?
5) What are your long term goals?
6) What kind of work do you WANT to do?
7) What do you feel you will bring to this project?
*OPTIONAL*
Second, I want you to try your hand at animating our characters.
Download the unity editor (free version) at www.unity3d.com.
Then download this package.
There are 3 sample animations in the scene called Main.
I want you to pick one or all of the animations there and reanimate.
If you have trouble figuring out how the animations work, feel free to contact me and I will help you as needed.
*ALTERNATIVE*
Some people are having issues getting the Unity project to work.
Moreover, Unity's animation tools feel roughly like wiping with sandpaper, so to allievate that stress, we've decided to allow the animator to use whichever tool they want, provided the final format is Unity readable FBX files.
As such, here's an older model set up in FBX format.
http://www.temp-name.com/sidequest/design/FighterData.rar
The feel of the animations should be personalized for the character as much as possible.
We're looking less for realism, and more for fun, possibly even over the top animations.
Finally, I'd like some smaples of the particle effects you've worked on in the past.
The type of effects we're thinking of is best captured in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Here is an example of it's gameplay.
Website:
None currently.
Contacts:
sharsnik@gmail.com
Skype: Sharsnik
Previous Work by Team:
Scavengers