LÖVE

I am working on a 2D sandbox game, and I have not gotten very far, due to fear of creating a slow, bloated game (I'm not very experienced). I think it would be great to have a few experienced developers to help me with this game, and in return, when the game is released, you get a share of the profits, the percent depending on how much you contributed . If anyone is interested, please post a reply to this with your skype name, and your programming experience .

Some more info on the game I wish to create:
My goal is to create a sandbox survival game, but with RPG and fantasy elements, such as mana, potions, rings, alchemy, etc.. Some games that inspired me to start this game are Minecraft, Terraria, and Dark Souls.

If you are seriously interested in starting a game development team, you need to show people that you are experienced and work well with others.

As you get better at game development, you will

1. learn how to make fun, fast and effective games.
2. get more people that will want to work with you
3. be able to make a product that you can sell

From experience, the key is to start with a minimal scope for the amount of time you are willing to spend.

For something like a Ludium Dare, you want something that you can put together and make work in just 6 hours, and then one would spend the remaining time adding polish and making the game fun. Be sure to spend a few hours deciding what the game is, and what you want to achieve.

For a larger project, ensure you are doing extensive preparation by writing an entire Game Design Document. Don't be afraid to spend days on this, without even touching code. Not touching the code is a hard thing to do, but it really helps the process. Check out John Cleese on Creativity.

For example, your game has a very large scope and will require days to writing a game design document.

Let's go over the elements:

• sandbox
• survival
• RPG
• fantasy
• mana
• potions
• rings
• alchemy
• Inspiration from Minecraft
• Inspiration from Terraria
• Inspiration from Dark Souls

Want to make a fun and interesting game that will happen? Cut the scope. Pick one (maybe even two if you're feeling feisty) and make a game around that. Try to write as much reusable code as you can. If you have a library for each of these elements that you know inside and out, you could very well write a game that involves all of these elements with ease when you have a much stronger grip on game design.

Most of the people here on the forums want you to succeed, but you need to be aware, that just making a game of this scale with your experience is going to prove to be a daunting and ignorant task of futility if not approached properly.

If you want help, from anyone,(And I learnt that the hard way) you need to give screenshots/vidoes/proof that you already started working on the project. So that people can see-"Ah, this is my type of game" or "Nope, I don't know a single thing about this type of game".

If you actually need a TEAM. Find people for these:
Programming
Music
Sound FX
Graphic design
Shader design (possibly)
GUI design
Web design (If you want a website)
If you are going to sell:
Business manager
and a couple more

I would want to join but i'm not that experienced. I know how to make a game with gravity and that.

I'm not very experienced in Lua. I have just made a Sobokan game which works really nicely though.

But if you're looking for a web designer/developer then I can help as i work as a developer myself.

You also shouldn't promise a share of the profits, as for someone who will be spending quite a bit of time on your project, that's hardly going to work out if you get bored or drop the project for some reason and it doesn't make it to market. It's easier if the person is someone you know well, but that's not likely to happen on a forum like this.

It might be a good idea to mention why anyone would want to do it with you, instead of rolling their own thing. I'm not trying to be rude - it's just how human motivation works.

If there might be "profits to be shared", especially, you must "sell" yourself as a partner. What value would you give to the project?

You seem to be implying that you are not particularly "experienced". Maybe you are good with art, then. Or maybe you are good managing teams. Or have contacts that would make the commercial stuff easier. Or maybe you are just hard-working, or a nice chap.

Notice that I'm asking what value would you bring to the project. "I had the original idea" is not a value - "I am able to direct people to transform ideas into finished products" is.

My point is that "hey, I have this idea, does anyone want to join me?" is not good enough. You need to convince people.

kikito wrote:It might be a good idea to mention why anyone would want to do it with you, instead of rolling their own thing. I'm not trying to be rude - it's just how human motivation works.

If there might be "profits to be shared", especially, you must "sell" yourself as a partner. What value would you give to the project?

You seem to be implying that you are not particularly "experienced". Maybe you are good with art, then. Or maybe you are good managing teams. Or have contacts that would make the commercial stuff easier. Or maybe you are just hard-working, or a nice chap.

Notice that I'm asking what value would you bring to the project. "I had the original idea" is not a value - "I am able to direct people to transform ideas into finished products" is.

My point is that "hey, I have this idea, does anyone want to join me?" is not good enough. You need to convince people.

Thanks for the advice.
The things I have to offer are:
Music Production
Sound Effects
Good with art (although the game will have simple textures)
Hard Working

And I didn't take the first thing as rude, I understand what you mean.

timmeh42 wrote:You also shouldn't promise a share of the profits, as for someone who will be spending quite a bit of time on your project, that's hardly going to work out if you get bored or drop the project for some reason and it doesn't make it to market. It's easier if the person is someone you know well, but that's not likely to happen on a forum like this.

You have a good point, but if I drop the project (which is very very unlikely) they have the source code, and they can distribute it themselves. Also, I don't think someone would work really hard on a game just to get some money when it's released, I was just saying that to let people know, not as bribing.

Let us not forget the story of Fez and the original second half of Polytron. I was watching Indie Game: The Movie and they couldn't show his face and Fish wouldn't even say his name, but the guy wouldn't even sign a paper to let him show the game off at PAX (Or was it E3) until the very last minute. Even though he stood to gain a HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY for doing NOTHING. You want to be very careful about promising money because you never know how long the project will take and if it will make any money at all.

BTW, Indie Game: The Movie is AMAZING and every single one of you should watch it. Even though it really only focuses on Phil Fish (Fez), Tommy Refeines and Edmund McMillan, (Super Meat Boy) and Jonathan Blow. (Braid) I hope they make a second one that focuses on Terry Cavanaugh, (VVVVVV) Mojang (Three guesses) and some others like possibly Pixel, (Cave Story) and maybe the guy who did the original Spelunky.