Hey all, I'm not sure if this is something in the works already, but I was wondering if there is anyone collaborating in this community to make a game.
If this isn't a thing yet maybe we could set something up? I think it would be a great way to have more engagement among the community and also learn some things about the creation process that we may not get from more focused areas of study. (Also, new potential for CGCookie course promotion if people play the result of what is made?? Just saying haha)
I am hoping we can get some instructor guidance and a few more people who are interested. There have been a few articles and live streams related to game-ready assets. So, it would definitely be a great learning experience to have the follow-through by testing and implementing assets or other elements in Unity.
I can help answer general questions and provide some guidance although this should be largely a community effort. We did have something like this appear before with our old community and it seemed to fizzle out a bit. Making games can be tough, even more so when you don't have defined roles setup.
The first thing I would do is to build a game design document. Someone would need to take the lead on making sure this is done, then have defined tasks for other people to fill in. Do you need 3d modelers and animators? Will you need programmers? etc. Once you have a game design doc filled out it'll provide more insight on specifically what you need to tackle first. The more focused you can get the easier it'll be to get this project off the ground.
Hi Jonathan, thank you for your input! I can definitely organize a game design document (though I may require a bit of assistance in the areas that I am not so familiar with).
Would anyone like to put forth some broad conceptual ideas for the game? We can compile everything and have a vote to determine what everyone would be most enthusiastic about.
Update: I can set up a google drive docs system to organize for anyone who would like to participate.
Count me in! I'm participating in the Global Game Jam next weekend, so maybe if the idea is good enough, we can expand on that. Or I have a book of ideas floating around somewhere I can dig up. or we could use past game jam themes to jump start something.
Alright, I have set up a basic folder to organize the game materials. Obviously, most of the items are relatively blank since the main ideas have not been established yet. Link to view (but not edit, please sign up): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k352ZQeSKKFDOWKxvvDrNFkRZlV-mlT-?usp=sharing
As of the moment, the main object here is the contributor list. If you would like to participate in this project, please email me at illusiverealms@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Good work bringing this up again. We have tried in the past three times to make a community game. I just got back to the community and i am working again on being a modeler. I have some experience but not the best at this time. I know when i worked with the CG staf they used a app called basecamp to get projects completed. Anyways shoot me a note when you figure out your vision and mission I might be keen to help where i can.
Knuckelhead.
Sure, I will definitely shoot you a note when we have the concept figured out. (We're currently shooting emails back and forth with ideas to figure out which direction we would like to take.)
We'd gladly welcome anyone who wants to participate! We're not the best yet either, so we're not expecting perfection.
https://www.artstation.com/knuckelhead /
https://princesaaid.deviantart.com/gallery
posted above are the two portfolios, just incase you want to see some of work.
We use Basecamp for most of our day to day work. When we started working on actual game projects we decided to start using HacknPlan, which I like to think of Basecamp for game development management. It's free to use for the most part, although they do offer paid plans as well. Just about everything you'd need is available in the free plan though and might be a great place to organize everything for game projects.
I am interested! I think.
I am not that experienced, but would like to contribute to something like this as a learning project. I do work full-time, so doing small objectives at a time, might make more sense for me than trying to over-commit to a larger role.
I don't know what you have in mind at this point, but to get some broad idea categories discussed, - I know there are some tutorials/flows on Tower Defense or FPS's. It could make sense to try to base something off one of those?
I could see trying to figure out the most minimal viable product for an idea just to get a game going that we think can be completed, there was a text game a while back two actually that I loved, The Ensign and A Dark Room, totally minimal but really fun, it was basically text and timers, and an ASCII based map, I assume any game done here would be unity based but my point is a minimal game can still be very fun.
That said, I also could see going the opposite direction, creating a design doc with such huge scope that you know it is unlikely to ever be finished. If the goal is shifted from creating a very small but functional game to creating a game in which you just see how you can apply what you have learned and made, and learn to construct whatever in a collaborative environment this could actually make sense, idk.
There are a few game ideas I have been kicking around for some time, one is an ice climber story. At it's most basic, I would like to see how many aspects of climbing an icy mountain could be well portrayed, I could see laying an entire plot-line over this, but the core would be climbing and cold survival. Another concept I have been interested in is a medieval tavern sandbox game. I did a mock-up for the title screen as a project. I was thinking it could feature drinking and gambling mechanics, and a cat with realistic cat behaviors, and a good fire place which burns down logs over time. The point of the tavern would be more about creating mood than player objectives.
I'm interested in helping out on whatever though, if I am able to.
Interesting ideas! I like to approach a new project like this by brainstorming everything under the sun. Then, when we take a closer look, find the core of the game and anything extra is sorted into various levels of stretch goals. That way, we get the core of the game done and we can expand out the project if we want.
I'm sure we can incorporate you into the fold somehow with your schedule. Even something small is a step in that direction.
1. Thank you everyone for posting the ideas and suggestions above. I am reading them all even if I don't respond to each post individually. I'm sure we all have very different schedules and availability, so don't be afraid to hop on board even if you are busy with a lot of different things.
2. It's okay to shoot off big concepts ideas as well. We can compartmentalize them into smaller, playable pieces and then expand outwards with them if we like where things are going.
3.I am looking into the project management websites above and generally exploring to see if there are better ways we can organize ourselves and chat, since email has a tendency to be a bit slow.
Again, if you are interested, shoot me an email at illusiverealms@gmail.com, so I can add you to the g-drive folder.
Thanks!
-Megan
For communication, I've used slack before, and found it to be a faster way to chat with people. Plus, you can add and kick people when needed, so it helps cut down on uninvited people. There's an app for your phone, too. You can have specific channels people are allowed to see, so artists can only see art stuff, programmers programming stuff, an the leads can have access to all the channels or something like that. Just a thought.
Slack and Discord channels have both been created. If you send me an email to participate, I will automatically invite you to both. :)
Nice initiative illusiverealms ! Like jgonzalez mentioned we'll definitely be here to help and encourage, but can't organize anything officially. It's been on my mind to do this type of thing in the future, but we need to finish our other projects first.
Thank you! I am fine with heading the organization of the project myself. We're going to keep the scope relatively small at first, both because I am still learning and I think an achievable goal is necessary to keep everyone feeling challenged but not overwhelmed.
If you would like to organize another project like this in the future, maybe I will be able to give some insights, at that point, based upon what I have learned here. :)
I will join the talk groups more after i finish this leadership board for the Army. Untill then i will keep posted here and see how things are going
Jesus, I LOVED the idea. My skills are still really rustic, but if I can be up to pace when the project starts getting traction, I would love to be part of it. This even gives me fuel to keep going.
I would definitely be interested in doing animation for the project once it is needed.