I am a 16 year old student trying to develop a prototype for a game I want to build, however, I do not know where to find team members that can help me. I can not afford to pay people to help me even though I would if I could. I do have an artist that is already doing some work for me for free due to the fact she is a friend, but I feel guilty for not being able to pay developers. I have most of the game-play concepts in my head and on paper, but with my own limited programming experience and zero animation or modeling experience, I can not do that much. I am familiar with Unity engine and how it works, I have been experimenting with it for four years and I know a decent amount about game design, but that is as far as it goes. What can I do?

Moving to an appropriate forum.

1 hour ago, Vallarin said:

I am a 16 year old student trying to develop a prototype for a game I want to build, however, I do not know where to find team members that can help me. I can not afford to pay people to help me even though I would if I could. I do have an artist that is already doing some work for me for free due to the fact she is a friend, but I feel guilty for not being able to pay developers. I have most of the game-play concepts in my head and on paper, but with my own limited programming experience and zero animation or modeling experience, I can not do that much. I am familiar with Unity engine and how it works, I have been experimenting with it for four years and I know a decent amount about game design, but that is as far as it goes. What can I do?

Do you have anyone in school or friends that might be able to take an interest in learning Unity to work with you, and learning 3D graphics or anything else you require?

I would suggest that if you already have an artist then use your four years with Unity to start developing. It's extremely hard to get good talent and to maintain a team without some form of compensation. You'll need to get out of your comfort zone and start developing with the knowledge you already have while seeking to learn more as you go. Try new things and learn from trial and error. This community is very helpful if you have any issues doing specific things.

Also take advantage of assets. If this is just a prototype it doesn't need to be fully unique visually.

Best of luck.

You have to work with what you have.  Since you already know some Unity, then work in that, and develop the prototype yourself.  You can get plenty of assets for the prototype either for free or cheap on the Unity asset store.  So, you can either use that stuff, or have your friend make stuff, but you have to use whatever you have and not expect that you can make a finished polished game that way... it's just a prototype.  Then if the prototype is good enough, you might be able to get others to join in on the project.

Most importantly, you should limit the scope of your project.  Start small and try to make something that you can do with little resources in a fairly short amount of time (1 year or less).  If you're trying to make a very ambitious game, and you think you can spend years working on it or easily get a team together, then you're kidding yourself.   You only have yourself and maybe your friend there.   

On 8/23/2019 at 8:50 AM, 0r0d said:

(1 year or less)

A minimum viable game should be made in 1 week or less of full-time work, 2 weeks part-time--especially for a beginner.

If the game is an FPS game, that means the player can wander around in the level, interact with objects or enemies, and complete the level by reaching a certain point. Since you are using a game engine, the hardest part is understanding the architecture of the engine.