I have a low-effort game idea, and am looking for someone(s) to help create it. The subject matter is a melancholy life simulator set in the current, real world. Core gameplay involves making decisions in regards to simple money management. Happy to work with any age/skill level/gender/etc., as well as a wide range of potential forms of contribution. The most significant contribution you can make is probably being a supportive teammate who will help motivate us to complete the work.

The game will be written in Java using the libGDX framework. Right now I’m aiming for a desktop release, but libGDX allows for a write-once, deploy-anywhere across desktop, mobile, and browser. Requires a server with light networking. Better graphics might help, but minimal image and animation assets would still be in line with the feel of the game. Projecting a 3-month time to produce.

What I can bring to the table:

• many years of programming experience in Java
• - client / server
• - menu / screen navigation
• - game logic / flow
• - source control
• - ...all other skills needed to produce this game
• MySQL
• HTML and Javascript (not needed for the program directly, but maybe in marketing)
• Professional software development experience
• an art background
• - 2D manipulation
• writing
• documentation / organization / planning
• mentoring, if desired
• perseverance

For 8 months now I've been working on a single gaming project, and I'm kind of burnt out on it. I'd like to set aside that project and do another one that will be comparatively quick, this time with a partner or two. As I think it will help me connect with future work, I will want to commercialize the end result and release it on Steam. If you just want to work on the project for fun and experience that’s fine, otherwise we can work out an agreement for fair compensation of your efforts if the game ends up turning a profit. No investment other than your time will be asked for, either way.

Please don't feel that the project's success or failure is dependent on any skills you or another collaborator possess. My main goal is to have someone to help me share the load, keep us on our milestones, and bring enthusiasm!

What you could potentially bring to the table:

• Help in staying productive, most likely through communicating and contributing
• Programming
• I’m particularly interested in Spring and Entities, which are not yet part of my Java programming paradigms
• Art
• Audio
• Game improvement ideas
• Cloud computing
• Distribution on Steam and/or other platform
• Marketing / networking
• Project management
• Enthusiasm

Next steps:

I’m sympathetic to anyone not wanting to invest a lot up front into making a connection that may fall through. How about a response listing your top strengths you’d like to contribute, and what your goals are in working on the project. I will tag you back within a couple days. I plan to assess potential partners through October, and then accept the best match(es). You can find me on Discord at rocketscienceguy#0662

Hi there!

I‘ve been wanting to get my feet wet in game development for awhile now. I have no experience with programming or creating art. However, I can definitely supply: Audio, Game Improvement Ideas, Marketing / Networking, Project Management and of course Enthusiasm!

I’m not sure if this would be a plus or not, but I love creating concepts and mechanics from scratch with intertwined storylines. I can do dialogue and create intricate puzzles, character sketches and so forth. Also, I’ve been playing flute for more 11+ years. I can get pretty customizable with story music themes / character music themes, Etc.

Anyway, if your interested, let me know!

~Ryan

@rocketscienceguy Hi there. Thanks for posting. My 12 year old and I enjoy playing RPG games like Stardew Valley. Have written game stories (for fun) - if your game needs plot/story/characters/dialog etc, we'd like to help and have fun along the way. Let us know!

Hi @exbeim and @blueflute , I appreciate your response! You both sound like like friendly folk, and there is potential for either of you to contribute in a meaningful way. I've heard moody flute music before, is that something you're up for exploring, blueFlute? Writing would improve the game, but would not be needed for the first version - the minimal amount required to call it a game. If the game were to be fleshed out more there would first be opportunity for writing news articles to appear in news tickertape, or in print newspapers, ones that would come from a modern world not unlike our own. So if you like futurist or alternate history science fiction that could be some fun writing. In late versions there could be branching dialogue as part of relationship building, which should sound familiar given your Stardew Valley experience. This is not an upbeat game though, the player character is slowly flushing their personal wealth down the drain. I taught 12 year olds for fifteen years, so I think I can say with some confidence that it would not be inappropriate to work on this game with your son/daughter, but we're going to need to spend more time going over the themes to make sure its matches what you think you'd enjoy.

I plan to have everyone included in all intra-team communication, so, even if your work comes in later, all will have a chance to comment and influence the direction of the game design decisions.

@rocketscienceguy thanks for getting back!

Yes, honestly I can play anything on flute. So I’m up for exploring what you have in mind of moody.

Yes, I like to have storylines much similar to everyday life. As it allows for connections to be made easily, then by throwing in a futurist appeal, it broadens the scope of the imagination. It’s a go for me. Personally, I stay away from dark or mature themes; especially going into a more melancholy storyline. ?

Talk soon,

Ryan

@rocketscienceguy Hi I am who were replied by you in the post I made! Reading list of required skills, maybe I can contribute with more other than music composition(it might remain as my main part). I have some experience in graphic design and once the structure and mood of the game is decided, I can try some prototyping graphical assets.

Said before, I have some time to get my workspace and maybe would you provide me with some more infos(concepts or genres or whatever you can say about the game) which I’ll keep in my mind for a time if you can afford some free time? I want to have some time to consider how I can contribute to!

Thanks for planning project and recruiting members freely ?

And majoring physics in univ., I manipulates some codes to get some computation(some python and C++). I understand that’ll not help me in other fields of programming because when I managed to code a Tetris in javascript and css, I really wandered a lot ?

So my potential contribution would be

• Music(or sound effect) production
• Visual Art
• Development on web environment(Planning to learn Javascript libraries for other portfolios of mine ?)
• (assistance in programming)

Hey, your project sounds interesting. I'm a programmer (predominately Java) and looking for something fun to code in my spare time. I'd be happy to lend a hand.

Hi there, @eaglior and @estesca , nice to meet you. I'm focused narrowly on the Java language myself. Don't let the libGDX framework intimidate you, you should be able to jump right in to meaningful collaboration on the project without having any background in that yet. Concept art was a blind spot for me, given that I haven't worked with others before on games. It sounds like a very helpful thing to have to help keep the team on a shared page right from the start. I'm all for it.

Hi, I like your project idea and would like to help you with it! I'm a solo game programmer trying to improve, learn and work with other programmers. I don't have any real Java/LibGDX experience, but I have a couple years of experience using C#, C++ and Python in game engines/frameworks. I could help implement ideas, fix/create bugs and bring lots of enthusiasm! I also have a small library of sound assets that can be used for UI and stuff like that. I'm mostly in it for the experience and mentoring, so compensation won't be necessary.

Feel free to message me on discord at #drw7172.