Building a team for 2012 Dream. Build. Play. w/ XNA

[Mista Wicket]

Hi all! My name is Warren aka "Mista Wicket" and I have a couple of projects I am looking for assistance with. Please see my introduction for info on me and my background. I am both the project & sound manager for the following projects.
Every year, Microsoft promotes / hosts an awesome (in my opinion) competition titled Dream, Build, Play. For the last four year I’ve downloaded & played the finalist entries as they usually allow the Xbox Live Community to rate / vote for the grand prize winner. In 2007 an amazing side scrolling beat-‘em-up called “The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai”, which was developed in about 4 months using XNA by an independent developer named James Silva won. James won a $10,000 prize along with an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract with Microsoft. James produced an amazing game, (which I bought to support a fellow independent game maker & because, hey, it was fun!) and just released the follow up sequel earlier this year! His story (& success) inspired me to release my own game vision to the masses for two reasons. Reason # 1… Because I know it can win this years competition, and Reason #2… Because it is an original idea, not another rehashed presentation of “Angry Birds” called “Angry ______s” (fill in the blank).

If it were as simple as making music is to me, you probably would not see my post here, because I’d be too busy working on it already, but this is where I need your help. I programmed a game before. It was called “The Sen Saga: Shadow of the Sen” released on the original Play station in 2003 (Download it here

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.) This was released through the original RPG Maker, and therein lays my problem. When opening up the free XNA via the free Visual Basic, I was lost. So I went to the XNA site & asked for help - every one replied / suggested to get some books & do some tutorials. I bought a book. Actually I bought two. The first was “Microsoft® XNA™ Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now!” by Rob S. Miles. The second was “XNA Game Studio 4.0 for Xbox 360 Developers” by Jonathan S. Harbour. After spending at least 120+ hours (going through these books, the treasure map to my dreams might I remind you) I realized something. No matter how many books I purchased, and no matter how many you tube tutorials I walked through, I was still completely clueless as to what I was actually doing. The only thing I was able to do effectively was prove two things to myself. That 1) - I can read; & that 2) - I can follow instructions. I followed instructions to make my screen change colors. I made a space invaders game, as well as an Indiana Jones type of plat former.

I say all of that to say this. I do not have time to go back to school again. I am essentially on my knees begging as I type this (Insert improved responses here) because I’ve run into a wall. I can not do this on my own and I need help. I am not thinking about the % of people who will read this post in amusement and walk away. I’m making an attempt to tug at the strings of your soul. I can not offer any type of compensation for help on this project. If you are looking for a project to put into your portfolio, please respond. If you have nothing better to do with your time but think taking a chance on some random guy’s game idea may hold even the slightest amount of potential, please respond. If you love taking up challenges just to beat them please respond. I will also need volunteers to test the game at various stages, so if you are an XNA / App Hub member, please respond as well

This project is for PC / Xbox 360 via XNA. XNA is free tool that allows you to program in C#.

This is intended for any and all artist, 3d modelers, Programmers, script writers (which may also be programmers), animators, visual effects guys, network coders (that once again, may also be programmers… sorry for not being able to properly identify). You all can be the team that helps me fulfill my vision of an amazing set of games, and collectively win this years publishing contract in this years competition.

I have two Ideas. One I perceive as simple, and the other I perceive as extremely complex, based off of what I do know about game design. I am not sure I should divulge my wonderfully crafted Ideas in detail here, but I will give a generalization.

The simple idea is similar in concept to some of today’s collectible card games like Yu-Gi-Oh!, & Magic the Gathering. It would involve a lot of artwork (still images), but would definitely be lighter on the actual animation side. Primarily you can think of it as a customizable fighting game, but the mechanics I have in place easily makes it an addictive pick up & play for anyone.
The complex game looks more like this: Envision the following formula: The multiplayer matchmaking of Halo 2 or higher) + The customization of characters, attacks, special abilities, equipment – more like Tenchu Z meets Phantom Dust + Ninjas. This is my Halo/ COD / WOW killer. I only say that because I’ve played the others & feel this game would / will be the game that raises the bar, similar to what Halo/Gears/GOW/& the Drake series all did. It wasn’t good enough for Doritos as a “pick up & play for 2 minutes game”, but I know this is the gem. If you’d like to know more about this, please see my Doritos’s Unlock Xbox 2009(?) presentation.Here's the link:

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. If you are even more interested in my ideas after viewing my video (as you all should be), please let me know.

Game details & Ideas are a collaborative effort in my eyes, so plese also know that while I know what I want, I also know there is an ungodly amount of strength in collaborations as well. If you have ideas we can bounce them off each other in an attempt to produce & release the best game possible!

I’m looking forward to building a company with you all that wish to be involved! I will also give those who help a free copy of my debut CD! (Talk about sweetening the pot...)

 

[Kaz]

Wow that is one big ass post. You mentioned at the start that the winner got $10,000 and a contract.
If your game won, with lets say 4 others helping. Would you be splitting the prize money and what would happen with the other 4? will they get a contract along side you?

By graphic designers, what kind of graphics you looking for? top notch which would require being able to create a high detailed character from scratch? or something cheesy that would give the end-user a laugh (eg, a set of blobs (each unique in its own way))
If your looking for high detailed, they take some time to make and using a freelance could rack up quite a bit of $$$ in costs

 

[Radiant]

Hey there, I read all of your post and I like your goal, sadly I'm not having any ambitions around game development myself so I can't help you there.

Unlucky to hear that after investing so many hours it's still hard for you, but maybe that's because you're not using the right approach to start out, now this is only an assumption, and I wonder; are you starting with the very basic practices?

Like making a simple game (for ex. Pong, Space Invaders like you mentioned) to just understand a bit of the mechanics? I'm asking/suggesting this because I too have had trouble learning things because I went for the hard stuff right away, and while it sometimes does teach you a lot at once, it's usually best to start from the very bottom and work your way up.

I also believe if you're really motivated, there's little you can't do. If you're having trouble coming up with things and end up having a creative block, inspiration goes a long way and looking at others' developments and methods will help you form an understanding as well. You also shouldn't force ideas, if you're rushing to come up with an idea it'll usually not be a great one (although you can sometimes get lucky )

I wish you the best of luck and hope you manage to do it, either alone or with a team!

 

[Mista Wicket]

@ Kaz - I mentioned the $10,000 James Silva won, but I do not know if the prize money has gone up / down / or stayed the same. IMO it would only be right to split the winnings between everyone involved. In all honesty, I'm not even looking at the prize money as an incentive; but would be willing to offer it as compensation for those involved - so I would be willing to waive my share if it meant getting dedicated people to buy into the idea and work on the project without up front payments...

For me, the publishing contract would be my reward. All who help complete the project would be offered a share of that contract as well. I'm sure others working on the game would have ideas they would love to explore. I figure a group of people who can successfully complete a project get used to working with one another, which makes things easier in the long run - by establishing team chemistry

as for the Graphic artist request, I've got a vision of fighting silhouettes. This way people can clearly see the action taking place, but no real detail needs to be drawn (like facial hair, shadows, ect.) It would look something like the guy in the nba logo. nothing complicated, I'm simply not not an artist at all. I'm the guy that has people rolling around on the floor holding their side laughing so hard when I play Pictionary, & that's not the exact direction I want the art to go... lol

@ Radiant - Thanks for reading it in it's entirety. I figured between my introduction post, and this one, people could get a feel for my personality & set the tone by showing that I know what I want along with the fact that I have a plan to get there. To start, I'm simply looking to network & show that I'll do what I need to in order to make sure people's time is not being wasted.

Anyways, as my story indicated, I did start with the simple task of making my screen turn blue. After that, I made a strobe light, followed by the asteroids game & plat former. While I was able to duplicate the results, It did nothing to clarify what was what or how VB worked in a manner that I could grasp - although the books & tutorial stated it was intended for beginners.

As far as motivation is concerned, I've got that in spades. I just need people who can see the same thing that I do. If they can see my plan, they will know and understand my faith in these two ideas...