Concept Artist(s)/Graphic Designer(s) needed for neuberlin° Thread

Hey mates,

My name is Lazaro and I am the Project Leader, Composer, (Small-time) Graphic Artist and Art Director for the Action Real-Time-Tactics Source Engine based mod/game NeuBerlin (stylized neuberlin°, henceforth NB); which is the spiritual successor to the Half-Life² mod NEOTOKYO° originally developed by Studio Radi-8. For further information on NB, you can look to the design document which can be found here.

Current Team & Positions:

Game Designer: Lazaro Aguilar

Graphic Design (Needed): Lazaro Aguilar, eCho

Concept Artist ( Very Much Needed): N/A

Composer: Lazaro Aguilar, Ed Harrison

Other Positions (Programmers, Level Designers, etc.) are to become open once needed.

Current Status:

Currently the soundtrack for the mod is being produced by myself, and soon to come, the original composer of NEOTOKYO°, Ed Harrison, as well. Small parts of graphic design (logos, etc.) are also being done by myself as well.

Requirements:

Concept Artist:

• Must have a strong foundation in digital art
• Must have a strong or mastered grasp on foundation skills (i.e.perspective, composition, knowledge of colour (colour theory) etc.)
• Skilled in futuristic design
• Strong communication skills
• Extremely well-organized
• Being able to cooperate with other members
• Past experience

Bonus:

• Skilled in presentation
• Online portfolio
• Skilled in illustration
• Skilled in environmental/vehicle/weaponry work
• Has a skilled or slight grasp on minimalism
• Familiar with previous mod/game, NEOTOKYO°

Graphic Designer:

• Must have strong foundation in digital art
• Skilled in colour theory, composition, etc.
• Skilled in production of logos, advertisements, covers, etc.
• Skilled in the style of minimalism
• Strong communication skills
• Extremely well-organized
• Being able to cooperate with other members
• Past experience

Bonus:

• Skilled in presentation
• Online portfolio
• Being able to make last-minute/quick changes
• Able to present variety of ideas to the table
• Skilled in UI/GUI
• Familiar with previous mod/game, NEOTOKYO°

Interested?
Please get in-touch with me via e-mail (aguilaofficial@gmail.com) to discuss details in private. If not comfortable with e-mail, or would rather prefer Moddb/IndieDB/Desura, feel free to send a private message.

Thank you for your time
Lazaro 'Faucon' Aguilar

Please note these roles are NOT for pay.

Edited by: Aguila.

Neotokyo looked great, but I only played it for about two weeks. It got boring fast, there was nothing much to do differently. There are other mods I played a lot more - and they weren't looking nearly as good. How will you improve the concept to make the game last longer, this time around?

SinKing wrote: Neotokyo looked great, but I only played it for about two weeks. It got boring fast, there was nothing much to do differently. There are other mods I played a lot more - and they weren't looking nearly as good. How will you improve the concept to make the game last longer, this time around?

To make the game last longer and drive away from the older "stay on the map for thirty minutes, round-for-round" Counter-Strike model, I've come up with a map structure which will keep the game interesting and fast paced. It works out like a big Control Point game.

Here's the original concept as seen in the design document.

Faucon wrote:
Now down to a new system for maps. Dubbed Dynamic Territorial Control or Campaign, is a way for the players to decide the story's outcome.

Team Deathmatch: Pretty self-explanatory. You eliminate their team before they do on to you. No respawning.

Very Important Businessman (VIB): *This mode only applies to Tier 2 & 3. If Falke Corporation has won the previous territory (map), then now it is your objective to escort your businessman out of the facility. In VIB, a random player is chosen to become the VIB, the rest of your teammates must, as all costs, protect you until you get to your destination (helicopter/armoured vehicle). The VIB is fitted with the armour of an Assault class and a mid-range submachine-gun.To avoid camping by opposing force, teammates and your VIB can call in the transport whenever needed. Just know, that once you do, you have exactly forty-five seconds to reach said destination. To avoid spamming or early call, it's up to the VIB to either veto the call or accept the transport. To further more abolish camping at LZ, transport will shoot enemies if located nearby. As the Government, it's your job to eliminate the VIB at any cost. As stated above with the Support class, it can carry certain objects (sofa, table, etc.) in order to block a door/pathway for the opposing side to slow down. Objects can be destroyed, but choosing another path is much more efficient. If the Government wins, you will suffer the Loss of Expansion (LOE), causing you to flee and have to regain a territory. This is done by eliminating the opposing team. If the Corporation is victorious, then they simply move a territory up. (See example 1 & 2)

Search & Destroy (S&D): *This mode only applies to Tier 2 & 3. If the Government has won the previous territory (map), then now it is your team's objective to invade a corporate building and search and destroy important documents/weapon prototypes/ghosts/servers/etc. Another option is to the eliminate the opposing team. Much like in VIB, the opposing team can use a Support class to block certain paths. At the Corporation, your objective is to eliminate the opposing force, or make sure they don't destroy the important artifacts. If the Corporation wins, you will suffer the Loss of Expansion (LOE), causing you to flee and have to regain a territory. This is done by eliminating the opposing team. If the Government is victorious, then they simply move a territory up. (See example 1 & 2)

Takeover (TO): *This mode only applies to Final Tier. Playing out much like Team Fortress 2's Capture Points gametype, the objective is to invade the opposing forces HQ and capture certain points in their HQ. Once all points are captured, you must then destroy an important structure (reactor/ android factory line) which will then end you in total victory for your party. Support class can also block paths in this mode as well. Reinforcements (respawning) is allowed, but is delayed ten - fifteen seconds. Capture points will act as check points and cannot be captured back. If the opposing team wins, you will suffer the Loss of Expansion (LOE), causing you to flee and have to regain a territory. This is done by eliminating the opposing team. If the your team is victorious, you now regained control over Germany. If you are tied, it heads on over to Sudden Death. (See Example 1 for more details) *This mode is roundless, meaning it goes on for the full 9/12/15 minutes.

Sudden Death (SD): This is ONLY used if there needs to be a tie breaker. (See Example 1) One round. Eliminate the opposing force. Winner reigns over Germany.

In total there are *15 rounds. 3 rounds each territory, 3/4/5 minutes each round.
*Excluding Sudden Death *Excluding the Takeover round

Credits: In the original game, you got points if you killed an enemy and even more for completing an objective. In this game, the weapon ranking system is in-store. But so are credits. Credits are the currency in-game, which are given once a player (or team) completes an objective. Credits can be used to unlock weapons earlier or be used to buy blockade items.

Basically, short rounds on multiple maps which will drive the outcome of the game's story. Very competitive model as well not dragging the game match out longer than needed.

Edited by: Aguila.

Clearly you have spend time adressing the flaws of Neo Tokyo. looks promising! If anything was wrong with it really then that there was hardly any teamplay, unless you found a server where people understood how to play the game. Maybe I didn't play long enough, maybe later a core formed and who knows, perhaps they still play. But when I played Neo Tokyo everybody would just rush and get killed. So any system that encourages some better Coop and keeps you from just running off will help improve the game.

I also remember that I had a bit of a difficulty spotting enemies sometimes. They should be more distinguishable and give some more cues to who they are (e.g. through animation). There was a map in Neo Tokyo where a sniper could take you out far too often, before you realized that you can't really spot him, because he's in a shadow and completely motionless. These guys need to sneeze or something when they're camping. Also, camping can be fun, but was encouraged far too much by some maps and prop placement.

Neo Tokyo was really cool and had excellent designs and great music (same composer, eh?!) I never understood why it couldn't be made to last longer with rounds offering more diversion and some real standoff situations. I think you're doing a good thing here, and being from Hamburg and knowing Berlin, I can imagine how this can look. I'd even incorporate some of the designs, like those huge, armored Mercedes Buses the Berlin Police used to have. I can imagine how Neo Berlin would give the game some weightier gear and grimmer looks. Are you gonna include real-life locations into the action of the game? Like the Tiergarten or Subway Stations in Berlin? Updated to a Neo future, of course!

I'm convinced something can be made of this. I'll keep an eye out for updates. I actually can concept and do some graphic design (I work a lot with InDesign in my part time job, and Illustrator, too). Yet, I'm in over the head with work this year and can't even help another project, which I was recently working for. So, I don't want to offer help I can't afford to give right now.

Edited by: SinKing

SinKing wrote: Clearly you have spend time adressing the flaws of Neo Tokyo. looks promising! If anything was wrong with it really then that there was hardly any teamplay, unless you found a server where people understood how to play the game. Maybe I didn't play long enough, maybe later a core formed and who knows, perhaps they still play. But when I played Neo Tokyo everybody would just rush and get killed. So any system that encourages some better Coop and keeps you from just running off will help improve the game.

I also remember that I had a bit of a difficulty spotting enemies sometimes. They should be more distinguishable and give some more cues to who they are (e.g. through animation). There was a map in Neo Tokyo where a sniper could take you out far too often, before you realized that you can't really spot him, because he's in a shadow and completely motionless. These guys need to sneeze or something when they're camping. Also, camping can be fun, but was encouraged far too much by some maps and prop placement.

Neo Tokyo was really cool and had excellent designs and great music (same composer, eh?!) I never understood why it couldn't be made to last longer with rounds offering more diversion and some real standoff situations. I think you're doing a good thing here, and being from Hamburg and knowing Berlin, I can imagine how this can look. I'd even incorporate some of the designs, like those huge, armored Mercedes Buses the Berlin Police used to have. I can imagine how Neo Berlin would give the game some weightier gear and grimmer looks. Are you gonna include real-life locations into the action of the game? Like the Tiergarten or Subway Stations in Berlin? Updated to a Neo future, of course!

I'm convinced something can be made of this. I'll keep an eye out for updates. I actually can concept and do some graphic design (I work a lot with InDesign in my part time job, and Illustrator, too). Yet, I'm in over the head with work this year and can't even help another project, which I was recently working for. So, I don't want to offer help I can't afford to give right now.

It's fine, we're all busy with life right now But, yes, real-life places turned into cyberpunk-inspired government/corporate ridden places. Also, addressing to what you said in your second paragraph, I also had trouble in not only NEOTOKYO°, but also in Counter-Strike and it's kin, where I could not tell if it was my ally or foe that I was about to shoot. This was stated in the Art Direction and Sound Direction section of the design document.

Faucon wrote:
Art Design: As stated above, along with environment design, art will play a major part. Especially minimalism. (Examples include Wip3out (Art Design by the now defunct Designers Republic): website: Wip3out.com) But will also pay homage to the original art design of NEOTOKYO°, designed mostly by PushBAK. Much like in TF2, you must be able to tell teammates as well as enemies part, as well as what weapon that person is carrying and what class that person is. Identification is key.

I really loved the art direction made in TF2, in terms of being able to identify whether it was ally or foe, what class they are, and the implication of what you can do to stop them. In this case, NB will address this issue with each class having to look radically different, while still have respects to the team's theme. For example in NEOTOKYO°, you could easily tell if someone was a Recon just by his/her looks. But the Assault and Support classes on both teams looked too much alike. Yes, the Support class does look bulkier, but from a distance, you can't really see the difference. In NB, we'll address the issue by having the teams look more radically different. For example, the Government will look more military-like, while the Falke Corporation will have a corporation theme (i.e. They will don a much more brighter colour scheme, have corporate logos on them, etc.).

If you have ever played the game Syndicate (Either the original '93 version or the newer '12 release), each corporation (called Syndicates in-game) were dressed with respects to the corporation they worked for, as well as their body build and weapons carried. Thus making it easier for you or your team to come with a plan of attack/retreat easier.

Edited by: Aguila.

Hey, I just wanted to raise one concern I have about the look of the different factions. While I do agree they need to look different enough for you to know what you are aiming at (faction and class) have you considered that if one side has bright colors and logos pastered all over, while the other has darker camo colors, you might run into the problem that one side gets a natural advantage over the other? In some situations probably more than in others, but still this should be accounted for. I guess you could use this as an advantage in level design, but it would certainly make map creation a more difficult task.

I think you should try to make the silhouettes for the teams and classes unique, but try not to handicap one team by making them running neon signs. I guess you could make heavy classes into bigger robots, Recons could be even skinnier and have hulking pose for example. Assuming this mod is using the basic ideas behind GITS you shouldn't be restricted to human characters. If animations are an area of concern I guess attaching class specific objects to break the silhouette could be enough also.

Sorry for the long rant! While modeling is my strong side, I do want to see this project come to life. If you have a hard time finding any great concept artists, I hope that I can be of help.

ultimate wrote: I guess you could make heavy classes into bigger robots, Recons could be even skinnier and have hulking pose for example.

Shhhh!

But yes, I took this into consideration, and decided long before to not give the government (Heer) dark camo, to compliment Falke's colour scheme.

For example, some concept art of the Heer's logo can give off some idea of it could be like.

While Falke's would be more dark teal and softer orange/yellow colours. Or the invert/warmer colours of the Heer's colour scheme to represent a contrast.

And, yes, we're in need of a concept artist.

Edited by: Aguila.

Oops! I meant hunching, not hulking. Logo looks like it's off to a good start. The top part seems a bit random at the moment, maybe play around with the negative spaces a bit. I like the colors. Orange/yellow sounds cool and would be a change from ẃhat you usually see.

I'm abroad right now and won't have access to my desktop for at least another two weeks unfortunately. When I do I will be in touch though!

Hey depending of your time frame I might be able to do some concept art work for you. Can you send me some time related info?