Troubleshoot: Multiplayer Co-operative Shooter Seeks Talented Individuals Thread

Project name:
Troubleshoot

Brief description:
Troubleshoot is a fast-paced co-operative shooter that consists primarily of a team of players working together to take down a large enemy/boss. Players must work together as bosses cannot be brought down by normal means, but only by attacking tactical points and areas. Players employ a various array of high-tech weaponry including standard issue assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and many unique weapon types specific to the Troubleshoot universe.

When not battling monstrous foes, players can customize their "class," whether they want to be right in the face of the monster, or want to play a support role for others. Troubleshoot is backed by an extremely deep RPG-type system, where players are given freedom to customize their character in nearly every sense, from weapons to equipment to special abilities and perks. Additional unlocks are awarded through a skill-based achievement system, constantly rewarding players for their improvement and successes.

Feature Set

* An experience like none other. Combine planning, teamwork, and strategy with fast-paced shooter action in epic battles against massive enemies.
* Large number of available customization options, allowing you to customize your character to your exact desired playstyle.
* Skill-based unlock system rewards players for improving their abilities and keeps players coming back for more to get that next unlock.
* Team-based environment creates a need for cooperation and tactics to accomplish a greater goal.
* Original sci-fi universe brings unique and incredible environments, weapons, characters, and beasts.
* Never fight the same way twice. Each boss has a unique ability set and players must adapt to succeed, even on a boss they've killed 100 times before.
* End-of-level Rating system rates players of their contribution and skill level for each fight, making great competition between friends and keeping players coming back with a desire to improve.
* Multiple difficulty levels, each with unique ability additions to a specific boss, adding even more strategy to the table aside from additional HP and damage

Target aim:
PC - Digital Release

Compensation:
If the project is released for profit, all members will receive proper compensation.

Technology:
While we are currently deciding between Leadwerks and Esenthel, Leadwerks is currently the front runner.

Leadwerks is currently Windows only and is coded primarily in C++ (or Bliztmax) with scripting in LUA. Leadwerks does contain unofficial support for pretty much any language however so long as it can load a DLL. Troubleshoot will be focusing on C++ to keep things consistent, but the options are there.

This is a great opportunity to experiment with a near-professional engine. Whether we go with Esenthel or Leadwerks, both are similar to what you'll run into in the commercial market and goes great on any resume looking to get into commercial development. This is also a fantastic opportunity for 3D artists as you can finally go from models to real-time renders on an incredible looking engine.

Talent needed:
2 Programmers: Troubleshoot is being developed on the cutting edge Leadwerks engine. Working on Troubleshoot grants you access to this incredible engine, providing invaluable experience and knowledge for a portfolio. Leadwerks is primarily coded in C++ (can use Blitzmax as well, but most know C++ better than Blitzmax anyway). Scripting is done in LUA.

2-3 Concept Artists: We are actively searching for both environment and character/monster concept artists at this time. Troubleshoot is based primarily on a sci-fi, technology filled world. Environments are extremely well-varied, and there are plenty of unique/massive monsters to design, giving you a large freedom to go in your own direction.

3-4 3D Artists: Modelers will need to become familiar with the Leadwerks pipeline (though it is fairly simple for 3DSMax, and only requires some basic fidgeting for Maya). We are currently in search of environment/prop and character/monster models at this time. Leadwerks does include an extremely robust world editor for Modelers as well as a great custom shader and render system, and learning something like this would look great on a resume.

1 Animator: As we are in the early stages, we currently do not have any models to animate at this time, however, we wanted to begin our search early for when the need does arise. This allows you to join the team now and contribute your design ideas, as well as possibly participate in non-animating tasks, such as developing a mini-trailer for marketing purposes, though this is not required.

2D Menu/GUI Artist: This is our Photoshop guru. Jobs include anythibng from logos and buttons for the website to the actual in-game interface. Knowledge of interface philosophy and a creative imagination are a plus.

1 Level Designer: Level design in Leadwerks is done through the world editor. We prefer someone who has some basic scripting or coding knowledge and is willing to learn the in's and out's out the Leadwerks pipeline for level building, but this is not required. This position could also comprise of basic level flow and design, so if you are more of a level designer through paper and drawing, we are possibly open to this as well.

1 Writer/Designer: At our current stage, one of our major needs is to flesh out the universe of Troubleshoot. While a story won't play a huge role, we'd at least like some form of coherence between bosses and a consistent world to fight them in. This includes environments, weapons, characters, etc. Someone with the ability to turn a mental image into words is a huge plus, as a large majority of your duty will be conveying to concept artists exactly what you want. Lastly, this position involves creative ideas regarding character abilities, as well as the most important game aspect, the boss designs. (i.e. boss appearance, abilities, movement style, etc.)

As of now, we are not looking for any music, composing, or sound effects, just a little too early to be focusing on things of that nature. Sorry!

Team structure:
Chandler Thomlison - Co-producer/Designer/Webmaster/Paying for the engine
Sean Campbell - Co-producer/Technical Advisor/Assistant Programmer/Designer
Gauthier Viau - Programmer

Website:
Troubleshoot

Contacts:

AIM: ChandlerLT2
MSN: Chandler-T@hotmail.com
E-Mail: Chandler-T@hotmail.com

Previous Work by Team:
Troubleshoot was a previous project of mine that failed primarily due to lack of time, the fact that it was a mod, and a lack of co-leadership. My first step in starting this new project was finding a dedicated individual to step in my place when I'm not able to monitor things 24/7 and I've done that with Sean. You'll find that this is an extremely well-organized and focused team. You can find my old developer's blog to provide you an idea of my leadership skills here: Developer's Blog

You can find Sean's leadership and technical knowledge demonstrated at his forum: VB.NET Forum (Page 1)

And some of his creative skills here: FireSickle.com

Additional Info:
The new Troubleshoot is the child of an old project of mine under the same title. We've changed a few concepts, including the use of a professional engine instead of creating a Mod through Source and the main gameplay from Competitive to Cooperative. Troubleshoot previously failed due to me being overwhelmed as I was single-handedly managing all aspects of the project and I simply ran out of time in a day. With new time opened up in my schedule, as well as newfound knowledge, I set out to find someone who could bear the weight with me. Troubleshoot is back and better than ever with a new concept and new goals. If anything shows our commitment to this, its that we are purchasing licenses for the team(these aren't that cheap!), and going with the best option for the project rather than the cheapest.

We believe that this can be a highly successful project and hope that by this post, you believe it will be too. We are seeking highly skilled and committed developers looking to further their experience in the game creation field, not people who will fail to meet deadlines without proper notice.

As a side note, most images found on the website are from the previous project and while they will likely be close to our intended and final style, may not be used in a final product.

Feedback:
Any

Previous thread viewed here:Unique Concept Shooter LF Dedicated/Skilled Individuals - GameDev.Net Discussion Forums

You do not actually state what talent you are looking for?
Or are you looking for the whole development team?

Well with how new the team is, what I'm looking essentially is the entire development team. We have a few members currently working on some stuff, but the numbers I listed are just an estimate of what I'd be comfortable with.

hey chandler, nice to see you back working on a project. I can offer help in the designer/writer position due to the fact my classes at the moment is documentation in pre production, and I thought it might as well give me a good practice. Sent me a pm and we can cook something up.

hey Chandler... just in case you need a sound designer for Troubleshoot in future.. you can email me at hrishikesh_dani@yahoo.com .. Cheers!

Someone wrote: 1 Writer/Designer: At our current stage, one of our major needs is to flesh out the universe of Troubleshoot. While a story won't play a huge role, we'd at least like some form of coherence between bosses and a consistent world to fight them in. This includes environments, weapons, characters, etc. Someone with the ability to turn a mental image into words is a huge plus, as a large majority of your duty will be conveying to concept artists exactly what you want. Lastly, this position involves creative ideas regarding character abilities, as well as the most important game aspect, the boss designs. (i.e. boss appearance, abilities, movement style, etc.)

Very interesting...

So am i to understand you require somebody to make a coherant set of 'background' scenary for the world itself, from which to draw forth the imagery (written) for the bosses, missions, weaponry, enviroments and characters?

Sounds very interesting indeed. In fact, reading over the concepts on your website, very spectacular if it is pulled off.

Im a writer, id like to think im decent, and would be interested in giving a hand...

My Moddb page has a few samples + a tutorial i was asked to write for a jurrasic park mod-team that unfortunately fell through. If you want something specific, I could try to write you something up for the occasion, though i must inform you i will absolutely be unable to do anything new until May 7th. I'm currently entering my finals for Creative Writing at university, and writing up this huge mess of submissions is incredably time-consuming.

You can contact me on moddb via PM
or send an email to northern.otter.river.tribe@gmail.nospam.com

On a side note, might i reccomend you look into the unreal 3 engine?

The new indie developer license, as far as i recall, allows you to create a game using their full engine kit and sell it in retail, though you do have to give them back something like 20% of all sales after a set marker. It might be worth looking into, as the unreal 3 engine is pretty powerful and decent. (Scourge comes to mind, fantastic co-op game)

Edited by: Kitsunami

Hey, I consider myself the cunning linguist and would be interested in writing back-stories and such for your mod. I am currently studying Year 11 Tertiary English, and through my schooling I have always been in extension classes for English. I would also be interested in any concept art you need done. Im not the best artist but I can hold my own. If you would like to see any of my work, please just send me a Private Message.

Unreal 3 is terrible in my opinion. Everything is coded in Unrealscript, which VERY few people know. I love EPIC for releasing such a huge thing like that, but since they did not release the source (and I don't blame them), you have to do things in Unrealscript. Not to mention, 20% of sales is a huge chunk. With Leadwerks, not only is it much more flexible and likely easier to use, I pay a flat $200 per license and that's it. If I bought 5 licenses, and the game ended up making $5,000 in the end, I've already outweighed my cost from UDK if they charged for sales, and its exponential passed that point.

I've filled the writer position for now, but continue following the project for additional updates.

I won't say your opinion is wrong, but I will say your research was appallingly inaccurate and flawed. Yeah, UScript is not used outside of Unreal, but it's based on Java - any programmer who knows Java , C# or C++ will adapt to UScript in days, if not hours. Java, C# and C++ are very widely taught programming languages, so no worry there.

As for the royalties, if you make $5000, you'll have paid Epic exactly $99. Yeah, there's royalties involved somewhere, but it doesn't work the way you stated. You haven't done your research properly.

Maybe Leadwerks is the right choice for you, but you'll look a lot smarter and more credible if you justify the choice to potential teammates out there without making silly mistakes in your research

I actually had no idea. We chose Leadwerks because we wanted Leadwerks. I've looked at Unreal and from my experience with the mod, it just wasn't my thing, nor several team members. When I tinkered with UScript, the documentation was a bit lacking and some things just didn't make sense the way they did things. Though, this was modding UT3, and not the actual UDK, I don't know if anything has changed, and granted, I didn't mess with it for long.

I was just going off the percentage the above poster listed, I honestly had no idea what the actual royalty percentage.

The main reason to choose Leadwerks was that there are 100's of projects out there using UDK, and we didn't want to be another face in the crowd. We believed that this gave us a ton of freedom to work with what we wanted.

Looking back my post was a bit misleading as it was more a direct response to the poster than a general consensus of why we went Leadwerks instead of UDK.

Edited by: Chandler-T