Unity 3D Project - Quantum Frame Thread

Name: [So I can talk to you more personally obviously]

Age: [This matters to me based on experience]

Any Qualifications: [Diplomas, Degrees, anything you think I might want to know]

Main Skills: [Are you a programmer, a 3d modeller, 3d animator, texture artist? Only mention 1]

Secondary Skills: [Your skills that consider yourself 'good' at]

Misc Skills: [Anything you think is worth mentioning, but aren't confident pushing forward]

Software of Choice: [Mention your key skills again, and what software you can use]

Portfolio: [If you have one]

Previous Work: [Any completed projects? Any contributions you've made to any project completed or not?]

Is Quantum Frame your kind of project?: [Are you happy working in the 2.5D space shooter genre? Is the theme relatable?]

Your Expectations from this project: [Will you be leaving after this project? Are you also looking for a team to join and commit to long term? This won't affect your chances of being on the project, it just lets me know your intentions. What do you expect to get from this project?]

Country: [So I know time-zone stuff]

Lifestyle: [Are you on the computer for 4+ hours an evening? Do you only jump on for a couple of hours per night? Are you only a weekend worker? Do you have a full time job, are you busy with other things?]

Do you have/prepared to get Skype and Google+?: [To have conference calls and video sharing]

Any issues/questions: [Mention them at the end once I have a feeling of what kind of person you are, it'll help me answer them with more clarity hopefully]

Edited by: DavidStrife7

A very nice and detailed Game Design Document. I find it very realistic and solid plan, one question though: have you fitted in enough time to make the textures and levels? You have great reference images but creating visually stunning environment such as them could take a lot of time. Do you also need to collision check the ships to the environment?

Wish you all luck with the project and I hope you don't scare all the potential members off with that strict(ish) contact format

Edited by: shadowflar3

I hope I don't scare people away either, I did mention that was a "suggested" format for the E-mail but feel free to send what they want!

Texturing is one of the 2 problems I have at the moment. I myself usually texture (quite amateurishly) the 3D models I unwrap and create, but I would really prefer an experienced artist who specialises in it. Going by the assumption that we will have a texture artist throughout, I think the time frame is realistic for myself at least. I know I can unwrap a model neatly within an hour or so of finalising the geometry, which means I can pass that onto an artist straight away, hopefully finishing a first render within 24 hours (if it's something like a ship/character). If this is the case, then I think I've outlined the right kind of time frame based on previous projects.

If there's no dedicated texture artist however, a large section of development will be purely whiteboxing without unwraps. Which means that testing and production will move much faster for a while, but then there'll be a massive amount of time spent unwrapping each model, and texturing them later in the process. I'm hoping that by putting all the texturing work off until the last possible moment, that I can quantify the amount of models that need texturing work done, and post it as a freelance role for a texture artist to finish in a couple of weeks while we continue our work. It's easier to give people an idea of how much work there is, if we collect it all at the end and post it as one job on a forum, with a list of assets to texture.

The environments aren't going to be as detailed as the ones in the moodboard images. They're there for flavour, but the complexity will be something close to G-Darius on the PS1. The models will be a low L.O.D in the background, which means texturing and model detail can all be quite simple. Windows for instance won't be extruded from the building, and will be part of the diffuse texture.

There is one level (the city level) where buildings become a problem, because you'll be flying the ship at street level. Which means close up building shots. The buildings I've already created in the Unity3D proof of concept are modularly designed, so they're quick to create, and basically use a toolkit of various 3D "islands" which can be re-arranged in different ways to create different buildings. Being a city level however, these models won't just be used for the City mission, but also the "on foot" exploration/break sessions in between missions (the HUB, think Lego games style). So the high detail models will also serve that purpose as well, and will get two uses out of them.

You're right about level design though, there isn't enough time listed in the project outline to finish designing them all.
The 3 months I mention are the "minimum" requirement to release what I'd call the equivalent of the "Chrono Blade" demo on the Ouya. It's a complete game in terms of functionality and assets for the level it contains, but more content (levels) will be added later.

The 3 months outlined are also a "perfect" time frame for the project, which is never the case.
An FPS game I helped work on for a few weeks (freelance modelling) had an expected time frame of 7 months. They're already in year 2
Xmas is when I would like it finished at the very latest, which means there's an extra 2 months for any problems or extra content accounted for.

There's still 1 week left until we start the project officially, and we're still looking for 1 more programmer and 1 texture artist.
A concept artist is also welcome, as the composer could obviously benefit from observing some concept work for the project first.