Looking for other programmers for a stealth shooter

Business and Project Management Discussions Community & Volunteer Projects
#1

Introduction

I’m looking for two-to-three coders interested in developing a stealth-focused shooter. The combat of the game should resemble Hotline Miami in terms of ruthlessness. Barring the fundamental mechanics, you have a large amount of creative freedom.

My contribution

I aim to contribute several hours a week towards the game’s development. Although I’m more of a programmer, I can also create the soundtrack if a producer can’t be found.

The project’s current state

Short demo of pathfinding and ray casting

The AI’s patrol points (and the rest of the map) is stored in a JSON file. A path is constructed between those points during runtime. There are currently some rendering issues as noted on GitHub.

Source code

Previous/current work

APPLICATION: Flowchart editor & executor (2015, Java) <skip to 6:10 for execution>

SOUNDTRACK: Falling Through (WIP, FL Studio)

GAME: Zombie Defense (2013, AS3)

Requirements

Intermediate knowledge of general and object-oriented programming concepts.

Prior programming experience in Java or another similar language (e.g. C#).

A few hours (per week) of spare time.

Your role

You have the choice of either programming the game itself or bespoke tools (e.g. a cut-scene editor) to speed up creation of its assets. In both cases you’ll use libGDX as your main framework and possibly some of its extensions, such as Box2D.

Contract

The goal of this project is to learn and have fun. If a situation involving income arises, a percentage of profits will be negotiated.

Contact

Interested? Leave a comment below with links to any projects you’ve worked on. You will be offered to join a Slack group if chosen.

#2

I do have to ask… why exactly do you think you need to cooperate on this project?

#3

and do you really need 2-3 coders (besides yourself) for this ?
and wouldn’t you also need a graphic artist?
sound designer?

not to be harsh… but most people here, able to help you on such a project, could probably do it faster by themselves :wink:

#4

I’m always more motivated when I work with others, so a team of coders would speed up development as well as make it more interesting (in my experience). I have quite a few ideas for this project, and the editors themselves (level, cutscene, etc) can take a while to make. I’ve kept the project description pretty abstract because I want to hear what other coders are interested in implementing. On top of this, I’m trying to keep the underlying code as general and decoupled as possible for future projects. Could I program this on my own? Yes, but it would be a long, silent trip.

#5

Uh… no. Generally… no.
You are massively underestimating the effort that goes into motivating and then also coordinating a team for a project.

#6

I’m guessing coordination would be easier if developers stuck to their preferred areas (e.g. AI), then there wouldn’t need to be as much communication. The scope of the project will be determined by the overall experience of the coders; more coders, more areas each can specialize in. If they’re working in areas they prefer then motivation should be slightly easier. All of this would have to be decided upon before everyone starts, or it’ll become chaotic.

#7

Again, you are underestimating this.
Sure if you think through this, it seems you can handle all the problems you can think of.
The problem, though, are those you can not think of.

Have you ever actually worked on, and then finished a game?
Even more so, do you have any experience in working on a private game project, even in a non-leading function?

Try to work on your projects, as far as reasonably possibly, alone, and plan their scope accordingly.
If you have some experience in doing so, then maybe start aiming for larger projects and, if it actually makes sense with the workload, you can then try to work with other people, preferably ones already used to working in a team, and also preferably not with you being the one in charge immediately.

Trying to start a cooperative (and even worse, unspecified) project at this point will probably do no good beyond giving you the experience that these projects tend to fall apart quickly or even immediately.

#8

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you’ve got to be realistic about this.

You can do this yourself. Even if you couldn’t do it yourself, adding more people won’t help. Nine women don’t make a baby in one month. The only help you’ll need is with art / audio. Don’t even think about getting help with that until you have more than a ray-casting AI demo. Hire artists when you have an actual game to play.

That said, I’ve been meaning to make a game like this, so I’ll be interested to see how this game goes. Godspeed.

#9

Is there a situation where teaming up with other programmers is recommended (for hobby projects)? It seems that if the project is too easy or perfect for your experience, you should work alone. If it’s too difficult, you shouldn’t bother in the first place.

#10

The only recommendation I can and should give you here is to set yourself goals that you want to archieve, then do what you can to reach them.

We are merely telling you that forming a team just for the sake of forming a team will most likely not result in anything, probaby not even in a team.

If you reach a point where you can not do something yourself, and are also not able or willing to learn to, then that is the point to look out for help. But even then probably better for help than for an intentional team.

#11

Yes.

At some point you might be able to work with other programmers. But right now, with only one project done, you have a bit more work to do before that’s a possibility. And by then you’ll probably avoid teams altogether.

#12

Guys, what is this? The OP asks for help and you just rant about how bad teamwork is? All the “harsh” advice sounds, IMO, like total nonsense. You learn how to work with other people by working with other people. Teamwork can be lot of fun, and highly productive. Building a good team is not easy but is definitely the only way to make something more complex than an individual can. How many good games do you know that are made by a single individual? There are some, but not too many.

I see a reasonably clear concept, quite realistic expectations and a relaxed, laid-back approach. There’s even a (quite good) tech demo to give direction. If anything this is one of the most well-formulated posts in the “Community & Volunteer Projects”(!) board.

I do not have the time, unfortunately, but what you have so far looks really promising.

#13

Even if or especially when you fail, experiences are very educational.

I made 3 games in a team of 5-6 people with 3 coders.
Can recommend. Especially for later when you do project one man just cannot do by himself anyway.
Its also good experience for jobs later… having team skills and experience