Austin, Texas: looking for someone local to work on a part-time unpaid long-term UE4 game development project. I have a day job, and I’m working on a solo UE4 hobby project since early 2016. Before that, I’ve consistently done programming and hobby game/graphics projects as far back as high school, four year CS degree, 12+ years work experience (software engineer). I’d like to either continue my current UE4 solo project or transition into a new UE4 project. Long-term means we will work together for at least 6-24+ months averaging ~10-20+ hours/week (a conservative but realistic estimate).
You’re probably a software engineer (C++)… Or you’re at least competent in code and have stronger skills (than me) in useful areas of UE4 game development, game design, UE4 editing, Blueprints scripting, level editing, art tools, sound effects, UX design… Or if we decide to monetize or expand the team, then maybe things like (business, team building, financial connections, community building) might be useful. You’ll obviously need a strong work ethic to stick with our project for the long-term of 6-24+ months doing ~10-20+ hours a week on top of your day job. I’m assuming you have a day job, but if you’re wealthy (and/or thrifty) enough to do it full-time, that’s also great.
I’m open to game ideas, and my main criteria is that you have the skills, you’re reliable enough to put in the long-term effort, and we’re both realistic about the scope and complexity of what we set out to create with a small part-time team. Small indie projects are a great opportunity for innovation, creativity, and experimenting with new ideas. Or if you prefer, I’d just be happy to get help polishing my current project, or to make a clone of some existing game/genre and focus on making it a great learning experience and a well-polished substantial result to put on a resume.
This is unpaid, and we should focus on development (and on being great teammates)… If we’re able to figure out a way to directly monetize it, then I’d of course be open to that.
I’m currently in the process of developing an open-world MMO game with documentation of the project itself. It’s my first Unreal Engine project, and I’ve been keeping this concept of this game for quite some time. I recently just started not too long ago and I spend countless hours, from restless nights to days or mornings. I fully dedicate to something with huge potential and that might seem rare to either make or rare to exist within a game. I’d be more than willing to share a sum of information about the project, but I don’t want to disclose most of that information here. I’m a level designer and modeler. I’ll be looking into doing some strict blueprints when it comes down to it. Same could be said for C++ coding.
All in all; I’m officially looking for a partner who’d like to take up this opportunity and journey of developing this project with me.
@: What are your thoughts on the issue of scope? Is the following an accurate summary of your high level description (?) - working hard on writing a design document for an open-world MMO.
In most cases for a part-time solo project, it’s better to focus on implementing something small and feasible. Using a game engine like UE4 is often less effort than building your own engine + game “from scratch”. However, it’s still a lot of effort to develop and polish even a small project. Of course there are exceptions - for example Minecraft started as a part-time solo project written in Java (not using a game engine).
I’ve already developed the documentation for the game itself, and I do admit that I’ll even go as far as to make adjustments to more realistic standards. And my documentation consist more on just information, I might also be referring to map layouts for example, which I use to coordinate the assets and pieces to the game world. And I do agree with you on that last statement. Some companies do have intentions on working on new engines, while on the other hand. Unreal Engine is probably the easiest outcome for most indie developers. Considering the cost, skill set and time management for a new engine, it shouldn’t be an option unless you entirely know what you’re doing.
There’s also popular games that were developed with the engine and a game like this is surely to work on an engine like this.
Here’s some info on my current part-time solo project that I worked on 2016 Feb-Sep (more notes on my blog) to learn UE4. XML map loader. Random dice rolls (physics). 3D scan, simple edits in Maya, integrate static mesh actors in UE4, integrate textures. UMG, target select UI. Cameras. A* for future AI. Turn system. Line of sight (and rooms), ranged attacks. Fog of war (dynamic texture). Windows, OS X, Android (touch).
