[UNPAID|REVSHARE|EQUITY] Recruiting Devs for Project: PAYDSurvivor, a new MMOFPS Survival title.

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Project: PAYD Survivor — EQUITY & REVENUE SHARE BASED RECRUITMENT

Unreal Engine 5.4 (5.7?) | PC Exclusive | Hybrid Sharded Persistent World | Rust | Blockchain | Redis + PostgreSQL

Concept – MMOFPS Play2Earn Survival Simulator

Project: PAYD Survivor is a realistic, extremly hardcore open-world survival MMOFPS that alloys the survival genre via RPG elements and blockchain-backed economy ( token and NFT items). The technical architecture must support realistic physics and ballistics, persistent world state, seamless (no-loading-screen) zone handover, authoritative server-side logic, secure mint/burn pipeline for on-chain items, and staged scalability from 40-60 players per server at early stages, to aggregated thousands of players across additional zones over years.

Technical goals:

  • Robust server-authoritative gameplay: physics & interactions

  • Seamless zonal world: no loading screen at zone handover for the player.

  • Persistent object/loot state: replicated and stored in authoritative DB.

  • Reliable blockchain mint/burn pipeline: signed mint requests and relayers

  • Scalable infra: start small (40 players/server) → expand to thousands of aggregated players via iterative zone additions.

  • Secure anti-cheat: EAC + server-side heuristics and replay-protection.

  • Low-latency proximity voice communications: WebRTC

Engine, languages & platforms

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5.4 (5.7?) (C++ core, Blueprints for gameplay).

  • Platform: PC Exclusive (Windows). Linux server builds.

  • Game code: C++ (Unreal) + Blueprint.

  • Backend services: Rust

  • Scripting/ops: TypeScript for tooling/admin UIs where convenient.

  • Database: PostgreSQL , Redis

  • Queues: RabbitMQ / Kafka

  • Blockchain SDKs/Tools: ethers.js, foundry/hardhat for dev/testing; ethers-rs for Rust integrations.

  • CI/CD / Infra IaC: Terraform

  • Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana; central logs via ELK/Datadog.

RECRUITING DEVS ( Equity & Revenue Sharing )

We’re building a next-generation hardcore open-world MMO survival simulator with full persistence, blockchain-backed loot and economy, realistic physics, and a seamless multi-zone world.

No zombies — pure, brutal, post-climate-collapse survival FPS with RPG elements.

Full* GDD – ( 40+ pages at the moment — continuously expanding as we detail it further )
Concept* TDD – ( Review required with qualified experts )

No corporate layers — direct influence

PAYD Survivor combines

  • Mainly PvP oriented gameplay with scripted/AI driven creatures, animals.

  • Persistent realm

  • Seamless zone-based, highly detailed photorealistic world

  • Realistic weather conditions, seasons and day/night cylcles

  • Real ballistics and physics

  • A thoroughly developed combat and crafting system.

  • loot-as-NFT (Blockchain) and ingame economy

  • Permadeath - Full item-burn on death

We’re looking for engineers and developers who want to be apart of the project.

Open Positions ( offering equity and revenue sharing, payd later as funding is secured. )

  • Lead Unreal Engine Developer (C++)

  • Backend Engineer (Rust)

  • Technical Artist / Environment Artist

  • Animator (first-person & survival animations)

  • Network/Server Engineer

The Prototype/PoC Goal

  • First-person movement + shooting + melee

  • Looting + chopping + survival interactions

  • Seasons, weather conditions

  • HUD + inventory + crafting

  • NFT loot minting + on-death burn

Contact and Apply:

To apply, please send your portfolio and previous work

Founders@paydsurvivor.com

Or if you have any questions,

info@paydsurvivor.com

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Hi @rleave,

Zombies

My type of game, but all its missing is Zombies, LOL. I personally would use Robots/Cyborgs considering the real world near-future AI/Robot Apocalypse looming overhead.

NFTs

Not too crazy about a NFT / Crypto implementation (especially without significant player customization options for Player-created NFTs). Its just too complicated. Why not use a traditional in-game token/cash (not cryptocurrency ) implementation? I failed to see anything unique in gameplay, audio\visuals mentioned. Need more than NFT as a hook.

Revshare

Devs with the skills you seek are most likely developing their own Pay Z or require payment to do so. I have a 3 page google slide with a similar concept but with Zombie Cyborgs, LOL. Competition is stiff in a saturated gaming market, especially in this genre.

Rev-share sounds great, but Game Devs are business savvy in this community. We are fully aware no revenue is guaranteed to compensate for all the work required. ROI = minute to zero. Without offering Payment upfront, recruitment will be challenging. I’ve experienced this with my own REVSHARE. However, I sincerely wish you greater success.

Prototype

This Game Template offers all the features mentioned (except NFT). Could be a great start to a prototype to convey your concept to potential recruits.

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Hey TechLord,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read it and for sharing your thoughts, I truly appreciate it.

I’d like to respond briefly, without going too deeply into gameplay details.

Basically we don’t want to create yet another zombie game to add to the hundreds already on the market. On one hand, and this is just a personal opinion, but the theme has become boring. On the other hand, it’s difficult for me to imagine a zombie apocalypse as a realistic future threat, and we’d prefer to stay closer to a more grounded, realistic direction.

NFTs are not necessarily to be the core driving force of the game. In fact, one of our goal is that players who are completely uninterested in blockchain, NFTs, or tokenization can still fully enjoy the game. Titles like DayZ or Tarkov have very strong player bases without implementing anything of that sort. So while the game does rely on blockchain in certain aspects, and it may be worth using as a player, the primary goal is to create a more realistic experience, where crafting and the core survival mechanisms are grounded in real-world logic rather than “MacGyver-style” solutions - something most modern survival games are quite far removed from, with respect to the few notable exceptions.

To be completely honest, we have researched a wide range of announced and upcoming titles, including early-access projects, presales, games with various alternative business models, and Kickstarter-style products. What we consistently observed is that many of these games follow the same familiar clichés, yet significant investor capital continues to flow into them. PAYD may not offer a single feature that has never appeared in another game before. Its uniqueness likely lies in the combination, bringing together the most popular and proven elements of the genre into a cohesive whole. Additionally, I’ve not encountered another title that offers an open world on a scale comparable to WoW, most similar games operate on isolated dedicated servers optimized for 50–100 players.

I fully agree that developers primarily work for pay, that’s not in question. It’s also clear that in a model like this, no revenue is guaranteed. However, the fact that investors continue to back the 25th game built from the same mold suggests to me that the situation may not be quite as bad as you described. That said, it’s absolutely true that standing out from the crowd and creating gameplay compelling enough to capture attention isn’t a easy task.

In my opinion, from the gameplay perspective we’ve managed to create something somewhat unique that could help move the genre out of the stagnant state it’s currently in. However, it’s obviously the audience’s and the community’s opinion that truly matters, not our own. We’ll see how it goes. I’m staying positive.

Thank you once again for taking the time to read and respond to me. All the best!

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Hi again @rleave,

Go Deep. Give me the gritty details. HAHA.

Optional Reading...

Part II

Zombies

My very first game in Unreal 5 was inspired by DayZ (with Lightening-powered Flesh Golems called Frankies that inspired this), and similar bi-directional monetization as PAYD Survivor with traditional token/cash implementation using custom API, PayPal Buttons / IPN. That was back in 2014, and even at that time, I thought there were too many Zombie games. LOL.

NFTs

Do Stay Positive. I do not mean to beat you up, but the message is going to come across with a right hook and left jab, both in the face. I invert all scenarios, forcing myself to consider the negatives firstly. It is a fact, that the Games Market is saturated, and the pre-existing top games-as-a-service (gaas) retain strong player base loyalty due to their time and money investments into these gaas. Many of these games are in the Top Sellers and ive see TV commercials for them. I would anticipate massive amounts of money required to pull attention from them. Marketing does Count and I don’t see a marketing strategy mentioned in the offer.

There are games with 0 advertisement budgets that have gone viral in sales in spite of saturation. I keep my eyes out for these winners. Like Balatro, Chained Together, R.E.P.O. None of these implemented NFTs. These games tell me what Players are willing to invest money and time into (not what Investors are willing to invest money and time into). I’m making my game for players, not investors. And these games are the slivers of light in the darkness keeping me motivated to still Game Dev and publish something.

Revshare

Multiple Kickstarter fraudulent cash grabs, looking at “The Day Before”. Grifts like these have negatively impacted investment in these genres on the platform. Investors have been burned way too many times by MMORPGs in general. I encourage looking at the losers in this space too. Way more losers, than winners. MMOanything is a red flag. I avoid using “MMO” in any description, even if it is one by large concurrent user count. Adding Investors, is exactly adding a corporate layer., inserted just above your own influence.

I invest in Stocks/Bonds/ETFs (No Crypto, No Margin) and investigating into private investing with https://www.startengine.com/. If I was to be an angel investor in Games, I would start with the leadership.

I would only consider putting seed capital towards start ups who are lead by Developer(s) with a good-standing track record of successfully commercially distributing at least 2 multiplayer titles. Any past multiplayer game success will do as a past Balance Sheet for review, is better than 0 balance sheet to view. I want to see leadership with some financial acumen. I want to see some sort of profit margin. I want to see 0 tax liens, 0 debt to include pre-existing investors with claims on my equity. I want to see 0 litigation, 0 civil and criminal lawsuits.

In regards to the “game product and service”, I want to see one or more unique hook(s) (“MacGyver-style” solutions definitely qualifies :slight_smile:) and I want to see some creative use of “Generative AI” implemented in their Horizontal Slice, one game map deep. The Horizontal Slice and research has to convince me the ROI is at minimum 10%, otherwise its just wiser to dollar cost average my capital into the markets holding Stocks/ETFs averaging 10%/yr and HYS/CAs/CDs averaging 4%/year. Let Compound Interest do its thing.

Prototype

With no prior game releases, I interpret this offering as “Too Ambitious” for a First Game. That’s If it is a First Game. I don’t see any prior game development experience stated in the offering. Additionally, the offer does not state what skills and resources you are bringing to the table.

I see a large list of 3rd party technical solutions that come with their own requirements, such as High Paid Technical Specialist average 200k/yr. Some of these expenses will exists post-production eating into ROI. For example who’s performing the Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana and analyzing central logs via ELK/Datadog? Who’s going to troubleshoot and resolve such issues?

I need to see your portfolio/technical qualifications too. I don’t know if this just a list of requirements ripped from some other game or generated by https://gemini.google.com. I need to know if you actually know why you need them and if theres design plan to swap them out if needed. During dev, these 3rd party solutions could change licensing, features, other stuff to make life difficult.

In short, you can not be just an “Idea Guy” in a REVSHARE Project in a Game Dev Community. You have to explain how REVSHARE will generate REVENUE, as any Game Dev getting involve with such a project is the ultimate Investor. I realize I need to do this myself for my own REVSHARE projects. So if you see me walking around here with two black eyes you know why. Left/Right/Left.

At this stage, unique Gameplay via “MacGyver-style” solutions sound awesome, but has not been demonstrated. I can easily visualize this “Dynamic Contraption Puzzle Mechanics Subsystem” and a creative use case for implementing Generative AI to synthesize and manage such scenarios. If this gameplay just exists in the GDD, that don’t count LOL.

This is why I highly encourage grabbing a template from the marketplace and developing horizontal slice to help sell the Game concept. It will help you move toward your goal sooner than later.

5

This made my day :smiley:

I completely understand your approach, and didn’t feel beaten up at all. In fact, even your latest words didn’t feel like being slapped, so my face is still good:)) However, it helped a lot in weighing the situation, so thank you for that.

Yes, marketing does matter, but first, I believe you need a solid core product that is actually worth marketing. I’ll leave advertising promises to politicians, that’s their territory:)) Based on my experience so far, advertising spend tends to pay off effectively only when it’s funded from revenue, or at least when the costs are shared between revenue and personal/other funds. Although in my previous comment I touched on investors and their behavior, from the PAYD’s perspective this isn’t really relevant, because as I wrote in the offer, I don’t want a corporate layer. I was just trying highlight that while there is truth in what you’re saying, I don’t see the investor state as quite so bad, there is money out there, and they’re even spending it. Nevertheless, of course, I understand why I need to include the marketing strategy in the offer as well.

What I can see, corporate influence tends to kill games more often than it helps them grow and succeed. And while investor-funded titles may generate record-breaking sales, most of them still end up being forgettable. Investors walk away happy, while players shrug and conclude that it was “fine, I guess.” I absolutely see community funding as the fundraising model that’s not about investor profit margins, but about players and their satisfaction. And although it wasn’t clear to me what your opinion on crowdfunding is, despite or alongside your experiences, I’m confident we align on one thing, I don’t want to put money into investors’ pockets (except the ultimate investors, the devs), nor am I concerned with filling my own with PAYD. I simply want to create value for the gaming world.

You’re right, I’m a beginner in game development. I’m progressing very slowly, since this is a hobby and I have plenty of other responsibilities and I still play games as well:). I don’t want to sound immodest, but in other fields it has been proven many times that I have the logical mindset required to build and execute ambitious projects. I’ve read in countless places about the "harassment of idea guys,” yet I’m still willing to step here with this concept, because I know it contains nothing technically that doesn’t already exist somewhere in the world, meaning everything in it is solvable. And yes, GPT helped in writing the TDD concept. While game development itself isn’t really my field, programming is not that far from me. I’m currently working on similarly challenging projects on their own field (for example, an HFT algo based on market structure + AI, somewhere between grid bot and market maker algorithms), and alongside that I dived deep in the world of blockchain and cryptography. Regarding the TDD I am not sure about everything and can’t say I know it all exactly, but I have a slight understanding of why these things are needed, and I’m also aware that most of them are resource- and fund-intensive solutions. The long-term goal, the ‘megaserver,’ is the reason these were listed at all, because if that’s what we want to build, we need to keep that goal in mind from the very beginning.

You may have misunderstood something, I don’t want any kind of MacGyver-style solutions. As I wrote earlier, the game would stick closely to realism:).

Anyway, I’ll take your advices and will try to craft a “demo”. I’ll also expand the offer with a marketing strategy and business model and maybe some other details too…

And thank you again for your time and for the detailed explanation and guidance.

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Yes, I misread

where crafting and the core survival mechanisms are grounded in real-world logic rather than “MacGyver-style” solutions

as

where crafting and the core survival mechanisms are grounded in real-world logic “MacGyver-style” solutions

My fault. Please elaborate on what you mean by “MacGyver-style” solutions, because in the real-world when one has to improvise, it would be some sort of “MacGyver-style” solution.

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I mean, you’re not gonna make a bomb out of two screws and some duct tape, no matter how you spin it :)) What I mean is that improvised crafting shouldn’t be unrealistic or absurd, especially without the right experience and knowledge.

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True.

One would just require more components dependent on the complexity and style of the device...

lightbulb filament, chemical fertilizer, nails, metal pipe, pipe caps, batteries, cell phone, two screws, and some duct tape. Other style of device: a glass bottle, rag/cloth, gasoline, and dish soap.

To achieve real world crafting, requires real-world crafting knowledge of various sciences at various depths of knowledge, and physical building skills and artistic capabilities to translate into the interactive game world.

Modularity is the key to it all in my opinion and I’m huge fan of modular design, for code, media, animations, world and entity construction, and story. Complex Stuff is constructed from smaller objects which constructed from smaller stuff.

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You may have read the PAYD GDD :))

That’s exactly what the crafting system was designed around. In almost every game I’ve played, you can make almost anything from two pebbles and a long stick — from a hammer, through an axe, all the way to a 30-pound longbow.

When we started designing the crafting system, the base idea was that you have nothing, but you somehow need to survive in the wilderness. Bushcrafting is actually quite close to me, we go hiking a lot, and I practice techniques that could help you survive if things go wrong. And honestly, even starting a fire isn’t trivial if you don’t know what you’re doing, what materials you need, or what works best for “easy” fire-making without a lighter or matches.

Of course, the goal isn’t to scare players away with an extremely complex system. But the crafting mechanics were designed in a way that what you learn in the game, with a good chance work the exact same way in real life. This is why I say realistic…