AntiSocialKindaGuy
September 6th, 2006, 04:42 AM
Introduction
Good morning. I am Steve, alias AntiSocialKindaGuy, from the Unreal Tournament 2007 modification Enemy Within, which is currently in the early design stages. I am an MEng Computing with AI student at Imperial College London, have been a modder on the scene for around six years, and have worked on a wide variety of projects on a number of game engines in that time. The current projects I am working on can be found in my signature.
The Modification
So there's the bit about me; now onto the mod. In a nutshell, Enemy Within is a multiplayer online tactical horror survival game based around social interaction, trust, deception and wit; the concept behind it is to capture the mistrust and fear between players of John Carpenters 'The Thing'. The current stage of the design document can temporarily be found here (http://www.menofthewest.org/enemywithin/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3), and gives an overview of the game concept and its design methodology. Please note this is currently being fleshed out.
While this is an interesting concept in itself, there are two truly original elements being implemented; those of Fear and Insanity. These affect players slowly, and in a variety of ways.
Fear is influenced by lighting, sound and vision – so low light, loud noises and blood will all increase fear. The effects of fear will include randomly changing mouse sensitivity, hearing sounds louder than they really are, mistaking common sounds for uncommon ones, poor aim, inability to focus on tasks and reduced eyesight.
Insanity is influenced by being a witness to terrible events such as the loss of a comrade, being attacked by the enemy and seeing dismembered corpses. The effects of insanity include hearing non-existent sounds, seeing things in the corner of the screen, seeing things moving behind doors, seeing Allies as aiming at them, seeing Allies as a revealed enemy, seeing a revealed enemy as normal and not getting all player messages through.
Staff
Staff at present consists of three programmers, two modellers ( one player, one weapon / props ) and one skinner, all of whom I know in real life and who I have planned this mod with. We intend for production of artwork to begin immediately, with programming beginning on the engine release ( which is quoted currently as May 07, but we all know how these things get delayed ). As such, the intention is to have the artwork and design document fleshed out to the point where programming can be accurately directed and quickly implemented.
Concept Art
I know from experience that modellers, skinners and mappers will always produce higher quality work when working from good concept art; it is for this reason I am posting. As such, I am seeking a good concept artist or two who is interested in the mod style and hence can produce high quality artwork for high-poly modelling of characters and map mood ( as opposed to design ). An interest in dark horror is of course an advantage, as is a deep imagination for thinking of what The Enemy may look like when revealed in a partial or full state and envisioning what the effects of insanity would be on the player.
The mod, as with all of my previous mods, gains exposure through news websites such as ModDB and, on occasion, in gaming magazines. You can expect proper credit for your work, and links to your webpage provided either on the work themselves or on our website at your discretion. A website is currently being produced by one of our programmers for recruitment purposes only, but full exposure of the mod will not begin until a later date ( it is generally preferred to have considerable artwork completed, including skinned models, before exposing a mod to the public ).
This will be an excellent chance not only to add to your portfolio, but also to gain exposure for your work. As a modder I am well aware working for free is not ideal, but I also know that many work because they enjoy it and because it adds to their employability in the future; I have had interest from various companies for when I graduate as a result of modding, and while I don't know the specifics of your industry I suspect it will be the same in that respect.
Afterword
Thanks for reading. If you like the look of the game concept and would like to help us capture the mood of the modification in your artwork, please EMail me on antisocialkindaguy@hotmail.com, post on our forum (http://www.menofthewest.org/enemywithin/forum/) or post a reply here.
Good morning. I am Steve, alias AntiSocialKindaGuy, from the Unreal Tournament 2007 modification Enemy Within, which is currently in the early design stages. I am an MEng Computing with AI student at Imperial College London, have been a modder on the scene for around six years, and have worked on a wide variety of projects on a number of game engines in that time. The current projects I am working on can be found in my signature.
The Modification
So there's the bit about me; now onto the mod. In a nutshell, Enemy Within is a multiplayer online tactical horror survival game based around social interaction, trust, deception and wit; the concept behind it is to capture the mistrust and fear between players of John Carpenters 'The Thing'. The current stage of the design document can temporarily be found here (http://www.menofthewest.org/enemywithin/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3), and gives an overview of the game concept and its design methodology. Please note this is currently being fleshed out.
While this is an interesting concept in itself, there are two truly original elements being implemented; those of Fear and Insanity. These affect players slowly, and in a variety of ways.
Fear is influenced by lighting, sound and vision – so low light, loud noises and blood will all increase fear. The effects of fear will include randomly changing mouse sensitivity, hearing sounds louder than they really are, mistaking common sounds for uncommon ones, poor aim, inability to focus on tasks and reduced eyesight.
Insanity is influenced by being a witness to terrible events such as the loss of a comrade, being attacked by the enemy and seeing dismembered corpses. The effects of insanity include hearing non-existent sounds, seeing things in the corner of the screen, seeing things moving behind doors, seeing Allies as aiming at them, seeing Allies as a revealed enemy, seeing a revealed enemy as normal and not getting all player messages through.
Staff
Staff at present consists of three programmers, two modellers ( one player, one weapon / props ) and one skinner, all of whom I know in real life and who I have planned this mod with. We intend for production of artwork to begin immediately, with programming beginning on the engine release ( which is quoted currently as May 07, but we all know how these things get delayed ). As such, the intention is to have the artwork and design document fleshed out to the point where programming can be accurately directed and quickly implemented.
Concept Art
I know from experience that modellers, skinners and mappers will always produce higher quality work when working from good concept art; it is for this reason I am posting. As such, I am seeking a good concept artist or two who is interested in the mod style and hence can produce high quality artwork for high-poly modelling of characters and map mood ( as opposed to design ). An interest in dark horror is of course an advantage, as is a deep imagination for thinking of what The Enemy may look like when revealed in a partial or full state and envisioning what the effects of insanity would be on the player.
The mod, as with all of my previous mods, gains exposure through news websites such as ModDB and, on occasion, in gaming magazines. You can expect proper credit for your work, and links to your webpage provided either on the work themselves or on our website at your discretion. A website is currently being produced by one of our programmers for recruitment purposes only, but full exposure of the mod will not begin until a later date ( it is generally preferred to have considerable artwork completed, including skinned models, before exposing a mod to the public ).
This will be an excellent chance not only to add to your portfolio, but also to gain exposure for your work. As a modder I am well aware working for free is not ideal, but I also know that many work because they enjoy it and because it adds to their employability in the future; I have had interest from various companies for when I graduate as a result of modding, and while I don't know the specifics of your industry I suspect it will be the same in that respect.
Afterword
Thanks for reading. If you like the look of the game concept and would like to help us capture the mood of the modification in your artwork, please EMail me on antisocialkindaguy@hotmail.com, post on our forum (http://www.menofthewest.org/enemywithin/forum/) or post a reply here.