Looking for Programmer

Hello,

I’ve tried to do little games in the past, but I am not a very good programmer. So, for my first official game, I’m searching for one. I’m also searching for someone with some experience making games, as I have an idea that could use some critiquing.

I’m mostly interested in telling stories, like Photopia. My idea is to make a game about living under Stalin during the first part of the 20th Century. It will consist of mini-vignettes, kind of like Photopia, starting from the peasants to the very top officials. Unlike many of the recent games coming out that emphasize choice and freewill, this game will emphasize how oppressive Stalin’s regime was. There will be many ways to die, or “disappear” in this game.

The game will utilize historical fact to make people realize what living in Stalinist-era Russia was like. The game will also offer numerous “chances” to rebel, but the inability to successfully do so will also show people how hard it is to speak out in oppressive regimes.

The different social classes will showcase Stalin’s hypocrisy, and will also show how paranoia and fear was everywhere. It will also show how the hierarchy of society contributed to the trickling down of oppression, and the game will end with the player controlling Stalin himself.

It will be called “Gigantomania.”

The programming is probably not going to be complicated, as there won’t be many puzzles, but the concept is. I need a programmer to help me refine the details. When this has been done, I can probably type out all the descriptions and such in a month, and (possibly) the game can be finished by September, for IFComp.

Thank you for reading all this, and if you’re interested, please reply!

I’d be interested in helping.

I think it’s great to have teams working on games/stories. I think you’re right that the concept is solid. But what about writing? Is that something you would cover? A lot of people work from a mock transcript, have you written one?

I’ll cover all the writing.

I haven’t started yet, because I was interested in getting feedback so that I know 100% what I’m going to do, and not have to significantly change something later.

It was going to be similar to Photopia in terms of gameplay: mostly story, little puzzles, mini-vignettes. I was very certain of my story until I recently played Blue Lacuna. The complexity of that game severely undermined any self-esteem I had, so I wanted to know people’s opinions.

I’m not an expert, but I would suggest first to plan the plot - divide it into scenes, what will happen in each, how they’ll progress etc. For the comp you probably want an ideal play time of an hour or less as it will inevitable take many players a lot longer. I haven’t played much of Blue Lacuna, but I wouldn’t suggest aiming for anything bigger than just one of its chapters.

My e-mail is at melleberry@gmail.com. Can you tell me what your e-mail is?

I’ll try to finish the entire transcript by the end of the month.

Thank you for your input!