Help wanted

From Post-Apocalyptic RPG wiki

This article contains a list of possible fields of work for developers who would like to get involved in PARPG. Furthermore it clarifies the essentials about these positions on the team and gives useful starting points. Note: the job descriptions found here are not phased yet. That means we won't need to fill all of these positions right away. After the concept phase has been completed one key developer for programming, art and project management should be sufficent to get PARPG development started.

Contents 1 Phasing 2 Programming 2.1 Python game programmer 2.2 Python tools programmer 2.3 C++ / Python engine programmer 2.4 Macintosh maintainer 3 Art creation 3.1 2d concept artist 3.2 2d artist 3.3 3d artist 4 Music / Sound 4.1 Composer 4.2 Sound engineer 4.3 Voice actor 5 Writing 5.1 Story writer 5.2 Dialogue writer 6 Game mechanics 6.1 Ruleset designer 6.2 Quest designer 7 Project management 7.1 Infrastructure maintainer 7.2 Public relations officer 7.3 Recruiter 7.4 Web developer

Phasing

The project is still in early concept stage at the moment as setting and game mechanics get fleshed out. We're currently looking for a talented writer (esp. for the story) as well for a C++ / Python programmer for engine evaluation for PARPG. Furthermore we're now also looking for 3d modelers - preferably Blender users - and musicians: composers and sound effects engineers. Detailed job descriptions can be found below.

Programming

Python game programmer

Python tools programmer

• Creating tools that are used to development of PARPG.
• Examples: map editor, dialogue editor, geometry twister.

C++ / Python engine programmer

As we've already agreed to go for isometric 2d graphics and agreed to write the game code in Python, the number of potential engines for such a game is rather limited. FIFE looks like the best choice for such a game but I was involved in the development of FIFE for 3 years so I might be simply unintentionally biased. Subsidiarity is one key project philosophy so rather than setting the final engine decision in stone now I would like to get feedback by interested programmers first.

Here's where you come into play :-) I did some research on isometric game engines with Python support in the past and so far only FIFE and GemRB sound like viable options. I'm prefering FIFE at the moment as I know the engine pretty well and I'm quite positive that it will suit our needs for PARPG based on the experience working on a FIFE-based techdemo called "Rio de hola". It's quite likely that we'll end up modifying the engine core code but FIFE should provide at least a good basis for our game.

So the first task for the programming department will be taking a closer look into FIFE to find out what kind of functionality is already well supported by the engine and which kind of features we'll end up implementing on our own. Especially for the engine-related programming C++ experience will be needed.

Engine requirements are still a bit vague at the moment as game mechanics, setting and story have not been fully fleshed out in this early phase of development. However PARPG will resemble other isometric 2d RPGs as Fallout, Arcanum and Planescape: Torment. Therefore we can use these existing games at least to a certain extend to distill the engine requirements for PARPG. Engine requirements are currently compiled and should be available soon.

Macintosh maintainer

Art creation

2d concept artist

• Creating concept art that serves as template for the 3d artists.

2d artist

• Creating 2d graphics for the projects that could be used in the game, the editor, the website or for public relation purposes.

3d artist

• Creating 3d models to be used as sprites or as a base for 2d artists to create the user interface, promotional images etc.

Music / Sound

Composer

• Creation of ambient music tracks.
• The soundtrack of the first two Fallout games can be legally downloaded from NMA here and here.

Sound engineer

• Creation of all kind of weapon, ambient and or user interface related sounds.

Voice actor

• Voicing specific talking heads like in the original Fallout games?

Writing

Story writer

(If you want a copy with syntax suitable for the forums, try this history page instead.)

Wanted: Evil Minds that Plot Destruction

A new open source game project is looking for story, quest, and character authors for a new Independent roleplaying game. The setting is Scandinavia - 20 years after WWIII broke out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Civilization has been wrecked. Europe has been overrun by modern armies, and then plastered by weapons of mass destruction. The vast quantity of debris in the atmosphere has triggered years of devastating nuclear winter... which has "snowballed" into the beginnings of a new ice age...

What happens next? It's up to you. Make your mark on a new world. Visit the development blog (don't forget to check the forums and wiki) for a quite unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of what we think will be a truly fantastic game.

We are especially looking for people with experience in writing dialog trees and those familiar with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and other areas near the Baltic Sea.

Just to clear up the situation: this is not the usual "let's make an RPG, where do we start?". The involved developers have solid experience in the field of game development. Personally I'm one of the founders of open source game engine undertaking FIFE, where I took care of project management needs from 2005-2008.

If you got any questions about the project or the team behind it, shoot right away! We appreciate every kind of feedback and will try to answer in time.

Here are some visuals to look at to point out that we've already started to make progress in different fields.

Concept art:

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]

Ingame screenshots:

• Game: [4]

• Map editor tool (FIFE map editor with PARPG map loaded into it): [5]

• Inventory draft: [6]

All kinds of feedback are appreciated!

Dialogue writer

Game mechanics

Ruleset designer

• Ruleset experts, preferably with a pen & paper RPG background.

Quest designer

Project management

Infrastructure maintainer

• Setting up SVN accounts.
• All kind of administrative work that is related to the development infrastructure: SVN, forums, wiki, blog, etc.
• Possible maintenance of a server that provides additional development tools: IRC logs, code documentation, SVN snapshots?

Public relations officer

• Community interaction.
• Maintaining development blog.
• Handle all kind of interaction with the public: release announcements, possible interviews with the team, etc.

Recruiter

• Trying to recruit new developers by advertizing the project at defined recruitment places.
• Looking out for additional possible places for recruitment.
• Working out the recruitment descriptions in cooperation with the corresponding development department.
• Getting in contact with potentially interested developers and giving them a short project introduction.
• Answering any questions that these developers might have about the project.

Web developer

• Still looking for a proper job description here :-)
• PHP, MySQL, (X)HTML & CSS, Python (optional, for Trac).