Hi there,

(I apologize if this is not the right place to post this, but it seemed like it was where I'd find the person most suited for this position)

I'm the project leader for what we're calling "Project Divine". Divine is an online Action-RPG crossed with a MOBA creating using UE4. Essentially, rather than picking a different champion each game, you use the same hero throughout, allowing you to customize that hero with both items and skills to use in battle. We've got a lot of neat features cooked up here to really set us apart from your traditional MOBA and we're even fixing a lot of the annoying quirks in your traditional Action-RPG such as Diablo.

I've made a similar type post like this looking for someone to fill this role on general game development forums. Unfortunately, I haven't quite found the right person, but I'm increasingly led to believe that someone on a forum like this might be a much better fit. What I'm looking for is someone to put numbers and formulas to our systems. We have the general frameworks outlined and coded already, but right now, we have dummy values on all our spreadsheets. We don't have a formula for how damage is calculated. In fact, right now with our dummy values, I think people would be one-shotting each other if we made no changes. This is where I think someone with lots of experience in table-top/DnD type RPG's could come in and really help us out. I already what the stat, skill, and weapon systems are, but how they specifically work under the hood is where I need help. For example, on our item property sheet, it currently says at iLvl 10 an item can have between +100 and +150 HP. At iLvl 50, it says between +110 and +160. Obviously, that's not right, but until we can place accurate formulas and numbers, we're stuck on that front. I'll also mention, you do not require any knowledge of UE4 or coding.


While some of you may just want to help for fun, I'll try to sell the rest of you. This is not your average indie game development project. So many people think they can hop into UE4 or any engine and make their own game (for free too!) Most of these don't really ever get anywhere. Divine has already made some solid progress (and has minor funding behind it). We've got a basic test level completely built out in the editor, some custom animated 3D work, as well as lots of unique concepts defining our world (You can see some of our art-work here: http://divine-game.com/media). On top of this, the important part is that we're already making progress on the coding front. Lots of projects think they can purchase things from a marketplace and just plug and play and their RPG works. Divine's systems are being built from the ground up in C++ rather than blueprints (meaning they run very quick). As mentioned, we've already completed our random item generator system and it's REALLY cool (puts Diablo 3's system to shame), even non-coder types can easily make changes to every random chance you think of. We've also got most of our character stat system up and running as well.

With all that said, I am willing to pay for this upfront for the right candidate, or if you're looking to play a bigger role on the project than just formulas and numbers (which I would happily accept), we can work out some royalty deal (while that's the goal, with any indie project, it's a long-shot).

Please add me on Skype at "CThomlison" and I'll be happy to discuss any questions you may have.

Thanks!

Bump. Had a few interested but none really fit the bill. Still looking.

Sounds like an interesting bit of systems design, but being a Skype user is an effective filter for me.
I do use telephones and email, however.

Hello Chandler! Welcome to theRPGsite!

Here's what I need to know.

1) The market is overflowing with free to play indie games. What is going to make Project Divine stand out and grab eyeballs and clicks?

2) Describe the gameplay experience you want the players to have. AKA, after I play 30 minutes of Project Divine, what am I going to tell my friends? What am I going to say to my friends to make them put down Hot Game XYZ and instead play Project Divine?

3) Is there a gameplay demo? I saw the images on your site, but I could not find any video links. On Youtube, I found this test video of a Rogue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txJty6gsOic

Thank you!

1. Not going to disagree with that statement at all. Not only is the market overflowing with indie games, it's also overflowing with MOBA's. If even EA couldn't make Dawngate work, why would we be able to make something work?

I think there's a few problems with indie games. First of all, it's always extremely obvious it's an indie game. It's always based on some out of the box idea and executing that core concept well, but since we're all poor, we always end up with non-ideal graphics (that's the "style" of the game!), poor UI, poor polishing, etc. If it's not that, it's some team thinking they can make the next World of Warcraft. We're a bit between that. Due to the style of the game, we don't have to spend thousands of dollars making content. We need one map. We need one set of environmental assets. We can procedurally release content as we go, we don't have to make a full game immediately. Because of that, I'm able to put budget into the right places. Rather than being forced to use the junior modeler looking for portfolio experience, I'm able to contract the expert AAA quality guy since we only need minimal art.

On top of our ability to be efficient, the game itself is just a really solid idea and it's familiar enough for players to easily understand but different enough to set it apart. I'm sure all indie developers think that, but there's very tangible, core gameplay differences we have.


2. I'll use my last point to answer this as well. I know at least personally, my problem with picking up new games is I just don't want to learn them. It's this catch-22 that I want to be familiar, but new enough for me not to get bored, that initial feel I had with LoL. While I don't really enjoy LoL much anymore, I still think from a design perspective, there's a reason it's so popular and profitable. It's so easy to pick up and learn, but there's obviously plenty of nuance.

So with that said, obviously a main goal is the whole easy to learn, hard to master, but I think there's much more than that. Due to the way the game is structured, there's so many ways to play. You've got the normal minions run to the middle formula, but we've made it WAY more interesting by you choosing your own minions. Okay, you've lost champion variety now though, well technically, but we've added the officer system in so you still are getting to "pick" your team. You've also got the fact that your own hero can be customized with skills and items to your own liking, and change between games if you really like variety that much. You've got WASD movement with twitch-gameplay satisfying the people who say "LoL/DotA is too boring and slow".

We've got plenty in store for this, but I think a lot of people would sit here and just quote features. I don't think this is about features. I think it's about trying to take ideas from successful things and make them better. Like Diablo 3? Cool, we have that but with way more in-depth skill customization. Like LoL? Cool, we have that but now it's more action packed and you get to build your army. Like DotA? I don't know why you do, but you may see some similarities anyway!


3. We don't have any gameplay videos. That video you found is fairly old and is really just the test animations we're using for the player character. We just wanted to get something in the engine to see our movement/attacks. Gameplay videos are a bit far away. We're really working on hammering down the initial systems so that when we do start adding actual gameplay, it's mostly plug and play.