Looking To Assemble A Team For A Zelda Like Game

[chris_r]

Hi guys, I'm just about to finish my degree in Electronic Engineering and I'd like a programming project to show off to potential employers, so I thought what better way than to design a game for the Pandora.
Zelda is my favourite game series so I am quite interested in developing a game in this style. (puzzles, weapons, top down perspective, etc.)

I really think if we could get a dedicated team together that is willing to give a lot of their time towards this project then this could be a very important addition to the pandora library.
Everything in this project will be coded by me (obviously as I want to show off my coding skill) and the team will provide the rest of the aspects. I'll code the tools to make the design as easy and smooth as possible (such as level designers and any other tools that may be requested).

So for this team I am looking for:
Level/puzzle designers who are familiar with the puzzle based design of zelda games
Graphics designers, the style has not been decided on but I would like to see what designers are capable of and then possibly choose a style based on that.
A musician. Music in a game is a very important part to me, and is the only part of the game that I would not be able to do myself. So I am looking for a very talented person to supply the music.

If you would like to join this project could you please post a sample of any work you may have and please remember that I am looking for talent and not programming experience as that will be my main job.
Please remember though that I am very dedicated to creating a high quality piece of work to be able to display as an example of technical ability, so I am only looking for people who are very willing to put many hours over many months into this project.

Once I believe that we have assembled a good team of people then we can start discussion of what is going to be included in the game so that I can start coding the engine and graphics/level designers can begin to start their work.

I hope to hear some positive feedback, or if anyone has any suggestions regarding this project then I would be very happy to hear them.

 

[Exophase]

It's entirely possible to do a game like this with bad placeholder graphics and no music - if you find your puzzle/level design guy I think you should put a full game together that way. Then if it's any good you'll have no problem at all finding graphical designers and composers to work on the game. This way they'll be much more motivated to contribute since they won't have to rely on you to deliver. Also, they'll have a much better feel for what style will best fit the game. This is especially important for music.

Good layout work takes a lot of talent, but it's not as laborious, so you should hopefully have an easier time convincing someone if you find such a gifted person.

Good luck.

 

[chris_r]

Thanks Exophase, but I just thought I'd try it this way round to start with so that I can end up with consistent graphics instead of picking graphics from people as and when I can. If I can't get people on board within the next few weeks I'll likely start developing anyway with placeholder graphics and see who I can pick up along the way.

 

[skeezix]

You mean link to the past era? Very easy to code really (did it myself a fee years ago), the hard part IMHO is the game content

is that what will get you an EE job tho?

Do it for fun, more

jeffPhone

 

[Exophase]

Thanks Exophase, but I just thought I'd try it this way round to start with so that I can end up with consistent graphics instead of picking graphics from people as and when I can. If I can't get people on board within the next few weeks I'll likely start developing anyway with placeholder graphics and see who I can pick up along the way.

If you can get a great core game done then you will be able to find one person to do good graphics single-handedly, I guarantee it.

 

[chris_r]

is that what will get you an EE job tho?

Well I've got plenty of projects to demonstrate my EE ability, not so much for programming.

 

[greendots]

I think a potential employer would be more impressed with a library utilizing the DSP, a physics engine, etc. Something that relates to the field closer then a game programed in a high level language. But if you want to do it for fun, then by all means do.

 

[Exophase]

EE resume building aside the dude clearly wants to make a game, let him have his game ;D If he wants to impress embedded people he could port it to some microcontroller board.

 

[chris_r]

I think a potential employer would be more impressed with a library utilizing the DSP, a physics engine, etc. Something that relates to the field closer then a game programed in a high level language. But if you want to do it for fun, then by all means do.

Actually I guess you're both right. Scrap the idea, I think I'll see what I can do with the DSP on the OMAP

 

[notyu1459]

Whatever you doing, Zelda game or not, I'm open to be your musical composer.

 

[rohezal]

There is a project named open zelda. Have a look at it
http://openzelda.thegaminguniverse.com/

 

[thingie1234]

I'll tell you want I would want to see as a zelda like game.

http://vgmaps.com/NewsArchives/April2008/index.htm#LegendOfZeldaOracleOfHours

The oracle of hours.
The concept is ready, the maps are there, I'm sure that the vgmaps guy would love to see it playable.
If you make it skinnable, you can use placeholders to be a non-zelda game for the portfolio and reskin it as zelda for those of us who alwasy wanted a third oracle game.

You know you want to do it.

 

[ashdjones]

If you still wish to do a Zelda type game, i'd really like to contribute.

 

[mcobit]

I would like to contribute too, for pixelgraphics or questideas.

 

[eyeball226]

Damn, after seeing those Oracle of Hours maps it made me realise how much I loved the three GB Zelda games. I'm going to have to replay them on my pandora...

Anyway, I don't have any skills to contribute (I am a musician/composer/arranger but not a particularly good one). I would still love to see this completed though.

EDIT: Actually, if no one else volunteers to do music then give me a PM.

 

[SomeGuy99]

You might find this interesting too:

http://mithosk-games.blogspot.com/

 

[Napster921]

I am currently attending school for game design, and would love to work on this project assuming you are very serious about creating it. Please PM me.

 

[stuart]

Hi,

I'm Stuart Fox - a Pandora fan and a TV composer - latest work I did was for History Channel's 'America: The Story Of Us'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiLyl_KOyI (all the music from 3:16 is mine)

Lots of examples on my website as well... www.goodsounds.co.uk

If I'm free when you need it I'd love to help out with music - all my contact details are on my site.

Stuart

 

[foxblock]

@All the people replying "I am interested, count me in!" you might want to assemble your own team (and start a separate thread) as the OP seems to have moved on to another project/idea:

I think a potential employer would be more impressed with a library utilizing the DSP, a physics engine, etc. Something that relates to the field closer then a game programed in a high level language. But if you want to do it for fun, then by all means do.

Actually I guess you're both right. Scrap the idea, I think I'll see what I can do with the DSP on the OMAP

I still would LOVE to see a properly made Zelda game on the Pandora (it just needs one!), so please try to get together and start developing

Some advices you might find useful:
- Google Groups is a great place to have a private or public team room (you can upload files there, start discussions, etc.): http://groups.google.de/
- Google Code is also great for sharing code via SVN: http://code.google.com, alternatively use gitHub (it might have some more options, for one you can make your project private - unlike GoogleCode): http://github.com/
- stay in contact, arrange a weekly meeting (via IM or create a discussion on Google groups) where everyone reports what progress he made the last week
- plan ahead! make a to-do list, think before you start to code (i.e. plan needed classes, structures, framework, etc.)

Make it happen, guys!

foxblock out

 

[MUMBL35]

I've been working on an OpenGL/SDL Zelda game for multiple platforms. I'm near the end of the queue for my Pandora and I'm planning on porting it.

I'm using Zelda sprites as placeholders for now, but I plan on making a unique game. It will have a more heavy RPG focus and I want to use Diablo/Borderlands random item generation.

I've gotten a base Graphics engine done, movement and collision and started a GUI system.

Here's a quick screenshot:

At the moment I'm looking for another coder or two to help finish the engine and also create the design tools needed for making maps and weapons. I'm looking for some help with people with experience since I'm not an expert game programming either.

Send me a PM if you are interested