I am planning to make the approach (to perspective teammates) that the game is a "profile piece", meaning that the main goal of this project is to make a complete game for the purpose of adding to their profile/portfolio.
There are a few requirements for the people that I want in the group. I'm sure that they are not too restrictive, but who knows:
1) The team must be local. And by local, I mean that we should all be able to meet in person at some time. I live in Canberra, and regularly travel to Sydney, so people from either place should be fine. I would probably also accept people living in VIC, SA, and QLD, but it will be a wee bit more difficult meet with them.
2) There must be a minimum time commitment. Each member of the team will need to commit a minimum amount of time per week to the project. I would suggest that the minimum hours should be about 16, which is quite easily doable with a full time job.
3) We will decide on a development methodology and stick to it religously. I will be suggesting a "design first, code later method" with strict adherence to a project plan. I have proven to myself that developing a detailed design document prior to writing a single line of code will cut total development time by about 50%.
Now, with the requirements out of the way, let's look at the benefits:
1) We will be starting a project from the start. All members of the group will be able to say that they have completed a game from start to finish.
2) We will be completing the project in a set time frame (12 months). This is not going to be an open-ended project that runs for years, and eventually dies due to boredom. We will be creating a game, we will do it in a set time frame, we will succeed, resistance is futile.
3) Leadership has not been decided at this point in time. I would be happy to step up to the plate, and offer my leadership services, but I do not believe that this will be condusive to getting a team togeater. We will decide who is "the boss" when the project starts. There will need to be someone who needs to have the final say in weather something gets the chop, and to kick us into line when we fall behind schedule, but this can be decided at a later time.
4) THE PROJECT has not been decided at this point in time. I will be submitting a pitch for a project to the other team members, but I believe we will have a much better run if the entire team decides on the project that will be undertaken. Will it be an RPG? FPS? RTS? who knows... I'd prefer Diablo style RPG by the way...
5) We may be able to sell this game. It's being developed to professional standards, why not at least try?
Sources of people:
Now for the difficult part. Finding people who are able to meet the requirements, AND want to start a team. Luckly I have a few places to look.
1) As was suggested by dwarfsoft earlier, and also suggested in my interview, local game schools are a good place to look for willing victims. Australia's only game school (correct me if I'm wrong) AIE, is situated in Canberra. From speaking with a few of it's members, they are always EXTREEMLY busy. But it can't hurt to look into it, most people there would probably be wanting more profile pieces.
2) I have a list of old uni friends that may be worthwile contacting. Some of those people were very nifty programmers. If anyone reading this was part of the RK 2000 (aka RoadKill) project at UoW, PLEASE contact me :P
4) Hell, I may even post in the visual arts and computer science departments at local universities. Surely some people who arent rich enough to pay for a Games course will be there.
5) I do like the GD Gathering feature on this site. People in my local area... beware (and check your PMs in the next few days).
6) Other forums also keep track of locale. I will try to find some other forums that may be able to help.
ps. Please excuse my spelling. Can't be bothered putting it through the spell checker.
