Hi my name's Ben Arceneaux and I'm looking for amateur developers and designers who are looking for an opportunity to get in on a new game development studio/team.

I'm a college educated software developer and designer. I'm fluent in several programming languages and fairly versatile in what I can work on. I've been making games as a hobby for several years now and I've learned quite a bit. However, I feel like it's time to make an honest go of this and I've reached a point financially that I can give it a shot.

Unfortunately, because my goal is to eventually make a living making games, I have to ask that minors not apply. It's not because I'm against young people working on projects, it's simply that you wouldn't be able to continue with the team down the road and it would be tough to replace someone at that point.

Okay, now that we're alone...

I have a rudimentary business plan in mind but all positions will be non-paid at first of course. Don't quit your day job as they say. There is a plan, the goal is to reach a point of sustainability but I'm not going to lay that out in this post. This is a call to those who are interested in putting the effort in up front.

That being said, if you decide you're interested you will have to show up to meetings. Because we're going to be spread out geographically we'll conduct meetings via Skype or some other video conferencing solution. All meeting dates and times will be agreed upon by the group before being mandatory. I understand that life takes precedence over what we'll be trying to do.

If and we start bringing in money, everyone will start with the same pay. Any excess gains will go into the company including all of my share. You're welcome to contribute yours as well but no one should feel like they have to.

We're going to fake it until we make it people. I know I want to do this for a living, I've got the skills needed and the experience, all we need is a team who can dedicate some time to making this work.

Starting out, here are the positions I'd like to fill:

Two Developers/Programmers

- The only requirement is that you understand programming concepts and can write code in

at least one language.

Two Graphic Artists

- 2d or 3d, we'll work with what we can get.

One Sound Designer

- Must be prepared to provide sound effects and scoring for projects

One Web Designer (Yeah I know this is a long shot but it would be nice)

- Web development isn't my focus but I believe the general requirement these days is javascript, html, and CSS.

We can all decide on a first project together once we get some positions filled. I hope this is the correct place to post this. It is a hobbyist project. If we can get a group together then we may decide to continue but it fits the description for now.

Can you show us some of your previous work?

Hey folks, glad to see there are some people interested. I'll admit I was a little disheartened when I didn't get any immediate responses but they're coming in now so I'm back on the saddle.

I'm going to respond to every post in this topic because it's all really valuable:

I know it's not on the list, but if you need a writer/creative type, with a little background with C# and Java, let me know. Good luck!

KyoKai thanks for taking the time to respond and yes of course I'd love to have you on. However, I don't know how much there would be for you to do and this is why: I feel like everyone should be part of the design. It's not lost on me that I'm trying to build a team of some of the most passionate and creative people there are, there will be no shortage of creativity and ideas of this I have no doubt. However, I can't deny that there may be a need for someone who understands writing and the English level at a professional level.

I've started many projects, some even from this very website. There are many variables that contribute to a projects viability. In my opinion, the most important of those is the ability to keep things in scope. Nearly every project I've written code for has failed because the designer had grandiose plans in mind. With this is mind, I'm intentionally keeping things small. Unfortunately writing is something I don't think we'll need at the outset. That does not mean that the team will come to agree that a writer is needed. But thank you for responding and keep working on your programming.

If you'd like you could send me a message and we can discuss your current skill level with regards to writing code. If it appears you understand the concepts of coding in general we can work with that. We can assign you a section to work on and you can devote your time to learning that system. Send me a message if you're okay learning on the job.

Can you show us some of your previous work?

Sure! However I think you may be disappointed and the reason is something I've mentioned above. I have been making projects as a hobby. What I mean by this is that many of my projects are unfinished and while I'm very proud of what I did complete, it wouldn't be very impressive unless you are impressed rooting in random game code.

If this is the case then feel free! My github has one or two projects in it that I worked on. Check it out https://github.com/speeddown.html

One of them was a rogue like themed on Adventure Time. Spurned on by the success I was having I thought it a good idea to roll my own ECS (Entity Component System) in Lua from scratch. I bit off more then I could chew and made so many edits to the code's structure that I began finding it difficult to keep track of the systems. One day I may dig into it and resurrect it because there is some code in there I'm especially proud of. See I have this problem: I find it near impossible to use another programmer's code! It might be pride, I'm not sure but I tend to want to write it myself from scratch. The inventory system, procedural map generation, and line of sight code is completely original. Damn proud of the line of sight algorithm.

Another project on my github page is called Whisp and it's a side scrolling platformer created in a few days for Global Game Jam 2016. I worked on it with a large team and unfortunately I didn't get to do much. Due to my experience I became relegated to teaching the less experienced how to implement certain mechanics/do things in Unity3D. It was an awesome experience and my code is all over the project but it wasn't completed due to running out of time. The premise was really intriguing and I'd like to revisit it in the future but I'd have to re-write quite a bit of code and it uses 3D art assets, something I'm unable to make more of myself. I'm not sure if Whisp has an executable saved on the page or not but if it doesn't you can probably import the project into Unity and run it that way or create an executable yourself. It SHOULD compile without issues. If it becomes a selling point then I'll go dig up the project and create it myself.

Aside from games I also write code for my paying job when required. Usually it entails making use of Rest and Soap APIs to import, export, and change data inside of Salesforce CRM platform. My current project is an expert system (look it up, it's a thing) written in Java and implementing the swing libraries to serve as the GUI for interacting with the system.

I am getting started in 2d / 3d art. I know a little Maya, pixel art, animation and I have been working in concept. I am hoping to get some experience with a group of people and I would love to contribute to your project. I also know some Java and a little Javascript if that would help. Let me know if you are interested.

Hi, what game engine will you be working in and do you have an idea for the game?

I would be happy to join if possible, I'm currently trying to get together a group of people to make a hard core survival game focusing on realism (preferably in Unity) but it would be fun to work on almost anything. I can help with coding and 3D models.

Hey, I'm interested as well as a sound designer and I can focus on sound effects and ambience while someone else makes the music.

I'd also like to know which engine you'd use.

Hi my name is Cristiano I am a composer and sound designer and I am interested in the project and I like your attitude/profesionality.

Here you can find my portfolio:
http://cristianodp.weebly.com

Looking forward to hearing from you

Best

Cris