"Midnight Mafia"-Online Card Game (Dev Team Needed)

[ravechild5683]

Hi All,

I am making a card game based MMO called “Midnight Mafia”.

This is a 1D casual game where you attempt to figure out who is the "Mafia" and kill them before they kill you.
Each player receives a role at random(Mafia,Medic,Inspector,or Civilian)and based on that role you play a part in a story were the civilians try to kill off the mafia and vise verse while the medic try's to save people or can be selfish and heal save there own life every round.The Inspectors job is to guess who the Mafia is and if the inspector guesses correctly then the narrator informs that the guess was correct. After the inspector knows who the mafia are he can then inform the citizens who the mafia is and help sway the vote to kill off the mafia.

\\\DEV TEAM SIGN UPS AND POSITIONS\\\
• Programmer – AI, gameplay, Graphics ( python , C++)
• UI and graphics designers - menus, HUDs, widgets, and items.
• Concept and graphic artist – concept art, sprite sheets and backgrounds
• Anyone that can help with making this online and add it to a website

If you love the theme and genre and have the skills , PM me.Like myself , I am looking for people who want to have fun while working intensely.As the programmer & designer I will be responsible for production, promotion and team management.
I truly believe this is a great creative opportunity for everyone who will work & deliver this game.

Thanks Again for your time,
Chris:bandit:

[TOdorus]

Pretty good team post, but a few things sprung to my mind.


Everybody has their own projects here for which they're intrinsically motivated. You really need to prove that your project is That much cooler when posting on boards like these.
Do you have anything to show your skill level? Not many people want to work for somebody else voluntary.
You description is a bit short. It really needs a designdocument.
You mention c++ en python while this is a Flash board. Where's the actionscript?

[ravechild5683]

this game is very addicting i have played it for hours at an overnight program at pitt collage i have a bunch of C++ experience and a bunch of ideas written down for this project i just would like to put a team together to get this project done and and hopefully we will grow and be a solid group that helps with each others projects and so forth letting anyone in with decent experience and willing to help

[TOdorus]

Ofcourse it's a nice ideal to do this, but the post was ment as an advice, because it's pretty hard to set up a dev team this way. I'm quite surprised there isn't a sticky on this in this forum. I can actually speak from experience as I once tried to set up a team of three people: a coder, an artist and a writer (not everybodies native language is English ;) ).

I really had to prove myself by offering a very thorough pitch and a working prototype. A prototype really does help: it gives the people an excellent idea of how cool your project is, what your skill level is and that the project actually is something else than vaporware. The inclusion of a designdocument explicitly stating everyones responsibility, the setting and my vision on my part of the project (coding and design) as I wanted to give the artist and writer freedom in their respective areas of expertise.

Quite a few artists reacted. A lot without work, so I had no impression of their skill (again show demo's yourself!). When I insisted on it, it usually was pretty much subpar and I mean really subpar. Then out of the blue a parttime professional (from Denmark if I remember correctly) sent me a mail with some previous work (my jaw actually dropped) and a INITIAL design for a sprite which he wasn't satisfied about (I hopped around the room in joy with my dropped jaw). We talked on MSN about game design and I got the impression we were both pretty pumped about this. He finished another few sprites and then all of the sudden radio silence. I have still no idea why he dropped out of the project.

The writer was another story (no pun intended). I only got contacted by one. He had his own site where users could submit stories. I read one of his and I found him to be pretty good so I asked if he would like join. He then asked a lot about: showing logos of his site in the game and about making it exclusive to his first and then some other sites. When I said I'd rather have one logo to make a brand (I wanted to create a lasting team with a good reputation as well as you) and I think it would be the most fair if we'd get sponsorship and a viral distribution and split the profits, I never heard from him aswell.

I tried to get a team started again after that. I got two artist that showed potential (and again a lot of pure crap), but they were more specialized in styles/techniques which served more general art and not sprites. Although I promised myself to not be biased towards a artstyle, their work on backgrounds, concept art etc was of a lot better quality then the sprites they would produce. This time no writer reacted.

And that was my foray into setting up a dev team on a "voluntary just for the fun of it" basis. Now I'm trying this another way: first make a name for myself as an independent game developer and then maybe try this route again, but I'd probably go for a more professional approach next time.

So in conclusion:
DO prove why people should join and trust you rather then you telling them. You say the game is cool, but you do not explain the dynamics when playing the game (I've played a variation of this at the introduction week at uni too), which is actually where the fun lies. Basicly the old writer saying of:"Don't tell them, show them".

Have a management plan set up. Again, show it! I and others really need convincing that you can lead a team.

Linkies
1st try
http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=727368
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/730963

2nd try:
http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=737307

[bluemagica]

@Todorus, yeh, I've had similar experience as you!

Frankly speaking, setting up a real solid team is near impossible in this virtual world of the internet! Everybody has their own projects, and own life to handle! If you want a team good enough, then you really have to prove yourself first!

By proving yourself, I don't mean you have to be a programming guru, or the next Picasso, just show enough to transfer your entire visualisation of the project to another mind! What you have said so far is really....how should i put it..... useless, when it comes to forming a solid team!

1) You are suggesting C++, and Python! WHY? this is a flash forum, and most of us, if not all, are more used to developing in actionscript! Also you are going to put it online, so why bother with c++ or python, while actionscript can do the job more easily and efficiently?

2) The idea you gave us of the game gives a very vague introduction to the game, it doesn't help us understand anything about the gameplay in actual!

3) You said it's a 1D game.... how do you exactly define a card game as 1D? When you post a project, atleast make everyone feel that you have complete idea on what you are saying, otherwise, most developers will just feel that you are going to get the work done by them, and then slap your name on it!

4) "As the programmer & designer I will be responsible for production, promotion and team management. "! Hmm, as the "programmer & designer", which portions will you be exactly programming or designing, and what are YOUR skills in this regard?

[Gnoll]

Well the server will have to be in c++/java/python or some other language, can you define what language will be used for client/server?

Maybe this would be best for the Job Offers forum.

Good luck,
Gnoll

[bluemagica]

for a simple pvp card game, a php socket server or xml socket will be enough....also it will be easier to maintain than a c++/java server, since a card game really doesn't need much more power than a chat server! Depending on the actual gameplay structure, even a polling server might suffice! What I really want to know is what type of gameplay does he actually have in mind, cause too me, it rather sounds like turn based card flipping to find the mafia!

[Gnoll]

Cluedo with battles? :bounce:

@Blue, come on msn some time!

Gnoll

[SparK_BR]

another option is to become a team of 1 man
blue and todorus are the best teams of 1 man in the game/ai forums ;)
you can be one too!
then again, you must read every PDF about game design in the internet twice or have a built-in wiki just like glosRFC

[Gnoll]

"also it will be easier to maintain than a c++/java server"

Uhh, how so? c++ understandably but Java is not hard, and it is similar in syntax to AS3.

"since a card game really doesn't need much more power than a chat server"

Power maybe, but for any lasting game security features will have to be implemented, and server-side logic will be much safer and easier to maintain.

Gnoll

[bluemagica]

I didn't mean the coding aspect, well php is kind of very easy to learn and code too! Easier to maintain, because a php socket server does not need a dedicated host to run on, plus for security, php isn't exactly weak either! look at zapak.com, a gaming portal, where most of the multiplayer games are using php based socket server! Php also isn't cleant side, rather server side, and since most normal websites use php for server side, there are much more security tricks, patches, coding practices e.t.c are available for it! Also hacking nither takes place on the client-side nor on the server-side, rather during the communication phase, and whether you use java or php, approaches to protecting the communication lines are the same!

I am not saying java is bad or anything, i am just saying for his current scenario, he doesn't need java! Most of this is webbased, so wouldn't a webbased server solution suit him better?

[Gnoll]

Most websites don't use php socket servers right? :P and cracking comes in many forms, I would say the communication phase being the least common, with memory editing (client side) and packet editing coming way ahead :)

(Or do you mean communication phase as in packet editing? Saying lines makes me think neither the client nor server but sniffing in between)

Gnoll

[bluemagica]

Yeh I meant packet editing and such, that is modifying the data, outside the actual app, before it reaches the server! Decompiling and modifying the app is a bit tough and much less common for browser based flash games!