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JeTSpice launch – JeTSpice

JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
JeTSpice, a Christian software gaming enterprise with publisher relationships seeks programmers, artists, and people with an interest in creating video games for a profit-sharing venture. jeffspicer@wapda.com

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited July 08, 2006).]

JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
I see the "professional ad" approach isn't working. Here's the real story: I'm a Christian game developer--kinda by accident. Over the last year, I was getting married in Kazakhstan, and had all this time and didn't speak Russian except to say, "How much is that?" With lots of spare time, I sat down to noodle around with BASIC, and ended up in a CE3K kind of obsession with this game idea. About 2 months into it, my mom called with news of a Christian gaming conference and thought that it would be a perfect industry for me to get into. Since she had no idea I was coding a game (I don't think I did, either) I took it as a sign from God, and kept going. Every time I had a huge bug, I'd stop what I was doing and spend some time with my wife. After doing so, the bug would miraculously work itself out. With the help of the Lord, I made a demo in 6 months--graphics, sound, coding, and everything. Currently it's being hosted on christ centered game reviews. (ccgr.org) It's called "Exegesis." I advertised on a couple mac freeware sites (because it's mac only) and got 1000 downloads in the first month. None of the reviews were good, but they all were aimed at Christianity and not at the game, so I rejoiced for the trial because the flame they gave me was endured for Christ. We flew back to the US, and prepared for the Christian gaming conference (cgdc.org). During the next month, I went from a registered attendee to being a speaker at two of the workshop tracks. At the conference, I met with many big industry leaders in Christian gaming. They loved the concept and talked about publishing it, pending that I supe up the graphics and add a few things to it. So, that's where I'm at, now. I don't know a thing except BASIC--no website knowledge, no C++, no nothing--so I'm going to need a lot of help. But I'm willing to share in the profits, so it can be good for somebody who is a speculator, or who wants to get their name on a published title. There's the long version of who I am and what I'm doing, up-front with no fancy ad lingo. If you want to talk to me some more about it, then PM me or email or something. Thanks for reading. -JeTSpice
LegaianLight

Member

Posts: 71
From: Colorado, United States
Registered: 04-04-2006
You just said two words that caught my attention: mac and exegesis. I did play the game and i enjoyed it, however, as im sure youve heard other places, the load time overall for the game was horrendous. The gameplay, though, was very nice. There were some minor graphic glitches that i saw and i didnt understand the interface altogether at first, however i did enjoy it overall. The projects which i have tried to get up and running havent really happened, so if you could pm me with more info or if you have a site that would help. Is Exegesis the only game you have so far? Are any other games in the works?

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O Praise Christ, O Praise Christ, He Is Holy, He Is Holy - O Praise Him,

Lava
Member

Posts: 1905
From:
Registered: 01-26-2005
What kind of artists are you looking for? Would they be volunteer or paid?

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JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
@ LegaianLight: okey doke
@ LAVA: artists to do textures for the NPC's, to make icons and assets. I'll probably do most of the animations myself, but if we get an artist who's super gung-ho about modelling humans and/or creating the animations, then we'll bend a little in that direction. We might need some original assets for the demons. The setting of the game is in the real world, and most of the real-world assets will be used from Microspot Interiors. So, there's super easy jobs, and more complex ones.

Concerning pay, this is a profit-sharing venture, and will be secured by written and signed contract. I'm very concerned about people's emotional, spiritual, and professional health, so the contracts will spell out exactly what it is we are doing. This helps to prevent the devil from fanning the flames of granduer in our minds, from causing envy and strife, from crushing our hopes, and from the countless other flaming arrows we've all had to endure.

On a lighter note, thanks for your responses. -JeTSpice

@ LegaianLight: I sent a PM. Did you get it?

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited July 12, 2006).]

guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
Hey Jeff

Thanks for expanding on the first post. I personaly don't have the skills your looking for (character art) and although I'm pretty good at web design I'm not great at coding pages and I'm horible at keeping them up. Like I told you before I see a lot of potential in your concept and can't wait to see it expand into a real game. If you need some server space let me know. I have extra space and bandwith I would be more than happy to let you use. Also I can install forums, wiki and other colaboration software on it that could be quite helpful in comunicating with a team. I think having a web site in some shape or form should be a priorety now so let me know if I can help you, and I'll do my best to work it in around my lawn mowing . Jeff McArthur

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JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
Jeff, that'd be great. I'll let you know, and thanks a ton.
BTW I have Open Fire on my dashboard, but it says I need Unity to run it. Can you PM me? Do I have to buy Unity or was there something I missed on their site?
guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
Now that I see the final thing it dousn't look as spiffy as I had hoped, but oh well I had fun making it Just an idea that I got when I heard your name. Having a chili straped to a jet engine.

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JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
lol very spicy. We do have a logo, but it needs a couple of things. Interested?

The wiki would be very helpful. How long does it take to set up? How long would it take me to format a 20 page document? Do I need to know some special language?

We have a survey we'd like to post, and drive traffic to it. Is there a way to do that on your server?

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited July 13, 2006).]

Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
What kind of BASIC is it written with?
As in: DarkBASIC, Blitz3DBASIC, EthosBASIC, GLBasic, etc.

Lazarus

JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
It's called MetaL, for mac only. It's free and clocks in at 75% speed of C++. The commands are traditional BASIC: print, "hello, world." : for t = 1 to 3 : ? "hello again!" : next t

The only difference is where all the BASIC languages differed in their use of graphic commands.

guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
Hey Jeff

I would take a shot at those changes to your logo if you want. As far as the wiki, it takes a cuple of mins to upload, create a database and conect them, so its quick. Formating a 20 page doc wouldn't be to big a deal, you might have to learn a bit how the pages are formated (something similar to BB Code used in a forum like this)

As for a survey, that will require a form which are rather time consuming to create but I can do it. Depending on how many questions and all it would take me an hour or two.

About the server, I can offer you a subdomain something like http:/jetspice.bluegillweb.com or if you would like to purchase a domain (only $9 over at www.namecheap.com) then we can connect that to my server for now and no one will even know its on my server. Then if you get your on hosting package/server anywhere you can conect it to that one insted and people won't know you have changed where you store the site. Let me know what you want. I would sugest getting a domain. Also feel free to contact me over IM or email guategeek [at] vinyastudios.org for a faster response. Jeff

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[This message has been edited by guategeek (edited July 14, 2006).]

jestermax

Member

Posts: 1064
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: 06-21-2006
i love that logo guategeek that looks like something from Earth Worm Jim
buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
lol, it does. that is cool.

Exegesis?! COOL.. i've heard about it, it's supposed to be cool. wish i could try it out...

like guategeek, i'm not good at the whole character thing. im more vehicles/weapons and other inanimate objects. lol. i *might* be able to help you with designing a website if nobody else wants to. maybe Guategeek and I could combine our web designing skills (lol) if he wants to.

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WARNING:

RADIOACTIVE IE AHEAD!
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#include <spazz.h>

int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']

jestermax

Member

Posts: 1064
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: 06-21-2006
Mac is where i get off the train, unless its using a cross-platform language.
JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
@ buddboy -- there is still a need for vehicles and inanimate objects. They're very mundane -- cars, bikes, busses, streetlights, etc. The game uses 2D art assets rendered from 3D models so the LOD needs to be high. Interested? You can also PM me or email me at jeffspicer[at]wapda[dot]com.
Thanks!

@ jestermax -- Exegesis uses Torque 2D. Pros: cross-platfom development using Torquescript. Cons: each programmer needs to have their own copy of Torque2D. We're brainstorming how we can get around this issue. And, we totally love Jeff's chilli on a jet! Thanks for the interest!

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited July 17, 2006).]

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
hmm... maybe. im not that good at 3D, guategeek is good tho =D lol. i might do it tho, im getting a little better. but somebody else would have to texture the models, because i can't figure out how to do that with Wings3D =D

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WARNING:

RADIOACTIVE IE AHEAD!
--------------------
#include <spazz.h>

int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']

guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
In wings 3D you would do a process called UV mapping also known as "unwraping" the model to tell it what parts of a texture refer to different parts of the model. You can then paint your texture in whatever program you like.

Jeff Spicer I think it would be good to go with an isometric viewpoint for the graphics over the viewpoint used in the curent build of the game. Isometric gives a more realistic feeling of depth and scale. Also you might want to have all the images rendered by one person using the same rendering engine and lighting setup. So even though various artists could be creating the 3D meshes they all get rendered by one artist. You will run into 3D format and software problems no matter what option you chose. Jeff

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jestermax

Member

Posts: 1064
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: 06-21-2006
ah yes, the Torque licensing issue. Not a fun thing. I've never used Torque for that reason
JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
@ buddboy -- Here are some screenshots of the demo:
http://mac.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Exegesis-Screenshot-15326.html
The commercial version calls for better graphics, sound, gamespeed, and some new game features. About 3D modelling, perhaps you can send me a couple of examples of your work? I haven't checked out Wings3D, but if you can make a UV map of a model, then another 2D artist can paint it. There's also the approach of using primitive shapes, each with it's own material. I prefer this route, because it's tough to get the lighting effects right on a UV map. Here's my email jeffspicer[at]wapda[dot]com

@ guategeek -- The iso idea is good. I've heard it from other well-seasoned gamers, too. When I was first making the demo, I debated going with isometrics. But for several reasons (Psychological effect, side-scrolling familiarity, asdw, more) I've stuck with the Psuedo-3D look. The commercial version will make better use of the Psuedo-3D. Thanks for the tip on rendering. There's a huge 3D library on Microspot Interiors which are perfect for Exegesis. We might go that route, too.

@ all -- thanks for the interest and the accolades, guys! God bless you all.

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited July 18, 2006).]

jestermax

Member

Posts: 1064
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: 06-21-2006
looks nifty for future reference to all interested in 3d looking sprites, check out Reiner's Sprites. just google it and you should get there. they have a LARGE variety of free 3D sprites and tilesets
buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
um... i'm not gonna be able to top those person models... unless i use Google Sketchup, but that can only export to 2D images. unless that's ok for what you want. i can probably do cars/buses... i don't get exactly what you're saying. are you asking if i can put the UV map onto the body? because i'd probably be better at making it lol. i'm more a 2D artist than a 3D, tho i do do some 3D.

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WARNING:

RADIOACTIVE IE AHEAD!
--------------------
#include <spazz.h>

int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']

JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
I highly recommend Reiner's Sprites, too. I actually modified three of his sprites and used them in the demo -- the podium in the second screenshot is his work.

@ buddboy -- I've got some 2D needs, too-- creating tiles and coloring UV maps, among other things. Maybe you'd feel more comfortable with something like this. Is it possible to send me some small jpegs of stuff you've done? Or maybe a link. If so, let me know--email, PM or right here on the forum. Thanks for the interest. There's lots of ways to participate on this project.

@ all -- Anyone who decides to work on Exegesis will need to sign an agreement to secure the integrity of the game and of all those working on it. If an artist or programmer is under the age of 18, his or her guardian will have to sign the Agreement. Signing agreements should be standard practice in game development, but I understand that not everyone has had experience in this and it can be intimidating. (it was for me.) If you're unsure about why you would be signing an Agreement, you can PM me or email me (let's not get OT on this thread though) and I'll share my experience, or you can investigate the internet and find out a little more about it. I'm not a lawyer, nor is the internet a good substitution for legal advice.

mjohnson

Member

Posts: 48
From:
Registered: 08-03-2006
Ok, not to be off topic, but here's a total girl question: Why did you get married in Kazakhstan? Are you from there?
guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
If he dousn't speak the language then probably is wife is from there. Jeff

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