Topic: Bitcoin based Online CCG (Read 508 times)

So I've come to a strange place... and find myself heading up the development of a Digital Collectible Card Game.

So here's the deal. I should start out by saying that the currently we have 2 artists, a writer and a programmer. We're going for a free to play game with micropayments in bitcoin. The primary source of income will be the sale of digital product packs and tourney tickets. At present, we're willing to give up an even split on any profits made. If you get in now at the beginning (that is very soon) you will be own an equal share of the profit for the life of the game.

Right now there are only 5 of us, and we expect to be able to complete production with between 10 and 15 people.

All positions are unpaid, and you will be asked (as some point, but not soon) to contribute to the costs of running the game. I say asked because if you aren't interested in that... I'll just end up hosting it myself and covering the operating costs (but I'd really rather not). We are looking for a low time commitment, probably only a few hours a week, but we expect the development to last at least a year - possibly as long as 2 years before we start seeing income from the project.

The positions are as follows:

1 x Artist, landscape painting (oil, pastel, watercolor) - FILLED
1 x Artist, character drawings (pencil, ink) - FILLED
1 x Writer, lore design - FILLED
1 x Project Manager - FILLED
1 x Programmer, client server architecture & game mechanics - FILLED

Writer, dialogue and content - This writer will focus mostly on directly generating game dialogue which will be presented in the extensive PVE portion of the game. Will have to be able to convert character definitions into lively and exciting verbal exchanges.

Programmer, code monkey - This programmer get to choose small specific assignments from the Game Bible and develop them. This is not a "figure out what to do" type of position, you'll be told what the goal is, but you're get to implement the solution in code however you'd like. We haven't decided if we're going with c++, c# or XNA and/or XNA GS - as the code monkey you'd have an equal say on these types of decision. Since the game is going to be a client initially released for WIN32 we've ruled out java, flash and unity as platforms.

Programmer, database & bitcoin integration - This programmer would be responsible for the integration of bitcoin addresses and transactions on the bitcoin network, since the game will be using bitcoin as the ingame currency. You'll also need be willing to help develop the micro-payment system for in game markets.

Programmer, graphics and interface - This programmer will be responsible for the design of the graphics overlay and special effects. Since this a CCG frame rates aren't the concern that they could. You'll simply be manipulating the card images over a background and helping to design the user interface.

Graphics Design & Digital Conversion Artist - This artist will be responsible for taking the photos/scans of the physical art produced by other artists and touching it up digitally as well as converting to whatever formats the programmers need to construct the graphics for the game.

Audio Artist - This artist will be in charge of game audio tracks. We'd prefer original composition using your existing digital hardware & instruments. If you could do sound effects that would be great to add some flavor, but isn't strictly required.

As it stands right now, the lone writer is churning out lore... while the rest of us are slowly coming up with card concepts. We want to have the initial (in-house) alpha set have 297 cards, we're shooting for 495 at release. Huge by CCG set standards, but not really all that much considering the game mechanics involved and some of the duplicates in other factions that only involve an art and a name change. We don't have any strict demands for how much time you spend on development but it will need to be a slow progression over the next year. If you become involved now you'll be able to have input on the game mechanics and card design and some limited input on the lore as well.

I decided to post this here first in the hopes that we'd get people who already know what bitcoin is and why we want to use it ingame. Frankly I'm getting sick of having to explain why it's a good idea for micro-payments on a free to play model. That being said, game development is a something we've never done before and we're willing to give you the time and support you need to grow into any of these roles. With the exception of the bitcoin and database programmer - if you're that guy we expect you to be able to already know how to make that work in code.

If you're interested please reply by private msg. If you'd like to comment in the thread feel free to. We're willing to release some basic information about the world, game mechanics and engage in theory-craft with you about the bitcoin related micro-payment systems. Or if you'd just like to tell me what sort of game you'd like to play... I'd be willing to hear that as well.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading.