Uproot needs a 2D spriter!

Hey everyone,

Our TD/RTS project Uproot is looking for another pair of artistic hands (preferably, with a human attached). You would be responsible for creating a range of original 2D sprites. The game is not very far from completion, and we are really hoping to publish in a couple month or so. We have mostly finalized all the "big" design decisions and now need to fill the game with content, the time-consuming part of which mostly involves art assets.

Background

The project was launched early last year by myself. I then joined up with my current artist Phil after the previous ad I posted on TigSource in October 2011. Since then we have been steadily working on the project and while the basics haven't changed, the scope has grown quite a bit from a simple TD to a more sophisticated (read: feature creepy) strategic TD with RTS-ish elements. Unfortunately, a few real-life issues also crept into our optimistic schedule.

"So what's this game all about?" you might ask. Good question. Ever feel like TD genre has a little too much grind and not enough planning and strategy? Then, boy, do we have a solution for you! Dispose of hordes of incoming enemies utilizing clever tower combinations. Build up your vehicle of mass destruction and take control of territories until you establish your undisputed dominance. Conduct secret research and discover powerful abilities to aid your quest. Explore several unique environments and choose the fate of your newly crafted world. Who, Me?

Did I mention your main base is a flying island?

Assets

I'll try to be specific in what the game needs (although we are quite flexible), so here are the necessary art assets from you in the order of importance:

* Mobs -- these are isometric 8 direction movement animations + death animation and are the most time-consuming bit. We need at least several unique mob types and you can have quite a lot of creative freedom in designing these. Afterwards we can cheat a bit with colors, sizing, warping, etc. to give it some variety. You can see the image below for what we currently have.

* Environment objects for the game world levels, such as, trees, rocks, signs, plants, ruins, etc. We need a few dozen or so of these to liven up the general environment.

* Some GUI elements, mostly fancy icons for indicators, menus, and buttons. Perhaps a bigger painted piece, such as a splash screen or map.

* Misc. -- the small stuff we didn't think of. This can range anywhere from game's profile icon to some profile screen avatar. Basically, other stuff you can hopefully help out with.

The game now has a certain style that I can best summarize as "wacky + painterly". You should be able to match it more or less so that the game looks consistent. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the player also shouldn't feel like something is wrong. I hope you get the idea and direction from the various screenshots we have.

We are currently managing with the rest of artwork, which to summarize includes: tiles, towers, more mobs, projectiles and effects, the island and buildings, big GUI elements, different icons, the overworld map, and some splash screens. Of course, you can help out too with some of this.

Compensation

My current semi-negotiable budget I can offer you is $500 (˜£320/˜€380). Alternatively (preferably), I can offer a 10%-20% profit share depending on your involvement. So ideally you would be in this for the project and not just the Hand Money Left

.

As I mentioned, the project is well underway and we have a solid base. Although this is our first video game project, we are not in a "dream" stage of ideas and fluffy concepts; the work is very much tangible. Dare I say, definitely worth some experience and a portfolio entry. Of course this also means I cannot offer you a lot of freedom in designing the game; but that is not to say your feedback and suggestions wouldn't be important.

Contact

We are both in Europe, and I am in GMT+2. It’s not really essential that you are in Europe’s time zones, but that might be best for IM communication, because I prefer to stay in touch. PM me, e-mail me at RudyTheDev at gmail, or Skype me on RudyTheDev.

If you want to learn more, here is my DevDiary, oldish

, the game's website, our IndieDB profile, and TigSource DevLog.

Thanks for reading,
Rudy.