We were a team of 2.
Connor : PhD physics student, 3 years of game dev experience (me)
Arist : Left to focus on commission work
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Current look of the game :
https://i.imgur.com/1rIorDY.png -- we're going for a similar vibe, but understand that we want you to have some ownership over the art, and we're open to adjusting to your art style. No problem at all
The pitch :
"
I'm an adult now -- 29 years old -- and I don't have the time or energy to play starcraft like I used to. I can't spend hours a week studying pro games, working to understand the meta perfectly, or practicing my build orders... and I'm tired of playing RTS games that take 2 hours of tutorials just to understand the basics of the game. I'm too old for ladder chasing PvP grinds, and the high level of competition which can breed quite toxic and angry game communities.
So I decided to make a game that aims to refresh the genre with some new ideas, and fix the issues that prevent me from enjoying RTS games."
Hive Defender is a single player and online co-op focused PvE RTS which a focus on quick onboarding, and
accessible, but deep real time strategy which takes place inside of a
procedurally generated, and fully destructible game world.There are
4 alien classes which make up the hive, and which are designed to be
interdependent on one another : attack, support, construction, and demolition. Each class offers multiple sub-classes, and you are offered the choice to
mutate between alien sub-classes mid game to respond to enemy threats, or stay in class to
level up to become more powerful. These subclasses each offer unique perks, which cost ORE to activate (gained by mining the walls of your maze-like alien hive). Mutating between alien sub-types takes some time, and costs TECH (gained by killing enemies).
But it's not just your aliens... even the
enemies are deeply interacting! Commanders can buff their soldiers, but they can also tell shield bearing 'wardens' to protect the snipers which are position themselves strategically around the map. Bosses, however, are where the game gets really interesting -- and require you to
use all 4 alien swarms together to stand a chance.The story is essentially Avatar / Fern Gully, mixed with the opposite story of Ender's game. You
play as an alien hive mind whose planet is being invaded by humans who don't recognize your collective intelligence, and want to terraform the planet to make it their own.
You can expect
12 campaign missions, daily quests and weekly challenges, and long-term achievements, alongside
monthly cosmetic trees. There will be 6 unique game modes which force you to play in new ways, and a level editor to
create and share your own ideas with friends. It will have user-friendly, 2D graphics with bold outlines and a focus on
communicating relevant information as quickly and clearly as possible to the player.--
The company is part of "the game incubator" here in Sweden (same one that pushed out Valheim, etc), although only one of us actually needs to be in Sweden. That means we get monetary support to go to conferences, get free coaching, have the option to attend pitch trainings, get business and development support, and are part of a huge community that offers other support like play-testing, etc.
We're offering a 25% share in the company, expecting 15-20 hours of work per week (I do 2 hours per weekday, 2-5 hours on sat/sun mornings, but we're very flexible).
Currently we're rebuilding the game up after I pushed out a quick prototype to test market viability, and it took off. Covered by pc-gamer, 43,000+ stream views in a week, etc. We spent a long time in planning and development, and were finishing the last bits of the first biome (cave) in v0.1 & the level editor, and were writing the skeleton out for the main gameplay when the artist quit.
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We're looking for someone with strong skills in 2D art and animation, preferably using SPLINE. You should have some experience working in unity, inc. particle effects, post-processing, audio, shader graphs and materials, etc. You should be able to provide properly formatted, high quality art which matches the needs of the game (clear communication, consistent visual style, etc), able to iterate quickly, and be open to feedback.
The game will have it's minimum viable product finished and we'll begin looking for funding in just a few months -- artist or no. Being open to going full time in 3-6 months is a big plus. We do expect to be funded in the near future.
email :
[email protected]
Jobs
