STOP MAKING GAMES.

ModDB has just announced their 2008 awards competition. If you'd like to support a BYOND alumnus striking out in the "real world", or if you've played and liked Mayhem Intergalactic, please vote for my game!

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Awesome video here about an equally awesome indie game. Check it out! I didn't fully appreciate the genius behind the game until I watched this video. There are so many subtle little touches that come together to make it all sing.

If you dig it (and you will), digg it!

(Shameless plug: If you're an artist, check out my last blog post for your chance to get $$$ and a credit in a game on Steam!)

Update: Artist position now filled.

Background

I make indie games. Or maybe that should be indie game, singular. This particular indie game, Mayhem Intergalactic (formerly known as the BYOND game named YAGSACG), will be going on Steam in the near future (as previously announced here and here).

One of the recommendations for Steam games is that they have achievements in them, so I've added some. However, I need icons for them, and I need ideas for good achievements to have in the first place.

If you've got ideas for achievements, comment here or head over to my other blog. (You'll need to be familiar with the game. There's a free demo available if you're not.)

If you're an artist, the rest of this post is for you!

Make pretty pictures, get paid for them

This is not your typical BYOND "iconing" job. Firstly, you will get paid, and I'm not talking $5 the lot or anything stupidly small like that. I don't have a huge budget, but we can negotiate something reasonable on a per-piece basis depending on your skill level and the quality of the graphics.

Since I'm paying, I want my money's worth. =) That means I want reasonable quality. They don't have to be works of art, but they do need to fit with the rest of the game and be of acceptable quality.

Secondly, you will get a mention on the credits screen. In a game which will be released commercially on Steam. That's gotta look good on a CV, especially for any of you interested in getting into the games industry.

Specifications

• Resolution: 64x64
• File format: PNG. Please provide original working files as well (e.g. PSD if you used Photoshop), with layers intact if you used layers.
• Quantity: 15-20 (TBD) different achievement icons, each with achieved and unachieved variants, for a total of 30-40 different images. Some of the achievements come in sets, so those could be thematically related, which might cut down on the workload a little.
• Style: You choose. The game itself sits somewhere between realistic and cartoonish. You can either try and match that style, or go cartoonish.
• The unachieved variants should be greyscale and darker; the achieved versions should have some colour. The unachieved versions can just be copies of the achieved versions made greyscale and darker, or they can be slightly different.
• You will be expected to come up with ideas for the content of the icons that match up with the game and with the achievement names and descriptions. You can re-use existing graphics from the game where appropriate, of course. (If you download the demo and install it, you'll find all the game's graphics in the folder [Mayhem Intergalactic install directory]\data\base\graphics.)
• The successful applicant will be creating icons that will be used in a commercial game, so don't infringe any copyright laws or you'll get us both up to our necks in the deep stuff. Just... don't.

How do I get started?

I'm holding auditions! The rules are simple: Pick one achievement from the list below and create achieved and unachieved variants of it according to the specifications above. Email both images to me before the deadline (Friday).

I reserve the right to use any submissions in the game in return for reasonable compensation.

I also reserve the right to not use your submission.

If I undertake to pay you for further work as a result of your submission, then you will get paid for work done as requested, even if I don't end up using it. If none of your artwork gets used in-game then you don't get mentioned in the credits, though, and I won't pay for work which I didn't ask to be done.

Submissions should be sent to me via email. Use my email address on the left there, or my company contact address.

Deadlines?

Get your audition in by this Friday 5th December to have a good chance of being accepted. The graphics will be needed ASAP after that; preferably by the 12th. By the 19th at the latest.

If you can't get them done by then I'll look at recruiting additional manpower and maybe pitching in myself with whatever latent artistic skill I can muster.

The achievements list

This list is not final; some of these may be removed, while more will probably be added later. This is just to give you a rough idea of what we're looking at.

• First Blood: Win a Quick Start singleplayer game.
• Natural Intelligence: Win a Quick Start singleplayer game with the AI difficulty set to Highest.
• Perfect!: Win a Quick Start singleplayer game with the AI difficulty set to Highest, and without losing any battles. [Editor's note: Yes, this is possible; I've done it. It merely requires patience and a little luck. Or patience plus abuse of the saved game feature.]
• Things Fall Apart: Destroy 1000 enemy ships in a single game.
• The Center Cannot Hold: Destroy 2500 enemy ships in a single game.
• The Blood-Dimmed Tide is Loosed: Destroy 5000 enemy ships in a single game.
• Maker of Multiplayer Mayhem: Win a multiplayer game.
• Master of Multiplayer Mayhem: Win 10 multiplayer games.
• Maestro of Multiplayer Mayhem: Win 25 multiplayer games.
• Vindictive: Destroy 500 native ships. Cumulative over multiple games.
• Bully: Destroy 1000 native ships. Cumulative over multiple games.
• Slaver: Destroy 2000 native ships. Cumulative over multiple games.
• Freebie: Conquer an undefended enemy planet. Then win the game.
• Mechanized Intelligence: Use rally points to connect all planets in a Quick Start game into a single network.
• Prime Directive: Win a game without conquering any native planets.

As you may have noticed, I've been almost completely missing from BYOND over the past year. Given that my membership will expire soon (don't worry, I've still got plenty of BYONDimes credit in my account if I ever want to renew) I thought I'd drop back in and tell y'all what I've been doing instead.

Also, there's a big announcement at the end of this post...

Mostly I've been at university. I've got one year to go of my four-year degree, having just finished my third year.

When I haven't been doing that, though, I've been continuing work on Mayhem Intergalactic, formerly known as YAGSACG (see left sidebar). Check it out if you haven't already; and if you did check it out a while back, I encourage you to take another look, because it's been significantly improved from the early versions. It looks better, sounds better, and feels better.

It's also won me a few awards. In February I went to the 2008 Game Developers Conference, due to winning an Independent Games Festival Student Showcase award. Last month I went to Melbourne and scored not one but two ATOM Awards, each of which came with a shiny shiny trophy and some awesome loot - including a drawing tablet and a commercial 3D package which normally costs $3,000 USD. (XSI 7 Essentials, in case you're wondering. Haven't installed it yet, I've been too busy.)

The big announcement

After sitting on this piece of news for months, I can now reveal that Mayhem Intergalactic will soon be coming to Steam, Valve's flagship digital distribution system. This is very exciting, since the one thing Mayhem Intergalactic has really been lacking is widespread exposure and distribution, and that's something that Steam can grant in spades.

Also, I might actually earn some money from it for a change. Which would be nice. :-)

You know what? Me too.

From now on, no more politics on this blog. Promise.