Giantsquid Productions(not real)

No the company is not real or official, I just wanted to give it a name.

I know how first-time, jumping in head-first can be in any projects in life, so this is a no-strings-attached call to gauge any possible interest and find out what others are doing.

Of course, I'm trying to do as much as I can on my own. I have a very powerful computer(which helps a lot) that can render graphics very fast and I'll try following the wiki as best I can to set up a server and everything one would need for continued development and testing.

I also do have my own idea in mind, but don't have every idea of what I want every last little house and rock to look like. I have a story and some core ideas in mind for how the game will work, but that leaves a lot of room for other things that I may really like.

You can read a Blog post I made that covers the handful of story and basic ideas I have so far: http://www.justonemoar.com/2012/03/08/my-indie-mmorpg-skern/

If there's any interest, whatsoever, I'm all ears. I'm not going to hold my breath, but wanted to throw the thought of working together out there.

For instance: If you're a modeller and love creating houses, rocks and other graphics, maybe we could work together(I do have some of my own ideas, but very, very few, so seeing another artist's vision would be awesome) and there's plenty of room to be flexible in a project at this level(I can't very well try to be stingy, when it's already next to impossible to get people on board)

Hi,

I read with interest, your post. If you install DeleD then you can use the variety of prop models I have put on My Website, make what changes you wish, and use the Multivers exporter plugin, straight into Multiverse. Most of the models come with textures, or those that are 'Prefabs' mainly use the default textures of DeleD, they are UV mapped ready for your own textures.

I wouldn't mind contributing further by perhaps making some models for your project, when you have a more detailed concept and 'shopping list' developed.

AWM Mars wrote:

Hi,

I read with interest, your post. If you install DeleD then you can use the variety of prop models I have put on My Website, make what changes you wish, and use the Multivers exporter plugin, straight into Multiverse. Most of the models come with textures, or those that are 'Prefabs' mainly use the default textures of DeleD, they are UV mapped ready for your own textures.

I wouldn't mind contributing further by perhaps making some models for your project, when you have a more detailed concept and 'shopping list' developed.

Thank you for replying! Maybe we can work together, in the near future. I already have DeleD installed, but can't seem to export properly. I have already looked at some of your terrific artwork, but I will be sure to look at more, when I have time.

I don't have a big shopping list, right now. I do have a few covering the look of some villages(including village houses). Maybe I will put together a portfolio to better show you some of the ideas I have in mind. Apart from that, there are many areas of my story and lands that I have not detailed yet, and would be very interesting to work together with someone to come up with visual styles. It's always great seeing and hearing another artists' ideas.

Some areas, I have formulated ideas on are:

• A rocky, Dwarven homeland area(mostly the way the land is carved out)
  
• A Human village with a traditional Western/European Medieval fantasy look(with a slight twist or alteration to the architectural style)
  
• A Human village that is inspired by Celtic and ancient Norse boats and architecture.
  
• A few geographical structures: Areas of the Western land will be rolling hills with thick grass. Southern region is more rocky, eastern is sparse, dry grass and relatively flat

I can put together portfolios covering individual subjects with perhaps picture-references, drawings and diagrams to give a more detailed idea of what I have in mind for these areas, but there would be many more areas, objects and architecture I have not even begun to decide on designs for.

I also have questions about polygons and importing DeleD files with more detail. One thing I'm wondering is if it is going to far to try and make a structure like a wall and "draw" it with bumps and ridges as opposed to creating a flat surface and using a texture image. I don't know if that would needlessly put to many polygons on the screen at once, thus severely affecting performance or not(?)

As I've mentioned before, I'm not really into assets yet, but I can definitely start looking, now. I'm currently setting up a working server and figuring out everything I need to get a development project underway. I've also explored a lot of terrain generation and think I will go with L3DT. I've figured out how to manually edit maps and import my own textures into World Editor.

I will take another look at your website, but if you have time, would you be willing to help me figure out how to properly export DeleD files to Multiverse?

Thank you! And I will put together a portfolio for some of the artwork styles I had in mind for the European and Nordic architecture.

I've put together a collage of artwork I found around the web that hopefully helps express the kind of look and feel I want for the more Western/European lands. Essentially, I wasn't shooting for anything terribly unique or (too)crazy. I would say, after looking at the images, that I'm wanting something in line with what you see: Western/European with a unique flair added.

Another question I have concerns building interiors. I've always liked the idea of having many buildings that can be entered and that have multiple floors and basements. I think I understand the work involved, when I look at a program like DeleD, but are there any other complications or problems to having building with interiors in Multiverse?

I will try to put together another collage of inspirational artwork, soon. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas, tips, input, etc.... I am listening.

I do have some specific designs in mind, as well as a general idea that I'll know what I want, when I see it, but like I said: there's also many things I have not considered or started thinking about yet.

I do have a huge story I've been working on for 7 years that includes entire continents, many cities, lands, bad guys good guys and many details of a full, working story that I already have done. I am drawing a lot of my MMO ideas from that story. You can also read a very short and quick description of only some of the major story/world ideas in a post I wrote on my Blog: http://www.justonemoar.com/2012/03/08/my-indie-mmorpg-skern/