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Job offers / [PAID] Assistance with very small 2D project including normal maps
« on: February 11, 2017, 01:57:53 pm »
Greetings, I'm brand new to this forum, but have been a game development hobbyist for 20+ years, and am the author of Scrolling Game Development Kit (SGDK) versions 1 and 2 (http://sgdk2.sf.net/).
I have just introduced the ability to apply real-time lighting and normal maps to projects created with SGDK2 and would like to release the next version with a flashy but simple demo project. I have a very basic one that I created myself, but I feel like someone with more design and drawing experience could help me make a much more interesting demo (start from scratch if you like).
SGDK2 has a built-in graphics editor designed for drawing 2D texture graphics / tilesets oriented around pixel art, I think. I have worked with an artist in developing many of the features in SGDK2 (and who is actually the one who suggested I add these lighting features), who guided me to this forum for assistance because he's got some other challenges in life right now, and won't be able to provide any graphics in the timeline on which I'd like to release SGDK 2.3.0. The new release supports applying normal maps, but it doesn't have a lot of built-in support for editing normal maps, so an external utility like SpriteIlluminator might be required. Of course you would also be provided with a pre-release copy of SGDK 2.3.0 (a relatively small program) to work with. The only practical means of editing a normal map within SGDK2 (and it fits in with the pixel art way of doing things I suppose) is to have a spherical normal map handy (which I do in the images below) and color pick the parts of the sphere you want to apply to other graphics.
Here's what I have so far for the graphics and normal map
And a sample of how they look at runtime with lighting applied:
I just threw that together in a few hours I think, so I have very little attachment to it, and would encourage you to start fresh unless you think this is a good starting point.
Since this has always been just a hobby for me (almost 20 years of SGDK work now) I can't afford to pay a lot right now, but I'm willing to pay 0.1 BTC, which, given the current value of Bitcoin, is worth about $100. If BTC isn't good for you, I can also pay via PayPal. If you do really good work, I might be persuaded to pay extra. But in any case your work has to be better than my demo, of course.
Alternatively, I could add your name to the credits and even include it in announcements of the new SGDK 2.3.0 release with prominent display of screenshots of your demo project.
Is it fair to ask you to choose between payment or credit/publicity?
Edit:
Time for some clarifications:
I'm very limited on preconceived notions for this project. I know what technical aspects I want to show off, but I don't have any firm requirements about the subject matter or type of graphics used. I want the artist to work on something they find inspiring because that's how I expect I'll get the best demo. That said. These are the technical aspects the demo should include (all of which are made relatively easy by the toolkit):
Anyone who wants to try out a pre-release version of SGDK2 before committing is welcome. Since it's not formally released yet, just send me a message and I'll send you a link where you can download the pre-release version, tutorials and all.
Some skill with normal mapping will be required, but I'm not sure how much since I'm new to this myself. It's possible a skilled artist could work out some normal maps on the job without prior experience. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk if you don't already have experience with normal maps. But I am expecting normal maps to be part of the delivery.
I would like the artist to deliver not only graphics and normal maps, but also assemble them into an aesthetically pleasing sample scene in the toolkit's map editor. I assume this will be a relatively small portion of the work, and part of the "testing" process in verifying the graphics work together anyway. The toolkit will make this relatively easy.
It's up do the artist whether they think they can provide higher quality work with pixel art versus high resolution art. Many things are up to the artist on this project. I'm looking for someone who knows how to show off a 2D engine with these features, and don't have many specific ideas of my own on how to do so.
If you're curious what has been done with the same toolkit in the past, and the kind of inspiration I'm hoping to achieve, look at the Legacy of Kain Revival project that was created with SGDK2. I don't expect I can get anything quite this inspiring for $100 because there are a *lot* of graphics in that project, but let these videos inspire you, keeping in mind that the new technical aspects are what I want to demonstrate:
https://youtu.be/iAfnxLh3l2Y
https://youtu.be/PyzL43C7o4Q
I have just introduced the ability to apply real-time lighting and normal maps to projects created with SGDK2 and would like to release the next version with a flashy but simple demo project. I have a very basic one that I created myself, but I feel like someone with more design and drawing experience could help me make a much more interesting demo (start from scratch if you like).
SGDK2 has a built-in graphics editor designed for drawing 2D texture graphics / tilesets oriented around pixel art, I think. I have worked with an artist in developing many of the features in SGDK2 (and who is actually the one who suggested I add these lighting features), who guided me to this forum for assistance because he's got some other challenges in life right now, and won't be able to provide any graphics in the timeline on which I'd like to release SGDK 2.3.0. The new release supports applying normal maps, but it doesn't have a lot of built-in support for editing normal maps, so an external utility like SpriteIlluminator might be required. Of course you would also be provided with a pre-release copy of SGDK 2.3.0 (a relatively small program) to work with. The only practical means of editing a normal map within SGDK2 (and it fits in with the pixel art way of doing things I suppose) is to have a spherical normal map handy (which I do in the images below) and color pick the parts of the sphere you want to apply to other graphics.
Here's what I have so far for the graphics and normal map
And a sample of how they look at runtime with lighting applied:
I just threw that together in a few hours I think, so I have very little attachment to it, and would encourage you to start fresh unless you think this is a good starting point.
Since this has always been just a hobby for me (almost 20 years of SGDK work now) I can't afford to pay a lot right now, but I'm willing to pay 0.1 BTC, which, given the current value of Bitcoin, is worth about $100. If BTC isn't good for you, I can also pay via PayPal. If you do really good work, I might be persuaded to pay extra. But in any case your work has to be better than my demo, of course.
Alternatively, I could add your name to the credits and even include it in announcements of the new SGDK 2.3.0 release with prominent display of screenshots of your demo project.
Is it fair to ask you to choose between payment or credit/publicity?
Edit:
Time for some clarifications:
I'm very limited on preconceived notions for this project. I know what technical aspects I want to show off, but I don't have any firm requirements about the subject matter or type of graphics used. I want the artist to work on something they find inspiring because that's how I expect I'll get the best demo. That said. These are the technical aspects the demo should include (all of which are made relatively easy by the toolkit):
- Ambient lighting (shown in screenshot)
- Directional lighting with soft edges (shown in screenshot)
- Rotating directional lighting
- 2D shadows (selected tiles can block light from reaching the far side of the tiles)
- Parallax scrolling (suggested in screenshot)
- Alpha blending / translucency
- (Optional) real-time 2x up-scaling
Anyone who wants to try out a pre-release version of SGDK2 before committing is welcome. Since it's not formally released yet, just send me a message and I'll send you a link where you can download the pre-release version, tutorials and all.
Some skill with normal mapping will be required, but I'm not sure how much since I'm new to this myself. It's possible a skilled artist could work out some normal maps on the job without prior experience. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk if you don't already have experience with normal maps. But I am expecting normal maps to be part of the delivery.
I would like the artist to deliver not only graphics and normal maps, but also assemble them into an aesthetically pleasing sample scene in the toolkit's map editor. I assume this will be a relatively small portion of the work, and part of the "testing" process in verifying the graphics work together anyway. The toolkit will make this relatively easy.
It's up do the artist whether they think they can provide higher quality work with pixel art versus high resolution art. Many things are up to the artist on this project. I'm looking for someone who knows how to show off a 2D engine with these features, and don't have many specific ideas of my own on how to do so.
If you're curious what has been done with the same toolkit in the past, and the kind of inspiration I'm hoping to achieve, look at the Legacy of Kain Revival project that was created with SGDK2. I don't expect I can get anything quite this inspiring for $100 because there are a *lot* of graphics in that project, but let these videos inspire you, keeping in mind that the new technical aspects are what I want to demonstrate:
https://youtu.be/iAfnxLh3l2Y
https://youtu.be/PyzL43C7o4Q