Looking to hire Lead C# Programmer near Dallas
by Jeremy · in Jobs · 05/31/2007 (7:40 am) · 4 replies
NOTE*- this is very long. I wanted to be as descriptive as possible in order to let you know the exact situation that you'd be getting into.
Team name:
J-Force Games (this is subject to change, and no we are not a company....yet.)
Project name:
To be determined.
Brief description:
My friends and I want to make a game. We haven't started anything. My brother and I have only had a few discussions about what kind of game we'd like to make, and some cool, unique ideas we'd like to implement. But we haven't even discussed these yet with the rest of the team. Why? Because our team is not assembled yet. YOU haven't joined. We aren't going to have our first official meeting until we've recruited our lead programmer. It is absolutely critical that you're there from the very beginning, not only because you'll help us determine what's feasible and what's not, but also because we want you to help us design the game. You aren't going to be our code monkey that obeys all of our commands. You're going to be a game designer, and a leader of this project. Here's how it's gonna work. As soon as you join I'm going to set up a date for the whole team to get together on. I have a presentation and topics to cover all planned out for this first meeting. By the end of the day everybody will be on the same page, and we should have a game designed on paper (or at least the majority of it). This is the most enjoyable part of making games, the idea phase, and it wouldn't be fair to exclude you from it. So we'll throw out a bunch of ideas, write and draw things out on the whiteboard, and in a notebook, and when we're done, I'm very confident that we'll have a good, fun, innovative game ON PAPER. This is what I'm most confident about, almost to an arrogant degree. Our team is full of very intelligent, creative, imaginative, hardcore gamers. I really, truly think that we can design a good game. In fact I guarantee it. The only thing that's stopping us is the lack of an experienced programmer.
Now, there are just a couple things that are sort of already set. The game will be 2D, and we were mainly talking about a top-down shooter/action type game, but that could change depending on what the team wants. The best idea wins, and the best idea will be determined by voting amongst the team. I have many unique ideas for this game, but I'm waiting to discuss them with the team. Also, I really want this game to be very visually unique. I have good ideas for the look of this game. If we decide to go with them, then it's going to look like no other game you've seen before. Seriously.
Target aim/Goals:
The number one priority is to FINISH. In fact, I shouldn't even make that a goal, because not finishing this game is just totally out of the question. I don't care if the whole team quits on me, I'll finish the game by myself, no matter if I have to spend the rest of my life doing so. I am completely and utterly determined and committed to FINISH THIS GAME.
Team name:
J-Force Games (this is subject to change, and no we are not a company....yet.)
Project name:
To be determined.
Brief description:
My friends and I want to make a game. We haven't started anything. My brother and I have only had a few discussions about what kind of game we'd like to make, and some cool, unique ideas we'd like to implement. But we haven't even discussed these yet with the rest of the team. Why? Because our team is not assembled yet. YOU haven't joined. We aren't going to have our first official meeting until we've recruited our lead programmer. It is absolutely critical that you're there from the very beginning, not only because you'll help us determine what's feasible and what's not, but also because we want you to help us design the game. You aren't going to be our code monkey that obeys all of our commands. You're going to be a game designer, and a leader of this project. Here's how it's gonna work. As soon as you join I'm going to set up a date for the whole team to get together on. I have a presentation and topics to cover all planned out for this first meeting. By the end of the day everybody will be on the same page, and we should have a game designed on paper (or at least the majority of it). This is the most enjoyable part of making games, the idea phase, and it wouldn't be fair to exclude you from it. So we'll throw out a bunch of ideas, write and draw things out on the whiteboard, and in a notebook, and when we're done, I'm very confident that we'll have a good, fun, innovative game ON PAPER. This is what I'm most confident about, almost to an arrogant degree. Our team is full of very intelligent, creative, imaginative, hardcore gamers. I really, truly think that we can design a good game. In fact I guarantee it. The only thing that's stopping us is the lack of an experienced programmer.
Now, there are just a couple things that are sort of already set. The game will be 2D, and we were mainly talking about a top-down shooter/action type game, but that could change depending on what the team wants. The best idea wins, and the best idea will be determined by voting amongst the team. I have many unique ideas for this game, but I'm waiting to discuss them with the team. Also, I really want this game to be very visually unique. I have good ideas for the look of this game. If we decide to go with them, then it's going to look like no other game you've seen before. Seriously.
Target aim/Goals:
The number one priority is to FINISH. In fact, I shouldn't even make that a goal, because not finishing this game is just totally out of the question. I don't care if the whole team quits on me, I'll finish the game by myself, no matter if I have to spend the rest of my life doing so. I am completely and utterly determined and committed to FINISH THIS GAME.
About the author
#2
You- Lead Programmer, Game Designer, Project Manager
Jonny- Programmer, Game Designer, Artist
This is my brother. He is very witty, intelligent and creative (perhaps even more so then me, I hate to admit it though). He will be helping you with programming. He just started learning C#, but he does have a little programming experience from high school. He really does have natural programming talent though. He's an advanced math student, and great at problem solving and thinking logically. He actually thinks that we don't need you, and that he can figure out everything himself and through forums. He is arrogant with his programming abilities just as I am arrogant with our groups game design abilities. Jonny is attending UNT this fall and will major in Computer Science. He also has experience with 3DS Max (he got 3rd place at a regional high school animation contest).
Jordan- Lead Artist, Website Designer
Jordan is our best artist. He has excellent drawing and Photoshop skills. He also has experience making small games with RPG Maker and such. I'll be working very closely with him to make sure this game looks good. He also has experience with web-programming, as he is a professional website designer. Jordan goes to ACU, he majors in Graphic Design and minors in Computer Science.
Ty- Game Designer, Tester
Ty could quite possibly be the most intelligent person you will ever meet, honestly. The man is just....he's a genius. I really can't say enough good things about him. He's also the epitome of a perfectionist, to the point where it can be rather annoying. And most importantly, he's a hardcore gamer, and he knows what makes a good game. What's really incredible about Ty is how he can become so good at seemingly everything. If he wanted to, he could be one of the top players at any given game, whether it's Halo, Smash Bros, StarCraft, Tekken, whatever. He could become a professional player of any video game. Not only is he naturally good at video games, he's just good at whatever he does. He's a black belt in Jukado, a part-time guitar instructor, an outstanding basketball player (he seriously could have played for a D1 school if he wanted to, and some people even thought he could've gone pro). I'm just telling you all this to get it in your head that whatever Ty wants to be good at, he will be good at, including making a game. He's also a huge pessimist, so that will help to balance out my sometimes over-optimism. He goes to Criswell College, and majors in Biblical studies. He's getting his Bachelor's degree right now, but then he's going for a Master's, and a Doctorate. If there was ever a game designer you would want on your team who didn't have any programming or art skills, this is the guy.
Blake- Game Designer, Tester
Blake is also extremely intelligent and creative. He has great writing skills, and he's a huge gamer. He is like Ty in many ways. Blake works as a financial consultant for a division of Citigroup. I think he will be vital in helping me with the financial and marketing aspect of this project.
Jesse- Tester
Jesse is my roommate, and has been my best friend since third grade. He will inevitably be a part of this project, despite his lack of any real game design skills. He's a very funny person once you get to know him. He is also the most casual gamer we have. And I think it'll be important to have a casual gamers' input throughout the project. Jesse goes to Paris Junior College, majoring in Criminal Justice. He wants to be a cop. He is an intern at the Greenville Sheriff's Office.
Me (Jeremy)- Project Manager, Game Designer, Artist
Hmmm, where to start...well first off, I am very creative. And I'm an artist. I'm not a great artist by any means. I'm certainly not as good as Jordan, and I'm certainly not an advanced Photoshop user, but I know enough to get by. I've also just started to learn C#. I'm completely new to programming, and frankly, I don't think my mind is built for it. Not only am I having a hard time grasping it, but I just don't enjoy doing it. It gives me very little pleasure. See here's what's goin on. Jonny and I are both in the XNA class at 3DBuzz.com (and if any of you know 3DBuzz, you know they do a great job at teaching). This class is around 9-10 weeks long. It will be over around mid-July I believe. In this class we will be making 6 games, all simple arcade clones. So after this we'll have a good understanding of the basics of C# and the XNA framework, and we'll be able to communicate with you more effectively. And hopefully we'll be able to help you program this game. (I dunno about me, but I'm sure Jonny will).
Ok so I'm not the best artist. I'm not a programmer. I'm not the smartest guy on the team, I'm not the best writer, and I'm not the most experienced. Why should I appoint myself to "Project Manager"? Why should you listen to me? What am I even good for? Well for one, I started this whole project. This whole thing would not be in existence and would have never gotten started if it weren't for me. Besides that, I will be managing this project. I'm going to be calling everybody up, setting up meetings, documenting everything, preparing presentations, researching everything that needs to be researched, buying everything that needs to be bought, etc. But the number one reason I feel I should be a leader, is because I care about this game more than anyone else in the world. This is my dream. This is what I've always wanted to do. Thoughts of this project dominate my mind. I only work around 25 hours a week, I'm not in school, and I don't waste time with one of those "girlfriends," so I'm going to be spending around 50 hours a week working on this game. I want this game to be my life. I want to be consumed by it. I care about nothing else.
Also, I THRIVE on competition. I can't live without it. That's why I love video games. That's why I travel out of state to compete in Madden tournaments. I just love competing. I'm almost as excited about the marketing aspect of this game as I am about designing the actual game. I'm really excited about working on a marketing strategy, generating hype, and employing cheap, dirty marketing tactics. I'm really looking forward to competing against other games on the market, as well as IGF. I'm just so pumped about all this!
And for the sake of consistency, I spent two years at Westwood College's Game Art & Design program......woo.
Website:
We don't have a website yet.
Contacts:
Please DO NOT pm me.
Contact me at jeremyeden85@yahoo.com. If you could please put your name in the subject line, followed by "Programmer". So if your name was Billy Bob, the subject line would read: Billy Bob- Programmer.
Previous Work by Team:
Besides the games that Jonny and I have made and will make in this XNA class, we haven't done anything. But here you can view Jordan's Portfolio and Resume, and here you can see his web design site.
And I'm slightly reluctant to show you my artwork, as it's not really professional quality, but I decided it'd be best to show you that I at least have some talent. You can see it here.
05/31/2007 (7:43 am)
Team structure:You- Lead Programmer, Game Designer, Project Manager
Jonny- Programmer, Game Designer, Artist
This is my brother. He is very witty, intelligent and creative (perhaps even more so then me, I hate to admit it though). He will be helping you with programming. He just started learning C#, but he does have a little programming experience from high school. He really does have natural programming talent though. He's an advanced math student, and great at problem solving and thinking logically. He actually thinks that we don't need you, and that he can figure out everything himself and through forums. He is arrogant with his programming abilities just as I am arrogant with our groups game design abilities. Jonny is attending UNT this fall and will major in Computer Science. He also has experience with 3DS Max (he got 3rd place at a regional high school animation contest).
Jordan- Lead Artist, Website Designer
Jordan is our best artist. He has excellent drawing and Photoshop skills. He also has experience making small games with RPG Maker and such. I'll be working very closely with him to make sure this game looks good. He also has experience with web-programming, as he is a professional website designer. Jordan goes to ACU, he majors in Graphic Design and minors in Computer Science.
Ty- Game Designer, Tester
Ty could quite possibly be the most intelligent person you will ever meet, honestly. The man is just....he's a genius. I really can't say enough good things about him. He's also the epitome of a perfectionist, to the point where it can be rather annoying. And most importantly, he's a hardcore gamer, and he knows what makes a good game. What's really incredible about Ty is how he can become so good at seemingly everything. If he wanted to, he could be one of the top players at any given game, whether it's Halo, Smash Bros, StarCraft, Tekken, whatever. He could become a professional player of any video game. Not only is he naturally good at video games, he's just good at whatever he does. He's a black belt in Jukado, a part-time guitar instructor, an outstanding basketball player (he seriously could have played for a D1 school if he wanted to, and some people even thought he could've gone pro). I'm just telling you all this to get it in your head that whatever Ty wants to be good at, he will be good at, including making a game. He's also a huge pessimist, so that will help to balance out my sometimes over-optimism. He goes to Criswell College, and majors in Biblical studies. He's getting his Bachelor's degree right now, but then he's going for a Master's, and a Doctorate. If there was ever a game designer you would want on your team who didn't have any programming or art skills, this is the guy.
Blake- Game Designer, Tester
Blake is also extremely intelligent and creative. He has great writing skills, and he's a huge gamer. He is like Ty in many ways. Blake works as a financial consultant for a division of Citigroup. I think he will be vital in helping me with the financial and marketing aspect of this project.
Jesse- Tester
Jesse is my roommate, and has been my best friend since third grade. He will inevitably be a part of this project, despite his lack of any real game design skills. He's a very funny person once you get to know him. He is also the most casual gamer we have. And I think it'll be important to have a casual gamers' input throughout the project. Jesse goes to Paris Junior College, majoring in Criminal Justice. He wants to be a cop. He is an intern at the Greenville Sheriff's Office.
Me (Jeremy)- Project Manager, Game Designer, Artist
Hmmm, where to start...well first off, I am very creative. And I'm an artist. I'm not a great artist by any means. I'm certainly not as good as Jordan, and I'm certainly not an advanced Photoshop user, but I know enough to get by. I've also just started to learn C#. I'm completely new to programming, and frankly, I don't think my mind is built for it. Not only am I having a hard time grasping it, but I just don't enjoy doing it. It gives me very little pleasure. See here's what's goin on. Jonny and I are both in the XNA class at 3DBuzz.com (and if any of you know 3DBuzz, you know they do a great job at teaching). This class is around 9-10 weeks long. It will be over around mid-July I believe. In this class we will be making 6 games, all simple arcade clones. So after this we'll have a good understanding of the basics of C# and the XNA framework, and we'll be able to communicate with you more effectively. And hopefully we'll be able to help you program this game. (I dunno about me, but I'm sure Jonny will).
Ok so I'm not the best artist. I'm not a programmer. I'm not the smartest guy on the team, I'm not the best writer, and I'm not the most experienced. Why should I appoint myself to "Project Manager"? Why should you listen to me? What am I even good for? Well for one, I started this whole project. This whole thing would not be in existence and would have never gotten started if it weren't for me. Besides that, I will be managing this project. I'm going to be calling everybody up, setting up meetings, documenting everything, preparing presentations, researching everything that needs to be researched, buying everything that needs to be bought, etc. But the number one reason I feel I should be a leader, is because I care about this game more than anyone else in the world. This is my dream. This is what I've always wanted to do. Thoughts of this project dominate my mind. I only work around 25 hours a week, I'm not in school, and I don't waste time with one of those "girlfriends," so I'm going to be spending around 50 hours a week working on this game. I want this game to be my life. I want to be consumed by it. I care about nothing else.
Also, I THRIVE on competition. I can't live without it. That's why I love video games. That's why I travel out of state to compete in Madden tournaments. I just love competing. I'm almost as excited about the marketing aspect of this game as I am about designing the actual game. I'm really excited about working on a marketing strategy, generating hype, and employing cheap, dirty marketing tactics. I'm really looking forward to competing against other games on the market, as well as IGF. I'm just so pumped about all this!
And for the sake of consistency, I spent two years at Westwood College's Game Art & Design program......woo.
Website:
We don't have a website yet.
Contacts:
Please DO NOT pm me.
Contact me at jeremyeden85@yahoo.com. If you could please put your name in the subject line, followed by "Programmer". So if your name was Billy Bob, the subject line would read: Billy Bob- Programmer.
Previous Work by Team:
Besides the games that Jonny and I have made and will make in this XNA class, we haven't done anything. But here you can view Jordan's Portfolio and Resume, and here you can see his web design site.
And I'm slightly reluctant to show you my artwork, as it's not really professional quality, but I decided it'd be best to show you that I at least have some talent. You can see it here.
#3
Ok so a brief wrap-up:
As we are now, I'm very, very confident that we can design a good, fun, innovative game ON PAPER.
I'm also very confident that as we are now, we can create a visually appealing and visually unique game.
And once you join, I'll be very confident that we'll be able to develop this game and sell it.
Timeline:
I want to have our first meeting before August. I really don't want to put any strict deadlines on this game, as that will only limit its quality. So really the only deadline we have is to finish it before the 2009 IGF. That means our game will have to be finished before the fall season of 2008, so that gives us a year of development time.
But here's the deal dude. Seriously. I really think we have an opportunity to do something special here. I just feel it. Do not miss your chance to be a part of this. You will regret it.
Feedback:
Any advice or criticism is greatly desired, I don't care how harsh it is.
05/31/2007 (7:43 am)
Additional Info:Ok so a brief wrap-up:
As we are now, I'm very, very confident that we can design a good, fun, innovative game ON PAPER.
I'm also very confident that as we are now, we can create a visually appealing and visually unique game.
And once you join, I'll be very confident that we'll be able to develop this game and sell it.
Timeline:
I want to have our first meeting before August. I really don't want to put any strict deadlines on this game, as that will only limit its quality. So really the only deadline we have is to finish it before the 2009 IGF. That means our game will have to be finished before the fall season of 2008, so that gives us a year of development time.
But here's the deal dude. Seriously. I really think we have an opportunity to do something special here. I just feel it. Do not miss your chance to be a part of this. You will regret it.
Feedback:
Any advice or criticism is greatly desired, I don't care how harsh it is.
Torque Owner Jeremy
-start development in August
-create a fun, visually unique, innovative 2D game for Xbox 360 and PC
-sell the PC version, through our own website and possibly through portals
-finish the game within a year
-submit the game to the 2009 Independent Games Festival and win an award. (that's Q3 of 08)
-get the game approved for Xbox Live Arcade
-make enough money from this project so that we can start our own game development studio, and turn this into a full-time job! WOOOHOOOO!!!
The main goal is to create a fun, innovative game. I will not be a part of some run-of-the-mill game. It sort of makes me cringe every time I come on here to these Help Wanted forums, and I mostly see people with these unoriginal, bland ideas. They say things like, "We're going to make an RPG, gameplay is going to be just like that one game,"(or they don't even mention gameplay at all). Or they'll say, "It's going to be an FPS, gameplay will be pretty standard, but listen to my unique story and setting!" I don't care about your story! I care about innovation in GAMEPLAY. That's what this project is all about. I want this game to play like no other game (to an extent). I don't want this game to fit into a genre. I want to define a genre....or at least a sub-genre.
But designing and developing this game is going to be the easy part. The difficulty will come when trying to sell it. Once you join the team, I will be so confident that this game will be good, fun, and innovative. And if it is, then the game WILL sell. I'm going to have a good marketing plan. Now I'm not trying to be a money whore or anything. It's not like I'm doing this just for the money. I mean we will have tons of fun making this, and we'll learn a lot, and gain a lot of experience. But if we make a good game, we deserve to be paid for our time and effort. The ultimate goal is to turn this into our full-time job. That's the dream. Make enough money to where we can start our own company. I have a huge passion for making games, and I want to be doing this full-time, instead of just part-time. In order to achieve that, we must MAKE MONEY.
And I know goals like winning an award at IGF, and getting our game approved for XBLA might be too ambitious, but again, if we make a good, fun, innovative game, anything is possible.
Compensation:
YOU WILL GET PAID. Unlike seemingly everybody else that's recruiting team members, I am not broke. I actually have money. I'm good at managing my money, and I will never be one of those people who struggle financially. But that doesn't mean I'm rich! I most certainly am not, so I can't offer you thousands of dollars (at least initially I can't). But I will pay you a fee up front, and then another bigger fee once the game is finished. We will discuss payment when you contact me. I'm not going to throw out offers here, as that just defies business 101. But I will say that I'm going to try and get the most bang for my buck. So this is basically like an auction.
But now that's just your guaranteed money, just assurance that you at least get something for all the work you put into this project. Your real money will hopefully come from the profit this game generates (through sales, advertising on our website, and awards). You WILL take the biggest cut, as you are the most important member of this team. Without you, this project will likely not be successful, as we are all inexperienced. You will be very experienced in making games, and you will be doing the actual development of this game. Programming is the hardest part in my opinion, and you deserve to make more money than the rest of the team. You will also be listed first in the credits, with whatever title you wish. We need you to be a leader. This game is all about YOU.
Technology:
We are using XNA. I'm considering using Torque X for the engine, but that will ultimately be up to you. The art will mostly be done in Photoshop.
Talent needed:
We need an EXPERIENCED C# programmer. You are the lead programmer. You will be writing the majority of the code. I'm sorry but if you don't have experience we really don't have room for you. We already have enough inexperience as it is, we don't need any more (but still contact me anyway, who knows, you might be the only one I can get).
But the ideal candidate will have:
-a strong desire to create unique, fun games
-a strong commitment to finishing this project and making sure it is a success
-years of programming experience (not necessarily with C#)
-at least one game under his belt (preferably an online game, and/or an XNA game)
-networking experience
But most importantly you must live near Dallas, TX, the closer to Garland the better. This is a local team.
And if you're good at Halo or Smash Bros, that's a plus!