Introduction
Straw is a humorous game about packing objects on top of a camel.  Players take turns placing objects they have collected in the bazaar onto the camel’s back until someone ‘breaks the camel’s back’.  Hence, the name of the game.  Set in the world of Arabian Nights, the game is full of funny objects like monkeys, bags of bricks, flying carpets and genies that either add, subtract or copy weight on the camel.  Eventually, someone will have to play more weight than the camel can bear and its back will break.  Your goal is to make sure that that someone is not you, unless you can do so with the one and only Straw.

Predecessors
Straw is already a published card game.  This iPhone App will attempt to capture the fun and excitement of the card game in a new medium.  The App will incorporate existing art assets from the card game as well as the basic game play mechanic.  However, we will need to add animations, a simple user interface, sound effects and a thematic soundtrack for the full sensory App experience.

The Project
In total, we need 36 different sound effects for events which occur throughout the game, plus or minus.  Here’s the list:

Menu Screens
1. Change Menu Forward
2. Change Menu Back

Play Screen
Objects when played
1. Jewelry
2. Backgammon
3. Monkey
4. Parrot Cage
5. Oud Guitar
6. Fruit Basket
7. Water Jug
8. Ancient Tablets
9. Furniture
10. Bag of Bricks
11. Flying Carpet
12. Straw
13. Magic Lamp
14. Copy

Animations for the Camel
1. Spitting
2. Yawning
3. Swooshing its tail
4. Gasping
5. Sweating
6. Shaking
7. Breathing Heavily
8. Wincing
9. Collapsing

Objects teetering on back
1. Jossling of wood & metal

Background business in bazaar
1. Money changing hands
2. Animal noises
3. Feet movement
4. People talking
5. Haggling
6. Doors opening/closing

Genie Screen
1. Emerging from his lamp
2. Greeting
3. Acknowledgement of command
4. Granting of wish

The Task
Depending upon what’s available online, we might be able to pilfer the creative commons for some of these sound effects.  But, I suspect that we will have to create a few as well in order to get all that we need.  Ultimately, we’ll want to make sure that the sounds are all consistent with each other, so that may add further considerations as to what sound effects we can borrow and what we will have to make.  We may also find out along the way that certain sounds are hard and should be replaced or we might find a few extras to add to the mix… but we won’t know until we start putting the compilation together.

How to Proceed
If you’re interested, we should discuss the list itself and see if it’s feasible and/or if there are things that we will need to change or add to it before we go looking for the sound effects.  At that point, we should go looking for what’s available online and try to fill as much of the list up with free content as we can without having to make stuff ourselves.  Once we figure out the landscape of the public domain, then we’ll know what we can use and what we need to make.  At that point, we can do some recording.  After that, we should sit down together and edit everything to conform to the animations and for consistency.  For most of these events, I imagine little more than a second of sound will suffice… but we will have to fit each into a standard time frame which matches the length of the animations.  In the end, we will have to deliver all the sound effects in the appropriate file type the program requires.

Time Frame
We can start as soon as you want and go at whatever pace will be convenient for you.  Based upon the time frame for other parts of the App, we’re looking at at least two months before we need to have the sound effects ready.  During that time, we can meet up whenever it is convenient for you and I can make myself available to help you with the process during any stage.

Compensation
Tell me what you want for the job and we’ll figure out some way to compensate you.  You’ll also receive full credit for your work in the credits menu for the game for sound effects.

Grant of Rights
For all sounds we produce, we can arrange the project to either be a perpetual license between you and Evertide Games or a work made for hire, whichever you would prefer.

Introduction
It is 6435 AD.  Breathtaking advances in science have led to agelessness, abundant energy, travel faster than the speed of light and settlement of planets throughout the Milky Way. But technology also produced an event which forever changed the face of human society. Due to the extensive deathtoll of the great Plague and the steps humanity had to take to prevent its complete extinction, human cultures developed in isolation across the expanse of space and formed habits, behaviors and sensibilities far more familiar to the dark age of humanity than to its golden age. Orion’s Arm is a place of strange juxtaposition of the incredible future and the irrecoverable past. As an aristocracy of beautiful immortals struggles to maintain the interstellar empires they spent three millenia to create, new classes of mortals have begun to challenge their dominance.  Empires of Orion is the Napoleonic space opera that unfolds in their world.  … Read More

Current Status
Right now, I have a significant amount of background material and documentation regarding the world of Orion’s Arm as well as a very rough sketch of the overarching plot-line for Empires of Orion.  I have identified the major protagonists and antagonists of the story and have begun writing short character descriptions for each of them.  However, there are still significant gaps in both the character and the storyline.  I need help fleshing these character descriptions out further and filling in many of the underdeveloped (or missing) characters that will help advance the storyline.  I also need help filling in the dramatic gaps that exist between major plot points and advancing the plot arc to the conclusion that I have in mind.

The Project
If you choose to accept this project, you and I will be working together on character sketches for all the major characters and you will be responsible for character descriptions for many of the other people, places and things that the major characters will encounter.  These character sketches for both major and minor characters will need to include such details as personality, motivation, appearance, quirks, history and connections which are engaging and suitable for dramatic development.  Although much of the background has already been developed, including the historical context for the drama, the initial motivations of the main characters and the ultimate outcome of the story, the universe and storyline are still quite flexible.  So, as we develop character sketches, we will also be working together on both the plot line and how the world needs to be to serve the plot line.

The Plot Line
The plot line itself is divided into three separate sub-plotlines which are connected together for a variety of reasons that will only become apparent to the readers over time.  The motivations of each of the characters will inevitably bring them together, but the sub-plotlines will remain largely independent of each other for a majority of the story.  Each chapter of the story can thus actually be seen as a compilation of the developments in three concurrent storylines and each episode for each sub-plotline will only be a third of what happens in a given chapter.  However I envision the episodes in each of the separate storyline will be staggered.  In any given chapter, something in one plot line is starting, something in another is developing and something in the third is resolving.  This is meant to create both the in media res effect and a sense that every chapter always asks and answers the questions that the readers have.

Apportionment
I envision apportioning the work into a number of pieces and a series of steps.  I see each character description and each episode of each of the sub-plotlines as an individual piece of work that can be developed independently from the others.  However, because they all need to fit together, conform to the possibilities of the world and come to a conclusion that is already known, each individual piece of work will involve an approval and revision process.  After you have a chance to familiarize yourself with all the documented background material I have developed so far, we will meet periodically to brainstorm new ideas and review ideas that you (or I) come up with.  Once we have some good ideas for either a character or an episode, you will write it down more thoroughly and we will go over it before we add it to the official documentation.  Once it’s added to the documentation, we can revisit it later if we need to, but I would consider that particular apportionment to be done.

Time Frame
Since we will work on a piece by piece basis, we can go at whatever pace you would like.  I am available for meetings in person to brainstorm or review material about once a week but I can also discuss things over the phone or email as the need arises.  As we go along, I will be adding more material to the documentation and I will be responsible for maintaining the official background and storyline.  However you can email me sketches or treatments to look over as often as you want.  And, I will make an effort to respond as soon as I can.

Compensation
Tell me what you think character sketches and episodes are worth and we’ll work out a standard price and I’ll plan to compensate you after each piece is completed.  You will also receive credit for concept writing when Empires of Orion or any other product related to Orion’s Arm is published.

Grant of Rights
As a contribution to a collective work, Evertide Games will own the copyright to all material you produce.