Evertide Games » Job Descriptions

Graphic Designer Needed for Mr. Card Game

rcjames — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:59:17 +0000

The Evertide Games production team needs a talented graphic designer to produce the final print-ready materials for Mr. Card Game. The job description for the project can be found here.

Hellas 2D Illustration Project Description

admin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:05:53 +0000

Intro
Hellas: Battle for Hegemony is an epic historical fantasy of the battles between the city-states of Ancient Greece. It is a turn-based online war game for two players based upon the struggle between Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Thebes and Macedon for supremacy over all Greeks. Players command the armies of these great city-states against each other in a series of battles across Ancient Greece. Throughout the game, players need to manage force deployment, tactics on the battlefield and lines of supply using a variety of different legendary units of the Hellenic world. In between games, players have the option to incorporate the lessons of battle and reconstruct their armies with other units in their collection. Hellas is a light and quick game with deep strategy.

Project Description
We need an illustrator and texture artist to create the 2D art assets and 3D textures/skins for the game. We already have a 3D modeler for the rigs, meshes and animations and some concept artwork to define the style. Now, we need artwork to be produced for the following elements:

Global Map & Iconography
Battleground Screen & Iconography
3D Unit Skins
Unit Stat Iconography
Menu Screens & Navigation
Logos

Style
Epic historical fantasy. Light and casual. Isometric with proportional distortions to give the illusion of 3D. Each unit and battleground should appear to pop out of the background, using a pseudo camera lens perspective distortion, color, saturation and contrast. Geographic space is condensed and warped to conform to square space. Units should be colorful and fanciful. More legendary than historical. More imaginative than accurate. More smooth than detailed.

Production Schedule
Link to the Production Schedule. While the asset list is mapped out into four different stages, the time for each stage varies. Based upon your availability and schedule, we can set up different deadlines for each milestone.

Compensation
Give us an estimate and we’ll figure out the total and arrange a payment schedule to coincide with the production schedule. You’ll also receive credit for the illustrations in all versions of the game that are published.

Grant of Rights
As a work made for hire, Evertide Games will own the copyright.

Interested? Contact Us

Nuts Sound Effects Project Description

admin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:55:57 +0000

Introduction
It’s autumn and the leaves have begun to fall. Hazelnuts, chestnuts and acorns line the ground and the ominous drop in temperature signals that winter is on its way. As a bunch of backyard squirrels, you are in a race with each other to collect nuts. You will have to forage, stash and even steal as many nuts as you can before winter arrives. For, only the squirrel with the most nuts at the end will survive. With simultaneous secret decision-making and piles of nuts constantly trading hands, all the competition could very well drive you Nuts!

… More about Nuts here.

The Project
We need the following sound effects for the game:

Nuts dropping to the ground
Shaking of branches (in the wind)
Leaves on branches being parted
Nuts being fed down a tree trunk
Nuts being stacked
Squirrel Chuckling
Squirrel Frustration
Option Selection (appropriate to theme but innocuous)
Back a level (appropriate to theme but innocuous)

Style
Stylistically, it needs to match the cartoonish artwork of the game. In the case of the sound of the squirrel characters, the sound needs to be cute more than realistic.

Time Frame
As soon as possible. Send us a draft of the sound files you have in mind and your estimate. If we like them, we’ll sign a contract. If anything requires a revision, we can work out the details over email.

Format
Please deliver the draft of the sound files as an MP3. Final sounds need to be delivered as .m4a files.

Compensation
Give us an estimate and we’ll arrange a way payment. You’ll also receive credit for the illustrations in all versions of the game that are published in iOS.

Grant of Rights
As a work made for hire, Evertide Games will own the copyright. If you choose to use any sound effects in the creative commons, you must furnish Evertide Games with a complete Chain of Title for each such sound.

Design Contest for Expansion to Court of the Medici

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 20:46:19 +0000

Evertide Games announces an open competition to design a three to four player expansion to Court of the Medici. The design must conform to the guidelines of the rules of the contest. And, if a winner is chosen from the entries, the designer will receive complementary copies of both Court of the Medici and the expansion, tentatively called “Houses Rising”, along with a cash prize and designer credit for the game when it is published. Designers have two weeks to submit their designs for the expansion and the winner, if any, will be announced two weeks later. All entrants of the contest whose rules conform to the guidelines of the contest will also receive feedback on their design.

Nuts Illustration Project Description

admin — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:58:31 +0000

Introduction

“Nuts: Winter’s Coming” is a family oriented multiplayer game for the iPad where you play backyard squirrels in a race to gather nuts before winter. The squirrel that gathers the most nuts from each of the three trees in the yard by the end of the season survives the winter. But, you also have the option to steal nuts from other squirrels while they’re off collecting from the trees. Or, if you think you’re going to be the victim of theft, you can bury your nuts. The yard is also stalked by a cat, who occasionally prevents you from collecting from one of the trees. So, you will have to keep an eye on the competition and choose where you forage carefully.

Nuts is the iOS adaptation of the game Stones.

The Project

We need the following illustrations for the game:

App Store / Button Logo
Splash Screen for the Game
Background for the Opening Screen
Background for the Play Screen
Background for the Victory Screen
Background for the Menu Screen
Navigation Button
Play Button
Scoreboard
Three types of Nut: Acorn, Chestnut and Hazelnut
Three types of Trees each in Four Layers*: Oak, Chestnut and Hazelnut
Two types of Green Trees in Four Layers*: Corner of the Screen, Side of the Screen
A Cat
Leaf pattern (overlay for the Play Screen)
Rainstorm pattern (overlay for the Play Screen)

*Each tree needs to have an underlying layer with its trunk, branches and a few leaves as well as three other top layers of leaves that can be removed during play to make the tree look like it is losing its leaves.

Style

Stylistically, it needs to be wildishly cartoony. With squirrels, trees, nuts, a cat and a big back yard drawn in vector graphics with autumn colors in a highly saturated cartoon style. As the days proceed, the trees will start to lose their leaves and the daylight will become weaker. So, the final victory scene will show the victor all comfy inside his winter abode snacking on a pile of nuts while his competitors lay frozen to death outside in the snow.

Design Considerations

For the gameplay, it is designed to be primarily a hot seat multiplayer experience, with up to four players which can play at once. Each day of the game, each player has to decide whether he’s going to collect, steal or bury nuts. In his corner of the screen there will be three buttons, as well as a few sub-selection buttons to choose from. When the player wants to make a choice, he uses one hand to cover up the corner and the other to select his option for the round. His selection is then covered up by the App until everyone has made a selection. At that point, the options are revealed, the nuts are divided up accordingly and they go to the next day. The game end at the end of the 14th day when it snows and the winner is declared.

Time Frame

You will have 4 weeks to complete the artwork. Based upon the design material provided, you will draw up a concept image for each item. We can discuss alterations (if any) that are necessary and then, after we agree upon the color palette, you can go ahead and make the final imagery. Throughout the project, I’ll be there to provide you with any other reference material, feedback and advice that you need.

Medium

To be able to resize the artwork appropriate for each iOS device, we need the final format for each piece to be delivered as a vector image with separate color and line layers.

Compensation

Give us an estimate and we’ll figure out the total and arrange a payment schedule. You’ll also receive credit for the illustrations in all versions of the game that are published.

Grant of Rights

As a work made for hire, Evertide Games will own the copyright.

Interested? Contact Us

Pakaba Illustration Project Description

admin — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 01:37:47 +0000

Introduction
Pakaba is an abstract game of war between ancient Mayan rulers. As leader of your faction, you move to eliminate your opponent’s pawns across a map of intersecting territories. By sliding your pawns across the board between two allied territories, you can intercept your opponent and eliminate one of his pawns from the game. Then he gets a chance to do the same. Control for the board is fought by this process of move and capture until only one player controls two out of the three alliance and is declared supreme king. Read more.

The Project
We have signed a license agreement with an App developer to develop Pakaba into an iOS App. As part of the agreement, we need to provide the following illustrations for the game:

App Store / Button Logo
Splash Screen for the Game
Background
Menu Board with Buttons
Gameboard
Game Components (Pawns)
Mayan King Opponent
Spoils of War Victory Objects

Style
We are looking for battle artwork inspired by the stone/wall artwork and glyphs of the Ancient Mayan people. As rulers of city states and commanders of great armies, the players direct their warriors to attack their enemies and capture certain territory by sliding them across a map of allied territories which is different each time they play. But, these troop movements occur across all of Mayan civilization. So the style of the game needs to capture the combativeness of war while at the same time conveying the big-picture strategic decision making that each player is called upon to perform. Using the existing artwork of the Mayans as well as reference material drawn from strategic battle style games, it will be up to your imagination to bring this abstract game to life.

Time Frame
You will have 6 weeks to complete the artwork. Based upon the concept images you draw initially, we’ll discuss alterations (if any) that are necessary and after we figure out the final design, you can go ahead and make the final imagery. At the beginning of the project, I’ll provide you with all the reference material I have and we can discuss the color palette. Then, throughout the project, I’ll be there to provide you with any other reference material, feedback and advice that you need.

Medium
We need a digital copy of each image with separate black & white and color layers. Vector drawings are thus preferred. But if you feel more comfortable composing in a physical medium, then the image should be scanned before and after coloring at a resolution of 600dpi or more so that we can adjust that we have room to adjust the size downward later.

Compensation
Give us an estimate and we’ll figure out the total and arrange a payment schedule. You’ll also receive credit for the illustrations in all versions of the game that are published.

Grant of Rights
As a work made for hire, Evertide Games will own the copyright.

Interested? Contact Us

Straw iPhone App Animation Project Description

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:57:10 +0000

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
We need eight 1 to 2 second localized animations of the camel as it waits for the player to make a selection and three 2 to 3 second global animations which occur when the camel’s back breaks and the magic lamp is selected.

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

Animations 1-4 require 15 to 20 frames each of local adjustments to the head/tail/feet which all cycle back to the same unstrained static state (standing tall).
Animations 5-8 require 15 to 20 frames each of local adjustments to the head/tail/feet which all cycle back to the same strained static state. (hunched over)
Animation 9 requires 20 to 30 frames of global animation from the strained static state that ends with the camel’s back breaking (lying on the ground, unconscious).

Animations for the Genie
1. Emerging from the Lamp
2. Granting the player’s wish

Both Genie animations require 20 to 30 frames of global animations. Animation 1 creates the fully formed genie at the top of the screen out of a smoke that arises from the lamp. Animation 2 involves the genie clapping/bowing his hands and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Format
Currently, IOS4 supports MPEG-4 in .mp4, .m4v, .mov formats but there is also a function that can animate a cycle of static images. Using that function, we can take individual frames in a .png format and create a dynamic animation. So, ideally, each animation would be composed of somewhere between 15 and 20 frames of the camel. Although the entire camel would be present in each frame, the animations that I envision for most of the sequences would require only local adjustments to the head, tail and/or feet. The collapsing camel, the emerging genie and the granting wish genie would involve global changes and probably 20 to 30 frames. So, we need a total of approximately 150 of locallly adjusted frames and 75 globally shifting frames.

Time Frame
Based upon the time frame for other parts of the App, we’re looking at at least two (2) months before we need to have the animations ready.

Compensation
Give me an estimate for each part of the project and your overall price and we’ll set up a payment schedule. You’ll also receive full credit for your work in the credits menu of the game for animations.

Grant of Rights
As a commissioned work for hire which is a contribution to a collective work, Evertide Games will own copyright to all images you produce. You will be allowed to display the animations you produce as part of your portfolio or sample of work created, provided that you display copyright information and take reasonable efforts to protect the property for unauthorized duplication.

Empires of Orion Concept Artist Project Description

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:24:46 +0000

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 for multiple millenia. Over that time, they 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, a rising class of mortals have begun to challenge their dominance. Empires of Orion is the Napoleonic space opera that unfolds in their world. … Read More

The Project
We need concept artwork produced for a variety of subjects & settings in the world.

Subjects
Characters: Protagonists, Occupations
Organizations: Fashion, Iconography
Dwellings: Architecture, Interior Design, Machinery, Horticulture
Locations: Orbital Cities, Terrestrial Towns & Villages, Spacescapes, Landscapes
Vehicles: Starships, Landing Craft, Terrestrial Transportation
Accessories: Equipment, Pets, Livestock

Distinctions
Immortal vs Mortal
Male vs Female
Real vs Digital
Wealthy vs Poor
By Nation, Organization or Allegiance
Religious vs Scientific
Young vs Old

The Style
The overall style I envision for the world is space-age gothic, a combination of futuristic technology and materials with the aesthetics from the late medieval period through the Georgian period. I have written a Style Guide which will help you further understand what I have in mind. This, ultra future/pre-modern style best describes how I see almost of the world, with one notable exception. There is also a netscape of digital personalities engaged in a high stakes game of information exchange that can be compared to espionage. Because this netscape exists as the collective imagination of virtual entities who lived in a highly advanced version of our global society today, the netscape looks much more like a future version of today than the rest of the settings in the world.

Collaboration
I envision this process being very interactive. When you have an idea for how someone or something should look, you might give me a sketch of it (which we’ll have to figure out a price for) and then, if I like it, I might ask if you can do more of them. I also plan to give you lots of feedback as we proceed about how I see it fitting into the world or what might need to be corrected. I have written up an extensive design document with descriptions of all sorts of people, places and objects which exist in the world, why they exist and what they do, which you will have access to. I have also collected a lot of reference art which I will share. But, ultimately, you and I will be created a lot of it as we go along. So, this will be a collaborative creation, where the world will change as much due to your vision as your vision will have to change to fit the world.

Work Load
If this sounds interesting to you, you can get started at any time and work at any pace you would like. I would like to work with you on a piece by piece basis and figure out a standard price per colored piece with you. Based upon some initial concept sketches, we’ll have to figure out a price that factors in the average time you spend in black & white. But, having a price per peice, I think is the best way to give us both maximum flexibility. As things go along, we’ll probably get a better sense of the rhythm of the process and develop a better sense of what to expect, so this flexibility will also allow us to adjust to changing expectations.

Grant of Rights
As a contribution to a collective work which is a work made for hire, Evertide Games will own copyright to all the concept artwork you produce. But, you will receive full credit for your concept art in all products produced from it and you will be allowed to keep a portion of the pieces for your portfolio.

Interested? Contact Us

Straw iPhone App Sound Effects Project Description

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:20:11 +0000

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.

Empires of Orion Concept Writer Project Description

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:59:51 +0000

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.