Hello, me and my older bro just came up with an interesting new game concept. It will have a simple, old-school feeling and involve ninjas, commandos, guns, and swords. We have a competent programmer and have already formulated some gameplay ideas, but obviously we can't get very far without an artist.

You see, we don't have any funding, and we want this to be a free game. So, to form a team, we thought we might create a playable demo with some temporary artwork, so you guys could get a taste of our idea and (hopefully) help us out. But after some deliberation, we decided that it would be easier to just pitch our idea out to you guys, just in case our idea doesn't catch on.

So here's the concept of the game:

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Name: Super Ninja Commandos! (work in progress)

Gameplay: The game will be a two-dimensional platforming beat-em-up. The player(s) will control dexterous ninjas with MP5s, swords, and a plethora of melee attacks. On each stage, the player(s) will be attacked by a swarm of thugs, armed grunts, evil ninjas, etc. Enemies can be knocked down and killed quickly with your weapons and melee attacks. Enemies can come through openings (windows/doors) in the area and also jump out of nowhere from the edges of the screen. The player(s) can navigate through the various floors in the area by jumping between them; other characters must use ladders, doors, vents, etc. The goal of the game is to eliminate all the enemy characters in the stage, and then move on to the next area. After a certain number of stages are passed, the player(s) might enter a boss fight, a special stage, etc.

Technical: The game will use 2D characters/objects on top of a simple 3D background, so as to make use of 3DGS's collision detection features and entity management. There will be no scrolling or camera movement (except when moving on to another stage), and each stage will be centered in a high area (like a skyscraper), with 5~ accessible floors, so reckless players/enemies can fall to their death. The game will use a simple combat system in which player(s) are limited to a small number of attacks, however players will be able to dodge incoming enemy attacks with some timing.

What we need: first off, some feedback. Tell us what you think of our game concept. We want to know if you guys actually think this is worth building before we set off on it. Secondly, we need an artist or two; we've currently got a competent programmer who is ready, willing, and able to put this game idea together, but we have no artist to create our game assets for us.

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If this game concept is no good or needs some adjustment, don't hesitate to lay down some comments. We haven't really started work on the project yet, so we're completely open to ideas, suggestions, and criticism. Let us know!

If anyone, including programmers, graphics artists, or sound artists are interested in helping to make this game a reality, send us a PM. Like I said, we are short in the money department, so we might not be able to pay you. But we CAN offer you (we think) a pretty nifty game idea. And hey! You can put records of your work on your portfolio/resume.

What are you going to do to make avoid the game getting old after the first 3 levels?

Where is the progression?

That's a good question. First, a local multiplayer game mode will add a certain social aspect to the game, which will ultimately be fueled by the fast-paced nature of the game. To increase the playability of the game, stages will randomly generate new obstacles (walls, ladders, vents, windows, etc.) to constantly supply the player(s) with new arenas to fight in. The art style of the stages are planned to change as the game progresses, and new powerups and enemies will be introduced as the game goes on. On top of all this, the difficulty will increase to provide more of a challenge to the players as they progress through the levels. There is also talk of adding some rare special stages, like "Ninja Madness!" which will cause hordes of dextrous ninjas to spring out of nowhere to defeat the player(s) in an onslaught of shurikens and wakizashis.

So you want someone to help develope 2d graphics for your game?
a few questions:

Does that include level design
Animations
particle effects
etc.

maybe you should post a picture of just how old school you are thinking of

Sorry for the late reply. My internet connection was out for the past 24 hours.


We will need an artist (or two) to draw/animate some 2D characters for the game. Since the levels will be generated procedurally, we will not need any level designers, but we might need some background artists to create the scenes in which the game will be played in. Particle effects are not mandatory, but would be nice


Well, follow this link and take a look at some of these screenshots of Shinobi III for tee Sega Genesis:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/shinobi-iii-return-of-the-ninja-master/screenshots

We were hoping for something at this level.

used to love that game.