Early development stages, unsure how to progress

Hello,

I would first like to explain who I am, and my circumstances. I am an aspiring game developer that is looking to make a game, and get it published here, at Manifesto Games (who would of thunk it :P). Here's my problems. I'm a teenager, so that discourages most other people from taking me (and my partner) serious. Also, right now we (as in our team) consists of myself as the programmer and a friend of mine as a 3D modeler. We don't have a set storyline (which is the most important part...), but more of a basic concept (please say so if you all would like me to elaborate on our idea). Should me look for more help? Possibly a concept artist, game designer, and another 3D modeler?

So, as you can see I lack experience, and I'm unsure what the next step is. Look to gain more members for the team, continue the game, then look for a publisher (preferably Manifesto Games), or some other route? Just for the curious, I'll be using the Unity game engine (unity3d.com) for development, so the targeted platform will be Mac OS X (and possibly Windows if I can afford the Pro version of Unity later down the rod). Which brings me to a slightly off-topic question. I read in the wire magazine the Manifesto provides full funding? Does that mean Manifesto would provide money for the Unity pro version?

Thanks for taking the time to read this,
www.Bronx-Development.ardo.org.uk/
Jedd Haberstro

Jedd:

Actually, we -don't- provide funding... at present, at any rate.

No, your story -isn't- the most important part. The most important part is: What does the player do? What are the basic 'verbs'? What are the core gameplay mechanics? The story (if any--not all games are remotely story-dependent) can be retrofitted to your core gameplay.

If I were you, I'd try to kludge something together that lets you test your basic gameplay and tweak that until you think you have something worth working on. At that point, you can make a judgement about what other talents you need involved, if any...

costik, thank you for your quick response!

I should of mentioned that this is a 3rd person platform game. Similar game play to the Spyro series on playstation. So I would *think* the storyline is key here. And, I would through together a simple "demo" per se, and work on gameplay if I had models to work with...

Anyways, generally speaking, do people come here asking to be published when their game is finished, or earlier on?

Yes Jedd, finished products only. And your first step is really getting something playable. Don't sweat the artwork, don't sweat the storyline, just put together a single scene, with wireframes, or simple polygons, and see what kind of workflow works best for you and your partner. Develop a process for grafting art assets on after the gameplay portion is complete.

There are probably better fora for discussing specific technical development, but we're still glad to have you to talk theory, or setting or anything else for that matter.

Ironically, I have a weakness for platformers, even though, historically, they tend to be the least innovative genre around.

As far as storyline goes, don't even sweat that yet. One of the best platformers of recent vintage, Shadow of the Colossus, has only the merest wisp of a storyline. Platformers are all about the play. See also, Gish.

I still play pacman and Dig-Dug, so that shows you how much a story matters to me. That said, I love the story in some games, such as Top Secret (Bionic Commando)

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