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Hi, I'm Brandon — founder of **The Aberrant Raven**, a small indie studio building **Contentment**, a six-chapter narrative adventure in **Unreal Engine 5.7**, and I'm looking to bring on a few collaborators.

The game: Two worlds, mechanically coupled. 

The Wake World: is a grounded near-future medical drama —A nurse practitioner at a medical research facility, as a new drug called Contentment rapidly moves through society. Social deduction encounters. All choices influence the game

The Dream world:

A full turn-based JRPG layer — a six-character party, ATP-gauge combat, skill trees, — and what happens in one world bleeds into the other. Story-first, systems-heavy, tonally somewhere between quiet realism and strange fantasy.

All in-engine, current build, one level of many — clockwise from top left: sunset over the water; one of the level's larger structures; top-down of the full level (part dressed, part blockout — honest current state); the live contextual interaction system, where objects carry multiple verbs and optional tasks already have dialogue consequences when skipped.*

Where it actually stands: 

- Playable-in-editor with live quest/task and interaction systems — see above

- Rebuilt third-person camera architecture, custom input contexts

- Git source control on an 855-file baseline

- Maintained lore bible + technical bible, with a formal scoped-handoff process — every task is documented, bounded, and verifiable

- Full combat system designed and entering implementation currently

- Environment dressing uses a professional marketplace asset pipeline (Fab / KitBash3D kits, project-licensed) with custom work layered on — so as a collaborator you're building with a real asset library from day one, not gray boxes. Assets ship with the project files; you don't need to own any licenses yourself.

- On a two-year plan targeting a Steam Next Fest demo — and the timeline is calibrated so **no collaborator's hours are load-bearing**. You accelerate the project; you never carry it.

Roles I'm looking for:

- 3D Artist (environment/props/clothes) — building out two very different worlds: near-future urban/clinical spaces and fantasy biomes

- Character Artist / Animator / Rigger — game-ready characters and combat animation into UE5

- Programmer (Blueprint and/or C++) — combat implementation, data-driven quest/task tooling, editor utilities

- Level Designer — blockout-to-polish on story-driven spaces across both worlds, working with the existing asset library and/or custom builds

- Narrative Scripter (Writer + Blueprint) — a hybrid role for someone who can both write and implement: ambient NPC dialogue, barks, and side-conversation systems, built in-engine. The world's story and canon are authored and locked, so this is writing *within* an established universe in close collaboration with me — great fit if you enjoy bringing a world to life rather than inventing one from scratch.

- Concept Artist — visual development for dream-world creatures, characters, and environments

- VFX (Niagara) — combat and dream-world effects

(Music and audio are covered in-house. Voice acting will come later in production — not casting yet.)

Terms: This is a passion/hobby collaboration at present — full credit, scoped tasks rather than vague open-ended asks, and terms discussed openly and honestly before you commit an hour. I run this project with documentation and structure because I want collaborators' time respected.

Interested?  Reply here with the role you're interested in and a portfolio link, or add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven** Happy to show you the build and the docs before you decide anything.

Hi — six years of branching narrative and character work is a serious skill set, so let me pitch you something specific and be upfront about its shape.

I'm Brandon, founder of The Aberrant Raven, building **Contentment** in **Unreal Engine 5.7** — a six-chapter narrative adventure across two mechanically coupled worlds. The wake world: a near-future medical drama following an ICU nurse practitioner as a new drug fractures society. The dream world: a full turn-based JRPG layer with a six-character party. The story runs deep — there's a maintained lore bible, and the central narrative, cosmology, and endings are authored and locked.

So here's the honest shape of the role: this isn't blank-canvas worldbuilding — it's writing *within* a rich established canon. What that actually means in practice is substantial: dialogue and consequence branches (optional tasks already carry dialogue repercussions when skipped), side content and NPC writing across two very different tonal registers, and quest/task text that has to land both as medical realism and as fantasy. If you're the kind of narrative designer who enjoys the discipline of an established world — think staff writer on a show with a strong showrunner — there's years of meaningful work here. If blank-canvas is what feeds you, this honestly isn't the right fit, and I'd rather say so now.

The project is real and organized: playable-in-editor, source-controlled, maintained lore and tech bibles, formal scoped handoffs. Passion/hobby collaboration at present, full credit, terms discussed openly.

If writing inside a big, strange, carefully built world sounds appealing, add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven** (new account — easier if you add me) and I'll show you the world properly.

Hi — your range caught my attention, because my project is essentially your portfolio's stated interests fused into one game.

I'm Brandon, founder of The Aberrant Raven, building **Contentment** in **Unreal Engine 5.7** — a narrative adventure split across two coupled worlds. The wake world is grounded near-future: an ICU nurse practitioner in a society fracturing around a new drug — clinics, city districts, quiet domestic spaces. The dream world is full fantasy: a JRPG layer with a six-character party, strange biomes, and creature design that runs from whimsical to genuinely unsettling. Character and creature concept work is exactly what the dream world needs — the wake world is cast, but the dream world's inhabitants are still waiting for someone to give them faces.

The project is real and organized, not an idea thread: playable-in-editor, source-controlled, with a maintained design bible — so concept work you do actually flows into a game being built, and eventually into key art for a Steam page, which is strong portfolio material for someone finishing their studies.

Terms honestly: passion/hobby collaboration at present, full credit, everything discussed openly up front — and scoped pieces, not vague open-ended asks.

If the two-world premise interests you, add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven** (my account's new, so it's easier if you add me) — I'll show you the worlds and a few characters that need concepting, and you can judge whether the idea earns your time.

Hi Tobias — fully aware I'm replying to a post from a few years back, so feel free to ignore this if you've long since moved on. But on the chance you're still doing Unreal collabs, this seemed worth a shot.

I'm Brandon, founder of The Aberrant Raven, building **Contentment** in **UE 5.7** — a narrative two-world adventure: a near-future medical drama in the wake world, a full turn-based JRPG layer in the dream world, mechanically coupled. Your Blueprint focus and interest in AI/Behaviour Trees is a direct fit — the combat system (ATP-gauge turn-based, six-character party) is fully designed and entering implementation, and enemy AI is on the near horizon.

The project is real and organized: playable-in-editor, Git source control, and a maintained tech bible with a formal scoped-handoff process. Passion/hobby collaboration, credited, terms discussed openly.

If you're still active and curious, add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven**. If not — no worries at all, and best of luck with whatever you're building now.

Hey Blohnk — your UE background caught my eye, so pitching you directly here since I couldn't reach you on Discord (friend request sent).

I'm Brandon, founder of The Aberrant Raven, building **Contentment** — a narrative two-world adventure in **Unreal Engine 5.7**. The wake world is a near-future medical drama following an ICU nurse practitioner as a new drug fractures society; the dream world is a full turn-based JRPG layer (ATP-gauge combat, six-character skill trees, social-deduction encounters), mechanically coupled to the wake world.

It's a real, organized project, not an idea post: playable-in-editor with live quest/task systems, rebuilt third-person camera architecture, Git source control on an 855-file baseline, and a maintained tech bible with a formal scoped-handoff process — every task comes documented and verifiable. The combat system is fully designed and entering implementation now, which is exactly where a UE4/5 engineer with your experience would land.

No pressure toward a big commitment — if you're heads-down on Brackeys this month, happy to talk after the jam. Passion/hobby collaboration at present, full credit, terms discussed openly up front.

If you're interested, add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven** (I just made and account and sent you a friend request) — I'll walk you through the build there.

Hi Jordi — your post reads like exactly the kind of collaborator I've been hoping to find, so let me pitch you the project honestly.

I'm Brandon, founder of The Aberrant Raven, a small indie studio building **Contentment** — a narrative two-world adventure game in **Unreal Engine 5.7**. The wake world is a near-future medical drama following a nurse practitioner in an ICU as a new drug fractures society; the dream world is a full JRPG layer with turn-based combat (ATP gauge system, skill trees for a six-member party, social-deduction puzzle encounters). The two worlds are mechanically coupled — what happens in one bleeds into the other. Six chapters, story-first, systems-heavy.

Where it actually stands (since you'll rightly want proof this is real): playable-in-editor with live quest/task systems, a rebuilt third-person camera system, custom input contexts, Git source control on an 855-file baseline, and a maintained technical design bible with a formal scoped-handoff protocol for contributors. The full battle system is designed and documented, entering implementation now. We're on a two-year plan targeting a demo at Steam Next Fest, and the timeline is deliberately calibrated so no collaborator's hours are load-bearing — you'd be accelerating, never carrying.

Given your RPG-dynamics background and that you enjoy building tools to smooth game creation, there's a lot here that would fit: combat implementation, data-driven task/quest tooling, and editor utilities are all live workstreams.

This is a passion/hobby collaboration at present — credited, with terms discussed openly and honestly up front. If that sounds interesting, add me on Discord: **theaberrantraven** — happy to show you the project in detail there.

Either way, good luck with the search — your post was one of the most substantive on this board.