Project:
- hmSpirit (codename)
Overview:
2D Farm Sim RPG meets spicy adult action! hmSpirit conceptualized from my desire to play a game like Stardew Valley and the like, but where the relationship mechanics go the extra mile and play more into the overall progression. You play as a college-dropout. Living in your parents apartment and struggling to find a job, an opportunity to help out on your uncle's old farm land comes up, and you are (forced) to take it. It will be a struggle, but as you learn the ropes and grow as a farmer, you must also grow (or revert?) as a person through the relationships you develop in this town. Some say passion is what fuels the life of the valley here.
This is currently a pre-prod/hobby project I am doing in my free time when I am not occupied with my job.
What's done so far?
- Have programmed some of the systems, currently in Gamemaker, such as systems to handle dialogue, interactions, a prototype of my social skill wheel (think of picking interactions like in The Sims), some AI pathing and controller boilerplate
- Maintaining a running repository for game docs, code documentation in drafft-2
- Not an artist, but have concepted a few of the in-game maps
- Master Game Design Document currently at 51 Pages, 9100 words with the foundations of all the skill systems, main progression objectives, concepts and character information laid out
Developer:
- ZeroSenpai
Looking for:
- a 2D Pixel artist/digital artist to concept and create character concepts, sheets, and in-game avatars
- Update: to clarify, the character art for the character sheets and any concepting off of it, and the translation into a 512px avatar of this for the dialogue sprite
- Ideally a fellow hobbyist and someone who could be confident moving into directing artwork in a later stage
Employment Type:
- In this current phase, I will commission concept art/character art as "paid" on a prepared agreement with scope of work. So I am open to commission something if you are not interested in forming a team in this early stage. NOTE: I am looking for owner ship of delivered assets if paid, if you do not want to work on commissions with these terms, please refrain from contacting. Also, please have examples of human characters you are allowed to share on your portfolio.
- If you are looking for more team-based work but to be paid, we can arrange a reasonable agreement but understand I am not capable of paying hourly. For the right artist at this stage, I am looking at a more structured contractual set up, where you can be paid an agreed sum per deliverables in each period.
NOTE: You must have a portfolio of human examples and be confident to make creative decisions. It will need to be an iterative process. I will SOW for that. As mentioned, the art has been a blocker for me and as such art style and direction doesn't fully exist. Payment terms negotiable. This would be contractual work, not simply a commission.
- If you are looking for more team-based experience and work, unpaid for now on a volunteer NDA (retain ownership, but provide use of the work contributed with crediting). More open to all styles and experience levels for this type of work.
- I am not considering profit share at this time, because the game is in extreme early stages, and projecting performance of sales is not realistic. This can be a discussion with prospective team members in the future during a true production stage.
Work commitment:
- The project - again - is a hobby-level project right now. I have every intention to take it to a published stage in the future, but being realistic we know life is unexpected. Commitments will only be based on what agreements we come to. You can work just as much as agreed, even more if you feel the passion, or if volunteering: just the amount you think is right for now. I typically work about 5-8 hours a week on this right now.
- You will agree to a contractual agreement and NDA (for commission or paid contract work) or a volunteer NDA before onboarded to the project
Preferred method of contact:
- Itch.io: https://zero-senpai98.itch.io/
- Discord: senpaijake (same avatar)
- My blog email (checked infrequently): admin@senpaijake.com
Job Description:
- 2D Pixel artist: Concept and Character
Referencing the Master Design Document, you will create original concept and character (avatar/portrait) artwork assets for use as resources in the hmSpirit indie game project. You will assist in refining (or in some cases creating) the character design sheets for each character in the game, and prepare avatar resources to be used in-engine.
Additional comments:
I post dev diaries on this project at my blog and cross-post those over on my itch.io (if you feel more comfortable accessing via there). You can see them at my site senpaijake.com
Update: please digest the post completely before contacting. I am looking right now for what is explicitly being asked, please do not contact to upsell. This is still very much a HOBBY project with the intent to go further - I need to underline hobby here, I want to make sure the person I work with is in that mind-space. This is not a funded and officially running indie game right now.
Outcome: concept/character sheet art to work with, an accompanying pixel art portrait based on that sheet. In-game dimension is currently aiming for 384x576.
Fetish/Kink Content warning:
Please be advised that this project contains fetish/kink content in its material. There are planned instances of romantic and erotic interactions with a cousin/aunt character (should the player pursue this), as well as a lot of NTR (cheating) options, along others (panty theft). If any of these will make you uncomfortable, I understand and would suggest to send your services to another project more suitable for you to comfortably work in.
Thank you!