Hi! I am looking for a team who may be interested in the concept of the games that are psychological in nature. This is intended to be a hobby project, where I am looking to release the game for free. Thus, the contribution would be on volunteer / portfolio (unpaid) basis. Regardless of how much you've contributed on this project, we will put everyone who's spent their time in the project within the credits of the game. :)
However, I have a vision to continue creating games that deal with the mind and psychological elements in the future, and would like to get the first game going to start off that journey. If I could get a team enthusiastic about exploring the concept of mind and psychology, I would love to continue the work with the team for future projects based on these themes. Perhaps monetization can come later in the future where I will be able to provide compensation based on sales, funding, or other sources of income based off the games we create as a team, but at the moment I am looking to develop the first game through volunteer and experiment, research, and put the games out there to see if those specific players that are into psychological games would be interested in this game in general.
For this project, I have interviewed the experiences of a person in real life who's gone through psychosis and reinterpreted that into a game version. My goal is that maybe people will find this concept of discovering the visualizations and reinterpretations of these personal experiences, stories, and mind interesting.
The first game concept I had in mind was a psychological narrative game that takes people along the ride of someone who has psychosis experience, and ends up in a dual reality between the story in their mind and the reality of the world. But what if the story in the protagonist's head was all true... and everyone else is living in a simulation? This game concept is meant to make the players question the reality of the world in the game narrative, and whether the protagonist is actually the "awakened" one or they are simply delusional and seeing things. This was an interpretation of the experiences of the interviewee and thought it would be an interesting twist.
I am planning at the moment to make this specific project into 3 parts. The story has been written through the interview and the overall vibe set, but details could still be added. The first part deals with the revealing the beginning of their experiences with psychosis in short bits, leaving the players questioning what happened to the protagonist. The second part deals with the darker side of psychosis, where there may be some horror elements there. The third part reveals the whole narrative of the story of the psychosis, and why they did what they did in the first part based on the story of their "delusions". I also have part 4-6 planned out for a second game, but that is for a later time after the first game.
On the team, I am looking for programmers, game designers, or composers:
-For programmers, we are thinking of using Godot or Unity if we go the 2D direction and Unreal if we go the 3D direction. Either way, the game will be in pixel-like/stylized style.
-For game designers, we are looking for an in-depth discussion in narrative/puzzle game where there will be small games that players can interact with during the story (the puzzles will definitely be tied into the narrative of the psychosis). The overall narrative and story is set, but the way to approach the narrative in a game design sense can differ depending on the team's discussions and decisions.
-For composers, we are looking for someone who can help us nail the feeling of unease, paranoia, as well as creepy elements in the game! There will be elements of horror as well within the game, specifically part 2.
Again, this is a hobby project and meant to connect the team who is interested in developing a game like this. I myself is an artist who can do artwork and artistic assets in the game, but I definitely need the help of others who I can work with to make this game into reality. :)
My portfolio is on https://www.artstation.com/ejungart!
I'm excited to work with like-minded people who share the same passion, and feel free to leave a comment or message if you're interested!