Hi there! My name's James and I'm an indie game designer and developer. For the last handful of months, I've been working with a great small team of people building a prototype / demo for a metroidvania-style platformer we've been calling "Furrow." Today, I'm here looking to add to our team--but first, let me show you where we are so far with a short run-through of the current development build, so you can see up front that this isn't just an idea on paper; we're actively working on this.

The elevator pitch for the game is simple:

The Secret Of NIMH meets Hollow Knight by way of Lovecraft.

The expanded pitch for the story is:

During the winter, while Furrow the squirrel hibernated, something awoke in the mountains near their small village of Bough’s End. Now, coming out of hibernation in the final days before spring, Furrow discovers that rather than preparing for the coming change of seasons, Bough’s End is abandoned, and all of the creatures who lived there have vanished into the mountains or become terrible monsters. Following a trail of clues which point to a shared nightmare and a spreading sickness of the spirit, it is up to Furrow to venture into the mountains, delving into lost ruins and forgotten places, and face a nameless evil--uncovering the secrets of the distant past, and witnessing an entire world beyond their own.

In essence, what we're looking to do is put together a short (about a half hour or less) prototype / demo covering the opening of what would be the full game, to use for building interest and potentially funding (as well as being a portfolio piece for everyone involved). If, once that's complete, the team decides to stick together and continue development, that's outstanding and we'll transition into a full and more formal development cycle of the game. So far, we have a fantastic character animator and a wonderful composer, and I'm handling the narrative, game design, and programming, so many of the most vital skill sets are covered. However, we're still lacking one or two key positions to help bring this fully to life, and hoping to find people interested in joining our team to fill them.

The positions we need are:

Environmental Artist
While character animation is covered, we're looking for a dedicated environmental artist to create the art for rooms, levels, props, and backgrounds. The style we're going for is a traditional hand-drawn 2D illustration style, using layering and parallax scrolling to develop a sense of depth and place. There is aimed to be as little animation involved in the environmental art itself as possible, so while animation experience is helpful, it's not strictly necessary. In essence, we're aiming for a similar thing to Hollow Knight; each room drawn onto multiple overlapping layers, like this: https://i.imgur.com/0fADPGb.mp4

Sound FX Designer
Music and composition is handled already, but at the moment we're using free sound effects and it would be of great help to have someone on the team who can create sound assets tailored to what the game needs. This would involve everything from interface sounds, to basic player sounds (footsteps, sword swinging, etc), to enemy sounds and ambient environmental tracks to play alongside (or even in place of) the music.

We're certainly not asking for anything resembling full-time work, here; especially not for the creation of a prototype / demo like this, and especially not with this all being on a volunteer / rev-share basis for the time being. We currently coordinate with each other over Discord on a daily to weekly basis, with updates on our individual progress, task assignments, discussion, and feedback. We're really looking for a team partnership, with everyone being engaged and having a say in things.

I know this is a long post, and I appreciate you taking the time to read through it, and for any interest you might have in helping out. If you're interested in joining the team, while you can of course reply to this post, the most effective ways to reach out are to either email me at RoanArts@gmail.com, or add me on Discord at Roan Arts#5750. As part of saying hello, I'd love to see your portfolio or prior work!

Thanks for your time! I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks so much to everyone who applied for the Sound FX Designer position! It's been filled on a tentative basis for now, though other candidates will be kept on-hand if it doesn't work out. We're still looking for an Environmental Artist!

Thanks so much to everyone who applied for the Environmental Artist position! It's been filled on a tentative basis for now, though other candidates will be kept on-hand!