Why do people join? (Hints please)

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Vroomfondel · #1 Post by **Vroomfondel** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:16 am

I'm posting this because I'm not sure how to get people to join my project. People just don't seem to want to work for the project. Do you people know of any strategies for getting people to join? Thanks in advance.

PS Sorry to the mods if this looks like I'm recruiting people, I just want to know of an easy way to get people to help me ;)

Angelus3K · #2 Post by **Angelus3K** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:19 am

As you know you cant recruit here. But the best thing to do is show some examples of your work. A script or plan of what you intend to do is a big help.

Vroomfondel · #3 Post by **Vroomfondel** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:57 pm

Am I allowed to post part of my script here? I read that recruiting isn't allowed so I don't want to go breaking the rules, it's just that my other team lead and I are trying to get people to join but no one seems interested.

moonlit · #4 Post by **moonlit** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:27 pm

Hi,

Maybe you already know but; I think you can recruit people at:

http://www.adventuredevelopers.com/forums/

Don't how much reply you would get. I think people are more likely to respond if you can show some stuff that really looks good. So a webpage with music/art or a demo or something would at least raise chances of finding people I guess.

Regards, Ron AF Greve

Vroomfondel · #5 Post by **Vroomfondel** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:23 am

Thank you for giving me this link, I'm sure it will come in handy. Unfortunately, the reason I'm trying to recruit is so I can get some art and music. Currently the only people on my team are writers.

JustLuke29 · #6 Post by **JustLuke29** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:00 pm

The best way to get people to join your team would be to show genuine commitment to your project (by completing a significant portion of it before trying to recruit people) and talent.

Regarding talent, the ability to pick up a brush and paint something on a canvas doesn't make one a painter and, likewise, the ability to produce words and sentences in some sort of order does not make one a writer.

Consider this carefully: If you don't have any skills or talent (or money to hire people!) then why would anyone with skills or talent want to work for you?

Quest For Glory Fan · #7 Post by **Quest For Glory Fan** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 12:40 am

that seemed pretty negative but truethful in my honest opinion.

Vroomfondel · #8 Post by **Vroomfondel** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 3:52 am

Oh, I've experience with writing. I've written several stories (short and novel length) and I've got them cluttering my hard drive. It's not a lack of talent so much as the fact that the community that would be my main source of recruitment has died. :|

Aperama · #9 Post by **Aperama** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:40 am

I'd personally say that it's extremely hard for anyone to join something, particularly something as arduous as the creation of an adventure game, when there's no standing portfolio to work with, a bunch of cluttered ideas lying about a table, and some vital piece missing.

If you're serious in saying that you only have writers, and I am correct in assuming that you mean to say that you also have programmers (so, writers in the sense of creating a script and creating a program) - I'd actually suggest that you make a short teaser of the game that shows some degree of commitment. Personally, I'm thinking of a short (but well-written) piece of interactive fiction; a teaser which shows a short piece of the storyline, and a simple puzzle that might need to be overcome ("I need to get those keys, or I'm not going to make it out of this building alive!") - which could possibly create that spark that would entice artists/musicians to want to work with you. Then again, they could be big haters of interactive fiction due to its "guess the verb" quality, and hate you and never want to help you.

But then, that's just my personal thought on the matter.

Gronagor · #10 Post by **Gronagor** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 11:15 am

Well, you mentioned you needed artists and musicians. Guess you have a scripter/programmer.

My suggestion would be:
1. make simple sketches of what you want in each screen - and I mean simple... a tree here, a house here. Don't worry if it look childish.

2. Use AGS's default character

3. Import the simple sketches into the game and work on scripting the plot.

4. Once that is done, you'll find artists and musicians being much more keen to join. Nobody likes to work 5-8 hours on a background and having it scrapped because it doesn't quite fit because of a misunderstanding, so it is nice to see the simple sketches in the game (and how it fits with the rest of the game).

It is great fun replacing the new fancy looking backgrounds with the sketches, and motivates everyone.

Aspetra · #11 Post by **Aspetra** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:20 am

Ok, I may make myself sound stupid but here goes:

Making a game is a lot like putting together a puzzle. If you just throw all the peices out on the table and walk off, and expect people walking by to glance at it and do something with it, it won't happen.

However, if you take the time to peice togehter the outside border of that puzzle, people walking by will stop and glance at it a little longer then opposed if you left it sitting with nothing done to it. They may glance about the peices really quick and see if they can find something that matches the border to fit in. However they will not spend a lot of time with it.

Then if you take the time to fill in around the edges a bit more, and have small chunks filled in around the borders of the puzzle, and less peices are laying around dis-organized, and you have all like peices in groups that still need to be peiced togehter, and you have around 30-40% of the puzzle in place, people will really stop at the puzzle, and have at it because it is organized, there is parts already started that make it easier to find where stuff goes, and before you know it, the puzzle will be done.

Now that my long metaphore is over, the moral of it is, you need to put your building blocks in place, you need to have outlined what you want done, how it should be done, and a basic showoff of what you want the end result to be, only then will you attracts artists, programmers, designers, etc.

Nobody buys a stock with a company if their unsure it is gonna fly, only once they have seen something the company has to offer will they buy in.

moonlit · #12 Post by **moonlit** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:35 am

So in short, I think, the result of this thread is (also since you only have writers on the team).

Make sure the you have completed the story book. (Description of scenery, rooms etc.).

Have (most of) the puzzles completely written out. What happens exactly when the user clicks this or that. So no guesswork needed for developers or artist.

I think if you could show that to people, who would potentially join you, it would increase your chances. Since developers could concentrate on creating the game logic (the design has already be done). The same for artist who wouldn't need to figure out how the scene should look but could concentrate on creating it from the description.

It would make things easier for people who might join and also shows that you put a lot of effort in it yourself.

Regards, Ron AF Greve.