Recruitment: Project Alteil FE

[Teru]

This is the recruitment thread for Alteil FE.

The project was started back in December when Shirozaki had the idea to make an Alteil-based Fire Emblem hack. Such things happened, and 120, ghin, and I were forced onto the development team.

Initially, the project was a ROM hack, but due to the limitations of the system mostly because our coder didn't want to deal with assembly hacking, Alteil FE now uses the FEXP engine in RPG Maker XP.






What We Need:

Coders:

wakka9ca was an invaluable addition to our team, but he has requested for more coding manpower, especially since he'll be away for a while until mid-February.

So yeah, we still need more coders. Preferably with experience in RPG Maker XP and/or Ruby and/or C. But experience isn't exactly necessary if you're willing to spend long hours deciphering thousands of lines of code through trial/error.


Spriters:

There are a LOT of characters in Alteil, which means that we'll need a lot of sprites. There are currently three, maybe four spriters on the team, but it would really speed things up if we had more.

Spriting involves making character portraits (from scratch, but we will use splices/recolors if we need to), map icons, weapon icons, various other sorts of icons, and battle animations.

Consistency in style is very important here. Note that there is a very limited number of pixels available for battle sprites, so things tend to get to looking really messy, really fast, if the spriting is not done properly.


CG/Concept Illustrators:

Basically, you just need to be able to draw well.


Composers:

Music etc. There is no technical limit on format; we could insert 18 minute long 320kb/s .mp3s if we wanted to.

The composer must have experience in music production. We're looking for music that will suit the environment of the game, though if it's well-done, pretty much anything at this point will suit the environment of the game. Higher-quality remixes of Alteil themes will be accepted.

Misc:

Anyone who has any in-depth information regarding Alteil lore, especially JP.
Anyone who can translate Japanese.
Anyone who is willing to help with the handling of the engine, sprite insertion, customization, etc.
Anyone who is willing to edit sprites for consistency.
Anyone who can run a SVN server.

Actually, we're looking for pretty much anyone who is willing to help.

Note, however, that this is a very large project that may take a very long time to complete. You are expected to remain committed to the project, but you are, of course, free to work at any pace that is most comfortable to you.

Oh, I should probably mention that the weapon icons in the screenshots were designed by LordGlenn. We're using them as placeholders for testing until we get around to making our own weapon icons.


Recruits:

fargone (writer/editor)
monkeysmiles (story director/writer)
Halcyon (writer/story director)
Icyman2 (spriter/coder)

ChiYoung
GuilleumeFG
Nehless?


Current Team:

developer: Teru
lead programmer: wakka9ca
story director/spriter: Shirozaki
spriter: ghin
spriter: angelspawns
lead CG/concept illustrator: Ethikx
intern: 2xDouble30 (MIA)

[Urkredel]

I'm speechless O_O

[LoneKnight]

I'm somewhat interested actually.

What exactly are you going for? Just a normal (FE) RPG game using alteil stuff or porting some mechanics too?

[Interfectorexcrem]

That looks really nice. I am going to support you by motivating you through wishing you best of luck! I am sure your project will be much more successful ...

[wakka9ca]

Nice! I wish I had time to commit to this though. I did have some RPG Maker project of my own a few years ago. However, due to my busy research...

If you have any trouble with C code or want any particular feature, I can help but I cannot go full or even part time on this. Only sporadic help depending on my availabilities. Are you making your project open source? If you do, I can take a look at it. I actually can draw really well too, but again it takes too much time

Maybe if I reduce my Alteil playtime to 1 match per week like a year ago instead of 1 match per day, I can make it.

[Shirozaki]

[..] when Shirozaki had the idea[..]

I swear I'll nag you one day for this.

But yeah, we need help with this, my current job has taken a LOT more time than I expected and Teru pretty much made everything himself so far (I'm so sorry, dear).

[fargone]

I may be able to help with the written aspects of the game, including story writing and editing. I have a small tribe of children so my input would probably best work on a job by job basis - gimme something do to write or edit one piece at a time.

I am quite proficient at editing as it used to be part of my job and would probably be best suited to that role. I thoroughly enjoy the English language, and dont mind a bit creative writing as well. Feel free to contact me if you would like my help.

[wakka9ca]

Same here: want a feature or a debug? I am proficient in C and can learn any other programming language, whether object-oriented, script or functional, within weeks. I've used RPG Maker in the past too. If you need assembly code hacks I can potentially help too but any programmer know how it's tedious. Can work "per item or request" instead of long-term commitment. After all, my academic research comes first...

I suggest you setup open source project and a SVN repository too.

[ChiYoung]

After I quit LoL, I have a big empty hole in my life.

Count me in.

[Teru]

I'm somewhat interested actually.

What exactly are you going for? Just a normal (FE) RPG game using alteil stuff or porting some mechanics too?

The game will obviously be based on FE's mechanics, but with additions and variations.

The FEXP engine allows for a large degree of customization. In terms of mechanics, what will separate Alteil FE from the traditional FE GBA games are:

1. The implementation of custom battle and passive skills
(Screenshot #4 is Luna activating concurrently with Sure Shot; Rivera actually died shortly after the screenshot was taken...
See also screenshot #3, the Fire Enchant skill, which deals additional damage based on level, is linked to the Beltorat sword)

2. Separate phases of gameplay
i.e. after major story events, the game transitions from linear episodic chapters to a more conquer-oriented, world-map-based non-linear mode of play.

3. Other (engine-related)
The FEXP engine includes many features not present in the original FE GBA games. The screen size was increased, text bubbles handle three, not two, lines of text, and the battle HUD and the status screens have been reformatted.

And in terms of non-mechanical differences:

1. Different story and characters
Obviously.

2. Reworking of classes and items
We will be using less of the traditional FE classes and more custom classes specifically designed for Alteil characters.

3. Larger scale
The current rough outline of the game events calls for four phases in the game. Each phase will probably be about as long as a standard FE GBA game. To compensate, the level cap will be raised to 99 and stat caps will be greatly increased. The goal is to possibly include most, if not all, of the characters in Alteil, and even introduce new characters based on unit cards or famous Iczers.

I may be able to help with the written aspects of the game, including story writing and editing. I have a small tribe of children so my input would probably best work on a job by job basis - gimme something do to write or edit one piece at a time.

I am quite proficient at editing as it used to be part of my job and would probably be best suited to that role. I thoroughly enjoy the English language, and dont mind a bit creative writing as well. Feel free to contact me if you would like my help.

Editing is no problem, but as for writing, I don't think that can be done on a job by job basis. The scope and depth of this project demands that the writers work constantly and cooperatively with the story directors, and have a full grasp on the entirety of the plot, making sure that each scenario fits perfectly into the overall framework, both stylistically and with the story.

Same here: want a feature or a debug? I am proficient in C and can learn any other programming language, whether object-oriented, script or functional, within weeks. I've used RPG Maker in the past too. If you need assembly code hacks I can potentially help too but any programmer know how it's tedious. Can work "per item or request" instead of long-term commitment. After all, my academic research comes first...

I suggest you setup open source project and a SVN repository too.

We could DEFINITELY use features and a debug. Some features we need include, but are not limited to:
Save/load screen (the actual save function has already been coded for, somewhat)
Some item functionality (Warp staff, etc.)

and a debug would be infinitely helpful.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that in order to add features to the engine, the entire script needs to be analyzed and the added code must conform with all of the already defined variables, etc. of the engine. It's not possible to code for a feature separately and just copypaste the script into the engine.