rdaly
03-26-2005, 10:04 PM
A couple of weeks back, I posted with a help wanted ad for a project called Birthstar: Frontline. We are still very much in need of some top-notch artists and animators to help out with our production. What we're trying to do is complete a demo for the purposes of presenting the demo to game publishers in order to acquire funding to complete the full game.
The premise of the game has a very deep backstory of which is not actually touched up in the first game; we want to create a franchise here. Birthstar places you in the shoes of one of 16 troops that are deployed in the recon assault team Tango-88. Tango-88 is usually the first to fight, and sometimes the ONLY to fight, both in small-scale skirmishes, and larger scale battlegrounds. Tango-88 utilizes every member of it's team; each member has a role to play, a job to assume. These jobs can range anywhere from the marksman, to the medic, to the anti-air man, to the anti-air loader. Each member's role is key to the success of each mission. We're stressing co-op play; we want to maximize this gametype's potential for greatness and fun.
The storyline itself takes place about half a millenia in the future. Human's have left Earth in favor of the stars, and have formed two distinct coalitions. The Tusten Confederation are definitely more militaristic, more industrial by nature than the UCS (Unified Core Systems,) who favor a democratic approach to their life and their military. Earth has become more than a wasteland to the Tustens; in their eyes it is the mecca of their civilization, and they become quite religious in their ferver to acquire it. The UCS control it however, and are convinced the Tustens are just trying to start a war between coalitions. Thus, the Tustens begin to encroach on UCS territory, conquering planets and galaxies in their march towards Earth. When they begin to attack the Republic, (one of the more staunch allies to the UCS,) the UCS is forced to join the war.
For seventeen months, the Tustens and the Republic have been at a tactical stalemate. The Tustens have been throwing everything at the Republic defense and slowly but surely have been chipping away. At the same time, they have been maneuvering reserve forces to the Republic outworlds in order to stretch the Republic defense until it snaps. It's working.
Meanwhile the UCS has been routing and staging forces to prepare for a mass reinforcements operation. Special Forces units, Tango-88 included, have been doing espionage and insurgency missions into Tusten territory and during one of hese missions three members of Tango-88 were killed in action. Now, they have been fed replacementts and have been rotated back to their assigned company, Charlie-18 of the 2-1-21st, ready for their new assignment.
Gameplay-wise, we really want to focus on a solid co-op experience. In the full-game, every member of the 16 man team will be playable; for the demo, 8-10 will be available. We also want to revolutionize the way tactical games are played by providing a sophisticated command structure within the team; orders pass down the ranks, the captain, (Capt. Remus Harlan,) is the only one who can communicate with the OPSAT, (who is orbiting the planet with a satellite view of the planet below him/her.)
We want to complete this project by the end of summer. About half of the first mission will be playable, (which is still a decent amount.) We are working with the Unreal Engine, (http://www.unrealtechnology.com/flash/technology/ue2.shtml) used to create games such as Unreal Tournament 2004, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Pariah; the list goes on and on.
I'm going to be very clear about payment here, because it has been quite the bone of contention on other forums. We cannot offer payment for your services. If we do this thing and get a publisher lined up, you will receive payment based on the amount of work you have done for us. If we are unsuccesful in acquiring a publisher, then this'll end up being one hell of a mod experience for the UT2k4 community, :).
We want to make this game because it's the game we want to play.
Here's some conceptual art, and a weapon render or two.
http://img227.exs.cx/img227/8429/bebaron0qz.jpg
http://img230.exs.cx/img230/46/tarsishospital8sn.jpg
http://img224.exs.cx/img224/8140/street28pc.jpg
http://img240.exs.cx/img240/5228/city18fx.jpg
The premise of the game has a very deep backstory of which is not actually touched up in the first game; we want to create a franchise here. Birthstar places you in the shoes of one of 16 troops that are deployed in the recon assault team Tango-88. Tango-88 is usually the first to fight, and sometimes the ONLY to fight, both in small-scale skirmishes, and larger scale battlegrounds. Tango-88 utilizes every member of it's team; each member has a role to play, a job to assume. These jobs can range anywhere from the marksman, to the medic, to the anti-air man, to the anti-air loader. Each member's role is key to the success of each mission. We're stressing co-op play; we want to maximize this gametype's potential for greatness and fun.
The storyline itself takes place about half a millenia in the future. Human's have left Earth in favor of the stars, and have formed two distinct coalitions. The Tusten Confederation are definitely more militaristic, more industrial by nature than the UCS (Unified Core Systems,) who favor a democratic approach to their life and their military. Earth has become more than a wasteland to the Tustens; in their eyes it is the mecca of their civilization, and they become quite religious in their ferver to acquire it. The UCS control it however, and are convinced the Tustens are just trying to start a war between coalitions. Thus, the Tustens begin to encroach on UCS territory, conquering planets and galaxies in their march towards Earth. When they begin to attack the Republic, (one of the more staunch allies to the UCS,) the UCS is forced to join the war.
For seventeen months, the Tustens and the Republic have been at a tactical stalemate. The Tustens have been throwing everything at the Republic defense and slowly but surely have been chipping away. At the same time, they have been maneuvering reserve forces to the Republic outworlds in order to stretch the Republic defense until it snaps. It's working.
Meanwhile the UCS has been routing and staging forces to prepare for a mass reinforcements operation. Special Forces units, Tango-88 included, have been doing espionage and insurgency missions into Tusten territory and during one of hese missions three members of Tango-88 were killed in action. Now, they have been fed replacementts and have been rotated back to their assigned company, Charlie-18 of the 2-1-21st, ready for their new assignment.
Gameplay-wise, we really want to focus on a solid co-op experience. In the full-game, every member of the 16 man team will be playable; for the demo, 8-10 will be available. We also want to revolutionize the way tactical games are played by providing a sophisticated command structure within the team; orders pass down the ranks, the captain, (Capt. Remus Harlan,) is the only one who can communicate with the OPSAT, (who is orbiting the planet with a satellite view of the planet below him/her.)
We want to complete this project by the end of summer. About half of the first mission will be playable, (which is still a decent amount.) We are working with the Unreal Engine, (http://www.unrealtechnology.com/flash/technology/ue2.shtml) used to create games such as Unreal Tournament 2004, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Pariah; the list goes on and on.
I'm going to be very clear about payment here, because it has been quite the bone of contention on other forums. We cannot offer payment for your services. If we do this thing and get a publisher lined up, you will receive payment based on the amount of work you have done for us. If we are unsuccesful in acquiring a publisher, then this'll end up being one hell of a mod experience for the UT2k4 community, :).
We want to make this game because it's the game we want to play.
Here's some conceptual art, and a weapon render or two.
http://img227.exs.cx/img227/8429/bebaron0qz.jpg
http://img230.exs.cx/img230/46/tarsishospital8sn.jpg
http://img224.exs.cx/img224/8140/street28pc.jpg
http://img240.exs.cx/img240/5228/city18fx.jpg