Andrew Weldon
10-19-2003, 06:10 PM
Hello,
My name is Andrew Weldon and I am the team leader for a Half-Life single player modification entitled "Nightwatch." Nightwatch (http://www.hl-nightwatch.net) has been in development in some form or another for approximately 20 months and has been in development in its current form for approximately the last year. We currently are in need of some additional team members to round out our modeling department and ensure that we complete the project in a timely fashion.
First and foremost, we need character animators, as we currently have none in active status. In addition, we could use additional help in modeling and skinning to further ease the workload of our current staff.
The Half-Life engine is older, but despite this we are doing wonderful things with it to create an immersive single player experience on par with the original game. I'd like to take some time to share with you what we have to offer as a project and what, if you are interested, we look for in a prospective team member.
NIGHTWATCH INFORMATION - Or, "Why should I care?"
====
Nightwatch is a single player episode in the style of Opposing Force or Blue Shift, set parallel to the events in Half-Life but chock full of new characters, locations, and surprises. Nightwatch takes this a step further, creating a new division of high-level security within the facility - a force to which the player, Sgt. William Archer, belongs.
The core idea behind Nightwatch is to not only re-interpret, but entirely re-create the Half-Life experience into the most the existing technology is capapble of nearly 5 years after release. Our level and model poly counts are higher, our textures are at a higher resolution and much crisper, and we have the typical gamut of technological enhancements - particle effects, mp3/ogg soundtrack support, heavily updated AI behavior, and so on.
No Half-Life single player episode to date has been so large in total scope. In addition to our new characters and weapons, all existing characters have been or will be updated or completely re-modeled from scratch to bring everything up to par with current standards. Nightwatch will also span over 60 map files in 9 chapters, making it (by map quantity) the largest HL expansion to date - Greater than both Opposing Force and Blue Shift, and comparable to both of them combined.
The Nightwatch team has been regarded as one of the top in the HL mod community, and while I won't make any such claims myself, I do believe the work we have done speaks very well for the talent of all our team members. What follows is a selection of Nightwatch content released thus far (I'd include thumbnails as well, but unfortunately there's too many images):
Military Security Character Renders:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_milsec_male.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_milsec_officer.jpg
Weapon Renders:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_m4a1.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_pdw2.jpg
Level Screenshots:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap2-01.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap3-02.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap3-06..jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap4-07.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap5-01.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap6-01.jpg
Concept Art:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nwconcept_controller1.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_assassin.jpg
Soundtrack Samples:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/miscmedia/NW-Frantic.mp3
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/miscmedia/NW-WakeUp.mp3
We understand that newer games are by default much more enticing, but we feel that as a team, we can offer just as much as you would find in a mod for any other game. In addition, we have already set forth plans for further projects in the future on newer technology, and in addition to aiming to complete Nightwatch as soon as possible we already have our sights set on an even larger-scale project in the future, possibly continuing from where Nightwatch leaves off.
HOW CAN I HELP OUT? - or, "What do I need to know if I want to join Nightwatch?"
====
If this is something you're interested in, great. But there's a few things we'd like you to know about us first.
First and foremost, please understand that this is not a paid project and all of us are working for free in our own time, most while balancing school and/or jobs. As much as I'd love to be able to compensate people for their work, it'd be out of my own pocket and that is just not possible.
That said, here's what we're looking for out of a potential team member:
CHARACTER ANIMATION: Animators will be responsible for bringing the characters of Nightwatch, human and otherwise, to life. An ideal candidate should be extremely familiar with rigging and creating fluid and believable motion in both human and non-human characters. Experience in Max is preferable, as is prior Half-Life animating experience, but we can work with you to accomodate other software and the specifics of Half-Life animation. Animation tasks will include standard cycles (walk, run, shoot, pain, etc.) as well as custom scripted animations that will be specified by level design staff as time goes on. We are looking for at least 2 animators.
MODELER: Modelers will be responsible for creating the various characters that will appear throughout Nightwatch. All model content will be designed from one or both of the following sources: Production concept art and/or Photo/image reference. Ideal candidates should be experienced and talented at low-poly modeling - our characters are build in the range of 1500-2000 polys each. Additional experience in rigging, UVW mapping, skinning, and/or animation is a huge plus.
SKIN ARTIST: Skin Artists will be responsible for skinning all the characters produced by the modeling team. Character skins will be done with a single 512x512 skin map for the body and a single 256x256 for the head, with other accessories in additional texture files as necessary. Added experience and talent with modeling is greatly preferred, but not necessary.
If this is something that interests you, please either contact me directly or e-mail nwjobs@hl-nightwatch.net and include any relevant samples that you can. We don't always have time to respond to all applicants, but if you show a lot of potential (and I know this board is full of some absolutely amazing talent), we typically will have you complete a small test assignment in your area of expertise. We do this to see if we feel your work will fit Nightwatch and also to check and see how well you can work with us towards a final project. We try to pick items that are not super-secret so if we decide not to go with you, you can continue to use that item for your own portfolio and not have wasted your time to no avail. If we give you a demo, you'll be working directly with me and our modeling department lead Carl "melkior" Kidwell.
We do ask that, if we add you to our team, you refrain from posting any Nightwatch content publicly without consent from the team. Also, all content you create for Nightwatch will be subject to heavy peer review and critique, as we have set our standards extremely high. Our biggest goal is improvement both individually and as a team, and as such we work very hard to push everyone to the absolute limit of what he/she is capable of doing.
Thank you very much for your time, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me (andrew @ hl-nightwatch.net) or Carl (melkior @ studio-erebus.com) for any extra info. Hope to hear from you soon.
My name is Andrew Weldon and I am the team leader for a Half-Life single player modification entitled "Nightwatch." Nightwatch (http://www.hl-nightwatch.net) has been in development in some form or another for approximately 20 months and has been in development in its current form for approximately the last year. We currently are in need of some additional team members to round out our modeling department and ensure that we complete the project in a timely fashion.
First and foremost, we need character animators, as we currently have none in active status. In addition, we could use additional help in modeling and skinning to further ease the workload of our current staff.
The Half-Life engine is older, but despite this we are doing wonderful things with it to create an immersive single player experience on par with the original game. I'd like to take some time to share with you what we have to offer as a project and what, if you are interested, we look for in a prospective team member.
NIGHTWATCH INFORMATION - Or, "Why should I care?"
====
Nightwatch is a single player episode in the style of Opposing Force or Blue Shift, set parallel to the events in Half-Life but chock full of new characters, locations, and surprises. Nightwatch takes this a step further, creating a new division of high-level security within the facility - a force to which the player, Sgt. William Archer, belongs.
The core idea behind Nightwatch is to not only re-interpret, but entirely re-create the Half-Life experience into the most the existing technology is capapble of nearly 5 years after release. Our level and model poly counts are higher, our textures are at a higher resolution and much crisper, and we have the typical gamut of technological enhancements - particle effects, mp3/ogg soundtrack support, heavily updated AI behavior, and so on.
No Half-Life single player episode to date has been so large in total scope. In addition to our new characters and weapons, all existing characters have been or will be updated or completely re-modeled from scratch to bring everything up to par with current standards. Nightwatch will also span over 60 map files in 9 chapters, making it (by map quantity) the largest HL expansion to date - Greater than both Opposing Force and Blue Shift, and comparable to both of them combined.
The Nightwatch team has been regarded as one of the top in the HL mod community, and while I won't make any such claims myself, I do believe the work we have done speaks very well for the talent of all our team members. What follows is a selection of Nightwatch content released thus far (I'd include thumbnails as well, but unfortunately there's too many images):
Military Security Character Renders:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_milsec_male.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_milsec_officer.jpg
Weapon Renders:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_m4a1.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_pdw2.jpg
Level Screenshots:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap2-01.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap3-02.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap3-06..jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap4-07.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap5-01.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_chap6-01.jpg
Concept Art:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nwconcept_controller1.jpg
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/images/nw_assassin.jpg
Soundtrack Samples:
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/miscmedia/NW-Frantic.mp3
http://www.hl-nightwatch.net/miscmedia/NW-WakeUp.mp3
We understand that newer games are by default much more enticing, but we feel that as a team, we can offer just as much as you would find in a mod for any other game. In addition, we have already set forth plans for further projects in the future on newer technology, and in addition to aiming to complete Nightwatch as soon as possible we already have our sights set on an even larger-scale project in the future, possibly continuing from where Nightwatch leaves off.
HOW CAN I HELP OUT? - or, "What do I need to know if I want to join Nightwatch?"
====
If this is something you're interested in, great. But there's a few things we'd like you to know about us first.
First and foremost, please understand that this is not a paid project and all of us are working for free in our own time, most while balancing school and/or jobs. As much as I'd love to be able to compensate people for their work, it'd be out of my own pocket and that is just not possible.
That said, here's what we're looking for out of a potential team member:
CHARACTER ANIMATION: Animators will be responsible for bringing the characters of Nightwatch, human and otherwise, to life. An ideal candidate should be extremely familiar with rigging and creating fluid and believable motion in both human and non-human characters. Experience in Max is preferable, as is prior Half-Life animating experience, but we can work with you to accomodate other software and the specifics of Half-Life animation. Animation tasks will include standard cycles (walk, run, shoot, pain, etc.) as well as custom scripted animations that will be specified by level design staff as time goes on. We are looking for at least 2 animators.
MODELER: Modelers will be responsible for creating the various characters that will appear throughout Nightwatch. All model content will be designed from one or both of the following sources: Production concept art and/or Photo/image reference. Ideal candidates should be experienced and talented at low-poly modeling - our characters are build in the range of 1500-2000 polys each. Additional experience in rigging, UVW mapping, skinning, and/or animation is a huge plus.
SKIN ARTIST: Skin Artists will be responsible for skinning all the characters produced by the modeling team. Character skins will be done with a single 512x512 skin map for the body and a single 256x256 for the head, with other accessories in additional texture files as necessary. Added experience and talent with modeling is greatly preferred, but not necessary.
If this is something that interests you, please either contact me directly or e-mail nwjobs@hl-nightwatch.net and include any relevant samples that you can. We don't always have time to respond to all applicants, but if you show a lot of potential (and I know this board is full of some absolutely amazing talent), we typically will have you complete a small test assignment in your area of expertise. We do this to see if we feel your work will fit Nightwatch and also to check and see how well you can work with us towards a final project. We try to pick items that are not super-secret so if we decide not to go with you, you can continue to use that item for your own portfolio and not have wasted your time to no avail. If we give you a demo, you'll be working directly with me and our modeling department lead Carl "melkior" Kidwell.
We do ask that, if we add you to our team, you refrain from posting any Nightwatch content publicly without consent from the team. Also, all content you create for Nightwatch will be subject to heavy peer review and critique, as we have set our standards extremely high. Our biggest goal is improvement both individually and as a team, and as such we work very hard to push everyone to the absolute limit of what he/she is capable of doing.
Thank you very much for your time, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me (andrew @ hl-nightwatch.net) or Carl (melkior @ studio-erebus.com) for any extra info. Hope to hear from you soon.