Indie Game Developers in England?

I'm a video game designer and I'm currently creating my first game. It's a fighting game that I want to appeal to casual and hardcore gamers alike. However I'm struggling to find small indie developers who may be interested in taking on the project. Are there any Indie devs here on VFDC, or does anyone know of a company I haven't found?

Thanking you guys in advance

 

What tools are you working with mate?
What's the development environment?
What's the target platform (IPhone, Droid, Consoles, PC?)
Is it gonna be 2D or 3D Fighter, or something inbetween?

 

I'm part of a production company comprising of only a few members. I don't really have any programming skills or such to speak of.

The target platform was xbox/ps3, and we were heading towards a street fighter 4 style game (3D characters, 2D plane)

 

Will the Indie developers work remotely or are there face-2-face requirements?

 

Dragonps, I will offer some honest advice as someone who has been programming since 12 on Apple II.

For almost twenty years I have seen so many people who call themselves "game designers" who end up producing nothing. They claim they are "designers" and "idea guys" not someone who actually make things. Guess what. They almost invariably ended up making nothing. If you have ideas but then can't be bothered to learn how to make things that means you lack the will power, nothing more.

I honestly hope you are different. But if you want to prove yourself different, learn how to use game engines such as Unreal or Unity 3D. Twenty years ago if you wanted to make a game you had to learn assembly which was royal pain in the ass. But these days the game engines are free and absurdly easy to use that there is no excuse not to learn them if you want to make a game. Once you prove that you have enough will power to turn your dream into reality, then you will start attracting other talents to help you out. I assure that nobody will work harder than you for your idea.

 

I completely understand where your coming from my friend, and I am starting to learn how to use programing tools. In fact I used to make very simple games way back on the old C64, very different code to today but you get the idea. The idea of me posting here was not to "beg" or "plead" for help, I want to put just as much effort if not more than anyone else working on this.

 

i'm an indie or about to be (i finsh uni in the next couple of months) and i ask the same questions as masterpo:

What tools are you working with mate?
What's the development environment?
What's the target platform (Phones, Consoles, PC's?)
Is it gonna be 2D or 3D Fighter, or something inbetween?

as i aslo want to do 2 different fighting game (a 3d side scroller and a 3d one on one) and would like to avoid steping on your toes wherever possible, when are you planning to launch?

Also unity is the S*#t!

 

You wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes my friend What the project really needs is a programmer as we are trying to go down the XNA route if possible

 

I wish you all the best in your project, Dragonps, but going into a fighting game forum may not have been a good idea to ask for professional help (although luckily there is some feedback here ).

Good luck and godspeed.

 

I know a some XNA (don't know if i can commit full time due too the other project im working on) how much far have you gotten done so far?

 

Almost no work done on the actually programming side of things, all character designs, moves, frame data etc are complete.

 

Have you actually modeled the characters and animated their moves or are they all on paper now?

 

I'll tell you what I did and this is how much passion I have for fighting games and my idea as a whole. I got myself this rare game on PS2 called "Fighter Maker" it allows you to create and animate your own characters, create their moves, frame data etc.

I actually created all my characters and their moves using this program as a base to get a feel for my game. Took me months to do it but I didn't care it was time well spent. So apart from that there are no 3d models of the characters, only what I did as a base in fighter maker.

 

While I appreciate what you did I am afraid to say it's far from being that useful. Spending months on game making is hardly something worth bragging about. A group of people spend years of their lives on making a game and often end up not finishing. Learn something like Blender/Max/Maya and learn how to make 3D models. You will easily end up spending 2 years just learning those programs and making 3D models, and that is if you already have artistic talents.

I did spend years learning these stuff and so did deeFive, I am sure. If you don't want to spend years learning how to make arts and codes, you would want to recruit at least three or four professional level 3D artists and programmers willing to work with you for free while devoting substantial amount of their time. (Possible but would not be easy.) An alternative is to raise money (at least 100000 US dollars, preferably more) so you can pay them to work for you. I doubt you will have much luck walking into an established game studio, indy or otherwise, and convince them to work on your design on their expense.

It maybe possible if you find people already planning to make a fighting game (such as deeFive?). But you will have to accept the fact that they most likely already have their own projects to work on.

 

I know you want to do the 2.5D fighter approach, but have you ever thought about making a straight up 2D fighter??? Alot of Japanese developers use that 2d Fighter Maker for the PC. From there you have games like Ougon Musou Kyoku (which is coming out on Xbox soon), Vanguard Princess, Super Cosplay Wars, and I believe Melty Blood started out like that (don't quote me on that one though). Your game might get noticed more (maybe) if it was a classic fighter with an original system.

It would be nice to see an original fighter made from the Mugen engine instead of Everything vs Everything...

Isn't there some forum for XNA??? I'm sure there are developers/programmers who are enlisting their support to people. It would also be nice to see more fighters other than Battle High: San Bruno. Its a fun game though.

Btw, do you have the groundwork laid out for the actual fighting system, and button layouts, etc?

 

2d animating is really really long...

 

I would have to second that. Making an original 2d fighter does have its advantage in up-start cost, but does not get rid of the fact that you need dedicated man-powers and man-hours. You need people who can draw working on it for months. .. or you can use some actors or clay puppets to digitize ala the original Mortal Kombat, but does the world need another game like that?

 

Yeah 2d art does take forever yes... I like how Sega/Dimps made The Rumble Fish... The game was still pure 2d, but the characters were made so that each body part moved on its own, so that there was no need for redrawing the same thing over and over again per sé...

Plus it was a good game. Too bad part 2 didn't get released on JPS2. Anyway, here's an example of what I'm talking about:

 

since someone mentioned Mugen...the nice thing about 2d gaming engines is that a fairly nice one exists in Mugen. and it has an active, passionate community. as well as endless code examples to handle some of the really more interesting things a fighting game is capable of.

Mugen is great for proof of concept building, I've done it myself using existing sprites just to see if ideas I had would work/look good/blahblahblah.

you can build your concept using "borrowed" sprites and then replace them when yours are finished. publish your efforts over at mugenguild and you can get help from people who are very adept at programming.

Build a game from the ground up using the mechanics allowed in Mugen and all the BS that exists in char VS char runups pretty much disappears.

 

@Dragonps

I'm a 3d character designer and I always wanted to make or be involved in making video games. Specially fighting games. I would love to join your team but before that like the other guys I have few questions.

-You said you have other members with you. can you tell me what kind of skills they posses?

-Is it face to face job or we can just communicate through the net?

-Do you already have a fixed vision of the game or are opened for more suggestions?