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[MaximumZero]

I'm in, if you'll have me. Mind you, I work 10-6 today, but there's a reasonable chance I'll be able to check the forums at lunch.

[cerapa]

I'd be in, if you would take me. Don't have a job(student + summer break) so I have plenty of time to spend on this. I also have a tiny bit of programming experience if that amounts to anything.

Honestly I'm more interested in the design of an upcoming game than I am of some kind of reward. Seeing how other people design games and decide what the players experience should be would be quite invaluable for me.

[hemmingjay]

To all of those who have expressed their interest in working on the game, please send me a PM with a valid email address and let me know that you are interested in working and that you are over 16 or have a letter from a parent or guardian authorizing you to work for on average of 1 hour a day for 3-4 days total.

I will send you a brief late tonight(my time, EST/GMT-5) and I ask that you respond by or around mid day tomorrow (GMT-5). I understand that these times are odd depending on where you are, so they are just a guideline. i am looking for you to respond to the email chain twice a day and if you have personal ideas that you are not sure about, feel free to email me directly anytime. This is an informal group and I don't want anyone to stress about it. Stress is the enemy of fun game development as it carries over into he gameplay.

[EuchreJack]

Weapon Factory Tycoon

If that is a game where the player can design and sell weapons, I sincerely hope it gets made.  My biggest complaint about the auto building games was that they never got into armored car, tank, or warplane designing (areas that some automakers did enter during the world war era).
I've always been fascinated by the effectiveness of various firearms in history, especially in relation to their cost of production.

Maybe the player can port over their character from Arms Dealer? 

[hemmingjay]

Weapon Factory Tycoon

If that is a game where the player can design and sell weapons, I sincerely hope it gets made.  My biggest complaint about the auto building games was that they never got into armored car, tank, or warplane designing (areas that some automakers did enter during the world war era).
I've always been fascinated by the effectiveness of various firearms in history, especially in relation to their cost of production.

Maybe the player can port over their character from Arms Dealer? 

That is the idea. The storyline is a continuation in essence.

I am sorry to report that the focus group is being delayed 24 hrs. Thanks for your understanding, if you have some.

[hemmingjay]

Attention: I have received way more interest than;
                A) I planned for
                B) Can afford

I only have a $500 budget for this experiment, money that I shouldn't even spend on this anyway. I need to narrow down the list so please let me know why you would be useful/why you want to participate and whether you are looking to join the project as: 1) Full compensation elligible(free Steam game, or cash up to $100), 2) reduced compensation free game or $40, 3) unpaid, name in credits and professional experience including reference and Linked-In connection(available at any point in your life).

Finally, all participants will receive a copy of the game when finished as well as your name in the credits. I am posting the first assignment in 10 hours, but you can still be selected to join up until 22 hours from now. 

Finally, for those of you who were unhappy with the map, we have a quick option to change the map in the game(also for those of you who get overwhelmed at clutter every once in a while) which will be switchable by using F11 or selecting in options. We have thought about putting two buttons on the top of the screen to switch back and forth but I was worried you would feel it was too much clutter. Thoughts?

[Kaje]

What can I bring to the table? I'm a forward and abstract thinker, who has developed analytical skills throughout my law degree. I have been a gamer for years, love backing new projects and getting involved with suggesting ideas. I actually wrote two full-fledged gaming ideas and sent them out to a number of developers back in the mid-to-late 90s. I received feedback for neither, but The Sims and Empire Earth were developed in subsequent years by the teams I had sent my ideas to...and they were pretty bloody similar! I'm sure it was just coincidence....

I'm also currently a researcher for the Football Manager series of games, which means I also get to beta test and suggest feature improvements (some of which actually do make it to the final version!).

Aside from that, I'm a student so I can offer my time with few restrictions. I'd like to be considered for option 1) or 2) as my gaming collection is in a bit of a stagnant phase at the minute and I'm not going into the gaming industry (I'd love to, but there's not much use for a law student), so c) wouldn't be of much use to me. I'd be happy to be judged on my usefulness before a decision is made on the reward package I receive. It would be unfair to give me the 'any Steam game or $100' if I don't add any value to the project!

Now, feedback on the new map!

I love the idea of having a switchable map with a satellite overlay as well as one that 'fits' with the rest of the UI with clearer borders. It looks nice, clean, modern and really does go with the feel of the game. The two buttons in the top left also look fine, as does what I assume is the new location 'pinpointer' in the top right of the map - though I wonder whether this needs moving to the right a little, as the gap to the right is bigger than the gap above and so looks a liiiiiiiiiiiitle bit unbalanced.

Is the compass (bottom left) staying, or will it be moving, as currently it's peeping out from under the map!

As a final note, will the 'Headlines' be longer than those currently in-game? If not (or not by much), what will you do with the blank black space before the 'On/Off' button? Would it be worth moving that up and having something else underneath? Perhaps a 'logo' for the 'software' being used by the player character?

[Anvilfolk]

I don't think people will switch the map very often, so it's probably no use having a button for it anywhere that's taking up important space. Leave it in the options and a rebindable key. People will very likely just pick one of the two (perhaps you could ask when they start a new game?) and stick with it.

That is, unless you plan on having different information available on each visualisation style, which could be a way to convey more information in a less cluttered way, so long as it's easy to switch.

[lordcooper]

An overview of the relative stability in each region might be nice.

[MaximumZero]

That, and possibly a color coded overlay of things like your wanted status or friendliness with certain factions, possible hotspots where revolt or war are looming or present, or independent factions like the IRA, Al Queda, or ISIS/ISIL.

[Brons]

Attention: I have received way more interest than;
                A) I planned for
                B) Can afford

I only have a $500 budget for this experiment, money that I shouldn't even spend on this anyway. I need to narrow down the list so please let me know why you would be useful/why you want to participate and whether you are looking to join the project as: 1) Full compensation elligible(free Steam game, or cash up to $100), 2) reduced compensation free game or $40, 3) unpaid, name in credits and professional experience including reference and Linked-In connection(available at any point in your life).

Finally, all participants will receive a copy of the game when finished as well as your name in the credits. I am posting the first assignment in 10 hours, but you can still be selected to join up until 22 hours from now. 

The reasons for wanting to do this are mostly selfish. I've set my ambitions on entering the game development industry even though I currently have a decent job that pays well enough, has good benefits and even better: as soon as I leave the office I can forget about and not stress about it until the next day. But still I want to change my career. I have a little previous programming experience and I get the concepts required to think like a programmer, but I don't have much formal training in this area. At the moment I'm experimenting a lot with Unity at night and on my days off. This is going well enough but I noticed I'm lacking in the design department and don't known enough people in the industry personally to learn from them (I only know one person who uses Unity in real life, he just got his indie game on steam without going through greenlight so I'm sure I can still learn a lot from him ). By participating I hope to get some experience with the creative process and improve myself. Being included in the credits won't hurt my ego either

Because of my personal interests I'm dedicated to this and I'm sure I can add plenty of valuable input to the project. Since my childhood I've been interested in trading and tycoon games, starting with transport tycoon and the patrician, and I know what works and doesn't work in these type of games. I also have my own ideas that can make this more interesting.

I'd like to go for option three. Like I said I have a full time job and I'd rather you spend your money on your coders, artists, composers and yourself. If you decide to give me a free copy, could it be regiftable? I'd like to purchase my own copy and make someone else happy.

[Glloyd]

Attention: I have received way more interest than;
                A) I planned for
                B) Can afford

I only have a $500 budget for this experiment, money that I shouldn't even spend on this anyway. I need to narrow down the list so please let me know why you would be useful/why you want to participate and whether you are looking to join the project as: 1) Full compensation elligible(free Steam game, or cash up to $100), 2) reduced compensation free game or $40, 3) unpaid, name in credits and professional experience including reference and Linked-In connection(available at any point in your life).

I'm fine with 3, I just want to help you out Hemmingjay. Getting experience is a nice bonus too, but I don't need or want the money.

As for what I can offer, I'm a history student, and thus have developed analytical and research skills throughout the course of getting my degree. I've been a gamer for the vast majority of my life, and I've had an interest in making games for a good part of that too. I love what you're doing here, and it seems like the kind of game that's right up my alley. I love strategy games and sim games, and I've been  playing them for a good part of my life. One of the first games I remember playing was one of the Close Combat series, my dad taught me how to play it.

As for experience with games, I'm currently the head developer on our SS13 branch. Of course DM isn't the most practical language to be well-versed in, but this does mean that I have a great deal of experience creating, testing and debugging various features. In addition, because it's open source and on GitHub, I also review the various pull requests that other contributors set up, and evaluate them, along with maintaining the codebase. So I've got a large amount of experience reviewing features and giving feedback on them. Github profile if you're interested.

As for the map, I prefer the terrain overlay, but that's just me. Having a key mapped to switch it seems like a good idea, but even if I did want to switch, I'd want to click on something. That's just a personal preference, I prefer clicking.

[hemmingjay]

We have a new build but I am holding the release because we are working on a new branch altogether. It will bring back full AI interaction and introduce abilities. Our private collaboration group is working on the abilities right now. We don't have a lot of work left to do on the game, but the bug fixing and balance work is going to take a while and my programmer is skeptical that he can finish before the end of September. I may have to give in and release the core game and add onto it post release. I don't think I can sustain development beyond September financially without some income. I have interest from several publishers, all of whom have offered substantial cash in exchange for control and big delays. I don't see that as being viable.

The game currently is missing graphics for ports, most of the weapons, the general's faces and most of the vehicles. How much of that should be in place before I share the game with the media in your opinion?

[MaximumZero]

Message sent!

I'd definitely have at least a few images of everything before you show it off to the media. Have you thought about running some crowdsourcing campaigns, like Kickstarter or indiegogo for funding?

[hemmingjay]

The time and cost of setting up a kickstarter makes it a poor option this late in the game and Indiegogo doesn't have enough exposure. I could do pre-orders (shudder) or early access(double shudder) on Desura but I think those soft launches hurt Steam sales and public image. I prefer to keep things quite professional and keep consumer confidence as high as possible. When I announce a slick looking Arms Dealer that is complete and not Early Access and at $15, or less, I expect the reaction will be quite positive. Things are much less certain should I follow the current trend of showing what I have and asking for money while I sort out development quite publicly, exposing any and all weaknesses of my design and studio business practices.

I'm looking to change things, shake it up and return the industry to a time when gamers knew what they were getting and felt good about it. I am being an optimist and a bit naive, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have figured out the total funds I need to finish the game at this point is right around $2500, so I am sure I can straighten that small sum out. Thank you for the suggestions!