Contract Force: The Avalon Conflict [looking for members]

[mk.1]

Finally (on my 22nd birthday) I finally announce my game "Contract Force: The Avalon Conflict" (which is actually a working title). It's a turn based strategy game that is heavily based on SirTech's "Jagged Alliance 2". Jagged Alliance 2 was officially released in 1999 and still has a big community today that is releasing modifications of the game and extends the original source code. Turn based strategy seems to be a dieing genre although there're a lot of players that are waiting for a new Jagged Alliance title. I can't do that (due to licensing reasons) and I don't want to make "Jagged Alliance 3" but a whole new game that extends the gameplay of the old games.
Enough babbling, here's the prototype:
Prototype Revision 58
Controls
use screen borders to scroll, right click + hold to rotate and zoom camera (you can also zoom with the mouse wheel)
<e> end turn
<t> switch to turn mode
There're no buttons because there's no gui yet.

The game runs in realtime mode until you detect an enemy (or he detects you). It then switches to turn mode. You can aim at an enemy by moving the mouse over him and then right click several times. To shoot click left.
A last thing: There're no animations (as the merc model is just a placeholder) so shooting is displayed by a scaling of the merc and a hit is displayed by purple flash.
If an enemy shoots at you during your turn that's because your perception is low and he has enough action points to "reflex shoot"


...and although I've never been a great artist a screenshot of the prototype:


The story:

1993
During a routine examination of marine life in the Bering Straits, divers notice crude oil escaping from crevices in the sea bed. A subsequent examination shows the existence of massive amounts of low-quality oil in an undersea deposit. Due to the strong currents, the only economically feasible location for extraction is a small island nearby. TexOil invests a few billion dollars to develop the island, but quickly finds the processing required to utilize the oil cost-prohibitive. TexOil decides to expand their island facilities to serve as research center for alternative energy sources.

1996
TexOil relocates its headquarters to the small island - jokingly dubbed "Avalon" and sells off its holdings in the USA; political pressure would have forced TexOil to acquire large amounts of oil at high price from OPEC countries instead of its own sources in non-aligned countries. Due to Russia's attitude towards OPEC, TexOil is provided with far-ranging operational latitude, and its relationship to the new "rodina" improves.

2001
TexOil announces their research on new biological means to make the refining of "Avalon"-oil feasible. Due to Russia's protective attitude and the projected economical consequences, the United States exert pressure on TexOil to abandon this line of research. Behind closed doors, Russia offers to guarantee for Avalon's sovereignity if TexOil agrees to deliver cheap oil after completing their bacteriological research; TexOil agrees to these terms. One month later, TexOil's CEO shocks the world by announcing the formation of the sovereign country of Avalon and its economical and military alliance with Russia. Due to the senior executives becoming a ruling council over an entire nation, Avalon becomes the first corporate oligarchy. The UN is "very concerned" about these actions, but can only condemn TexOil's actions. The international pressure on Russia rises steadily, but things come to a head with the speech of the Russian UN Ambassador:

"We cannot intervene and annex a sovereign nation that has done nothing more than call into question your assumptions about how the world economy should work."

2003
TexOil starts to stockpile arms. Even though the legal foundation of Avalon is still shaky, the establishment of a military force proceeds at a breakneck pace. Hundreds of mercenaries are hired at top rate to train other volounteers. Within the space of months, Avalon proceeds from small island to regional military power with a well-equipped - but not yet battle-tested - army. Russia declares itself to be "very concerned" and "encourages its ally to rethink the implications of corporate armies."

2005
Avalon seals its borders. Workers and their families are prevented from leaving the island in the name of countering "industrial espionage". Due to Avalon's lack of a constitution, its citizens effectively have no rights whatsoever. The Associated Press publishes a handful of stories about alleged human rights violations on Avalon, but the total lockdown makes communication effectively impossible.

2006
A North Korean fishing trawler deviates from its course and enters the coastal region of Avalon. Multiple unmarked speedboats approach the ship and detain the crew. North Korea demands that their citizens be set free, while Avalon charges the fishermen with espionage. The already strained international relations of Avalon worsen, but the island has now been fortified to such a degree that any military intervention would be costly suicide. On top of that, the oil cleaning process has finally borne fruit; Avalon and other "low quality" oil sources export crude oil at incredibly low prices. After a suicide bombing in Kuwait, OPEC prices skyrocket; what was previously an immoral option now becomes the sole feasible source of crude oil for large parts of the civilised world. Avalon refuses to provide oil to Russia at anything but their standard price; Russia accepts, teeth gnashing from Vladivostok to Moscow.

2008
Neil Honn, a TexOil engineer, manages to escape Avalon on a liferaft and is picked up by a patrolling ship of the US Navy. He motions for asylum in the US; according to his story, he was about to be killed due to finding the term IRON DAWN in a file and asking his superior about it. Avalon denies the entire story. Even though the UN now demands that Avalon open its borders and submit to inspections, it is unable to force the issue. Neil Honn begins to gather funds from his friends and relatives. Armed with 50,000 greenbacks, Honn intends to hire a few mercenaries and rescue his family from Avalon. His electronic communication with several parties finds another reader: SVR, Russia's premier intelligence agency. They offer Honn inofficial support: transport, equipment and financial aid - under the condition that the "simple" rescue mission is expanded to liberate all of Avalon from TexOil forces.

But for an experienced leader like you, this little "complication" shouldn't be too serious...

Note that this story is not finished as there're some design issues.


The game (for those who don't know Jagged Alliance):
First off my game should be highly moddable (you can create new items and levels, new mercenaries, there's a small scripting language).
You start on a laptop screen where you can visit several sites of the Cypher.Net (which is basically encrypted internet for more or less legal activities) and hire mercenaries/buy weapons. Then there's the tactical screen which divides the game area (island) into square-sized sectors. Every sector is a map that you can enter and where you can fight enemies in 3d (this is part is covered by the prototype). Not every sector is occupied by enemies. Actually you'll find enemies only in towns, villages, military bases and the like.
On the tactical screen you can select mercenaries and plan your routes to sectors. If there's hostile contact in a sector the game will switch to the map and you fight or retreat from the sector. You're free to go everywhere you want and do whatever you want. Although there're a lot of rpg elements (quests as well) this game heavily relies on strategic fights.



======================================
I'm currently looking for members to join my two man team (me as programmer and a story/game designer who is responsible for gameplay and formulas etc.)
I don't want to call this a non-profit game. I intend to finish the game and hopefully find a publisher but there's no garantuee. There're a lot of people that would buy such a game. Apparently I can't pay you but I promise to do my best to finish this game as it is my one and only dream project.
However although you'd work for free I need dedicated people who love this genre and do their best to make this game as good as it can be.

Programmer
I need a second programmer who can help out on:
a) graphics (that is better shaders and a new materialrenderer)
b) level editor
c) enemy AI
d) scripting language
Of course no one of you can fulfill all of those topics but every help is needed. Development is for Windows but as Irrlicht is cross platform we can switch from dx to openGL so it can be developed on Linux as well. Actually the only reason I create a windows game is that I've only learned HLSL and don't want to dig into GLSL right now.

3D artist
Your job would be to create a new human model and animate it (bones animation). The rest of the game is mostly props and shouldn't be a hard job. I'm aiming for a realistic look.

If anyone of you is interested just post here or write a pm.

Thank you

[rogerborg]

Now that's a convincing project announcement! Well done, this looks like you've really put some thought and work into it. I hope you do well with this.

[Gatac]

Hey, I’m Gatac. I’m in charge of writing and game design.

The core gameplay experience I want to build with CF is that of a turn-based squad tactics game. In the context of this, I want to place emphasis on a somewhat more high-tech battlefield than you usually see in these games. F’rex, for all its virtues (and I do love that game), Jagged Alliance 2 is really kind of stuck in a 80s A-Team kind of combat style, mostly line-of-sight medium-range combat without any sense of strategic support behind the mercs. That’s what needs to be changed and expanded.

Things I want in the game:
• Easier cover interaction. It shouldn’t be a guessing game as to whether there’s a clear line of fire between me and the enemy.
• Different weapons for different jobs. In nearly every game, assault rifles and LMGs end up as the ultimate weapons for every range and every enemy. I specifically want to beef up pistols and SMGs with better handling at close range.
• Harder-hitting weapons. Not strictly killing people with single shots, but I want bigger consequences for getting shot. Recovering people who have been disabled but not killed should be a bigger focus of the game. Consequently, medics will play a bigger role.
• Fire support. Not just between mercs, but also being able to call in airstrikes and such. Work more with indirect weapons.
• Squad-based AI. I want the enemy to organize his soldiers into teams that can take and control hotspots on the battlefield, support each other…and be thrown into confusion by killing their leaders.
• An interesting story. I’ll be taking care of that.
• A better logistics backend. I don’t think I’m the only one who’s tired of manually shuffling items from sector to merc and so on.

…and a lot of other, smaller things. At the moment, we’re still clawing our way through getting some rudimentary combat mechanics implemented, but progress has been pretty steady and I think we’ll be approaching a playable tactical prototype soonish. That’s when the real work of tying it into a much larger strategic context, making it look prettier and feeding data – guns, maps, characters – into the raw mechanics begins.

If that sounds interesting to you, drop us a line and we'll answer any further questions.

[nicholas.winkel]

I'd like to help, however I have no way of contacting you