Take-over

[Divine_Illusions]

Hello everyone,

my name is Jonathan McEnroe from Glasgow in Scotland. I am the writer and Project Director of our single player action adventure, TAKE-OVER.

Take-Over is set in the near future when you and nine other companions are set of to investigate the entire disappearance of the residents of a Lithuanian town called 'Sunrise'. What you find is unexpected and will demand more of you and your teams capabilities.

We are currently in the very early stages of TAKE-OVER and we are looking to add more to our creative team.

We are looking for the following people:

Coders/Programmers

We need people who know how to do this inside out from the first Half-Life editor.

TAKE-OVER is not a mod but a fully interactive First Person Adventure where you take command of a team of nine other soldiers. We cannot say anymore on the details f the game but we can say that your team is has a lot at their disposal from ally and enemy weapons and vehicles.

We are currently planning to set up offices in our City Centre and we are looking for people willing to move to Glasgow to become part of Divine Illusions. You can check out our early site which is about 25% completed and currently going though a revamp:

http://jonathon.realityartstudios.net/TAKE-OVER.htm

This requires Shockwave if you don’t have it, but it does not take long to download it at all.

Well, if anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to reply here, and I'll answer as many as I can. Thank you.

For those applying please leave your full name, experience, and a few details about yourself and availability.

Thanks again!

Jonathan

 

[The Dark Elf]

So your a mod team setting up offices and expect people to move to Glasgow, yet provide no job security or anything?

Do you have any idea how bad your gonna get flamed?

 

[FictiousWill]

How about the salary and benefits?

 

[ComradeBadger]

Coder not Coders

And... for no pay.. who is going to move?

 

[63]

ok, i join TAK-Over, coulkd you send me monies to come to Glaskow? (where is btw)
I am goods at teh concupt arte and making idees for the mode. I dot thik that 'sunrise' are a good nam for a cite cause it r the sam as a sun (big yello thing in space).

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hey,

well since were currently setting up we do not expect anyone to move until everything is sorted we are just loking for people who would be interested in joining our team. I didnt say it wasn't a paying job, it will be a paying job, our current team are not working for the money just now because they know that this is a big learning experiance for us as well. I have already talked to Valve about the source licence and as soon as we have a publisher, which will be soon, then we will have the funds to purchase the licence and make Take-Over a game to sell.

Were not a mod team, were using the Half-Life 2 technology to create an original single player game (like the new Vampire Bloodlines game).

Jonathan

 

[Onions]

"Coders/Programmers
We need people who know how to do this inside out from the first Half-Life editor."

which editor would that be?

tempting, but theres no way i'm moving to weegie land to make a mod, unless you want to pay me weekly
if you want to move to aberdeen around late september i'd be happy to lend a hand

 

[63]

i joined every1 divne_illosins said I am. I will be moving to glaskow son, so i problee want be on the foroms. wish mea luck!

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Take-Over is not a half life mod....

I am taking about the SDK that was avaliable for Half-Life.

Jonathan

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Six Three,

we did not say you were to join the team at all, plus were are not looking for any artists, we've currently got people including myslef working on art.

Jonathan

 

[The Dark Elf]

1) You've gone about it in the entirely wrong order

2) Your expecting a publishing deal for a game that you yourself call original. You've no previous experience (that you've shown) and expecting a publisher who's seen guys like you come and go for years, to trust you on something thats untested in the market.

3) Your advertising on a fansite for staff..

4) You mention people will be paid, but say to begin with they wont. So your still asking people to put their faith in you, move to a new area and work for free, how do you suppose people will support themselves?

5) For a supposed real game/company. Your website is more than a little on the moddish side

6) Everyone has talked to Valve about licening the engine. Even I have, I'll only take that seriously if you actually get hold of it.

7) You say your game is original, but it sounds like a mix between syndicate and resident evil. You also compare it to another game, which in itself isn't original neither.

Oh I'm bored, im just gonna read the other posts now.

 

[Onions]

email [email protected] with more details and i'll think about it. will be busy when hl2 comes, will require money, will work from home; glasgow smells. Tom Duncan and Callum Grant, those names sound familiar. They from around the elgin area?

 

[63]

Mr. tenis player, who is 'we'? i only seen you. and you did say I join, in pm "sixthree, yes you join, thanks I send money to your hous, come to glaksow - thanks jon machnero/ divin_optical"

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hehehe,

1. Really?

2. erm, yes we do have a publisher interested because they like our plasn for the game.

3. Well this is a "Help Wanted & Offered" section isnt it...?

4. I did ask for those interested, and I didnt mention any move from anyone interested right away. Plus I have been talking with the people who are working on the game for some time now, and are backing the project 100%

5. Hmm, I did say 25% completed but thats up to you if you skipped that bit then I guess thats just how your read.

6. Hehehe, well I can only get that licence when we have our Publishing deal in place so yeah we dont have it yet

7. Well, if you can find me a 100% original idea then be my guest because without influences from somewhere, you wnt have anything. Resident Evil, hehehehe, I guess I need t update our new story (but as I said were currently revamping, guess you missed that too)

So if anyone is interested in coding, please reply, if nt then we will go elsewhere, and when we release the game, well I guess you would have missed out.

Jonathan

 

[63]

Care to tell us which publisher is interested?

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hey,

I'm afraid I cannot say just now, all I can say is they are a very big company.

Jonathan

Oh yeah Six Three, take an unedited screenshot of your desktop with my PM to you, your not part of our team.

 

[63]

Who else is on the team?

 

[The Dark Elf]

Hehehe,

1. Really?

2. erm, yes we do have a publisher interested because they like our plasn for the game.

3. Well this is a "Help Wanted & Offered" section isnt it...?

4. I did ask for those interested, and I didnt mention any move from anyone interested right away. Plus I have been talking with the people who are working on the game for some time now, and are backing the project 100%

5. Hmm, I did say 25% completed but thats up to you if you skipped that bit then I guess thats just how your read.

6. Hehehe, well I can only get that licence when we have our Publishing deal in place so yeah we dont have it yet

7. Well, if you can find me a 100% original idea then be my guest because without influences from somewhere, you wnt have anything. Resident Evil, hehehehe, I guess I need t update our new story (but as I said were currently revamping, guess you missed that too)

So if anyone is interested in coding, please reply, if nt then we will go elsewhere, and when we release the game, well I guess you would have missed out.

Jonathan

I still think your advertising in the wrong place. Only people you'll find around sites like these willing to join are kids wanting to do a bit of modding. None of the pro's will give you a second thought. If you want people with solid background and talent you should approach them via the correct channels. Not on a fan site in a section made for mod teams and those looking for something to do during their summer holidays.

1. Yes really

2. ok who?

3. Read above

4. "We are currently planning to set up offices in our City Centre and we are looking for people willing to move to Glasgow to become part of Divine Illusions"

5. so your 25% complete, yet have no concepts or actual media on your site, I would have thought you'd have had something by now, if you were 25% complete.

6. So it was pointless you mentioning it, as you don't even know you can get it, or what its really capable of yet. Your putting all your eggs in one basket, and expecting a publisher to trust you on an engine that nobody has seen properly save for a few video's. And on a team that is hiring through fan sites.

7. So your 25% complete but your revamping it, so your really more like 5% yes?

Well good luck n all that. I do hope you do manage to pull it off.. I just don't think your going to.


Edit: I don't know Valve very well atall. But I don't think they'll hand over an engine they've slaved over for years, to unproven people who could simply just go release it on kazza or something, and have no security to protect it. Afterall its not the fact that you can pay or not. It's if Valve trust you to keep it under wraps. What good would it do them to sell you a licence, only to have it suddenly appear across the net, screwing their chances completely this time round of making any profit from it.

I'm not saying your untrustworthy, but there lies the problem. Where's the proof you could be trusted. If it were my engine I'd certainly expect a HELL of a lot of proof and documentation before I even considered thinking about it. All that source code, worth a fortune to Valve, in the hands of well, a HL2 fan, since thats the kind of coder your trying to hire.

I just don't see Valve in all honesty giving an engine away like that. Troika more than likely had to prove their worth to Valve before getting it, regardless of being able to afford it or not. It comes down to trust, and you my friend could be anybody.

 

[Sprafa]

Don't worry man, this forum is like pessimism haven.

He was just trying to find someone, maybe www.cgtalk.com would be better, but whatever, maybe he heard so much about us he just wanted to ask for help around here.

Good luck.

 

[63]

i delete pm bye excident. sry, i still on team thow.

 

[Divine_Illusions]

We have twentyone members of staff inclusing myself.

Six, gonna get lost, I didnt send you a think, strange how you just managed to "delete it" lol!!!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Don't worry man, this forum is like pessimism haven.

He was just trying to find someone, maybe www.cgtalk.com would be better, but whatever, maybe he heard so much about us he just wanted to ask for help around here.

Good luck.

It's the wrong place to do it for a commercial enterprise. cgtalk is much better, but even then I'd be hiring proper staff through contacts and agency's that I've worked with before.

And if he hasn't got those contacts and names to pick out of a hat. Should he be starting up a company so soon. Would it not be wiser to spend years learning from other people's mistakes first, learning the ways of business before jumping in with what appears to be little knowledge of business. Yes it would.

But when all is said and done, good luck to them...

 

[63]

21? pffft...that's already one reason you'll fail.

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hehehehe, I seem to remember Half Life having 29 on their team.

Were 21 and counting, in fact I'm actually organising another three to join our team just now. I think were going to be taking our buisness elsewhere, this site wasn't as welcoming as I expected it to be.

Thanks for nothing :|

Jonathan

 

[63]

hmmm...am I the only one that sees a slight difference between Gave Newell's Valve, and Divine_Illusions fantasy mod?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I count nine unique names on the "development team" part of your site. I love the way you've listed people several times, by the way. Makes you look bigger than you are.

Publishers don't like "new". They want proven genres, made by proven developers. So either you'r idea is so astoundlingly good that publishers are falling over themselves to take you on (and I highly, highly doubt that), or you've all got such amazing personal portfolios that they couldn't afford to pass you up. Google says not (and I've never heard of any of you).

What gets the alarm bells ringing is phrases like "planning on setting up offices", "as soon as we have a publisher" etc. You have nothing concrete, and you want to "hire" people?

How do you propose to avoid the hand-to-mouth trap that publisher-led developers inevitably fall into?

What kind of salary are you offering for the programmer position? Healthcare? Benefits? Relocation expenses?

Come back when you've got it all set up.

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hehehehe, my god,

does revamp not say anything, yes it has nine people, and im saying now we have 21. I outlined in my first post that people would be moving here so they are aware that we will require people to work here and not from their bedrooms. Where did I say "hire" I thought I was loking for people that were "INTERESTED" because we are setting up.

J

 

[Sprafa]

It's the wrong place to do it for a commercial enterprise. cgtalk is much better, but even then I'd be hiring proper staff through contacts and agency's that I've worked with before.

Well, Fenric, you actually have the privilege of having those contacts, and this guy just wondered if this site could have some leet members (outside of you & PiMunRho, which afaik are to two guys more into the industry around here).

Simply giving us a shot doesn't looks like he's unoprofessional to me, just that he's a hopeful guy. He's just open to all possibilities.

Although I agree his site is shady, and his tactits seem to need some second thoughts

 

[The Dark Elf]

Well, Fenric, you actually have the privilege of having those contacts, and this guy just wondered if this site could have some leet members (outside of you & PiMunRho, which afaik are to two guys more into the industry around here).

Simply giving us a shot doesn't looks like he's unoprofessional to me, just that he's a hopeful guy. He's just open to all possibilities.

Next he'll be using http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19061 as an excuse heh. We just have that thread for fun if anyone wants to know what its like.

Point is, he's asking people with no real experience (since nobody who's serious will hang around waiting to be hired on sites like this) pinning his company's future on that. It's just veyr risky and not the way to do things. Any business course would agree.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

If those people are "INTERESTED" then you have to give them some expectation of actual employment. That requires being able to give them details.

Personally, I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole of enormous length, because you're so cagey on details and appear to be waiting for a lot of "if"s to occur. I'd also advise others to steer well clear.

Provide some details, please. Otherwise, you're just another mod with ideas above its station.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

and Sprafa, if you don't stop referrng to me as "PiMunRho", I'm going to change your name to "I Smell Like Ass"

 

[The Dark Elf]

and Sprafa, if you don't stop referrng to me as "PiMunRho", I'm going to change your name to "I Smell Like Ass"

hahaha, now thats something I wanna see. Do it Pi! ;D

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Why dont you get Sprafa to run these boards, he seems to have the right I'd about this than you do Fenric, its not your job to basically tell people to F*** off.

Why wuld I use that page as an excuse, if our company was as big as any of those I would post up there. If this is a thread for fun why dont you make the nameof the post "Help Wanted & Offered - ONLY FOR THOSE NOT SERIOUS!"

My co-owner of Divine Illusions has read this thread and finds it pathetic that no one accepts that we are looking for those interested and who might want to develop as oneof the best in a developing company.

Like I said, Sprafa has the right idea, if this is a forum for fun, dont have sections where people can ask for help.


Jonathan

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Reply with righteous indignation!

Ignore any questions other people have asked!

Likewise ignore any valid points people have made!

Raaaaar!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Why dont you get Sprafa to run these boards, he seems to have the right I'd about this than you do Fenric, its not your job to basically tell people to F*** off.

Why wuld I use that page as an excuse, if our company was as big as any of those I would post up there. If this is a thread for fun why dont you make the nameof the post "Help Wanted & Offered - ONLY FOR THOSE NOT SERIOUS!"

My co-owner of Divine Illusions has read this thread and finds it pathetic that no one accepts that we are looking for those interested and who might want to develop as oneof the best in a developing company.

Like I said, Sprafa has the right idea, if this is a forum for fun, dont have sections where people can ask for help.


Jonathan

I'm not telling you to **** off, where exactly did I tell you to **** off?

I asked you sensible questions that you skirted around the answers of. I'm sorry but please, your a kid. I've tried to be nice to you, help steer you in the right direction and you throw it back at us. While sprafa just nods his head and agree's with everything you say. Well hey, you'll go far surrounded by people like that.

If you want to be accepted, then give us a reason, cause so far you've done nothing but show your a mod team who thinks they are bigger than they actually are.

If you'd posted as a mod team, accepted your just a mod team. You'd have had people actually interested, as it stands your lack of professionalism and the way you've gone about everything will simply put people off, and those who do have the misfortune to join you will no doubt come running back in a few weeks to tell us how wrong they were to believe you.

Your a mod team, you've got big plans i grant you, but you've shown absolutely no knowledge of running a real business.

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Were not a mod team!!

We have more organised than I am allowed to let out.

Sprafa isnt just nodding and going yes to everything, he has looked at my post and realised they are only looking for people interested because they are building up their company. If we were a big company like Valve I would have made sure I included that in my first post. This mod team idea you need to get out your head right away.

But fine, since theres no one interested I'll keep looking.

J

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Bye then !

 

[The Dark Elf]

Were not a mod team!!

We have more organised than I am allowed to let out.

Sprafa isnt just nodding and going yes to everything, he has looked at my post and realised they are only looking for people interested because they are building up their company. If we were a big company like Valve I would have made sure I included that in my first post. This mod team idea you need to get out your head right away.

But fine, since theres no one interested I'll keep looking.

J

Then why advertise in an area thats only going to attract those looking for mods then?

If you were a start up company you'd STILL advertise in the proper places, big or small. There's a couple of small startup companies nearby and they only advertise in the right places, as such they get serious responses and are doing very well for themselves IIRC.

The only pro's you'll attract from advertising on here are way out of your price range and far too smart to fall for your claims which have to date remained unproven. Your expecting people to take your word for it. People who've been in the business almost as long as you've been alive. So please, quit trying to pull the wool over our eyes, it isn't gonna work.

Actually, were you that guy who posted on cgtalk with something similar? I believe he/you were shot down for the very same reasons.

 

[Divine_Illusions]

Hehehehe,

your not exactly professional at running your own forum are you?

Instead of totally ripping us appart you could have ointed us in the right direction, or hell maybe you could have said, oh maybe you could try such and such there a good help.

J

 

[The Dark Elf]

Hehehehe,

your not exactly professional at running your own forum are you?

Instead of totally ripping us appart you could have ointed us in the right direction, or hell maybe you could have said, oh maybe you could try such and such there a good help.

J

Scroll up. We did, you ignored, avoided, argued constantly.

See the difference is, me and Pi aren't trying to attract work on here. We leave that for the correct places and time. You on the other hand expect people to believe your claims yet act badly. So really your doing yourself no favors by arguing when we've tried and now long since given up trying to help.