Zooch

Hey Guys, Just wanted to refresh the open positions we currently have: Audio FX Artist Community Manager Immediate! User Interface / HUD Artist Immediate! Particle FX Artist Immediate! Character Animator Gameplay Programmer We've come a long way in terms of development but we're looking to finish strong. We know royalty payment isn't the must fun prospect, but for those of you looking to break into the industry - credits on a shipped title are almost always required. We are very close to shipping, and we also have options in plan for business growth (if Warm Gun sells well, we have procedures in place that allow us to establish a studio). We've established positive business relations with Intel as well as GameServers (the server hosts that are Black Ops exclusive), and we will be exhibiting an open beta of our game at GDC in February. If you want to be part of one of the few successful indie teams then don't hesitate to apply!

Hey Community, Just wanted to let you know that we've updated our recruitment and opened quite a few positions - we've had some interesting prospects open up and are thus required to widen our gaze (and our staff) on our development methods with Warm Gun. The current open positions are posted below Progress has continued at break-neck speeds thanks to support from community forums such as the Mapcore website!

We still have staff openings!

The guys over at http://nextgenhardsurface.com/ were kind enough to interview one of our artists, Tad, about his work with Emotional Robots. You can check out the article by visiting the link from their front page or simply clicking here: http://www.nextgenhardsurface.com/viewt ... 2861#p2861. Thanks NGHS for the support!

Emotional Robots is still looking for qualified people to fill our open positions (listed at the first and last posts made by myself).

Warm Gun had the opportunity to be showcased at CGDC this past weekend. For a full run-down on what happened (It's actually quite unconventional) please visit the news post on our website: http://emotionalrobots.com/news/press-r ... es-to-cgdc The news post includes links to three recently captured HD videos as well as several brand new screenshots of the environment and of me getting shot by my business partner (in-game, of course). As always, we like to provide content that isn't enhanced in any way, so all the screenshots and other media we provide is cut straight from real-time, in-game footage.

Emotional Robots is very pleased with the amount of talented applicants we have received, but we are still reviewing candidates for a few positions listed at the first and last posts (made by myself) in this thread.

ERI originally incorporated and set up shop in Niagra Falls, Canada with a small office. After roughly 1.5 years of working out of this office, Emotional Robots realized one of its many talents was the ability to govern itself remotely. The talent that we recruited all preferred to work from home, and they did it well, so we gave them that choice. Eventually there was only two members actually using the office space. The products ERI assembles are purely virtual, so there was no other need to set up office space, storage or other facilities. While the company realizes that brick and mortar institutions have their benefits, it was labeled as an unnecessary expense and thus scrapped. Instead, the company expanded their recruitment horizon to a worldwide audience and further refined their online development skills. Employees also became involved in ongoing virtual and phone conferences, as well as idling in a developer chat room 7 days a week. Most employees are also fluent in multiple languages, but the accepted means of communication for all operations is English. Emotional Robots, Inc. is an incredibly diverse company that has employees located on both coasts of the US, as well as Argentina, Canada and several European countries. All employment for the duration of our current project, Warm Gun, is remote. We will re-evaluate our position on remote employment once this product is released.

Emotional Robots, Inc. is an independent, self-funded development house whose focus is creating high impact next generation games. Our current project, Warm Gun, was a finalist for the Make Something Unreal contest, and is scheduled to ship around Q1 of 2011. To build on its achievements and share in its future successes, Emotional Robots is looking for dedicated, self-motivated talent to join the ranks. We favor diversity, creativity and the desire to succeed as a team. If you’ve got the skills and drive, you’ll have the opportunity to help release the company's first next-generation title. The opportunities to learn and progress are endless. We currently have a few open positions listed on our website. To read those position descriptions as well as apply, please follow the links below to reach our jobs page. http://emotionalrobots.com/company/jobs Our website holds a wealth of information in regards to Emotional Robots as a company and Warm Gun as a project, but I will highlight some of the more popular media in this thread. Warm Gun: The Second Coming of the Wild West A futuristic wild west, Warm Gun combines the favorite motifs of the classic western genre with the scraps of an obliterated technocracy. World War III has been fought to the tipping point and ecologists’ long unheeded cries have been silenced by the grim truth of their predictions. To the last drop of oil have the world’s resources been depleted, and only sporadic traces of modern structure can be sifted in the dust. Time ticks forward but humans must retrace their advancement back, through a history that has already been lived and to the Wild West for the second time around. We have trampled ahead to the past in muddy boots, to the United States of late 19th century. Greeted by the ghost of the wide-open country, the exhausted land is barren too, of all the old dreams we fulfilled beyond our means. This spun western lets you take control of 6 original characters; choose from weapons new and strange and a wider range of modern contraptions with primitive power. Classic and innovative, undoubtedly original, every FPS player will find happiness with Warm Gun. A fly-through of one of our levels, Red River Canyon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeoPsA6IIXQ While the video was shot for HD, it's still Fraps/Youtube quality so naturally the video isn't as crisp as our actual environments. In-game screenshots are posted below to help realize the full atmosphere created by our props: Finally, we want to introduce you to two characters: and drop a line! Additionally, you can also get connected via Facebook or Twitter. Click the buttons to get hooked into live updates and be the first to read up on new events such as contest announcements and fan give-aways!

Thanks for the responses guys! I asked a few different forums the same questions and got lots of good responses. The general concensus is that character customization (I'll call it CC from now on) is important to an extent, but most people are happy with simply swapping pre-made body parts and adjusting high-level properties like height and weight. I've found that people feel the genre directly relates to the importance of CC. People say it's most important when your character can be viewed and identified by others (online games like MMOs). They say CC has no place in an FPS game; simply because the most important aspect of the game is killing others, not stopping to see what they look like. A lot of people touched on the idea that if the game is an adventure game that has a central storyline, they'd rather play a non-customized character since it's not their storyline. They reported that if they can't control what their character does in the game there's really no point in deciding what it looks like. The sandbox style games seem to carry more weight in CC, so the more sandbox you make your game the more CC should play an actual role. There really isn't anyone that wants to spend long amounts of time on CC. A number of people even cited oblivion for being too in-depth. The average amount of time people want to spend customizing their character is anywhere between 15 mins - 45 mins. Anything over 1 hour is really extreme. Also, using morphs to stretch maps such as jawlines and eyebrow length is generally considered a waste of time (had lots of negative responses). The majority of people that attempt to create characters using these slider scales end up with some ugly creations that look nothing like what was intended. Some even say that you end up making the same character, no matter what sliders you use. It might look a bit different in the end, but it will still look very similar to anything else you might try to create.

I'm beginning to look into different forms of character creation when playing games, and I was curious about your gaming preferences: 1. How important is it that you are able to customize your character? 2. Does the customization get less important when you get down to the gritty details (like how many eye lashes your character has) - if so, what's your tipping point? 3. Does the genre of game affect the importance of character customization?

I'm really loving the art direction. The color schemes and lighting are spot on.

I'm a huge fan of criticism and feedback, so I'm going to post my work here over time in hopes of obviously improving my skill. I also like to try and take steps back from my own work and critique myself. I have some of my own crits on the image posted below, which I will mention. I'll be making those changes within the next few days. If you guys can add any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. [attachment=0]cave entrance 1 public.jpg[/attachment] Author's Crits: 1. Change the water and water lighting from greenish to blueish. 2. Remove the broken dirt/rock path into the cave mouth and replace it with broken wooden plank/steps 3. The boggy water look isn't working; add more vegetation and start creating more of a marshland feel (its too empty right now?) I know this is only one screenshot and most people would expect to find several shots or even a .cry file, but I can't do that at this time. My thread will eventually be a mix of shots like this and actual levels. Thanks for your responses! Zooch