Publisher Interested in Brutal (HL2 mod) - Help needed!

[TorQueMoD]

We recently received an inquiry from a top publisher who is interested in discussing the possibility of publishing and distributing Brutal! Due to this exciting news, we are currently working overtime to get Brutal's demo finished and are therefore looking for some new talent to help with production of the demo. We are currently seeking to fill the following positions, all of which will be on a volunteer basis:

Level Designers: Apply Now! - torque_mod@surrogateinteractive.com

We are looking for extremely talented level designers who know the Valve Hammer Editor inside and out and have previous Source Engine level design experience with either HL2, HL2 Deathmatch or any HL2 related mods. All applicants should send links to their online portfolio and downloads for any released levels.

Texture Artists: Apply Now! - torque_mod@surrogateinteractive.com

If you have an incredible amount of artistic talent and love making character or environment textures then we need you! We are looking for talented artists to help bring our Fighters and Battlegrounds to life with beautifully detailed textures. All applicants should send links to their online portfolio and samples of their textures being used in game.

Modelers: Apply Now! - torque_mod@surrogateinteractive.com

A fighting game isn't a fighting game without gorgeous looking Fighters and loads of random environmental objects, so if you have a knack for pushing polys then don't hesitate to apply. We need Modelers with loads of experience creating all sorts of beautiful models from Humans to Monsters, Robots to Aliens, Trees to Birds, Planes, Trains and Automobiles! If you're a great modeler, then we need your help!

Programmers: Apply Now! - torque_mod@surrogateinteractive.com

If numbers are your bread and butter, then we'll keep you in constant supply! We're looking for programmers with at least 5 years experience with C/C++ and at least 1 year experience working with any game engine that uses C/C++. If you have any experience working with the Source engine, there's definitely a spot on the team that's open to you!

All applicants who are accepted to the Brutal team and who contribute any work to the production of Brutal's demo will have a chance at full-time paid employment with Surrogate Interactive once we sign a publishing deal. The more you contribute, the better your chance of getting full time work.

http://brutal.surrogateinteractive.com

[DelaZ]

No offence, but for some reason I doubt it's true about the publisher. If so, excuse me...

[TorQueMoD]

Its 100% true about the publisher... I'm not one to lie.

I'm right at this moment writing out a business proposal so I can try to get some money together to hire people on a contract basis, but until then we need to treat the project like a mod.

The reason I'm not blurting out who the publisher is, is because they have only said they are interested in seeing a demo and nothing is final. But once we get the demo finished, we can shop the game around to whoever we like.

[st0lve]

You have no media except for concept art? And your suppose to have been bought buy a publisher?

[TorQueMoD]

No, we were not bought by a publisher. We recieved and e-mail from a publisher who said they were interested in discussing the possibility of publishing and distributing the game.

To be Brutally honest ('scuse the pun) I was quite shocked myself when I got the e-mail and thought it must have been a joke, but I did some research into the company and the person who sent the e-mail and they are completely legit. Its not a North American publisher and they're not someone like Activision or Eidos, but they have published a large number of sucessful games and have a good relationship with some huge north american publishers as well. Obviously they liked the idea and saw that our team has talent. We've also released a Half-Life 1 mod, so maybe they liked that as well.

Anyway, I don't think I need to proove myself to you, if you don't want to believe that we're telling the truth then don't. Doesn't affect us in any way.

[curman]

Post deleted.

-klein

[sensee]

sounds cool but I kinda understand why people here have doubts about the whole publisher thing.

I mean there are tons of HL2 mods out there with WAY more media content and they don't get any publishing offers at all.

/hmm... the more I think about it the more I assume that this is some kind of cheap way to get members for your mod. feel free to prove me wrong though.

[TorQueMoD]

Well like I said before, believe what you like.

I understand that there are more HL2 mods that have more media content... I'm not the company who sent me the e-mail, I don't know why they thought we were good enough to request a demo from... maybe they just thought the concept was original... or maybe their entire marketing strategy is to request a demo from every independant developer out there... I think one major difference would be that since we started working on Brutal (originally with the Quake 2 engine) we have always been working on it as a demo for a retail project and not just a mod.

Maybe you guys would feel more comfortable if you knew about my credibility... I've been involved in the Half-Life mod community since 1999, I've had my mapping website hosted on PHL since around 2001, http://www.planethalflife.com/modmapper/

I started and completed a Half-Life mod Morbid Inclination http://www.planethalflife.com/morbid

I've worked with the Torque Engine and been a member of the Garage Games community since 2001

http://www.garagegames.com/my/home/view ... p?qid=1678

And was an active Counter-Strike mapper with many posts on the official CS mapping forums, as well as writing a tutorial for the old csmaps website.

I'm definitely not some guy who's new to the moding comunity who's trying to trick people into working on my project. That said, just because I'm saying we've got a publisher who's interested in our mod, does not mean I'm promising success either. There is absolutely no guarantee that even if we get the demo finished the publisher will like it... they may decide they don't in which case we'll simply continue to look for other publishers who might be interested, and in the worst case scenario, we'll release the mod to the public and leave it at that.

Normally I wouldn't waste my time responding to accusations, but I feel a little offended that people automatically assume that I'm lying because I say a publisher is interested in seeing a demo.

[kleinluka]

So don't mention it then, as you can see it's not gonna get you any bonus points around here. If you want people to join your mod you have to make your project more desirable and not brag about some ominous publisher being "MAYBE" interested in your mod.

just some friendly advice :roll:

[Fletch]

I agree with Klein on this one.

Also, remember to keep it civil in here gang. If you don't want to help out or provide professional advice, just don't post at all.

[TorQueMoD]

It wasn't for bragging rights, it was because we are excited about the fact that a publisher is interested in the project and because we want to get this demo together as soon as possible so they don't loose interest.

Anyway, you guys obviously have a very negative outlook on this sort of thing, so you're right, I shouldn't have bothered posting.

[teeluu]

And this is how mapcore welcomes new members who's looking for a team, nice job guys.

Maybe TorQueMoD shouldn't hype so much about the publisher, but please, no one has even congrtatulate him and the team about the publisher thing. Also, TorQueMoD said himself that it might not be anything big, so come on guys.

You don't have much media but i believe you with the publisher thing, hope it turns out well.

[TorQueMoD]

Thanks swifty... I think the lack of congratulations was mostly due to the fact that they assumed I'm a liar... but what can you do.

I'm just gonna hope that I allready met all the cynical members of mapcore with this post cause it seems like a good community

[teeluu]

Well this is a great community. There's just so much professionals around here that it takes a while to get used with the feedback, which is usually very helpful.

[Zacker]

The topic does indeed make me a little suspecius due to how you have written it, but your later posts explain some more.

TorQueMoD has always been good at publicity, so this can easily be true. Remember he was the guy who got written about all over the net because of a method to make rain in the HL engine without lag. As far as I remember it just moved the lag from sprites to geometry though and killed the fps just as much or more than the usual sprite based rain:D