Last Call for help with Motrya (Slimesalad Edition)

I want to get this out of the way: if you're here to judge me about my decision to cancel Motrya development, call my game trash or "a card game with an RPG attached" and then tell me to make it anyway, or otherwise be a slime, get out. I'm not interested in discussing the matter with you (in fact, as a mod I can delete your posts) If you haven't been involved with the development of the game, you cannot possibly understand how things have actually been (and the only people with an inkling are Newbie Power, Giz, Charbile, Aethereal and Vampiducki.)


As some of you are aware, I've "canceled" work on Motrya in the last week. Contrary to what some seem to think, this was not an easy decision and was quite a difficult one for me to make. It was a decision built up to over a long period of time, resultant of various complications both in actual development and in the personal lives of myself and other members of the team. The game has been cut significantly from my original vision in the same process.

I am willing to cancel Motrya's cancellation, now that I've had a week or so to cool off. But I have terms.

If it is ever going to be finished, Motrya needs a new pixel artist, plain and simple. Newbie Power and I had worked together for several years on the game, but for his own reasons (not my or anyone else's business; he has the right) he had to cease working with me.

The second demo of the game is, in my eyes, reasonably close to completion and could quite easily be finished by year end. The music for Chapters 1 and 2 is almost entirely finished. The text is all done. Battles are designed and ready to be added, and scenes are waiting on maps to be made. All the rest of the work is graphics. However, as anyone who's played my games knows, I am not an artist. Also, I refuse to release Motrya with graphics I'd consider sub-par. My goal all along was to make a high quality game that could compete with the best of the 16 bit era, or even outdo them. I cannot accomplish this alone.

If you have played the demo of Chapter 1, you have a basic idea of what the game looks like. The current chapter has more variety in locale, but generally fits the same style. While I am overwhelmed with the idea of a new artist trying to "fit in" with what's in the game, if it's going to get done somebody has to do it.

Here's what still needs to be done. Some of these requirements are vague, as the final two chapters of the game are not entirely fleshed out yet.

~ Maptiles. Newbie has finished the vast majority, but some major areas remain to be completed. There is a desert map, a cave and , a small mountainous area left in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 have a prison on a snowy island, another cathedral-type area, and a modification of an area in Chapter 1 needs to be made.
~ Walkabout sprites. (Close to) No walkabouts have been finished for Chapter 2. I also need emotion frames for various characters.
~ Weapon and Attack graphics. None of these have been made for Chapter 2.
~ Battle backgrounds.
~ Some Enemy graphics. Not a lot are left for this chapter, but obviously Chapters 3 and 4 have none complete.
~ Random scene graphics

I'm not going to lie--a lot is left to be done. I know it can be done. However, finishing it would take a ton of dedication and (likely) money. The first is something hard to find and something I cannot truly ask for; nobody is going to be as passionate about the game as I am. I can pay an artist, but my budget is limited: you will not gain a 'real' paycheck working on this game. It just isn't feasible, so don't expect it. I will only discuss this matter further in private.

All this said, I am not against accepting the help of multiple artists. However, I have to ask that anyone who contributes is confident that he or she can match (or surpass) the quality that's already in the game. Imitating Newbie's style is perfectly acceptable. Making something adequate is too.

If you are interested in helping, discussing the game, or know somebody who might be interested, please send me a private message. (or if you just want to help with one part, maybe reply here and see if we can get a pow-wow going) If you would rather talk with me directly, get on Espernet and join the channel #motrya or Email/Gchat me. My Google name is jsh357.

The only requirement I have is: please make sure you've actually played the game, and preferably liked it too. I don't want to work with somebody who doesn't care for the game, for obvious reasons. (It doesn't offend me if you don't) If I cannot find help from the OHR Community, I will have to look elsewhere. It's not something I'm totally comfortable with, and I will likely fail. That's why I'm asking here first.

Thank you for your time and attention.

---

My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com

I would be willing to help with walkabout and enemy graphics. Newbie Newtype is a better pixel artist than me, but I would relish the opportunity to improve my own pixeling skill by learning to emulate his style.

I'll start with some walkabouts. I'll start off slow because I have a lot going on myself this month, so for today just give me a description of one walkabout set that you want, and I will try to get something back to you in less than a week.

I know that my small contribution won't be enough all by myself, but I do really want to help.

I know I personally won't be able to contribute anything aside from perhaps some sort of moral support, but you know that any of the public domain graphics in vikings are free to use if you need them. That said, I don't think they'll really fit Newbie's style without any serious modifications.

---

To friends long gone, and those I've yet to meet - thank you.

I don't really get that disclaimer when Motrya was one of the most heavily praised demos ever released on this engine and has regularly topped every discussion of most anticipated releases.

I wish you luck in finishing it. I still think that if it does fall apart, you should release its card game or some other card game using the game engine as a standalone product. I'm not calling it "a card game with an RPG attached" but I liked the card game and want to see more of it.

---

Super Walrus Land: Mouth Words Edition

i totally second this for a few reasons:

the card game was clearly a clone of "triple triad", the card minigame of FF8. you really can't say that FF8 is "a card game with an RPG attached", and i wouldn't say the same about Motrya. it's taken a ton of work to get the card minigame to work (at least 4,000+ lines of code the last time i heard) and if i were you, i wouldn't let that much work go to waste in a cancelled game. hell, maybe the OHR community needs a card game to break the monotony of countless bland RPGs. if there was a card-based game for the OHR, i'd definitely play it. in fact, i think Mogri is up to something of the sort (not for the OHR), which definitely has me super excited.

that all being said, i'd love to help, but i'm not much of a graphics artist either. i might be able to scratch out some more abstract work, though (ie. monsters, attack animations, etc.).

---

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy... So here's some lunchmeat... Sandwich, maybe?

I am not against making a card game (in fact after Motrya I was planning to design a deckbuilding/dating sim style game), but a) Lyte Snap is way too simple to be a standalone game in my opinion and b) When I start something more complex, I will not be using a scripting language that doesn't have arrays. I'm still amazed I even got LS working at all.

---

My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com

It'd be a shame to see Motrya go down in flames. I'd love to help, but my graphics probably can't stand up to newbies.