I have professional experience as an iOS developer with the Swift programming language, and I’d like to collaborate on a game with a writer (or two, depending on how many people are interested).
It will be a hobby project, but we could publish it and monetise it once finished (either via publishing on App Store or we could apply for Apple Arcade). Revenue will be split evenly, if we decide to monetise.
Another option is to collaborate on a hobby game of smaller scope (like 2-3 levels or 20-30 mins of gameplay) and then post on Kickstarter to scale and fund for a full bigger game. Then eventually commercialise on App Store or apply for Apple Arcade.
I have worked professionally in app development, but would like to work on a game as a hobby to further develop my skills. I am most experienced with Swift so that’s why it’s my preferred language to work with. I also prefer working in 2D.
I have studied a little bit of game design as well. I love writing but nowadays it’s mostly non-fiction (political writing) – I used to do creative writing more as a child. So I’d like to collaborate with a writer, and mainly work as a programmer on the project myself.
Happy to figure out a game project together. I also have some ideas – I’ll post one of them below.
We can find other people to collaborate with too. I have reached out to an artist as well, but I will have to check if they are interested in making a game for iOS specifically.
Example idea:
Farming game (inspired by elements from Harvest Moon and Japanese Rural Life Adventure. And probably Stardew Valley – though I haven’t played Stardew Valley myself yet)
you can grow crops, cook food and gift them to other people (we could also look at adding multiplayer)
it would be cool to make a much richer and more sophisticated friendship & dialogue interactions with NPCs, than the standard few lines in Harvest Moon which get repeated a lot
e.g. more personalised responses depending on which gifts you give an NPC
I’m also interested in a more sophisticated cooking system which allows for more customization with flavours in recipes, as well as layering multiple recipes
Feel free to post questions too. I don’t really mind whether you have more experience with choice/parser games or which you prefer – I think both will provide very valuable experience. We can build the project on what you prefer.
Just a thought: look for existing IF games that you think would be amenable to an iOS adaptation, and then directly ask those authors for permission to adapt it. I’ve long thought that many IF games would be good fits for very limited graphics, a tapping interface, etc. My very first choice of author would be Art DiBianca, but I’ve no idea how he’d feel about such a project.
I’m open-minded – I guess initially I was thinking a visual game but also with interactive story elements and other mechanics (perhaps like Forgotton Anne).
That definitely sounds interesting.
It seems that the author has collaborated with game developers before:
I guess for me personally, I would be interested in coming up with a new project idea together with whomever I work with. I’m also happy to explore adaptations of existing works though!
I don’t understand - is this a hobby or are you trying to make money? People generally lose money on hobbies, not the other way around. Personally I would never release an app on iOS unless it was to make money, especially with their recent changes - I believe you need to pay a fee if your app gets popular, even if it’s free. iOS users can play games just fine on itch.io.
That’s awesome! Make sure the chain is strong so they can’t escape. I’ve only seen an artist in the wild a few times in my life. It’s very rare to capture one.
With IFComp winding down there might be more writers emerging on the forums now. Lots of people are still reviewing games though and it doesn’t end until October 15th.
Haha I mean our interests and goals both aligned. They were looking to get some experience working on a game for the first time, and I am happy to provide some mentorship.
Cool, I will leave this topic open for now in case anyone is still interested.
