realDevelopment: The Cold Hard Truth
Ah, yes Dear Friends its time for another communique from the heart of Engient Command HQ. Today my mind is on the weather. The San Francisco Bay Area has a mild climate but as winter turns to spring it still holds a special meaning for us here at Engient: we no longer will have to freeze.
Now many people come from places that get much colder than here, but there is a twist: we work in an unheated warehouse. Yes, a 47 degree high might not sound all that bad to our fans in the Midwest or East Coast. But when you are sitting at the computer, for 8+ hours, (and it hasn’t warmed up to 47 degrees inside) the cold starts to get to you. What is the face of game development then? It is this:
That Dear Friends, is me last February doing my best to keep warm. Layers of thermal underwear, sweaters, and extra shirts were used to try and hold back winter’s bitter bite. But still worked slowed as my frozen fingers refused to move at full speed.
Now things are looking up. The weather is turning and we are pushing forward on Rigonauts: Broadside with full speed. These are exciting times indeed!
However, if anybody asks you “Who do think is the most INDIE of developers?” point them our way. Sure goofy art and crazy ideas are pretty indie, but when the only thing to keep you warm is the waste heat from your graphics card AND THE FIRE OF PASSION BURNING IN YOUR BELLY, well then you know your indie on a whole new level.
As allways you may become one of our followers by finding our sociopathic media at twitter.com/engient or facebook.com/Engient.
Until Next Time,
VoiceBox@engient.com
Announcing “Rigonauts: Broadside”
Engient is thrilled to announce Rigonauts: Broadside! Bellow you can find a description of the project, a teaser trailer of our strange and wonderful game, and screenshots that highlight the art of our award winning artist Sang Han. And keep checking back to as we reveal more info, design articles, and other exciting announcements. Or even better subscribe to our sociopathic media and become one of our followers. Until next time enjoy Rigonauts: Broadside
-voiceBox@engient.com
Rigonauts: Broadside is the fantastic building battle game from Engient. Snap together the ultimate vessel and send your crew of Hobs into battle. With a well designed ship and a clever plan, your crew will smash and blast past an assortment of strange and dangerous foes. Of course no single plan survives the enemy and each tactical tweak will bring you closer to victory.
Build
Construct the rig from your collection of parts: engines and wheels to propel the ship into battle, guns to rock your foes, and armor plates to protect your crew. Use the rewards of success to purchase new part or upgrade your favorites. Should you build a ship that is small and fast or should you design a great Land Galleon bristling with cannon? How you choose to confront the opposition is within your control.
Plan
Sometimes its not enough to build a sweet ride, you also need to know how to use it.
The Order of Battle represents the plan that your Hob Caplin and his crew will follow. This orchestrates when your vessel will power its engines, fall back, or fire The Big Gun.
And Go
Once everything is in place its time to unleash your creation. Cheer as everything falls into place and victory is achieved or cringe as your everything falls apart and your designs are reduced to rubble.
Media
Trailer
Screenshots
Job Rec – 2D Artist
2D Artist (6 month contract)
Description
This position will contribute to the artistic vision and development of a 2D product with a focus on creating Characters, Objects, and Modular Components using traditional fine art and technical art skills. Establishing the games artistic style, development pipelines, technical parameters, quality standards, and production goals. Creating conceptual designs, 2D sprites, animations, UI, and FX. Must possess the ability to effectively collaborate with the other team members and evaluate the in game results of own work.
- Works with other team members to define the visual style of the game and the technical processes needed to put those results on screen. This entails researching and testing which techniques or tools most help the game meet its goals.
- Capable of managing the interplay between art and game design to ensure that goals are realistic and feasible within the budget and time allowed.
- Prepared to be involved in problem solving for all aspects of the games development and seek out solutions to complex problems.
- Possess strong time management and prioritization skills.
- Clearly communicate updates and properly escalate concerns to the rest of the team.
Engient is a newly formed independent game developer in San Fransisco, with two co-founders who are striving to engineer entertainment. Our goal is to make games that connect with players conceptually, and that payout in fun every time they pick up the controller.
Qualifications
- Traditional fine art skills and training (illustration, painting, organic forms, manufactured forms, costumes, color theory, 2D design).
- 2D software such as Photoshop or similar.
- Familiarity with source control and related concepts.
- Familiarity with video game product development including, but not limited to: work-flow, tools, particle systems, etc.
- Modern 2D (not pixel art) development experience.
- Strong communication, organizational, time management and interpersonal skills.
- Being able to work in San Francisco CA.
Contact
Apply via jobs@engient.com
or
Engient Inc (Studio 6)
340 Bryant St
Suite 320
San Francisco, CA 94107
Note: Please do not send original works, as we will not be able to return them.
Introducing Engient
Engient is a recently formed independent game developer located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ian Slutz & Jason Earp decided to combine their expertise in game design, programming and player controls to engineer entertainment. With nearly 10 titles shipped we have over 13 years of experience in the video game industry and have worked on games ranging from Tomb Raider Legend to Drawn to Life The Next Chapter to the Maximo game series.
We are excited to be independently developing a 2D game that reflects our love of games and of interesting challenges. This website will feature more updates as we are closer to sharing our creation, but in the mean time we will try and put something up each week. Also, come back soon since we will be posting our first job rec shortly.
-Ian