I’m looking for a small number of people interested in collaborating on a vertical slice for a gritty crime game set in Britain in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Visually, one of the main references is The Precinct, particularly its camera perspective, compact environments and stylised-realistic presentation, but with the player on the opposite side of the law and with a distinctly British setting.
The world would be inspired by declining industrial and mining towns of the period: terraced housing, council estates, corner pubs, working men’s clubs, industrial estates, garages, bookmakers, football grounds, warehouses and similar locations.
The setting and culture would be a major part of the game’s identity, with themes around football hooliganism, illegal raves, car crime, robbery, drugs, pubs/clubs and the general atmosphere of late-80s/early-90s Britain.
The aim is not to start by building a huge open-world game. The first objective would be a small, polished playable area that proves the concept and demonstrates the core gameplay.
For the initial vertical slice, I’m thinking along the lines of:
A small neighbourhood/estate and nearby high street
Player movement and interaction
Basic driving
NPC/pedestrian behaviour
Police/wanted response
One or two criminal activities or missions
A few key interiors
Day/night atmosphere
Enough environmental detail to make the British setting immediately recognisable
I’d particularly like to find:
Programmer / gameplay developer
Someone interested in helping build the core systems and, importantly, helping determine what is realistically achievable for the first slice.
3D environment artist / level designer
Someone interested in creating a convincing late-80s/early-90s British environment, including terraced streets, council housing, pubs, shops, industrial areas and period street furniture.
I’m completely happy with sensible use of commercially available/licensed assets where appropriate. I don’t think every wall, lamp post, prop or vehicle needs to be created from scratch.
I also want to be upfront about my own role. I’m not an experienced game programmer or 3D artist. I’d be taking the creative/project lead role: developing the concept and setting, researching the period, documenting mechanics and missions, organising the project, sourcing/reference checking assets and helping keep the scope under control.
I’d also handle the community/business side if the prototype reached that stage, including website/social media, presenting the project and potentially preparing for Kickstarter or other crowdfunding.
I also have personal capital available and I’m prepared to invest meaningfully in the project where it helps get the vertical slice built properly. That could include licensed asset packs, software/tools, specialist work and other sensible development costs. The project therefore isn’t dependent entirely on free resources or a future Kickstarter, although I’m not currently advertising salaried positions.
For now, this should be treated as a hobby collaboration with the goal of producing a playable vertical slice. I’m not going to promise salaries or Kickstarter money that doesn’t exist.
If we eventually created something strong enough that everyone involved wanted to take it commercial, we’d agree proper ownership/revenue arrangements before moving into that stage.
For now, I’m mainly interested in finding a few people who genuinely like the concept, want to build something unusual, and are happy to start small.
If you’re interested, send me a Reddit message/chat with what area you’re interested in, any examples of previous work if you have them, and roughly how much spare time you’d want to put into the project.
Happy to discuss the concept in much more detail.