Quick Filter Checklist:

* PAID work - $1,000 to $2,000 USD budget for this set, negotiable.
* Approximately 150-200 32x32 tiles (non-animated). Mostly monsters and item representations, some terrain and map objects. Visual pun encouraged!
* Style - Must mesh well with existing style. Existing art examples at: http://pqwiki.wikidot.com/monsters-of-pq http://pqwiki.wikidot.com/smallsvile http://www.pseudoquest.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=9
* Timeline - artist selected on or around October 22nd, work to begin immediately upon award. 4-6 weeks to complete the set, with potential for ongoing art production afterwards.
* Project type - freelance, off-site
* Rights - All work to be completed on a "work-for-hire" basis.
* Qualifications - no experience requirements, only that artwork produced is high-quality and meshes with existing style. Unfortunately, due to the nature of puns (primarily that they don't translate to other languages well), the artist must be completely fluent in English. A good sense of humor and a penchant for visual pun are big plusses.
* Additional compensation - in-game goodies for the artist, including unique items and items that would normally cost a player real cash to get (only if interested, and this would strictly be icing on the cake).

* How to bid - Contact me with a per-tile pricing offer and examples of prior work. [see post below if no portfolio available]. Strong preference given to artists who demonstrate artwork similar to the existing style.
* How to contact - posts in this thread, PMs, or email at: xaroth [at] utimegames [dot] com. I will check on this thread frequently throughout the process.




Hello, all!

I'm the lead (sole) developer for the free humorous casual RPG PseudoQuest(tm) ( http://www.pseudoquest.com ), and am currently looking for a sprite/pixel/tile artist to create artwork for the soon-to-be-released new content section of the game. This is a PAID project.

PseudoQuest is currently in an open beta, and has a bit over 1,000 active players. Feel free to create an account and play around with it to get a feel for what the game's about, and the overall existing art style (even if you're not interested in bidding. ;) ). And yes, we're a real company, despite our small size.

The new content section is focused on the lighter side of the undead, but still fitting the "spoof everything RPG" flavor. So, for example, monsters include the Skeleton Crew, a Cow Lich, and the Four Phony Ponies of the Apocolypse. Items for the new area range from a Silver Spoon (good for gouging the heart out of werewolves), to Liquid Courage (beer), to a Cloak of Daggers. An example of an area that will need artwork to create is a graveyard, and an undead carousel.

In total, I'm expecting approximately 150-200 tiles (non-animated) for the new section. I have a list of basics I'll require, but there'll be a lot of freedom to branch off of that list.

The art style is a 2d-overhead, semi-cartoony, retro-ish feel, with an emphasis on visual pun where possible. "Cute" is the operative word, even for the most fiendish of the creatures. The player-created PseudoQuest wiki page has a large amount of existing example art to peruse, and can be found at http://pqwiki.wikidot.com/ . Some of the art/maps they've got on there are outdated, but most of it is up to date. Some examples of the detailed avatars/clothing sets are at http://www.pseudoquest.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=9 .

The tiles themselves are 32x32 full-color .GIF's. Characters are built up in a paper-doll fashion, and have a matching 64x128 detailed version for showing off to other players. The larger versions are full-color .PNG's with partial transparency for clothing items to get the shadowing correct. Examples and source artwork for new monsters that are variations of old monsters or items (eg: zombie slime is an undead modification of the normal green slime) will be provided to the winning bidder, as will examples and source artwork for the clothing sets.

For the game itself, the display is layered up from component pieces, so a focus on interchangable parts is appreciated. For example, a house is built from a base, separate windows, different doors, various roofs, and other accessories (like a chimney or a hanging sign). This allows for a lot of variety to be created with a minimum of assets to be downloaded by the player. I will perform all pallette-swaps to change colorations and tile slicing so that the artist's time can be better spent making new artwork, rather than the tedium of those sorts of mundane tasks.

The tools used to create the art can be anything that can produce 32-bit images with partial transparency (read: NOT MS Paint). I prefer dealing only with Photoshop .PSD files, but I also have a full version of Graphics Gale and can easily handle .GAL files. I can probably find a way to work with other programs, too. A good grasp of working with layers is a plus, as this helps with interchangability of the tiles.

Payment terms can be negotiated upon award of the bid. I can do anything from PayPal to sending checks in the mail. Payment will come regularly as artwork is completed for use in the game. In the past, I've done payments roughly every 50 tiles created, which worked out to about once a week, but I can do any scheme we like. I will cover any money-transfer related fees (eg: PayPal fees or postage).

If you are interested in this project, please point me to your portfolio of similar work, or simply post samples here if you like.

If you do not have similar work available, but are still interested in the project, please consider submitting the following three items as an art test (certainly not required, but appreciated in leiu of or in addition to portfolio examples): a 32x32 Mommy Mummy (with child), a 96x96 mausoleum that's been converted to a house, and a seamless grass tile (all 3 on a scale of 1 tile = ~6 foot/2 meter square). Strong preference will be given to portfolio and example art which is similar to the existing style in the game.

I will be selecting an artist on or around Monday, October 22nd, and will contact all artists who have submitted bids at that time. There are some items I'd like to have in place for Halloween, so if you are awarded the bid, please be prepared to begin work on it immediately. In total, I expect the whole set won't take longer than 4-6 weeks to complete, though I'm hoping that most of the important work will be in place within the first 2-3 weeks.

Hopefully, this has all been detailed enough to answer any questions you might have, but please feel free to ask me anything!

Thanks for your help, and I look forward to working with you!

--Geoffrey Benson
    µTime Games, Inc.