Hey there, my name is Adam Griffiths and I am the lead developer for Malgor Bay, a new Massive Multi-user Online Chatting Community, and am in need of pixel artists to create pixel art for the game client.

Details on Malgor Bay will be posted below, it is an excerpt from our 12-page business plan.

Unfortunately at this time, the job is unpaid, but a percentage share will be offered from any profits we make in the future. I hope to release the client in 4 months time, at this time we will be selling in-game currency to generate funds.

Anybody interested should contact me via raelrode [at] googlemail [dot] com

The company currently does not have a website, and creating the site template would also be part of the job.

Thanks.

What is Malgor Bay?
Malgor Bay is an Isometric Multi-user Chat Environment (IMCE) with the theme of a secret holiday island a few miles off the coast of California, which can only be accessed using an Internet connection. Malgor Bay hopes to differ widely from other IMCE's already out there, in the fact that our naming conventions will be different, the way we do things will be different, and areas (otherwise known as rooms) will fill up the entire width and height of the client.

Our Motto
Our motto is “Listen to the user, and the user will listen back.” This means that once this document is posted online and we start receiving feedback from the users, we may change certain features to suit their wants and needs.

The Clients Layout
In early releases, Malgor Bay will have a few areas for users to chat inside, the names of these areas are:-

[*]Pebble Beach
[*]Malgor Cove
[*]Blue Lagoon
[*]Olive Orchard
[*]Private Manor

Pebble Beach is just that. A Beach laden with Pebbles. The beach will be full of golden sands, with some smooth rounded pebbles dotted around the area. There will be sun beds for users to lie on as well as sun shades. Another good feature could be sand castles, as this would open this area up for a game later on in the release of Malgor Bay.

Malgor Cove is a little hard to explain. It's like an off-shore cave with water in it, so you guessed it, when in this room you will be swimming!! There won't be many features in this room apart from chatting, swimming and bobbing up and down. But talks with the artist will be made to see if there are any other possible avenues for this rooms to make it more user-centric.

Blue Lagoon is an inland body of sea water cut off from the main sea by coral and surrounded by rocks. The lagoon is much like Malgor Cove in that you will be swimming in the area or bobbing up and down if you are not moving. Another idea for a game could be fish swimming around the lagoon and you have to catch them when they pop up by clicking on them.

Olive Orchard is a forest further inland on the island of  Malgor Bay. The Orchard will have a few picnic tables ready for picnicking and general chatting. The whole area is surrounded by trees and bushes.

Private Manor is a members-only room and is likely to be absent from the Client in early BETA Stages. The room will hold a catalog of extra looks you can purchase for use throughout the game using Tokens. More on tokens and membership below.


What are tokens?
Tokens are our in-game currency and can be used to buy extra features such as Membership and to buy extra looks through the shop in-game. Earlier versions of  Malgor Bay will only have one shop based in the membership room.

How can I purchase tokens?
In the early releases of Malgor Bay, tokens will only be available via PayPal, which is both a safe and secure way of sending payments online. Malgor Bay will only see your email address, amount of tokens you bought and your voucher code, so we will not see any of your banking details. We have also looked at many other alternatives for buying tokens and now have a database of 21 other payment methods we could utilize like Google Checkout, PaysafeCard, 360Money Card, 2Checkout and Nochex to name a few. We are also exploring ways to buy tokens via text messages and using your home phone. The most popular ways to pay will be the first methods. If nobody wishes to use a certain method, it will be discarded from the list of possible avenues.

Can I play Malgor Bay without buying tokens?
Of course you can! Tokens are only there for users who wish to purchase enhanced features and customize their avatar. If you do not wish to purchase tokens thats fine, we don't make you buy them to play the game. We will even give tokens away in competitions and we also hope to have a few games running in the client to help users gain tokens.

What is Membership?
Membership is a VIP only club that can be purchased using our in-game currency, tokens. This will give you access to extra members only rooms and features, such as the ability to purchase extra looks to set yourself apart from the rest of the users.

What are the benefits of Membership?
When buying membership, you are given access to a shop and the ability to purchase extra looks for your avatars. Also, at the end of every month membership you have, you will receive a free gift. This free gift is likely to be special looks in early releases but as we develop more features, more items will be introduced to members.

Lodges, what are they?
Lodges are intended for a later release of Malgor Bay, but will still be covered in this plan. Lodges will be our take on users own areas. Since Malgor Bay has smaller “room tiles” than most MMOCC's the selling point of Lodges will be that users can fit more of their friends in them. There may be several different layouts of lodges, and some may cover multiple areas, such as an indoor area and an outdoor place with a pool or something of that nature. The possibilities for Lodges are ultimately endless, and in the end are only limited by Programming and Artistic experience as well as user demand. However, lodges are intended for development as and when users request it, and once a stable BETA Release has been made with all Public Areas listed above.

Why should I play Malgor Bay? Whats different about you?
Malgor Bay is different from other IMCE's because we have planned almost everything down to a tee. We also have a clear objective and know what the client should look like. Our name sets us apart from the subjective city/town/streets/village/other place names game name because it doesn't follow conventions.

Specifications of Client and Server
The client is being developed by myself in Actionscript. Currently the client loads tiles dynamically from the Library, as well as the avatar. The client has full pathfinding and collision detection. I will start work on the chat features soon.

The server is currently also being developed by myself in PHP. The reason for using PHP instead of a Desktop Language is because of my extensive knowledge of the language. The server will continue to be done in PHP unless a third party developer would be interested in joining me in development of the server.



Thanks
Adam Griffiths
Malgor Bay Developer