What is Project Viltris?

Our mission statement: To nurture the creative spirit through game design and development.

Thanks, but that doesn't tell me anything about Project Viltris.

Our organization

Project Viltris is a hobby-club, an informal interest group made up of individuals who share a common interest--namely, expressing themselves creatively and game design/development.

Our goal

In today's world, too many people rush from one thing to another in the course of their daily lives. Schoolwork, jobs, chores, social obligations, all of these things come at us endlessly and take up countless hours of our time. Some people don't even have enough time to pursue their own personal interests any more.

Here at Project Viltris, we seek to rectify this situation. We believe that every individual, no matter how dull and mundane, has a creative spirit, even if that person hasn't discovered it yet. We believe that it is important for people to embrace their own creativity, for you can't truly enjoy life until you've created art with your own two hands.

At the same time, gaming (in particular, video and computer gaming) has become a rather significant cultural phenomenon, and yet, a relatively minor one. Many people acknowledge that games exist and that there's a sizable population of gamers, and yet, many people shun games and gamers out of ignorance. We believe that games are the next evolution of entertainment. By allowing players to participate, games actively engage the audience. Multiplayer games allow players to interact with each other while providing them with a virtual playground of lights and sound--something that no movie or TV show could ever hope to duplicate. Not only that, but by their very nature, games have much more complex forms of storytelling and provide tools for players to hone their mind and their reflexes and test their skills.

Here at Project Viltris, we seek to combine our love of creative art and our love of games by creating our own games. After all, (amateur) game-making is just another modern art form, no different than film-making or puzzle-making. To accomplish this goal, we first have to train our prospective game artists in the art of game-making--to polish our diamonds in the rough, so to speak--and then we have to organize our people into small teams to compliment each others' skills and start making games.

Our games

Our games can be anything you want them to be. It doesn't matter whether it's simple or complex. It doesn't matter if it's big enough to be the next Final Fantasy or small enough to be Space Invaders on a Java applet. It doesn't matter whether it's an action game, first-person shooter, RPG, strategy, or even whacky puzzle game. If you have an idea, and you want people to help make that game, that's what we're here for.

On the flip side, if you want to make games, but don't know how, that's what we're here for, too. Or even if your just an aspiring artist or musician who wants to get seen or heard, we're even here for that, too. Even if you have no skills and just want to learn how to make games--well, do I really have to repeat this?--we're here for that too.

And, of course, we believe that the point of creative art is to create art. A true artist is already happy if people are seeing and enjoying his work. That's why we will distribute our games to all you gamers free of charge. (Of course, when you become famous for your game designs and start working at big name game companies like Blizzard or Bungie, then you can start charging money for your games.)

Who can get involved?

Anybody with a passion for creative art and game design/development can get involved. It doesn't matter what your skillset is: we value programmers, graphic artists, music composers, writers, and more! If you have any skills at all and want to be involved in creating games, just shoot us an e-mail, and we'll try to find a place for you.

Alternatively, if you have no skills but want to pick up some skills, see the next section.

Developer training

We believe that passion for creating games is more important than skill. However, not everybody is fortunate enough to already know how to make games, but we believe that everyone can learn how to make games given the proper training. That's why at our Developer's Corner, we provide tutorials to turn programmers into game programmers. (And coming soon, tutorials to turn non-programmers into programmers.) We plan to constantly expand this section to become a valuable resource to all aspiring game programmers everywhere, so keep your eye on this section of you want to learn how to program games.

Also, if you wish to teach in addition to learning (because we believe that learning never stops, even when you become a teacher), whether it be writing tutorials or spending one-on-one time with a student, we have a place for you here as well. Send us an e-mail, as we believe that teachers are especially valuable.

(Graphic art, music, and writing training may come later when we have a solid crew of graphic artists, musicians, and writers. If you're interested in becoming a teacher in any of these areas, again, feel free to send us an e-mail.)

Other benefits

Hopefully, you've already been convinced by your passion for creative art, your passion for games, or your passion for teaching aspiring students, but just in case you need a little something more, there's other side benefits of being involved. In addition to getting invaluable practice for your skills, creating games as a team helps build teamwork and forms invaluable social bonds between you and your teammates. And for those of you who care, when you decide to go look for a new job (or your first job, for those of you who have never been employed before), putting Project Viltris on your resume shows potential employers that you worked on projects of your own free will for your personal enjoyment. It shows your initiative and your passion for programming/art/music/writing/teaching/etc. But these are just unimportant side benefits.

That's great! How do I join?

It's simple. All you have to do is send us an e-mail, or contact the founder on AIM, and we'll work with you to find you a place here at Project Viltris.