u/InterestingSpend9733

I am looking for a small team to help create a long-term pirate MMO/adventure game focused on immersion, reputation, economy, sailing, and a living world.

This project is heavily inspired by the feeling that many pirate games have missed what makes piracy and the Age of Sail truly compelling: dynamic trade, political tension, reputation, crews, smuggling, convoy raiding, rumors, survival, and emergent stories created by players themselves.

The project is grounded and atmospheric rather than fantasy-heavy. The focus is on a believable maritime world where player actions affect economies, factions, wars, and social reputation.

A large amount of the design philosophy and systems have already been planned out. I will be leading the project creatively and directionally, maintaining the vision and overall world design while the team helps execute and build it.

Currently looking for:

• Gameplay Programmer
• Backend / Systems Programmer
• Environment Artist

This is a rev-share passion project with serious long-term intentions. I am flexible regarding engine/platform choices since I do not come from a programming background myself.

The project will begin with a smaller focused scope and expand steadily over time as the foundation becomes stable.

I am looking for people who are genuinely capable, passionate, and committed to building something long term. I am not against AI tools being used as assistance or workflow helpers, but I want team members who genuinely understand and can create the work themselves rather than relying entirely on AI-generated solutions. I value real foundational skill, problem-solving ability, and independent thinking.

I also value reliability and long-term commitment. Real life circumstances will always be respected — serious illness, family emergencies, military service, major financial hardship, or other truly important life situations are completely understandable. What I want to avoid is people joining casually, disappearing without communication, or treating the project as a temporary side experiment.

I want to be upfront that I do not currently have a professional portfolio or prior shipped game projects. My background is not in programming or game development itself, but in designing the vision, systems, atmosphere, and long-term direction for this project. What I bring is a strong creative vision, detailed worldbuilding, long-term commitment, and a genuine passion to build something meaningful rather than chasing trends. I understand trust must be earned, especially in rev-share projects, and I fully expect to prove seriousness through consistency, organization, communication, and dedication over time.

While I do not come from a programming background, I have spent a very large amount of time thinking through the game’s systems, atmosphere, progression, onboarding, economy, reputation mechanics, and long-term direction in considerable detail. I understand that ideas alone are not enough, and that execution, iteration, collaboration, and technical reality are what ultimately make a project succeed. My goal is to provide strong creative direction, organization, consistency, and long-term commitment while working alongside people with the technical and artistic skills needed to bring the project to life.

The current early-access scope is intentionally focused:

• Tortuga and surrounding waters
• a dynamic economy
• reputation systems
• crew systems
• ship upgrading
• piracy/smuggling gameplay
• atmospheric immersive worldbuilding
• emergent player interaction

I am committed to this project long term and want to steadily build something special rather than chase trends or rush development.

If you love pirate history, immersive multiplayer worlds, sailing games, systems-driven gameplay, or atmospheric worldbuilding, feel free to message me.