Game development is a massive and extremely diverse field.

Making a game requires immense levels of technical and artistic skill in wide domains including but not limited to programming, environment art, game design, music, sound, worldbuilding, business, HR, etc.

Trying to do everything alone can lead to burnout, and it's not always possible to frictionlessly cooperate with people to fill in all the necessary gaps to complete a project.

Introducing...

Esoteric Commonwealth

The Esoteric Commonwealth is an online community built on the economy of gift-giving.

In order to join, members are required to contribute one original asset they have created using their unique skills and specialization. This asset will become publicly available to other members of the group to use in their projects, and similarly, upon joining the community new members also gain access to freely use all assets contributed by other members.

The purpose of this community is to create a curated group of likeminded developers, and frictionlessly share resources so that we can make the best use of each others talents, and apply them to our own individual games.

Terms and conditions

By submitting an asset for the Esoteric Commonwealth you are declaring that:

1. You own ALL rights to the asset; that it is original, and can be legally distributed among developers and used in their games for all purposes including commercial.
2. You grant ALL the developers of the Esoteric Commonwealth community the rights to use your asset for all purposes including commercial.
3. You understand and acknowledge that distribution of assets approved for the Esoteric Commonwealth OUTSIDE of the community without the permission of their creator is strictly forbidden. Breach of this rule will result in immediate ban from the group.

How to apply

Assets go through an approval process before members gain access to the group.

To submit an asset for approval, please click "I want this" and then fill out the prompts in the form.

Application guidelines

Assets should follow the same guidelines as the Fab store.

This includes the same project/plugin formatting, and should include all the appropriate technical information and documentation for users to understand what the asset does, how to use it, and where to go if they need help.

Download links can be in whatever form you choose -- Google drive, GitHub repo, etc.

Types of assets

You can submit any type of asset you want! Game development is extremely diverse and so are the forms of media and skills that go into making a game.

Feel free to submit any type of asset you like, not limited to but including:

• Blueprints
• Plugins
• Environment packs
• Characters + animations
• Music and sound
• Visual effects
• Etc.

If it will help other developers inside the group either learn or make a game, then it is a valid candidate for the community.

Note: This community is primarily geared around Unreal Engine, and so submissions (at least for now) must be compatible with the latest version of Unreal Engine in order to be considered.

Levels of clearance

Different levels of time, energy, and expertise go into creating assets, and so in order to protect and respect the energy and expertise of creators there is a tier system inside the community.

Upon approval of asset submission, creators are given a tier corresponding to the quality of the asset.

Higher tiers of clearance gain access to all the assets of lower tiers. Lower tiers cannot access assets at higher tiers unless they a) get permission from the creator or b) earn clearance.

Creators can opt to make their asset available to all tiers if they choose. Similarly, creators can request a specific level of clearance when they submit their asset, and can appeal the result if they disagree with it.

Submitting multiple assets, or other forms of contribution to the commonwealth of the community can also result in members gaining a higher level of clearance (i.e. through helping other members troubleshoot, find resources, or just by being a generally positive and reliable member of the community.)

Examples

Some of the assets currently included in the Esoteric Commonwealth include:

• Endless Worlds (with multiplayer and biomes): https://jacksonnexhip.gumroad.com/l/EndlessRandomWorlds
• Easy Flying AI: https://jacksonnexhip.gumroad.com/l/EasyFlyingAI
• (this is a new initiative and will be updated soon)

Questions

If you've got questions, please contact Jackson via the Slightly Esoteric Game Development Discord server.

Thanks!