Development Info
Role: Lead Artist, Audio Coordinator, Designer
Tools Used: Unity, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Plastic SCM
Duration: May 2018 - August 2018
Team Size: 6 - 15
Tools Used: Unity, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Plastic SCM
Duration: May 2018 - August 2018
Team Size: 6 - 15
Company: MassDiGI
Game Info
Genre: Physics-based Puzzle Arcade
Platform: iOS and Android
Project Status: Released April 3rd, 2019
Platform: iOS and Android
Project Status: Released April 3rd, 2019
Game Description: It’s the dawn of a new day, and Alpy the sun spirit is on a mission to bring warmth and light to the world. In his way is Auster, a vengeful winter spirit who wants ice and snow to rule the land. Block falling ice, fend off Auster, and keep Alpy safe as he rises to the top!
Team Responsibilities
- Conducted market research to learn what was trending in mobile and what comparables would be feasible to draw from
- Created and maintained the team's art & audio bible
- Designed "clusters" of obstacles: mini-puzzles intended to be solved a variety of ways in a matter of seconds
- Concepted and developed characters, artistic themes, and the game's story
- Directed and iterated the artistic theming of the game
- Implemented animations and static art assets in-engine
- Created 2D art assets for the game, including animations, backgrounds, and UI
- Designed UI layouts
- Took playtesting notes during sessions and reviewed them with the team
- Storyboarded, edited, and animated the game's trailer
- Assisted other artists in using Agile and Kanban methodologies
- Provided comparables and direction to the audio lead
- Created and maintained the team's art & audio bible
- Designed "clusters" of obstacles: mini-puzzles intended to be solved a variety of ways in a matter of seconds
- Concepted and developed characters, artistic themes, and the game's story
- Directed and iterated the artistic theming of the game
- Implemented animations and static art assets in-engine
- Created 2D art assets for the game, including animations, backgrounds, and UI
- Designed UI layouts
- Took playtesting notes during sessions and reviewed them with the team
- Storyboarded, edited, and animated the game's trailer
- Assisted other artists in using Agile and Kanban methodologies
- Provided comparables and direction to the audio lead
During this job, I served as an additional artist on 4 other games:
Spell Strike
Last Night on Earth
CyberDrive 2077
Line Slider: Paint the World!
Spell Strike
Last Night on Earth
CyberDrive 2077
Line Slider: Paint the World!
Lessons Learned
- Adapt to and support your teammates' working styles. The other primary artist on our team worked more effectively with frequent feedback and concrete guidance. On the opposite end, our sound designer flourished with more room for interpretation. As the one giving them direction, it was important to support both styles of working.
- Make sure your documentation is up to snuff. The documentation we created and developed throughout the project was invaluable to us when we temporarily brought on several new team members to do extra work. Thanks to our thorough documentation, our new teammates were onboarded and able to do meaningful work quickly.
- Trust your teammates. I'd mostly been a solo developer before this job, so it was challenging to be more hands off and respect my teammates' expertise. Once I realized I could trust them, our game (and team dynamic!) greatly improved.
- Don't underestimate the value of preproduction. Our market research, greyboxing, and art style development gave us a solid foundation to build the rest of the game on, and ultimately made production more efficient.
- Make sure your documentation is up to snuff. The documentation we created and developed throughout the project was invaluable to us when we temporarily brought on several new team members to do extra work. Thanks to our thorough documentation, our new teammates were onboarded and able to do meaningful work quickly.
- Trust your teammates. I'd mostly been a solo developer before this job, so it was challenging to be more hands off and respect my teammates' expertise. Once I realized I could trust them, our game (and team dynamic!) greatly improved.
- Don't underestimate the value of preproduction. Our market research, greyboxing, and art style development gave us a solid foundation to build the rest of the game on, and ultimately made production more efficient.