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INTERACTIVE WORLD-BUILDING
EXAMPLES OF DESIGN LOGIC TO INFORM COHESIVE WORLDS & STYLE, PLAYER FANTASY, PROGRESSION, CLARITY, AND/OR MESSAGING OF INTERACTIVE PLAYER EXPERIENCES
• Original content & inspiration for initial conception of a Cold War-era spy fantasy stealth-shooter.
• First screenshot of mobile-only, 2D side-scroller prototype to final game screenshot.
• Explored core fantasy for understanding how to service audience expectation while differentiating within larger Spy canon.
• Bottom-right explores visual Nouns & Verbs of Spy Fiction fantasy re: what players expect, want to do, feel and experience.
• First screenshot of mobile-only, 2D side-scroller prototype to final game screenshot.
• Explored core fantasy for understanding how to service audience expectation while differentiating within larger Spy canon.
• Bottom-right explores visual Nouns & Verbs of Spy Fiction fantasy re: what players expect, want to do, feel and experience.
• I use extensive Research & Reference (R&R) to develop original, comprehensive and accessible styles.
• Beyond the bounds of the game, genre and market, I look across different design vectors for the wider possibility-space of what
has and hasn’t been done in search of a look that is original, familiar and authentic.
• A reductive designer, I look for key details of authenticity to express an economically believable and comprehensive style.
• CounterSpy’s look was the logical product of Context (fiction), Competency (core skills), and Constraint (resources, platform, time).
• Beyond the bounds of the game, genre and market, I look across different design vectors for the wider possibility-space of what
has and hasn’t been done in search of a look that is original, familiar and authentic.
• A reductive designer, I look for key details of authenticity to express an economically believable and comprehensive style.
• CounterSpy’s look was the logical product of Context (fiction), Competency (core skills), and Constraint (resources, platform, time).
• My early concepts seeking visual solutions and a comprehensive visual style in service of the 3 C’s:
• CONTEXT: Spy fiction involving stealth, mood, cool-factor, military/espionage settings actions, and tropes.
• COMPETENCY: My core competencies mainly in set & graphic design, I wanted a look that played to my strengths not weaknesses.
• CONSTRAINT: Mobile devices, small screens, light pollution, low-end devices, small download size, very small development team, meaning I had to keep content simple enough that I could create as a minimally-practiced 3D artist.
• CONTEXT: Spy fiction involving stealth, mood, cool-factor, military/espionage settings actions, and tropes.
• COMPETENCY: My core competencies mainly in set & graphic design, I wanted a look that played to my strengths not weaknesses.
• CONSTRAINT: Mobile devices, small screens, light pollution, low-end devices, small download size, very small development team, meaning I had to keep content simple enough that I could create as a minimally-practiced 3D artist.
• Left column shows original 3D prototyping in SketchUp, inspiring dev shift in Unity from 2D space to 3D.
• Middle column shows SketchUp modular room assets for helping solve procedural randomization & gameplay metrics in Unity.
• Top middle and right images reflect final playable prototype that secured initial 3-game publishing deal with Sony.
• Early lesson from emphasizing room modularity was that they all felt the same, making for an unremarkable player journey.
• I built out the center bottom layout to give spaces more story context support more distinctive player progression.
• Middle column shows SketchUp modular room assets for helping solve procedural randomization & gameplay metrics in Unity.
• Top middle and right images reflect final playable prototype that secured initial 3-game publishing deal with Sony.
• Early lesson from emphasizing room modularity was that they all felt the same, making for an unremarkable player journey.
• I built out the center bottom layout to give spaces more story context support more distinctive player progression.
• Taught myself to model, UV & texture in Maya, build & light levels in Unity, prototyped/advocated over-the-shoulder cover cameras.
• Under my solo efforts the game lacked style and character, but funding finally allowed us to bring on other key talents:
• Of note: Nathan Sisler nailed Robert Valley's character designs, helping cement the game's style; Bob Archibald built-out the entire
3D game world; Peter Demoreuille gave us the final defining look through shader-based lighting.
• Under my solo efforts the game lacked style and character, but funding finally allowed us to bring on other key talents:
• Of note: Nathan Sisler nailed Robert Valley's character designs, helping cement the game's style; Bob Archibald built-out the entire
3D game world; Peter Demoreuille gave us the final defining look through shader-based lighting.
• With in-game assets in more competent hands, I shifted to graphics for creating an aesthetic end-to-end connective tissue.
• The left group represents initial exploration of a visual mythology to suggest CounterSpy came from a 1960s franchise, using
print & television affectations to lend a vintage sensibility to the digital experience.
• I looked for a boldly reductive, distinctive aesthetic to make the game more recognizable, accessible, & memorable.
• Center & right were explorations to capture the game’s core narrative premise and tone in a single image key.
• The left group represents initial exploration of a visual mythology to suggest CounterSpy came from a 1960s franchise, using
print & television affectations to lend a vintage sensibility to the digital experience.
• I looked for a boldly reductive, distinctive aesthetic to make the game more recognizable, accessible, & memorable.
• Center & right were explorations to capture the game’s core narrative premise and tone in a single image key.
• Continued using restrictive color palette, high-key values, analogue off-black & whites throughout the UI menus, screens and HUD.
• Established an end-to-end visual tone and consistency from launch icon to end credits for creating a more immersive player fantasy.
• Top left early UI aesthetic presented challenges in execution, legibility and consistency of color language.
• Center top reflects a compromised golden-ratio approach and palette change that made the UI easier for player and developer.
• The HUD went through many permutations as the central game mechanic continued to evolve through the course of production.
• Established an end-to-end visual tone and consistency from launch icon to end credits for creating a more immersive player fantasy.
• Top left early UI aesthetic presented challenges in execution, legibility and consistency of color language.
• Center top reflects a compromised golden-ratio approach and palette change that made the UI easier for player and developer.
• The HUD went through many permutations as the central game mechanic continued to evolve through the course of production.
• Looked for how graphics and visual logic could help convey tone, narrative, and world-building.
• Landed an abstractly recognizable visual brand for the ideologically-opposed, propaganda-fueled cold-war East and West.
• Carried that branding into environmental signage for conveying the visual irony and playful edge of the game’s tone while conveying narrative context and player motivation via their progression through the gameplay environment.
• Landed an abstractly recognizable visual brand for the ideologically-opposed, propaganda-fueled cold-war East and West.
• Carried that branding into environmental signage for conveying the visual irony and playful edge of the game’s tone while conveying narrative context and player motivation via their progression through the gameplay environment.
• Turned back to the original creative intent of making CounterSpy feel as though it were more than just a contemporary product.
• Throughout production I created fictional CounterSpy movie posters and book covers to adorn our office walls.
• With no marketing budget we printed this and other ephemera as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign, giving out vintage
CounterSpy posters, books, original soundtrack record albums and even trading cards.
• Throughout production I created fictional CounterSpy movie posters and book covers to adorn our office walls.
• With no marketing budget we printed this and other ephemera as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign, giving out vintage
CounterSpy posters, books, original soundtrack record albums and even trading cards.
• The final graphics push was designing all branding and marketing assets across iOS, Android & PlayStation app stores.
• This included promotional banners, advertising, conference booth displays, art give-aways, desktop backgrounds,
and promotional SWAG for crew, consumers and promoters.
• This included promotional banners, advertising, conference booth displays, art give-aways, desktop backgrounds,
and promotional SWAG for crew, consumers and promoters.
• One of the graphic highlights was the cinematic opening that I wanted to feel like Saul Bas opening to a 1960s spy television series.
• With time and resource constraints this opening was the main canvas for setting up the tone and narrative fiction of the game.
• With time and resource constraints this opening was the main canvas for setting up the tone and narrative fiction of the game.
• The final trailer with fantastic score by the talented Jesse Harlan.
• Final Gameplay Trailer cut together by the amazing promo team at Sony who were a delight to work with.
• After a strategic shift led to the cancellation of CounterSpy 2 & 3, the passionate crew at Dynamighty put together a game-jam,
managing to eke out one last indie-mobile game.
• Fingers of Fury was a one-button brawler inspired by the one-vs-many fights of Bruce Lee.
• Leaning into the aesthetic we had developed for Counterspy, FoF was informed by even greater constraints, leading IMHO to the
game being even more charming and original than had it been fully-funded.
managing to eke out one last indie-mobile game.
• Fingers of Fury was a one-button brawler inspired by the one-vs-many fights of Bruce Lee.
• Leaning into the aesthetic we had developed for Counterspy, FoF was informed by even greater constraints, leading IMHO to the
game being even more charming and original than had it been fully-funded.
• Launch Trailer. I left the project early, so so much of this work it credited to the rest of the team who stayed on to see it through.
• Recent samples of Art Direction and Creative Direction for various interactive platforms and media, including Mobile, Browser,
VR, and physical interaction.
VR, and physical interaction.
• Launch Trailer for Command & Conquers Rivals
• Joining rivals a few months before world-wide launch, my first priority was to improve organization, collaboration and morale within
the Art Department and between Art, Design and Engineering, following an unhealthy lapse in art direction and leadership.
• Prior to launch, I focused the art department on expanding, polishing and unifying content-heavy features and systems.
• After a disappointing launch with poor retention and monetization, we shifted focus towards lower-cost, higher-impact features
and systems, such as new competitive play challenges, content mods, new unit offers, and animated emojis.
the Art Department and between Art, Design and Engineering, following an unhealthy lapse in art direction and leadership.
• Prior to launch, I focused the art department on expanding, polishing and unifying content-heavy features and systems.
• After a disappointing launch with poor retention and monetization, we shifted focus towards lower-cost, higher-impact features
and systems, such as new competitive play challenges, content mods, new unit offers, and animated emojis.
• One of my original personal priorities upon joining the project was to improve the visual language of military units.
• The intense pace of gameplay required rapid decision-making around unit deployment, so I put together this proposal for visually
codifying units relative to their design attributes.
• The goal was to make units as intuitive, recognizable, and distinctive so they could be easily recognized and intuited.
• At least in theory. I never had the chance to prototype any of this.
• The intense pace of gameplay required rapid decision-making around unit deployment, so I put together this proposal for visually
codifying units relative to their design attributes.
• The goal was to make units as intuitive, recognizable, and distinctive so they could be easily recognized and intuited.
• At least in theory. I never had the chance to prototype any of this.
• As a consulting Art Director, I was tasked with mentoring, guiding and informing the art process for a junior level art department
to meet production and publisher expectations for an ambitious Warhammer 40k VR title.
to meet production and publisher expectations for an ambitious Warhammer 40k VR title.
• My first goal was in establishing a clear vision and direction for the game that rallied both internal stake-holders and IP-holders.
• This style guide highlighted the core tenants of the Warhammer visual language and pillars key to this VR experience, including Scale,
Immersive Atmosphere, VFX, Directional Orienteering & Environmental Storytelling.
• Driven by a strong narrative, I mentored an artist on building a color script for informing the rest of the art department how
to map visuals to player story progression.
• This style guide highlighted the core tenants of the Warhammer visual language and pillars key to this VR experience, including Scale,
Immersive Atmosphere, VFX, Directional Orienteering & Environmental Storytelling.
• Driven by a strong narrative, I mentored an artist on building a color script for informing the rest of the art department how
to map visuals to player story progression.
• To expedite the pre-production process and fill-in resource gaps I worked with the the game designers to quickly pre-visualize 2d
hex maps into 3D environments with SketchUp.
• This rapid turn-around process enabled us to solve scale, orientation, clarity & occlusion issues before building any production assets.
• This process empowered both concept & production artists to quickly collaborate and produce informed work.
• Within few months the amazing art team made me perfectly obsolete.
hex maps into 3D environments with SketchUp.
• This rapid turn-around process enabled us to solve scale, orientation, clarity & occlusion issues before building any production assets.
• This process empowered both concept & production artists to quickly collaborate and produce informed work.
• Within few months the amazing art team made me perfectly obsolete.
• As a Creative Advisor, I consulted with the small, ambitious dev studio, offering my creative and artistic perspective.
• I initially provided an inspirational artistic guide for an accessible 2001-inspired zero-G VR experience.
• I initially provided an inspirational artistic guide for an accessible 2001-inspired zero-G VR experience.
• Sourcing both period and contemporary film examples I wanted to prove out how retro-design aesthetics were timelessly relevant
and accessible to modern audiences, and would help differentiate them within the detail-heavy sci fi market.
• With less visual complexity, player visual clarity could be enhanced while potentially reducing content and performance burdens.
and accessible to modern audiences, and would help differentiate them within the detail-heavy sci fi market.
• With less visual complexity, player visual clarity could be enhanced while potentially reducing content and performance burdens.
• Learning about their Lore, gameplay mechanics, and player progression, I sourced images across different design vectors to
inspire and inform their design thinking.
• The inspiration guide was so well-received they asked me to provide a an more detailed style-guide.
inspire and inform their design thinking.
• The inspiration guide was so well-received they asked me to provide a an more detailed style-guide.
• For this iteration I sourced for specific environmental and gameplay applications, core to each the mid-century design aesthetic focused
on large surface areas with low visual complexity, bold color highlights, simplified geometric forms.
• I found sources that were suggestive of gameplay mechanics, direction-finding, sensation of speed, immersive-within-immersive
experiences, transportation modes and diverse spatial shape languages to differentiate areas for player bearing.
on large surface areas with low visual complexity, bold color highlights, simplified geometric forms.
• I found sources that were suggestive of gameplay mechanics, direction-finding, sensation of speed, immersive-within-immersive
experiences, transportation modes and diverse spatial shape languages to differentiate areas for player bearing.
• One area I could directly help with was in developing the Hieroglyphic-inspired iconography identifying different areas of the Horus Station,
subtly expressing clues about the station, and it's hidden secrets: from the role of the player, to the purpose of the station, to the stories ending.
• The logos are all abstracted hieroglyphics with specific meanings to the different areas of the ship.
• The posters to the right are iterations for a more evocative image that speaks to the core fantasy and its deeper mystery.
subtly expressing clues about the station, and it's hidden secrets: from the role of the player, to the purpose of the station, to the stories ending.
• The logos are all abstracted hieroglyphics with specific meanings to the different areas of the ship.
• The posters to the right are iterations for a more evocative image that speaks to the core fantasy and its deeper mystery.
• I joined the Google Doodle team for a little over a year as an experiment to see what I could bring and what I could learn in the tech space.
• A valuable learning experience was in recalibrating from designing for movie screens, computer or mobile displays, to designing
for the 500 x 200 pixel real estate of a Doodle.
• A valuable learning experience was in recalibrating from designing for movie screens, computer or mobile displays, to designing
for the 500 x 200 pixel real estate of a Doodle.
• The challenge in designing Doodles lay in leading the eye, capturing attention, and evoking curiosity within a very constrained framework.
• For the Volta Doodle, I brought to the team my creative process for research, design goals, iteration and review, as was captured
in the Behind the Doodle documentation, which inspired the wider adoption across other Doodles: www.google.com/doodle.
• For the Volta Doodle, I brought to the team my creative process for research, design goals, iteration and review, as was captured
in the Behind the Doodle documentation, which inspired the wider adoption across other Doodles: www.google.com/doodle.
• As an Art Director I had the opportunity to guide and scale the use of design templates for International Doodles recognizing nearly every online country in the world in a manner that was authentic and sensitive to their cultural norms.
• I worked with and directed amazing in-house artists, among them power twins Alyssa Winans and Robinson Wood, while helping build out and work with a vast network of international artists.
• Though doodles were small, each had its own challenges as to how to capture the unique spirit of its own subject matter and audience.
• I worked with and directed amazing in-house artists, among them power twins Alyssa Winans and Robinson Wood, while helping build out and work with a vast network of international artists.
• Though doodles were small, each had its own challenges as to how to capture the unique spirit of its own subject matter and audience.
• As a Creative Director I got to work with and learn from talented and young artists and engineers in designing interactive doodles.
• Closest to my heart was the Eiji Tsuburaya doodle that ambitiously tried to capture the feel of making a wire-and-miniature Kaiju movie.
• The doodle was illustrated & art directed by Jennifer Hom.
• Traditionally one of the most difficult doodles, the winter holiday, was designed by the amazing and gracious Robinson Wood.
• Other contributions included working on Doodles for the Android NOW mobile interface, and designing Funbox interactive search results.
• Closest to my heart was the Eiji Tsuburaya doodle that ambitiously tried to capture the feel of making a wire-and-miniature Kaiju movie.
• The doodle was illustrated & art directed by Jennifer Hom.
• Traditionally one of the most difficult doodles, the winter holiday, was designed by the amazing and gracious Robinson Wood.
• Other contributions included working on Doodles for the Android NOW mobile interface, and designing Funbox interactive search results.
• Capital One offered an opportunity to Creative Direct an in-person physically interactive exhibit using patented circuits boards printed with conductive ink on paper that turned simple posters into interactive media capable of digital inputs and outputs.
• Capital one was looking for ways to casually engage C1 Cafe customers in a fun, informal and frank conversation about finances.
• The design challenge lie in coming up with a conversational metaphor for engaging customer curiosity and rewarding engagement.
• Capital one was looking for ways to casually engage C1 Cafe customers in a fun, informal and frank conversation about finances.
• The design challenge lie in coming up with a conversational metaphor for engaging customer curiosity and rewarding engagement.
• I proposed several different concepts designed to standout from across the cafe, with an initial call to action in the form of a question,
with a visually compelling visual context to entice the viewer closer.
• Upon closer inspection would be directions for engaging with the simple poster to trigger surprising user feedback.
• Each concept was colorful and accessible, using a fun game-like or interactive motif, with the goal to initiate a casual but
rewarding interaction
between the user and the poster that could be used to build an initial financial profile of the customer.
• Once the poster engagement was completed, it often led to further conversation with cafe employees.
with a visually compelling visual context to entice the viewer closer.
• Upon closer inspection would be directions for engaging with the simple poster to trigger surprising user feedback.
• Each concept was colorful and accessible, using a fun game-like or interactive motif, with the goal to initiate a casual but
rewarding interaction
between the user and the poster that could be used to build an initial financial profile of the customer.
• Once the poster engagement was completed, it often led to further conversation with cafe employees.
• With superhero movies raging in theaters, we pursued a Jack Kirby golden-age themed comic book conversational framework.
• The conversation covered 4 posters framing different financial questions under the guise of powers, weaknesses, villains & battles.
• The project was Art Directed to Jack Kirby perfection by the incomparable comic artist, Ian Dorian.
• The success of the In Cafe prototype led to an online national campaign.
• The conversation covered 4 posters framing different financial questions under the guise of powers, weaknesses, villains & battles.
• The project was Art Directed to Jack Kirby perfection by the incomparable comic artist, Ian Dorian.
• The success of the In Cafe prototype led to an online national campaign.
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