UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
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When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
SHOW NO TELL
This video that was directed by myself (and produced with the efforts of a number of key people on the team), and served as a proof of concept for a major milestone/exec review.
The key differentiator was an instance that would dynamically scale its content and difficulty based on the number of players in your raid group.
We utilized picture in picture to illustrate the differences between 1 player and 3 player groups within the same instance. By differentiating the time of day, spawned monsters, combat triggers, and spawn locations, we were able to offer a dramatic alternative to the look and feel while maximizing the same environmental and core assets.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
SHOW NO TELL
This video that was directed by myself (and produced with the efforts of a number of key people on the team), and served as a proof of concept for a major milestone/exec review.
The key differentiator was an instance that would dynamically scale its content and difficulty based on the number of players in your raid group.
We utilized picture in picture to illustrate the differences between 1 player and 3 player groups within the same instance. By differentiating the time of day, spawned monsters, combat triggers, and spawn locations, we were able to offer a dramatic alternative to the look and feel while maximizing the same environmental and core assets.
STAR WARS: COMMANDER
Role: Art Director | Disney Interactive & Lucasfilm | 2014
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I joined Disney Interactive to art direct the RTS title, "Star Wars: Commander". To date, Star Wars: Commander (SWC) has earned an excess of $100m in lifetime revenue and still going strong!
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From pre-production to world launch, it's been my pleasure to work with such a talented team over the 4+ years this game has been live operated. The entire pipeline from concept, 3D art, animation, to tech art, has been a career defining highlight.
SUM OF ITS PARTS
Being so focused on delivering new content, it's all too easy to lose track of the past. After 4+ years, 90+ ships & vehicles, 170+ characters, 270+ illustrations, and 700+ buildings, it's gratifying to step back and appreciate all of the collective work that has gone into SWC by so many talented individuals.
ILLUSTRATIVE STYLE GUIDE
Below is a style guide created to ramp up new illustration vendors to the history and visual aesthetic of SWC.
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I would like to recognize the team's original Lead Concept Artist, Jerry Mascho who did foundational work to establish the art style of SWC, as well as current Lead Concept Artist, Matt Elser who has done fantastic work refining the style and co-authored the above style guide with me.
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PIPELINE
First and foremost, every step of our production pipeline is in a strong partnership with our franchise partners at Lucasfilm to ensure brand authenticity. This is one area I personally pride myself on establishing. When I first joined the team the relationship had room for improvement in terms of clear and consistent communication. That said, I would consider the production pipeline as pretty standard. The talent of the team however is anything but standard.
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It all begins with a great concept. From there the team's Lead 3D Artist, would guide the modeling/texturing of the asset with either internal artists or external partners. The above slideshow shows concept to final in-game asset with an Empire AT-DP walker, along with a number of other final 3D assets that range from ships, to vehicles, to units.
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Once the 3D assets are approved by franchise and myself, they get rigged and animated.
Lastly Audio and VFX are added and exported as an asset bundle useable for in-game use.
ART DIRECTION
Here is an example of typical art direction via reference gathering, high level design, element breakdown, and of course direction in the form of daily reviews and actionable feedback for the artists.
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These clips show the end result by working with both 3D artists and rendering engineers.
A LONG TIME AGO...
Feels like a galaxy far, far away when I look back to when I first joined the SWC team.
These two images show the stark contrast from then till now.
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I know I speak for the entire team when I express how proud we are with the visual development of SWC.
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ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
After 4 years of development, SWC has a wealth of material that could make for a very long page of content! Here are a few choice selections of gameplay screenshots, UI screens, and illustrations.
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