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: RIVALS
Role: Senior Art Director | Lucasfilm | 2016
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Star Wars: Rivals was a PVP cover based action shooter designed for your mobile device. Rivals was in geo-beta across several internal markets but unfortunately was never released world wide.
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GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION
I initially aided the team in the capacity as its studio art director, but over the course of development, took a more active role in its road to final. From managing our franchise relationship with our partners at Lucasfilm, to managing discipline art leads, I strive for quality across areas of concept, 3D asset creation, animation, UI, and VFX.
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KEY ART DIRECTION
One unique challenge arose as the team was nearing its first regional geo-beta. The key art was being developed externally with a vendor that was having difficulty aligning with the product's art style. To compound the issue, I identified that the aspect ratio the artist was authoring at would result in a significant amount of negative space on wide format devices. I partnered with our marketing department to bring this task internal. Not only was our concept team able to take on the challenge of course correcting this piece, but we got the task done in under two weeks and just before the game was pushed live!
ENVIRONMENT DIRECTION
Here is an example of one of the amazing environments created for Rivals. The iconic Bespin Carbonite chamber.
The first pass on this environment was looking pretty good, but working with the Lead 3D Artist and the Lead VFX artist we were able to elevate this location to pass what I call the "drive by test". More than a few teammates were convinced they were watching a clip from the movie.
FEATURE ART DIRECTION
One of the UI elements of Rivals is to highlight or "Feature" one iconic character from the Star Wars universe each week as a collectable hero.
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I worked with one of the Senior Concept artists to ensure consistency in fidelity and art style across each hero illustration. The end result is something I still find impressive to view as a collection of illustrations. Below is an example of the feature art utilized in the UI home screen.
ANIMATION IMPROVEMENTS
Below are a couple examples of improved animation for the Rivals project.
The above clip shows the Rivals node based pathing which results in a segmented, angular run path as the player navigates though the environment.
In contrast, this clip shows a bezier based pathing which results in a significantly more natural performance.
Here is another way of visualizing the pathing from a top-down perspective. The old, node based pathing vs. the benefits of the new, bezier based pathing.
This clip shows a standard Before (left) vs. After (right) for a combat "shoot" animation. In working with the team's technical rigger and lead animator, issues were identified and efforts were made to correct anatomical joint location and improve animation quality.
FINAL GAMEPLAY
Here is a gameplay clip of Rivals on the planet Scarif, and showing off a few characters and their various combat abilities.
The quality of art is really pushing the boundaries of what can be done in a high performing synchronous PVP mobile experience. I am incredibly proud of all the work accomplished by this dedicated and driven team.