Watch Your Head - Concept Sketches

These are just a few helmet designs that I did for Titan Quest. Many of the designs are based on actual helms from the early bronze age but some are made up from pulling decorative elements and details from other ancient artifacts. When sketching helmets, armor or weapons, one the of main things I think about is trying to accentuate the silhouettes of each armor piece. Having a broad range of silhouettes give the biggest visual impact when character customization is a consideration. I might consider doing another pass on each one of these helmets to block out material changes. Through a series of texture swaps, one helmet might start off as cloth, then leather, then reinforced with metal details. Another thing I pay attention to when sketching is I consider the distance of an object to the game camera, or how big the object will be 90% of the time when it is on screen. There is no sense in putting in detail that will never be seen or add additional visual clutter to the texture. An even distribution of small detail in a texture will cause the object to appear busy. Instead I try and block out the larger detail and focus on the silhouette. I enjoyed creating these sketches and referencing ancient Greek, Egyptian and Persian culture.

Every detail counts - Treasure Chests for DDO

When I was the Lead Artist on Dungeons and Dragons Online I was doing a number of tasks from concepting, scheduling, going to meetings and working with some of the tech artists on prototyping dungeons. I had a newer artist on my team who didn't have much experience and was eager to learn. I remember I had asked him to create a series of treasure chests that would be used all throughout the game. He just rolled his eyes and asked me if one of the interns could do that kind of work. He just wanted to work on characters or "something cool." I didn't have time to argue with him, so I just gave him some other task. I learned early on while working on Asherons Call, that if you are going to be creating a piece of art that will be seen very frequently, it better look good, no matter how small of an object it is. I decided to model & texture the treasure chests myself. It was a fun task and I take pride in every single art asset that I build no matter how small. These are just painted textures, no bump or specular maps. I can't remember the poly count but I know it was low.

Death of a good Independant Game Studio

On February 19th 2008, Iron Lore Entertainment closed it's doors for good. The independent game developer studio located in Maynard MA that created the Titan Quest franchise for THQ and the Dawn of War expansion Soulstorm, did everything they could to stay afloat in the rising tide of PC game piracy, unprofessional game reviewers and the shrinking PC Gaming market. I worked for Iron Lore for 3 years and truly enjoyed my experience there. It is very unfortunate that this had to happen and I wish it didn't. Many of my good friends worked there and are now looking for work. A former co-worker of mine sent me this link he found from Michael Fitch, our Creative Director at THQ that worker with us. His forum post best describes our frustrations during the TQ development and the difficult uphill battle that small indie studios have to deal with. I left Iron Lore in 2007, but still feel saddened by the closure of the company. Check it out.
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=42663

The Meaning of Life over Burritos - Part 1

So the other day I received a call from a good friend of mine whom I have known for 20 years. (Wow, I just realized I have known him for almost half my life.) He lives right down the street from where I work so on occasion we get together for lunch. It's a nice break during the week to step away and just hang out with my friend. We have been through a lot together. In high school we were in a band. There was 5 of us in total. We really created some amazing friendships from that band. We were good, but not great, but played some really great gigs. The only people I keep in touch with from high school are those 4 other guys. Some of them I see more frequently than the others, but when we get together, it's like no time has passed at all. They are part of my family.

So we went out for lunch. It was great to see him but I could tell he wasn't himself. He seemed lost or unsure. "When we were in high school," he said, "...we could go to the guidance counselor if we needed some help in figuring out where we should go to college." "When we were in college, we could talk to an assistant to guide us on our way so we could graduate." "Now we are in our mid-30's, we graduated from college, got married, had two kids, bought a house, have had three or more jobs. Now what?" Where do we go from here was the question. It is quite the juggling act when you are a coworker, father, husband and a friend. Your time is usually prioritized in that order too. Not by choice, but by necessity. Your time for you wife diminishes as soon as you have kids, and your time for friends is nearly none existent. It happens slowly, but it happens. What is even more derailing is that you become so focused on everyone else, that when the occasional opportunity arises for you to do something for yourself, you have forgotten who you are. This is not my house? This is not my beautiful wife? Where do I go from here? Do I really want to do this job for the next 30 years? Do I really want to live here? Is this the precursor to a mid life crisis? We joked that if that were the case, then neither one of us could afford the sports car. All of this sounds a bit depressing and in some ways it is, but in another way I think we are reaching a cross road in our lives. We just need to figure out which way we should be going and men are usually not very good at pulling over to ask for directions.

Concept Sketch - Tower Defense

The armies of Hades have torn down trees from the great forests of Elysium, scorched the golden fields and constructed towers and defensive walls as they march to destroy the greatest heroes of Greek Mythology.

Eternal Flame Concept

Concept sketch of an eternal flame & Door for the City of Lost Souls located prior to the river Styx. For some reason, the figure I put in for scale ref has taken on the form of Batman. What can I say, Batman is cool.

The frog creatures of Titan Quest Immortal Throne inhabited the swamp & marshes of Ancient Greece. These primitive, but clever little creatures constructed huts from the tall reeds and grasses in the swamps. Crudely formed pots & vessels were made from the abundance of clay in the soil and glowing starfly nests were attached to strung reeds and used for lanterns. These critters may seem unassuming and cute, but when attacked in groups, these frog creatures can chew you down to your bones. Be careful!