Game Design

Tempest in the Aether

Tempest is an open source Steam Punk game. I began the project with a colleague in 2010. It is under development by an international team of volunteers. I serve as creative and art director. Managing them is much like herding cats, but we enjoy a lively iterative design process.

Set in 1899, Tempest propels the Victorian Period from the Earth into the mysteries and dangers of the solar system.

Modeling and Texturing

I love the detail work involved in creating the everyday objects for the game world. In the real world we labor to make things clean and shiny, in the game world we labor to make things dirty and worn.

All of the textures in this section were made from my own collection of texture photos.

Concepts

As creative director it is important to me that the world of Tempest be grounded in reality. The machinery and environment in the game needs to have an air of believability. I dedicate time to mentoring the less experienced artists. I make them research the historical period and keep their machines looking functional.

PlaneShift

PlaneShift is a free-to-play MMORGP set in a medieval fantasy world. I began there as volunteer texture artist. I later did a tour as art director.

Concepts

Texturing

These items were all existing models that needed textures. For the most part I worked from my own texture library. On many of the textures I printed the UV maps, drew a layer of texture and scanned the drawing. Creating layers of texture this way makes a rich and organic surface.