Patrick Curry’s Thoughts on Game Design

A package arrived this weekend full of John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat movies. It’s never too late to get a good idea from somewhere. So many times I’ve re-watched one of these films and thought, “Man, how did I miss that? We absolutely have to get that into the game!”

Also tucked into this box is a copy of Video Game Art, a book by Nic Kelman. This is one of those books that’s loaded front to back with concept and in-game art from all sorts of videogames. There are a couple pages dedicated to Stubbs the Zombie, and I have to say it’s pretty cool to see something you had a hand in creating in physical form – you know, in a book you can hold and show your mom.

But one thing that really bothers me about these books is that there are never any credits for the art. They only list the developer – IE the company that paid the artist to create the work. Don’t get me wrong, I know that the people paying the bills are important… but no one would dare say that the Vatican painted the Sistine Chapel. No, they just paid for it. Luckily Michelangelo gets the due credit.

So in the interest of giving credit where credit is due – Stubbs was conceived by Matt Soell, the concept art was drawn by Juan Ramirez, the 3D version was created by Chris Hughes, and the whole affair was art directed by Mark Bernal. We all threw in our two cents, but those are the guys whose names I would have liked to have seen in the book.

And finally in this box was a copy of Attack of the Bacon Robots. I’m always impressed by the Penny Arcade guys. Here are two completely self-made guys who took a simple idea and ran with it. And they just kept running with it till everyone else caught on. Well done. Now they’re so big they’re asking people like Steve Bowler, our animation lead on Stranglehold, to fill in when they go on vacation.

Posted in Stranglehold, Stubbs | Permalink

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