Penny Arcade Expo always comes with surprises, but one of the bigger ones this year in Seattle wasn’t your usual blockbuster game sequel announcement – it was a little indie game that has gamers repurposing their Rock Band drums as zombie-killing instruments of death.
It’s called Drumskulls, and it’s the brainchild of Game Design Senior Instructor Andrew Laing, with a team mostly composed of his former VFS students. Drumskulls shot its way into the gaming press during PAX, beginning with a profile on Kotaku, and subsequent hands-on reports from major sites like G4TV and VGChartz. It all went crazy from there, with one visitor even declaring it the “Best Game at PAX.” By event’s end, it was one of the real standouts on the show floor - no mean feat at an event that attracts 67,000 gamers.
Drumskulls is still in active development by Andrew and his team of VFS grads, aiming for release on PC and the Xbox 360. In the meantime… how does a little indie game become a PAX darling? We caught up with Andrew to find out.
What can you tell us about the genesis of Drumskulls? How did the concept come about?
Andrew: As a designer, people often ask me where my ideas come from, especially the crazier ones. So I have been making a conscious effort to actually sort of bookmark and footnote ideas in my brain when I come up with them. I actually know when, where, and why on this concept! I was in my kitchen shortly after midnight as I looked at a full moon in an otherwise dark room several years ago. I had just “completed” another music game and I was feeling sort of unfulfilled. I remember thinking, “Maybe instead of little cubes moving towards a ‘now’ bar, it would be more exciting to have zombies.”
Although it's 70% complete, Drumskulls still got rave reviews at PAX.
The idea bounced about in my head, and over time I realized it was actually one of my better ideas. ever. Once I realized that it was in fact a worthy concept, I had to make the big decision – pursue it or hand it off to someone else to pursue. I decided to go for it as an indie project.
At what stage is the game currently? You obviously had a playable version at PAX and it was more than good enough to get a lot of people interested. How far along is it?
Andrew: We’re at about 70% complete. That took 18 months. Fortunately, we’ve nailed down all the more challenging aspects and now we are creating content.
Were you surprised at the online reaction from the PAX demos? The buzz, even from notoriously cynical blog commenters, has been incredibly positive. Did you know what you had when you set up shop in Seattle?
Andrew: PAX 2010 was an awesome experience for the team and we had a great response. We went to PAX hoping that people wouldn’t hate it! We were directly across from Microsoft, who had a very expensive and massive space, and I’m happy to say that we competed well against them and a lot of other big companies. At one point we were actually starting to get worried because the crowd around us was actually huge – we couldn’t get out if we wanted!
We were featured quite positively on Kotaku, which was basically the starting point of the madness. G4TV, VGChartz, and MSNBC also interviewed us as well as many smaller outfits. I now know the meaning of going viral firsthand. The Kotaku, G4TV and VGChartz stories got picked up and mirrored by hundreds of other sites in many different languages – pretty crazy for a little indie group.
One of the highlights was definitely Steve Jackson [of Munchkin, GURPS, and, appropriately, Zombie Dice fame], one of the keynote speakers, trying out the game and giving us a high five because he loved it so much. You never really know if you have a hit or not in the video game industry. We still don’t! One very interesting piece of info to come out of PAX is that our game would make a great arcade unit. We’re continuing on with development under the assumption that we haven’t succeeded yet, although it’s been a great morale boost to have such a great reception at PAX.
How did you go about assembling the team for Drumskulls? Why work with so many of your former students?
Andrew: Assembling the Drumskulls team was actually pretty easy. Since I’ve taught and gotten to know hundreds of students here, I have a healthy net of contacts. The only problem I had was so many of them getting job offers! That’s a problem I told everyone I don’t mind having. If they have a chance to go from indie to a studio, I expect them to take the studio job. Sam Irwin went to BioWare, Scott Morin went on to Propaganda Games, and Vivek Ramkumar went to United Front Games, and I couldn’t be happier for them.
Also, I know the grads personally, and I know their skills and abilities. The great part is that everyone has continued to develop even after leaving the program. Mike Smallhorn has been instrumental as our lead programmer and he’s doing an amazing job. He’s been able to pick up a new game engine, Unity, and utilize all the skills he developed here at VFS and combine them with his own talents to cook up a commendable technical achievement.
Thanks, Andrew! Readers can get all the latest Drumskulls developments on the game’s official Facebook page!
The feature in the September/October issue is called “Designers to watch: Ten up-and-coming young designers you should keep an eye on”, and highlights Antonio, who now works at Tribal DDB Vancouver. The writeup singles out his work on this awesome Canada Day Twitter Parade. Maybe the most impressive thing of all is that, at just 21, Antonio is the youngest designer on the list. The next closest is four years older! Before graduating from the one-year Digital Design program, Antonio also completed a year in Foundation Visual Art & Design. Talk about a meteoric rise. Congratulations, Antonio!
Jorge R. Canedo Estrada‘s young design career keeps taking interesting turns. Just weeks after graduating from Digital Design, he was making a high-profile video for Google. After that, he signed on with Buck in Los Angeles, and with last week’s limited release of the critically-acclaimed documentary Waiting for ‘Superman’ it’s the perfect time to take a look at some of the work he’s done there. Waiting for ‘Superman’ is the latest from director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) – an unflinching exploration of the faltering public education system in the US. Buck, in collaboration with takepart.com and Participant Media, produced the video below, which can also be found on the film’s official site. Jorge was the animator on the piece – and we think you can tell!
Dead Rising 2 was developed in Vancouver by Blue Castle Games and is yet another major milestone for the industry here. In fact, Capcom liked Blue Castle’s work so much that they bought the company earlier this month, creating Capcom Game Studio Vancouver! A half-dozen VFS grads are credited on Dead Rising 2, from Sound Design for Visual Media, Game Design, Digital Design, and 3D Animation & Visual Effects: Andrew Kalmbach, Audio Designer And a dozen or so more grads worked at Blue Castle during the title’s development in a wide variety of roles, with many having contributing to Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, the 360-exclusive downloadable prologue released a few weeks ago! Of course, we were also honoured to welcome Creative Director Jason Leigh and Level Director Josh Bridge at Game Design Expo this past year, where they delivered a memorably gruesome presentation and first look at the game. Here’s part one: And finally, an interview with the Josh and Jason, conducted by Head of Game Design Dave Warfield: You can see lots more interviews and presentations at gamedesignexpo.com/videos!
Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin, Head of Entertainment Business Management at VFS, will be there too. On Doc Day (Wednesday, September 29), she’ll be moderating a panel called “Going from Zero to Hero: How to Create Compelling Digital Extensions for Feature & Television Projects”. The panel covers new media approaches for enhancing film and TV properties, understanding and building audiences online… In short, Jessica will be leading a discussion on many of the things she’s imparting EBM students at VFS every day. If you’re at the Forum, don’t miss it!
It also looks great, and it’s getting tons of praise for its animation and design. Says the Los Angeles Times, “The animation itself is startlingly beautiful.” And that’s true of critics who are more lukewarm on the rest of the film’s qualities, too. It’s great to see, because a whole bunch of VFS grads worked on the film out of the Sydney, Australia-based Animal Logic (well-known in film circles for Happy Feet). The VFSers on Ga’Hoole include character rigging supervisor Joshua Murtack, lighting artists John Iskandar and Justine Codron, effects artist Sachin Saxena, and animators Tim Rowlandson and Julia Goehle. All are 3D Animation & Visual Effects alumni – spanning quite a few graduating classes – with the exception of Julia, who’s a Classical Animation grad. Congratulations to all!
We recently posted about Appetizers, a showcase for Digital Design students in which they get 3 minutes to present their best work to an audience of leading design professionals and thought leaders. As one of the defining moments – a culmination, really – of a year in Digital Design, the industry presentation night is an experience to remember for students, faculty, and attendees alike. In this video, Head of VFS Digital Design Amber Bezahler brings us inside a recent Appetizers night. You’ll see what the event is like, and hear directly from industry attendees, students, and grads. Check it out:
Along with the rest of the shortlist, the videos can now be seen in kiosks at the Guggenheim museums in New York, Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice. The shortlisted films will be whittled down to 20 by a jury that includes luminaries like designer Stefan Sagmeister and director Darren Aronofsky, and will be announced on October 21, after which those 20 will be on view at the renowned Guggenheim itself. The VFS students and films honoured by the Guggenheim and YouTube are: The Light Pressure of a Thought Dreamscape Kibble Kat Estudio Mendizábal The list also serves as a great representation of VFS’s international flavour: in fact, The Light Pressure of a Thought and Kibble Kat are the only two shortlisted films from Mexico, and Kiko is one of just two artists representating Spain, as mentioned in this story on Madridpress.com. In the official press release announcing of the shortlist, the Guggenheim Foundation’s Nancy Spector is quoted as saying: “The shortlist presents a rich sampling of the best creative video found on YouTube and is representative of the various stylistic and conceptual genres specific to this broad, ever-expanding platform. The selection is diverse in technique, subject matter, geography, and professional status, which reflects the increasing accessibility of new media technologies around the world. We believe the shortlist reveals the abundance of creative energy this project evoked.” You can see the complete shortlist at youtube.com/play. But first, enjoy the incredible VFS films right here: The Light Pressure of a Thought Dreamscape Kibble Kat Estudio Mendizábal
Zoe Cheng hasn’t had much time to rest since graduating from Makeup Design for Film & Television. Her first place win in the Prosthetic/Character Makeup competition at IMATS 2010 Vancouver ignited a media storm in her native Taiwan, where Zoe’s story has been fully embraced. She has recently been featured in a number of magazine profiles, newspaper articles, TV news programs, and blogs. During a recent visit home, Zoe discovered her skills as a makeup artist were in high demand in a host of industries all over Asia. She has already worked on a number of high-profile projects such as: TV commercials, fashion makeup for MetroCité magazine, stage makeup for Contemporary Legend Theatre, and fashion event makeup for Nike. (all links direct to Taiwanese/Chinese sites.) On top of that, Zoe will be working on three feature films in the next year – two in Taiwan and one in Japan. Congrats, Zoe! To learn more about Zoe’s award-winning makeup creation at IMATS 2010 Vancouver, and the international media attention it garnered, visit vfs.com/zoecheng.
Student Karen Poon kicked things off with a typography project (featured left) that involved laser-cutting Caslon Pro font letters from a thin wood panel, and using those letters to spell out the main parts of a story in evocative photographic images. Karen has documented it all in a mini case study on her blog. Kashiya Taylor then displayed her work-in-progress motion design piece. She gave the audience a look at the amount of coding involved with interactive media, explaining that her goal is to create an interactive music video that will relieve stressed out viewers/users. A recent grad who just took part in Digital Design’s Appetizers showcase, Kelsey Armour talked in detail about the highs, lows, and learning outcomes of designing and developing an interactive reading experience for the Entertainment Business Management-led initiative, Project Space Squid. Rounding out the evening, the Creative Director of Tangible Interaction Design Alex Beim returned to the Digital Design Assembly stage. Three years ago, he had wowed the audience with “Zygotes” — giant colour-changing balls of light, recently displayed at the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Games earlier this year. One project he highlighted was the Digital Graffiti Wall, which fostered a constantly renewing public interaction, as users’ visual creations slowly faded for new ones to be drawn. “It brings people together and they have fun,” Alex said of the Graffiti Wall. “That’s what we like to do.” That couldn’t have been more apparent when looking at the “fruit mirror” his company created for Sun-Rype. Set up in public spaces, the wall of interactive images reflected those who were viewing it as a composition of fruit pixels. Check out the photos here. “For me, design goes beyond the screen. It’s the whole thing.” To Alex, design is about much more than shapes, images, and lights. It’s the way people interact with what you’ve created that really matters. He ended his talk with tips for hungry students looking for a way to get involved with his company. “I’m always looking for programmers,” he said. “Especially if they’re familiar with C++.” Congrats to Karen, Kashiya, and Kelsey on their well-executed projects, and a big thanks to Alex Beim for sharing his company’s amazing work!
Up-and-Coming Digital Design Grad Makes Design Edge Top 10
Digital Design graduate Antonio Alarcon Roman has made Design Edge Canada‘s list of notable designers under the age of 35!Digital Design Grad Animates ‘Waiting for Superman’ Video
Dead Rising… Reanimated
The zombie hordes are back! Dead Rising 2 hits store shelves in North America tomorrow, and that gives us lots of reasons to party. For one thing, the gaming press likes this evolution of the fun-but-flawed original. Better save system? Smarter NPCs? Crazy weapon combos replacing photo-snapping? Sign us up.
Jodie Kupsco, Audio Designer
Devan Kraushar, Audio Designer
Jeffrey Chang, Level Designer
Randolph Stayer, Level Designer
Fredrick Fassé, AnimatorEBM Head to Moderate Panel at VIFF
The Vancouver International Film Festival (September 30 – October 15) is right around the corner, and that means the five-day VIFF Film + TV Forum is here! This year, the lineup includes appearances by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Eric Overmyer (Treme), and Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation) among many others.Owls! Owls! Owls!
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole has a weird title and is directed by Zack Snyder – you know, of Dawn of the Dead, 300, and Watchmen fame. Oh, and this 3D animated fantasy film has talking owls and good-versus-evil heroics. One of the stranger big-budget films to come out in a while?Video: Industry Drawn to Digital Design Student Presentations
Guggenheim Chooses 4 VFS Films for YouTube Play Shortlist
The curatorial staff at the storied Guggenheim Museum has handpicked four VFS student films – two from Classical Animation and two more from Digital Character Animation – for the shortlist of YouTube Play, billed as “A Biennial of Creative Video.” The four made the list of just 125 videos out of a staggering 23,000 submissions, meaning they represent the top 0.5 percent of all entries!
Paula Assadourian (Mexico)
Classical Animation
Nicole Duquette (Canada)
Classical Animation
Daniel Farrera Saldana (Mexico)
Digital Character Animation
Kiko Pérez (Spain)
Digital Character AnimationIMATS-Winning Makeup Design Grad in High Demand
Digital Design Assembly Draws Tangible Creative Director
This week, Digital Design held a program-wide assembly that saw two current students, one grad, and a design industry heavyweight present projects that all reflected a “tactile” theme.
This time he featured a host of recent eye-catching and fun interactive design projects produced through Tangible Interaction, such as the many installations Olympic revelers encountered at the BC Pavilion and Vancouver House.