My name is Sam Elsbernd, and I was the lead artist and project organizer of Boomerblade.
Conceptualization
I had formulated the original pitch for Boomerblade at the start of the project's quarter. Boomerblade was one of the first games which I conceptualized back in 2011 when I was in middle school and took my initial interest in game development. Over the years the idea would continue to pass through my mind, reiterating itself as my skills and interests in games developed. I find it poetic and thank my team immensely for taking on this idea of mine and running so well with it, I cannot be more thankful that such a personal milestone is set by an idea that started it all.
Organization & Leadership
Taking charge as the project’s organizer was a set goal of mine in the beginning. Throughout my college career I developed my leadership skills and discovered both a love and aptitude for the type of work. In the early stages of development determining schedules of team members and organizing team meetings outside of class were a top priority. Creation of the game design document was one of my first acts of organization of the project.
My biggest fear going into this project was that I would be too controlling of the project as a whole, turning what is supposed to be a team effort into a fool’s notion, forcing my team members into doing work they don’t want to do. Through my time as the organizer I would take moments in asking my team members if my reach has been too far as well as if the work they were given was reasonable, I just wanted this to be a manageable experience for everyone, something we could all be proud of.
Due to personal reasons I was unable to be as much of a leading force in the game’s development during its later half, I would like to give note and praise to Scott Summers who picked up the slack, as well as the rest of the team during my absences, they were as much leaders in the project as I was.
Art
Despite my degree in Game Development, I’ve always thought of myself to be a (somewhat) talented artist. Going into this project as a lead artist I knew I wanted to push myself in regards to the game’s art style. At the time of the project’s start I had a huge love for Enter the Gungeon and its art style, an isometric pixelated world that functions in 3D space. I took to developing and improving my own pixel art skills as well as researched potential implementations on how to get the desired look and extremely proud of the assets I developed for the game.
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