Zero Engine Texture Work

I spent about a month this summer doing contract work on the Zero Engine. My task: create some tile-able textures. Preferably some with emissive maps. That is all the instruction I was given.

How does one show tile-able textures in a portfolio? They are inherently not that interesting out of context. Do you put the diffuse, specular, normal, and emissive maps in -- or just the render? I really have no idea.  I think it took me longer to decide I was just gonna show just the render than it did to paint some of the textures.

 

I had more trouble than I was expecting with inspiration. I love texturing, but with no real direction inspiration can easily wane. I started by making lists of textures I wanted to create. They really needed a bit of everything. I separated them into categories -- metal, plastic, concrete etc. Looked up some reference and got to work! 

These are not all of the textures I made, but they are my favorite and/or some of the most interesting. A few of them are intended as sets. I really hope I get to do more work like this in the future, texturing is kinda my favorite!

Annecto

I worked on an XBOX Live indie title that has finally been released!

Annecto

Its official release date was 8/4/2011. It was an amazing experience. As the only artist on the team it really makes a difference how close you get to work with the programmers. On the other hand, I definitely wish there had been another person I could have asked about some things. Programmers just do not think the same way.

I learned so many lessons on this project. Such as the need of proper naming conventions. You might not think they are important if you are the only one using them - but this is not true! Finding a 2 month old file to edit is not easy when you haven't organized things properly. Also, I did all of the work on this project before I took any 3D classes. This means I did some really dumb things. Do not ask me what the poly count is for the background... Lets just be thankful it's pre-rendered!

I am very proud of this project. Working form start to finish on a title is something everyone (who wants to work in the industry) should try. Starting small really gives perspective on AAA titles. Going through months of play testing and forgetting that it is a fun game to begin with... well, you just have to keep going. I played so much multi-player that I had forgotten how meditative the game was in single player.

We already were reviewed by a game review blog: Gear Fish. We were their "Catch of the Week"

While I know that most indie games don't really go far, I am extremely proud to have worked on this one. Go team ohfourhundred!