With the Ouya console on its way Battle Gnomes has been doing a lot of work recently. A few days ago Emil Harmsen, CEO or both Forever Interactive and Everfire (previously FI-Fire) gave a speech at a Vet Transfer gathering. While there we had two kiosks set up to show the current state of the Battle Gnomes. And it went very well. We had one complete level and four playable characters each unique in nearly every way. Below are a new set of 36 maps that I've made for the game. I've made another set of 12 since I scanned these in but was told to wait to make another set until we got more feedback on those which I've already submitted. Things are going very well for Battle Gnomes.

UWM Animation Backgrounds

This is the background for the first scene of my major project for this semester. A forest view, the time of day leaning towards sunset. A small critter runs down the tree immediately in front of the camera and slowly makes its way towards one of the other trees and ascends.

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I'm not really to inclined to say how the animation continues, but above are the backgrounds for the inside of a cave entrance on the cliff face and a room located there within. The man on the floor has been turned to stone.

I feel strange about continuing this blog, mainly because it feels less like a blog and more like an infrequent update on my current work. Not that this is a bad thing, but it indicates that I should either get an official online portfolio or update here much more frequently. That being said.

Forever Interactive has never been more busy. Both Battle Gnomes and Visions of Zosimos are quickly approaching launch dates. Battle Gnomes has gone from being a relatively basic survival game to a full scale arena battle. Not only that but we have secured a position on the upcoming Ouya console. We will be launching with 8 full characters, 4 Heros and 4 Villains, on a total of 6 maps, each with its own form of gameplay. Including the basic free-for-all and team battle game modes we are including a King of the Hill and Capture the Flag map. The maps look amazing and they have been a blast to design.

You can check out some of the gameplay here.

And on the other end of the spectrum Visions of Zosimos is also looking amazing. We have some new artist that are doing a spectacular job and have given some of the older cards a face-lift. They models for the in game battles have also been getting upgraded. VoZ is aiming to launch next year and it will be amazing.

As for myself I have one more year at UW Milwaukee. Next spring I will be graduating with my Bachelors Degree in Animation. I'll post some of the work I've been doing for my major project tomorrow, a 2D animation using pencil, ink, Photoshop and ToonBoom.

I've also continued work on two of my own video game projects and have the structure for both almost completely fleshed out. I need more programmers.

I'm hoping to start sending out my resume and applications come next April or May. Here's hoping for some amazing work to do.

Right then. A lot has happened since I last posted. Seven months is a long time. The work with Forever Interactive is going great. We were at GDC this year to promote both Battle Gnomes as well as Visions of Zosimos. The future is looking really good for both. I've been extremely busy dividing my time between my two major film projects at UWM and FI, and I think I may have overloaded just a bit too much this year. I've more or less completed a game design that I'm hoping I can get funding for come summer and have an ally or two to aid me in programming. Sadly I haven't worked much in 3d lately and this makes me sad since it's what defines me as an animator. Be as it may I continue to work.