Friday, March 11, 2011

CoolBoarders3 - My 1st published game

1997 - After two years of designing games and creating computer game art I finally got my break. Scott Atkins and Mark Lyons had just broken away from Sony and moved to Colorado to start up their own game company, Idol Minds (funded by Sony). At the time I was working for Consolidated Media Systems in Denver as the Lightwave3D demo artist and doing some video editing. I also did sales and I stayed in touch with my growing contact list. I was talking to my friend Ken Knobel of Alias/Wavefront, who I had met at NAB, and he ask me if I was coming to the Power Animator demo in Boulder. Of course I was. While at the demo he ask me if I was still interested in making video games. Of course I was. So he told me of a new company looking to set up shop in Boulder and gave me Scott's contact info.  I called Scott one Friday afternoon, we chatted and hit it off on the phone. I told him my interests and experience and he said I sounded like a good fit but wanted to see my work. I drove out to Boulder soon after for an interview and he hired me. The rest is history.

I started sketching track level design ideas in my notebook right away (or on sticky notes). A few of them I colored are below (circa 1997). If you played the game you may recognize them. I loved working on this game!


Here's a Video link of my artwork and level designs on the game: My work in CoolBoarders 3
We went on to do several sequels but CB3 remained the best imo.

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