I make games!

Liberty Fritz



Hi!

I'm Liberty, and I make games.  I am growing my skill at storytelling, world building, 3D rendering, 2D concept art, character design.

I've worked on three games, two of which have game play videos here: [spirit gun](/posts/revolver) (aka Revolver), and [face your fears](/posts/face-your-fears).

I'm fascinated by story, interesting game mechanics, and combining narrative and interactivity in ways that empower the player but also allow them to learn about the game maker.

I'm currently working on a game called "The Call" which is a story about a world where magic exists, and an ancient evil under a mountain that is calling to it all living creatures across half a continent

The game is about the journey of a [mage](/posts/mage) who is called to the mountain and also that of a demon, also impelled by "The Call".


Examples of 3D rendering:
- [KP Hob](/posts/kp-hob) fan art 
- [the devil](/posts/devil) as a middle aged man, full of regret (includes some story concepting)
- [different](/posts/blender-alien-fish) [types](/posts/blender-alien-man) of [aliens](/posts/blender-alien-deer)


Concept and character art:
- [Inéz](/posts/inez) a badass and severely underestimated cowgirl
- [Cassette Girl](/posts/music-game) from a music-oriented game I am working on 
- [characters](/posts/dungeons-and-dragons) from [D&D](/posts/dungeons-and-dragons-bug-bite) games I have DMed
- [big guy](/posts/big-guy)  from [spirit gun](/posts/revolver)

Production assets
- [textures and walk cycles](/posts/revolver-assets) from [spirit gun](/posts/revolver) (aka Revolver)
- the [dump document](/posts/dump-document) for spirit gun 
- my first attempt at a [walk cycle](/posts/walking-animation)






Where to start when looking at my work



I was given an assignment by by 2D art class to design and create concept art for an enviroment. I started with an Idea I had as a kid of a world that was full of people made of things you could find in a junk drawer.
In this world, although they were made of objects that once were lifeless, they were given life by a magical spider that lived within the drawer. The silk of this spider, once woven into inanimate objects, blesses those objects with life. However, overtime this blessing fades, the string losing its potency eventually causing the death of whoever it once gave life to. 
Some people worship the spider as a godess of sorts, building temples and shrines to her calling her by her divine name of Akrana. 
This was once of the original sketches I made back then:

<Image
        src="/images/junk/junk-original.png"
        alt="Original sketches for the Junk Drawer Enviroment"
        width={5887} 
        height={3232}
      />

I revisited this idea for this enviroment project because back then I didn't really have an enviroment in mind. I began making sketches to try and give myself some ideas. While I sketching, I knew I wanted there to be some kind of natural land formations. But a land filled with junk and nothing else felt too cluttered. So I altered my idea slightly. Instead of the world taking place in a mysterious junk drawer, it takes place in the pocket dimension of a wizard. This wizard, unknown to the people of this land, uses their world as his trashcan. Other than beer bottles and dirty napkins he throws spells into the dimension out of frustration. This magical energy created swirling land formations. 
I wanted to showcase some lore of the world in my image. So I started by sketching out different ideas. Some of these ideas include: a shrine for Akrana with broken CD that was shaped into her image, a series of popsicle-stick steps on the side of a cliffside leading to an ancient temple, and a sphere made of bottle caps. I'm not sure why, but the bottle sphere intrigued me. At first I thought of it being a spaceship, but that felt to advanced for this world. So I instead transformed it into a turret.
<Image
        src="/images/junk/junk-thumbnails-1.JPG"
        alt="Set one of thumbnails for junk-enviroment project"
        width={5887} 
        height={3232}
      />

The turret has thick layers of popsicle sticks as a base and a bottle cap roof. A glass bottle attached to the roof acts as a shell for the canon. The bottle can be pivoted as the bottle caps are connected to eachoher using a scientifically engineered version of the magic string that acts as a substance that can bind things together, but be passed through like a gel. So the glass bottle has a long arm attached at the base which moves between the bottle caps to pivot the turret. 
But If there was a turret, why would it exist? Turrets mean conflict, war. 

<Image
        src="/images/junk/junk-machine.png"
        alt="Turret in the junk world"
        width={5887} 
        height={3232}
      />
      
So I began thinking about creating something

<Image
        src="/images/junk/junk-thumbnails-2.JPG"
        alt="Set two of thumbnails for junk-enviroment project"
        width={5887} 
        height={3232}
      />
      



He also locked his spider familiar in there when he grew tired of it. But then one day he died with his familiar still inside. Their souls seperated, the spider could not die with its master, and so it stewed in the magic of this pocket dimension, mutating, evolving into the god of the junk people. 

Concept Art - Junk Drawer World

<div style={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', gap: '2rem', marginBottom: '2rem' }}>
  <div>
    <Image
      src="/images/liberty-circle.png"
      alt="hello"
      width={179} 
      height={282}
    />
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Hi! I'm Liberty Fritz</p>
    <p>I'm seeking an internship for Game Art with elements of Game Design for the summer of 2025.</p>
    <p>I've been making playable video games since I was 12 years old.</p>
    <p>My mission is that games have saved my life by creating necessary  wonder and joy. I want to give that gift to others.</p>
  </div>
</div>

# Experience
**Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Game Art, USC School of Cinematic Arts**  
_August 2024 - May 2028_  

- Member of art team at [Open Alpha](https://openalphausc.weebly.com/), a student-led game design club at USC that develops a game each semester. I created [Viveinne](/posts/vivienne).
- Studied folklore and mythology, [2D art](/posts/pool-master), 3D art (using Maya)
- 3.85 GPA
- Highlight: My work on [The Cat](/posts/cat-zodiac) where I drove the character design from story prinicples.

**Student at USC School of Cinematic Arts Summer Program**
_May 2023 - August 2023_
- Producer and Lead Designer for [Battle of the Heart](/posts/battle), which flipped the "Bullet hell" genre on its head through a game mechanic of expressing love.
- Took 3D art (using Blender) and game design classes
- 4.0 GPA
- Highlight: this [Cowboy sprite](/images/battle/gun-flip-cycle.png) tossing his handgun

**Intern at Beagleverse Productions**
_May2022 - August 2022_
- Created character art for the rougelike game "A Knight's Game".
- Highlight: my [first walk cycle](/posts/knights) - for the knight "Coupa"

**Student at Palisades High School**
_August 2020 - June 2024_
- 4.0 GPA 
- Admitted to Seniors-only Game Design course in my Freshman year
- For my Sophomore year, we created a new course "Advanced Game Design" - a one year practicum in which I was the art & design half of a two person game team that built _Revolver_ in Unity 
- Highlight: This skeleton sprite 

**Hobbyist and Game Enthusiast at My House**
_July 2016 - Present_
- Created [Face your Fears](/posts/face-your-fears), a sneak & rescue game in Javascript and hand drawn art 
- Highlight: The main character dropping their mascot dog  





Liberty Fritz Curriculum Vitae


<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-concept-cutout.png"
        alt="Scrappy Cat Racer Finished Design"
         width={1612} 
        height={2615}
      />

For my art class our final assignment was to take an already existing tale and reimagine the characters and enviroment within it.
We chose the myth of the [Zodiac Race](https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07030/mythology.html) and I reworked the character of the cat.

In certain versions of the Myth The cat is pushed into the water by the rat who wants to come in first place. This is the version we used. 
We reimagined the Zodiac race as a street race taking place in a cyberpunk-esque future where animal people race in underground leagues for an attempt to join human racers in the premier leagues.

# ideation

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-proto.png"
        alt="No bad ideas cat"
         width={800} 
        height={688}
      />

I started without using reference to try and let myself explore who the cat could be. 

The first personality to show up was this grey sleek cat, with his whiskers forming a mustache. 

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-suave.png"
        alt="Suave Cat"
         width={764} 
        height={1728}
      />

I was originally characterizing the cat as suave - a common vibe for cat humanoids.

# refinement
<PullQuote>
  making The Cat very fluffy would allow me to exaggerate the betrayal
</PullQuote>
I thought it would be funny to go in an opposite direction of making this large fluffy orange cat and I knew this was closer to what I wanted. Imagining the Zodiac race concept to be a real story, I realized making the cat fluffy was the right decision. 
If there was going to be a where The Cat is shoved into the water by The Mouse, like in the version of the tale we were going off of, making The Cat very fluffy would allow me to exaggerate the betrayal. In that scene I could make him literally shrink when he falls into the water and look pathetic.  

If I made him sleeker then this wouldn't seem as big of a difference. 

And this could extend to other sceanrios - like flowing in the wind when he's racing to emphasize the speed.
<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-fluffy-3.png"
        alt="Cat Initial Sketches"
         width={664} 
        height={656}
      />

So choosing a fluffy cat, I began to develop the character.

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-fluffy-0.png"
        alt="Cat Initial Sketches"
         width={664} 
        height={656}
      />

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-fluffy-1.png"
        alt="Cat Initial Sketches"
         width={664} 
        height={656}
      />
<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-fluffy-2.png"
        alt="Cat Initial Sketches"
         width={664} 
        height={656}
      />



# reference
For reference I looked for images that showed personality that I could use to imbue life into The Cat. 

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-references.png"
        alt="Reference Images for Cat"
         width={1016} 
        height={582}
      />


# silhouettes
I developed his shape by making some silhouettes. 

I started to think about his vehicle.  Originally it was a sleek motorcycle for the sleek cat - a vehicle that would allow him to squeeze through different gaps in the city in a way that other vehicles couldn't. 
Then as I started to develop the personality of the cat better in my head as a part of a story I realized a few things. One, the cat had to be both relatable and well liked to make the betrayal of the rat feel much more impactful later to the viewer. Because of this, I decided that I wanted to make him seem a little scrappy. Someone who is not a perfect person, but decidedly good.
I also wanted to show how he worked hard to be a good racer and so instead of giving him a motorcycle I gave him a bike. Unlike his other competitors he couldn't afford a top of the line vehicle, he has to work hard with everything he's got every race. Not only does he have to work hard in his life as a racer, but also physically as he strains his body to push down on the pedals. 

The most expensive thing he owns is his helmet. I designed it after the Maneki-neko inspired by a comic I enjoy The Lucky Cat by The Lucky Cat Team, that combines both the story of The Zodiac and the Maneki-Neko. Where the cat in the Zodiac Race becomes the Lucky Cat.

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-silhouette.png"
        alt="Cat Concept Silhouette"
         width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />




He really began to come to life
<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-concept.png"
        alt="Cat Concept Art"
         width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />



[click me!](/images/zodiac-race/cat-key-art.png)

<Image
        src="/images/zodiac-race/cat-key-art.png"
        alt="Cat Key Art"
         width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />
     





Zodiac Race - The Cat


Vivienne is a character I developed.  She is, possibly a murderess of her husband, in the game `Smooth Talkin’ Pick Pocket` from Fall 2024 Open Alpha.  

![Normal](/images/vivienne/vivienne-normal.png) 

![Smiling](/images/vivienne/vivienne-smiling.png) 

![Sad](/images/vivienne/vivienne-sad.png) 

![Suitcase](/images/vivienne/vivienne-suitcase.png) 

The Detective is working on solving the case.  Where did Vivienne's husband go?  There are clues above,...

![Detective](/images/vivienne/vivienne-detective.png) 

a character in the game `Smooth Talkin’ Pick Pocket` from Fall 2024 Open Alpha

Viveinne



![The Cowboy](/images/cowboy/alien-cowboy-shirt.jpg) 

This is an alien who has crashed on earth right into the wild west. He was young when he crashed but was raised by a gang of cowboys. He was able to disguise his alien appearance through his chameleon like abilities, but here is is true face and some fancy western wear. He is the main character of a comic i am working on.


Trapped on Earth in the Western Era, He does his best to fit in.

Alien Cowboy



![The Sigil](/images/sigil.jpg) 

A cused witch casts a dark sigil.  I drew the hand as a sketch, imported the sketch into Blender.  Then I modeled the hand against the sketch.  I then exported the image and in Procreate on the iPad I drew a form fitting texture for the hand.  I brought that texture back into Blender and mapped it onto the hand.  I then did a sketch of the sigil and in Blender converted to grease pencil.  I lit the scene against a cyclorama and captured the current state for this.  Having so much fun!


A sigil is cast


For my Art class we were given an assignment to create a character. The one I created was Pool Master. 

<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-cutout-2.png"
        alt="Pool Master Rocks"
        width={2134} 
        height={2931}
      />

<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-cutout-1.png"
        alt="Pool Master in Anguish"
        width={1276} 
        height={1590}
      />



<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-exploration.png"
        alt="Pool master character exploration"
        width={5887} 
        height={3232}
      />


<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-refined.png"
        alt="Further exploration of character pool master"
        width={3167} 
        height={3534}
      />


<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-concept-final.png"
        alt="Final Concept Art sheet of character pool master"
        width={5559} 
        height={3130}
      />

      I seem to always add birds to projects. 

      Birds make everything better.
<Image
        src="/images/pool-master/pool-master-bird.png"
        alt="There will be birds"
        width={5559} 
        height={3130}
      />


Concept Art - Pool Master





I'm teaching myself how to sculpt faces in Blender.  

Here is an example:
![Face Study](/images/face/face.jpg) 

And here is a screenshot showing how I'm creating references to work from:
![Face Reference](/images/face/face-reference.jpg) 


Face Study


![Battle of the Heart](/images/battle/town-background.png) 

[Battle of the Heart](/posts/battle) was a game I made with three other students as the main assignment for the USC Summer Program Game Design course in 2023. 

I signed up to be the Producer for the game and found it really challenging.  One issue with course assignements is that there is no established hierarchy determining whose vision determines what will be made.  This was really hard for me!  First, it was difficult to negotiate a clear and successful vision. Secondly I had an opinion that we were taking on too much and woudl not be able to complete what we were attempting.  I advocated for a more focused effort.   While we finished the game sufficient to get an A in the class, I felt like we could have made a much better game if I had been able to better align us around a cohesive vision and schedule.  This was a really valuable lesson and my appreciation for producers is huge.

Having said that, I'm proud of the work I did.  

Espeically this sprite cycle of one of the villians spinning his pistol.

![Spinning Pistol](/images/battle/gun-flip-cycle.png)

Here is a [video](/images/battle/walkthrough.mov) of the game in action. 




Where I learned about producing and collaboration

Battle of the Heart


Over the summer of my Junior year, I was privileged to take USC's CTAN-330 Animation Fundamentals class. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot about the animation process.  

We did many studies; I'll post some later.

My work culminated in a final project, the video short "Finn is Hungry." 

There are a few moments of audio dialogue.

<video controls width="600">
  <source src="/images/finn-and-blue/finn-is-hungry.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

Here is a storyboard i made while developing the project:
![storyboard](/images/finn-and-blue/story-board.png) 



An animated short I did for USC's Animation Fundamentals class.

Finn and Blue


Some quick sketches trying to figure out another character from The Calling, which I began to describe [here](/posts/mage).

Her name is Inéz:

![Inéz](/images/the-calling/inez.png) 

This older woman is a cowboy who has lost an eye and she is dismissed by all of these new younger cowboys because she is getting older and after the accident in which she lost her eye people thought she had lost her talent too. 

She has seen many of her friends and new cowboys die due to their foolishness. People who were once full of life and vibrant are in the ground.

She used to work with a group of cowboys who were her friends. She was a rude person and a little mean, but they softened her.

“People who were once full of life, funny vibrant things. Died to their foolishness. Eclipsed in the dirt by my hands”

Some creature or thing has been destroying houses and killing anything it percieves to be a child. 

The way the town, under this magical seige caused by The Calling, is set up that there are cowboys who protect the town.  There is a hierarchy and gate privileges where some are allowed out to fight the creatures.  Perhaps due to the others dismissing her, or perhaps she was too ornery to the the wrong cowboy, but she has lost her privileges and cannot help the town in this time of grave danger.  

Young cowboys are gearing up to go and fight it and she thinks they are going to get themselves killed.  She is not a coward, but she is not a fool either.  She has seen too many people die.  She is not going to let herself be one of them, nor let these young pups get slaughtered - she can sense that the danger is greater than they know.  She is going to do something about it.

As she is spying on the cowboys trying to figure out what is happening a young boy approaches her.

He asks her if she was a real cowboy, she corrects him saying that she is a real cowboy.

He talks about seeing things that others can’t and how the air has been bad recently and none of the other cowboys will listen to him and how he is even better than them because he can sneak into their office without anyone noticing– 

She stops him.  What an annoying child.  But is he speaking about his own imaginings or does he actually see magical creatures.  If so that would be quite rare, indeed.  And he's probably made no friends with his sneaking ways.  

But he might be useful.  

She asks him if he could get something without being noticed.

Yes ma'am.

She tells him that they can make a deal: if he can get the gate key and sneak her out at night to kill the creature before other people get hurt, he can hide far away and watch. 






Inéz



![The Mage](/images/the-calling/mage.jpg) 

One of my favorite things to do is worldbuilding. I'm working on a world, and this image I built in Procreate for ideation in that world. He is a mage being seduced by a demon.

This scene is happening in a universe where magic exists and is known to humans and is practiced by them, but it's very rare. Generally in the shadows, and unseen. Many humans believe it is myth or madness.

The mage has been brought to this land where demons like this one are suddenly active. It is during an event where an ancient eldritch endless one beneath a mountain has called all living creatures to come by emanating a frequency or an incantation of a continent-sized spell that living beings aren't really aware of. For a thousand miles, humans as well as creatures great and small, feel they must come. Given our psychology, humans are inventing reasons to go, thinking that they decided on their own. It is a sort of mass psychosis, but one created in response to a signal with a specific purpose - to attract living beings to the mountain so that the waking creature there may consume them.

At the calling from the mountain, all living beings are called, creating a regional catastrophe. In the area around the mountain, a zone of increased magic energy has formed, due to the forces emanating from the nameless one under the mountain. A secondary effect is that magical creatures, such as this demon, are especially subject to "the call".

Here this demon is using its attack as a form of seduction, like a Greek Siren. A human subject to the attack will become entranced and amazed and will fall into the thrall of the casting demon. The subject of the attack is our mage. Is he in danger and doesn't know it? Is he a thousand years old and has seen this all before, and finds it amusing that this sweet creature thinks it will devour him? The viewer of this image does not know yet.

This is in the first act of a story arc. Humans are called, and this mage quickly responded as he has a studied awareness that picked up the "pre-quake" early emanations. He responded and upon arrival in The Zone he has come upon this demon which proceeds with its entrancement. This is happening all over to humans who have no knowledge or magical ability, in and near The Zone.

At the end of Act One, we learn that these "demons" are not the mortal enemies of humans. These attacks are what is happening as a natural accident: rare contact between species that generally exist on different planes of existence and are prone to their own natural defenses in the face of potential threats - which each view each other to be. The nameless evil under the mountain has blended dimensions into one sphere around the mountain, forcing creatures from different planes to contend with each other in ways that they aren't evolutionarily prepared for.

Later on, humans figure out that these "demons" aren't their enemy, and some tenuous alliances form, which will be necessary in the coming war against the horror that lies below.



A Mage inside an attempt by a demon to dazzel him.

A Mage Responds to the Calling


People conceive of the Devil as charasmatic - the fallen angel Morningstar, The Seducer, Scratch at the Crossroads, or they think of him as a monster: The Beast, Legion, and so on.  

Here I wanted to create a Blender model of the Devil as a middle aged man.  

![The Devil](/images/devil.png) 

Not charasmatic, not monstrous, just the master of hell, aging there.  I want my figure to feel heavy, fleshy, with subtle emotion.  What do you think about how I did?

In this storybuilding exercise I see the devil had attempted to usurp, fought, fell.  He built an empire in hell and reigned there for millenia.  

Eventually the Devil becomes disillusioned and tires of his rebellion.  He ascends up on top of his tallest tower.  He stands atop it gazing up.  There he can see the hole in the sky that he fell through.  Through it, he can glimpse heaven above.  He sees that sitting there, weeping, is an angel.  He sees that it is his brother, missing him.  Across the unfathomable distance, they make eye contact.  They both weep.  Nothing will change, the rebellion is forever as is their love.


The Devil

Here is my experiment creating a character I love - Captain (now Major) [K.P. Hob](https://dimension20.fandom.com/wiki/Major_K._P._Hob) from the Dimension20 D&D game A Court of Fey & Flowers.

Here is my first draft in Belnder:

![life fulfillment is finite](/images/kp-hob/kp-hob-draft.jpg) 
 <figcaption align = "center"><b>K.P. Hob sketched up</b></figcaption>

And here he is with some test colors:

![life fulfillment is finite](/images/kp-hob/kp-hob-color.jpg) 
 <figcaption align = "center"><b>K.P. Hob color</b></figcaption>

...and with lighting!
![life fulfillment is finite](/images/kp-hob/kp-hob-lit.jpg) 
 <figcaption align = "center"><b>K.P. Hob _lit_</b></figcaption>

Redid the textures and added tasselly epaulettes.  In the background you can see the sketch I made that I started from.  I pull my sketches into blender and it allows me to use them as a visual guide while I build the 3d form.
![life fulfillment is finite](/images/kp-hob/kp-hob-epaulette.jpg) 
 <figcaption align = "center"><b>K.P. Hob with epaulettes</b></figcaption>

Reshaped the face and eyes, changed the lighting added the tusksand added a good background for lighting.
![life fulfillment is finite](/images/kp-hob/kp-hob-tusks.jpg) 
 <figcaption align = "center"><b>K.P. Hob with tusks</b></figcaption>

 I love him, love the campaign.  I was inspired for one of my own campaigns by this one.


As an experiment, I am creating a version of KP Hob

KP Hob Fan Art


The Music game is set in the far future after humans have gone extinct and aliens have taken over earth. All humans went extinct in the 1930s due to an “alien shipping accident” which was actually a cover up for the alien government to destroy humans because they thought that humans were getting too powerful because they understood math and were about to understand the secrets to alien magic, the record. 

The main character is a half-casset, half-mockingbird alien who goes to a musical temple that was built on earth to play a song to get her parents to stop fighting. 
The thing is, she cannot play an instrument because she has flimsy tape for arms, and cannot speak on her own because she does not have a mouth.

What she does have is the ability to play back sounds that she has heard.

The game mechanic is going through musical puzzles in this musical temple, while only being able to make sounds by repeating the sounds of others.

Other lore stuff:

There is a religion where people believe that if they can map out the entire universe they can map out the song of the universe and then play it to understand the meaning of life.
This religion ended up creating the biggest spacer agency in the galaxy due to the religion being able to amass funds in one spot and their single drive to map out the universe. 

Here is Cassette Girl
<Image
        src="/images/music-game/cassette-girl.png"
        alt="Cassette Girl"
        width={2145} 
        height={2048}
      />


Here she is deploying her tape arms!
<Image
        src="/images/music-game/cassette-girl-deploy-tape.png"
        alt="Cassette Girl Deploy T?ape"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />

This mushroom man aka morel is a NPC in the music game who is studying the music temple.
He is married to Pok who is also studying the temple and is kinda the tutorial guy

The 3D model is not at all game-ready and was mostly made just to show what the mushroom man could look like in 3D.

<Image
        src="/images/music-game/mushroom-man-morel.png"
        alt="Cassette Girl Deploy T?ape"
        width={1620} 
        height={2280}
      />





[Here is my dump document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PzsZ0VqsIqOpzUaEr4K6-BGJzFgiHG3RehoCq9BAxg0/) that I used to free-flow ideas out.










Music Game


This year I am teaching myself how to use Blender.  I love it.  

I didn’t have any particular story in mind for this alien fish/scary mermaid.

I just wanted to make one so I did.




<Image
        src="/images/alien/alien-fish-transparent.png"
        alt="Alien Fish"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />


I ended up rigging it in Blender.  If I knew I was going to rig it I would’ve modeled it differently so that its large fins/wings would not be so curved and its tail would be straight down. 

Here you can see the rigging.
<Image
        src="/images/alien/alien-fish-blender.png"
        alt="Alien Man"
        width={1122} 
        height={752}
      />


Blender - Alien Fish


This year I am teaching myself how to use Blender.  I love it.  

This alien man came from me messing around with a copy of the first head I tried to model. 

<Image
        src="/images/alien/alien-man.png"
        alt="Alien Man"
        width={480} 
        height={270}
      />



Blender - Alien Man


This year I am teaching myself how to use Blender.  I love it.  

This alien deer was one of the first things I sculpted in Blender. It is not finished yet. It is inspired by some of the creatures from Journey to the Savage Planet which is one of my favorite games




<Image
        src="/images/alien/alien-deer.png"
        alt="Alien Man"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080}
      />



Blender - Alien Deer

This is a goblin general from a dnd game that I am making.
Her full name is Relne “bug bite” Ruckus.
She is the chief commander of the goblin army and her brother is the king.
She is named bug bite because she fought against fairies in the war she started to get goblins allowed back in the feywild. She was motivated by the fact that goblins got killed every day by humans back on the material plane (its the place where most dnd campaigns take place in like a magical area where humans and a bunch of other kinds of creatures and people live) while fairies and other magical creatures got to live very well in a place called the feywild. Goblins were kicked out of the feywild a long time ago so she wanted back in. Her and her brother planned for years to be able to take them down and eventually succeeded. 


The 3D model is based off of of her and is a modified copy of the first realistic head I tried to 3D model. 

<Image
        src="/images/dungeons-and-dragons/goblin-bug-bite.png"
        alt="medical duck"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080} 
      />


Dungeons and Dragons


Dungeons and Dragons is a great game and a great inspiration for me to make games.  I am especially interested in the narratives that emerge through world building and character development.  Most of my involvement in D&D has been in world building but lately I've been playing in others' campaigns and have been inspired to create charachters.  When I can I like to practice Blender by rendering aspects of those characters.

This duck is a spell from a dnd game that I am a player in.

<Image
        src="/images/dungeons-and-dragons/medical-duck.png"
        alt="medical duck"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080} 
      />

My character Toag is an artificer which is like a magical engineer and has a giant mechanical duck called Lucky. Toag likes ducks because Toag’s future child loves ducks.

One time the NPC the party saved was dying and so I casted cure wounds and the DM asked me to describe what my magic looked like. I described how out of my artificer tools little ducks formed made of metal and then became more lifelike as they waddled on. They wore little medical hats and helped cure the person.

The idea then stuck in my head of these adorable little medical ducks so I wanted to try 3D modeling one. 




I was especially happy with the medical hat because it was my first time attempting my texture through nodes in blender.


<Image
        src="/images/dungeons-and-dragons/medical-duck-hat.png"
        alt="medical duck hat"
        width={1920} 
        height={1080} 
      />


<Image
        src="/images/big-guy.png"
        alt="Picture of the boss Big Guy"
        width={500} 
        height={500}
      />


 ![Big Guy](/images/big-guy.png) Big guy is a monster I created while making my Revolver game.
He was going to be a boss monster, but then me and my partner ran out of time. 
He was going to first be encountered as almost eating a hated character in the game. And the player having the chance to stop the monster. The annoying guy would be calling for help as the monster slept with the guy in his hand.

The monster would have four arms. The arms had a bow, a hammer, the guy, and a free hand. 
The bow and hammer could be used to attack while the free hand assisted in these actions (the free hand getting an arrow for the bow or helping hold the hammer since it’s two-handed). 
The hand with the guy could be used to trick the player by making the player attack the guy instead.


The Big Guy could also have a special move where he combined the Hammer and the bow.




The Big Guy


<YouTube videoId="a-6u54nIjCQ" />

The Revolver game was a class project in Unity I made with a classmate Ethan my sophomore year.  He did the coding, I did the art, and We collaborated on the mechanics and the story.

The original idea for the game was a roguelike where the player character had ended up in an inescapable dungeon with a revolver that only had 6 bullets, so the player could only use 6 bullets until the player died and the roguelike restarted. To be able to kill more than six enemies while only having six bullets, the player would have to gain magical power-ups that allowed the player to take bullets back if they did certain things like kill 3 creatures with one shot or took more than 10 points of damage. 

This then morphed into the bullets changing by putting the souls of the monster you killed in them. Once you died, the monsters that were infused in your bullets would give you a certain amount of soul points which you could use to upgrade the player’s stats. 

Another thing was that I wanted the dungeon to be alive. In many rouge-likes, the dungeon will be randomized by making many different types of rooms and then randomizing the connection of those rooms. I thought it would be cool to make it so that as players came back to the same room, things about the room would change. For instance, if you killed the goblin king in one room and then later stumbled upon that same room, you would find the goblin king’s citizens in the process of making a new society where they were in the process of making a statue of the player for saving them from their tyrant king. I wanted the dungeon to change as time went on.


This was supported by another idea that when the player died, they didn’t revive, they just took over another body after their previous characters death. That previous character would be cemented into the story of the game with NPC’s that you made an impact on in your previous playthroughs talking about the recently dead character. 


I knew that many of these Ideas would not be made, but I wanted to dream of what the game could be.

There was also going to be little secrets depending on the directions you went in the dungeon.


The Final game mechanic ended up being that the player had six bullets that would run out, but the player could gain bullets back by collecting the souls of their enemies. Depending on how quickly the player could collect the soul, the more bullets the player could gain back. Since the player had to get up close with the enemy’s body, this would force the player who could shoot at long range to get up close and personal with enemies. 

The game’s original name was going to be Revolve, which was based on the player’s main weapon and the game’s thematic ideas.

It was originally going to be about how much it sucked for both the player character and the NPC’s to be stuck in a cycle of fighting and recovering going through the dungeon over and over again without feeling like they made any progress to getting out. Being stuck in a cycle. 

The gun was going to be named Sisyphus, another reference to the repeating cycle.  



The Revolver Game


For the Revolver game we created a [dump document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wMpDqfrAKboO1mxt-QLrn8BP_GyFN6_At6cSSMzqPFU/edit# "dump document") to get all of our ideas down on paper. We then referred to this to to collaborate.  Writing ideas down is key when collaborating so that the ideas are clear.  You can also literally point to a spceific thought and all the related stuff around it can be seen by the other people on your team without you having to explain it all.  This is also helpful when you aren't meeting in person and working on your own time.


Getting Ideas Down


I created this minimalist walk cycle to learn how to make a sprite with a walking animation that felt right.

<Image
        src="/images/walking-animation-template.png"
        alt="walking animation"
        width={200 * 4} 
        height={38 * 4} 
      />


Walking Animation



Face Your Fears aka Occultatum is a game where you are a creature - thousands of years old - who is root-borne.  You exist better under the ground than you do above it and can switch between effortlessly.  You can grow your root-like arms to any length to grab or place objects.  

Above ground, you exist among humans and strive to stay undetected by them. For this, you wear a hoodie.

You have a special power and that is you can see people's fears.  These show up as scary giant shadowy creatures that live above the people who they haunt.

Ocultatum - our hero - has a mission: to remain undetected by humans but to help those with fears to overcome them.  To do this, Ocultatum must find the fears and destroy them, while comforting the people that the fears are tormenting.  This gives the game a split-action feel.  "OC" This is done by grabbing the fears and placing them in a hole in the ground.  The hole is a portal to the underworld where the fears live.  Once the fears are destroyed, the people are free of them and can live a normal life, and OC can advance to the next level.

OC's skills:
1. Can move above and under ground
2. Can grow his arms to any length and pick up objects, then carry them
3. Can see people's fears
4. Can destroy fears (varies by fear)
5. Can comfort people (varies by person)
6. Beloved by dogs 

In this clip you can see OC move around in a parallax, hand drawn world.  There is some depth, and the ability to flip under ground.  You can see OC pick up and drop a dog.  There is object detection, clouds that go in front of the sun with translucence.  Unfinished but I hope you can feel the vibe we were trying to create.

<YouTube videoId="r318n7RCIvo" />

Face Your Fears

[Revolver](/posts/revolver) is a pixelart roguelike dungeon crawler. I made the assets and animations in Aseprite.

Deco Torch <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Deco_Torch.png"
        alt="torch for the walls"
        width={24 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />

Background wallpaper <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_Background_wallpaperRevolver.png"
        alt="background wallpaper"
        width={24 * 3}
        height={24 * 3}
         />
         
Goblin in state "soul" <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_Enemy_GoblinStateSoul.png"
        alt="goblin in the soul state"
        width={60 * 3}
        height={16 * 3}
         />
         
Skeleton lunging animation<Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_Enemy_skeletonAttackLunge.png"
        alt="skeleton attack lunge"
        width={60 * 3}
        height={16 * 3}
         />
         
Skeleton in run cycle <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_Enemy_skeletonStateRun.png"
        alt="skeleton state: run"
        width={128 * 3}
        height={16 * 3}
         />
         
Heart in state "whole" <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_UI_heartStateWhole.png"
        alt="heart in whole state"
        width={10 * 5}
        height={13 * 5}
         />
         
Heart in state "half" <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Sprite_UI_heartStateHalf.png"
        alt="heart in half state"
        width={10 * 5}
        height={13 * 5}
         />         
Guns <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Test_Guns1.png"
        alt="gun 1"
        width={12 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />
      <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Test_Guns2.png"
        alt="gun 2"
        width={12 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />

      <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Test_Guns3.png"
        alt="gun 3"
        width={12 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />

      <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Test_Guns4.png"
        alt="gun 4"
        width={12 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />
      <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Test_Guns5.png"
        alt="gun 5"
        width={12 * 5}
        height={8 * 5}
         />
Tile elements <Image
        src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_brickWall.png"
        alt="brick wall tile"
        width={16 * 5}
        height={16 * 5}
         />

  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_BrickWallTop4.png"
    alt="brick wall top 4"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_BrickWallTopCorner.png"
    alt="brick wall top corner"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_BrickWallTopU.png"
    alt="brick wall top U"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_StoneBrickCorner.png"
    alt="sone brick corner"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_StoneTileFloor.png"
    alt="stone tile floor"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_Wall_columnTopStone.png"
    alt="wall column top stone"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      
  <Image
    src="/images/revolver-assets/Tile_WoodenDoor.png"
    alt="wooden door"
    width={16 * 5}
    height={16 * 5}
      />
      

         

         

         

         


Here are a bunch of assets I made for the Revolver game.

Revolver Assets


In the summer of 2020 - when I was in between my freshman and sophomore years - I worked with three college students on a game.  I learned many things about game making but mostly I learned about working with others and expressing myself.  Prior to this I was pretty shy and introverted, but in making this game design, I learned how to speak up and how important it is to share my vision.  I also learned about team dynamics and project management as the team went around in circles on their ideas.

The game was to be isometric 16 bit.

Here is a blacksmith I really loved.
  <Image
        src="/images/knights/blacksmith.png"
        alt="Blacksmith"
        width={366 * 2} 
        height={510 * 2 }
      />


Here she is Coupa, one of the knights.
<Image
        src="/images/knights/coupa.png"
        alt="Coupa the Knight"
        width={27 * 20} 
        height={49 * 20}
      />

Coupa was one of my first walk cycles.  Figuring out how to work with Aseprite brought me joy.
<Image
        src="/images/knights/coupa-walking-animation.gif"
        alt="Coupa the Knight walking"
        width={468} 
        height={956}
      />


I make games!

Where to start when looking at my work

Concept Art - Junk Drawer World

Liberty Fritz Curriculum Vitae

Zodiac Race - The Cat

Viveinne

Alien Cowboy

A sigil is cast

Concept Art - Pool Master

Face Study

Battle of the Heart

Finn and Blue

Inéz

A Mage Responds to the Calling

The Devil

KP Hob Fan Art

Music Game

Blender - Alien Fish

Blender - Alien Man

Blender - Alien Deer

Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons

The Big Guy

The Revolver Game

Getting Ideas Down

Walking Animation

Face Your Fears

Revolver Assets

Knights Game