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Brent Waller
Location: Brisbane
QLD
Australia
E-mail: wetwired@gmail.com
GAME DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
2011-Present Sega Studios Australia Senior Environment Artist
Titles in this position:
Unannounced Title (2013) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, iOS,
2010-Present KMM Games Lead Environment Artist
Responsibilities:
Summary:
As Lead Environment Artist at KMM Games, I am responsible for all aspects of environment development across PS3, X360 and Wii SKUs. I manage the creation, technical budget, artistic direction and performance profiling. I also direct the development of environment shaders and environment tool requirements as well as personally lighting all 54 levels and racetracks throughout the game.
Titles in this position:
Happy Feet 2 (2011)
2009-2010 KROME STUDIOS
Lead Environment Artist / Company
Environment Art Representative
Responsibilities:
As Lead Environment Artist
at Krome, I was responsible for all aspects of environment development across
PS3, X360 and Wii SKUs. I managed the creation, technical budget, artistic
direction and performance profiling of over 75 square kilometres of playable
organic game space. I personally created over 50% of the terrain assets as well
as lighting the environments with procedural time of day and weather systems.
As Environment Art Representative,
I was responsible for developing the environment art pipeline to be used across
the company. I was also responsible for advising the company about the
development of new engine and tool features.
In addition, I was
involved with marketing the title by producing artwork and being interviewed
for media coverage.
Titles in this position:
Legend
of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
Review Quotes:
Legend
of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Visually the game is remarkable in so many areas. The sense of speed
when blasting through canyons is incredible, and the texture work is impressive
for a licensed title. Frame rates are steady... the visuals are fantastic and the overall
level of polish really helps this game stand out from the pack.
www.ztgamedomain.com
Legend of the Guardians looks particularly nice for a licensed game.....
the environments are particularly impressive, and they all boast some
impressive sights. The various areas include a desert, forest, and snow-capped
mountain, just to name a few. Legend of the Guardians also runs smoothly -
there are rarely issues with the frame rate, even in some of the heated
battles.
www.gamezone.com
The lush, beautiful landscapes are really something special to look at
(especially on the HD consoles).
www.commonsensemedia.org
2005-2009 KROME STUDIOS
Senior Environment Artist
Responsibilities:
As Senior
Environment Artist at Krome, I was responsible for assisting the lead in
developing all aspects of the environment art. I also acted as his replacement
when he was absent and drew upon previous lead experience to mentor and guide
junior employees.
While
assigned to Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen I was in charge of the Brisbane environment and
prop artists and the liaison between them and the main team behind the product
in Melbourne. I was also responsible for prop and vehicle asset creation as
well as documenting new techniques for the creation of assets.
During the
development of Star Wars: Lightsaber Duels our environment team were called upon
to aid a flagging team. We were asked to create levels and notably, the level I
was assigned to create was highlighted by the publisher as the “new visual benchmark”
which the other levels should strive towards achieving.
In addition to
our regular responsibilities on Viva Piñata: Party Animals the environment team
were tasked with designing race track layouts to meet gaps in the design as
well as creating visuals to match and expand upon the original game’s style.
I commenced my employment with Krome working on The Legend of Spyro and
quickly demonstrated my skills and experience as a team member. I was entrusted
with creating a feature set piece without the aid of concept art and was
singled out for the excellent job I had done.
Titles in this position:
Review Quotes:
Viva Piñata: Party Animals
The first thing you notice when you get into a challenge is that Piñata
Island is simply gorgeous. Whether it is racing around the paths and trails,
playing at a fixed location or just checking out the background, the details
are actually pretty spectacular. Krome did a fantastic job of not only
recreating the island from the original, but bringing it to life through the
fast action races and the fixed scene events.
www.gamingnexus.com
The real highlight of the game is the outstanding graphics. ... The racetracks
are also very well designed with beautiful artwork that you unfortunately have
no time to appreciate as you race towards the finish.
www.gamingtarget.com
There is no question that each environment is gorgeously realised,
bursting with happy themes and lively incidental detail.
www.eurogamer.net
Its visual style is very clean and graphically engaging. ... The
developers have also done an excellent job with the game's various
environments, and whether the background is a swift-moving, cloud-ridden sky or
a serene hilltop riddled with fences, it all feels alive and suits the
characters well.
www.gamingexcellence.com
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
The entire game is a joy to watch, from the backgrounds and characters
to the animated fighting between Spyro and the bad guys. It’s easily one of the
prettiest games we’ve seen on the GameCube.
www.gamezone.com
You'll be doing all this running around and whacking on stuff in some
really gorgeous 3D world...You can
really believe in
these worlds.
www.worthplaying.com
Star
Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
The graphics are the high point. ... Even better are the
arenas, some of which really show off what the Wii is actually capable of when
developers take the time to try. One arena in particular, Separatist Listening
Post, is a collapsing sky platform set against a blood red background that
starts tilting during the second round. It does a great job of making the fight
feel epic...
www.videogamer.com
Lead Level Designer
Responsibilities:
I was instrumental in the concept and design of several in-development
titles utilising cutting-edge game engines, with low-level game designs to
match the technology. I also designed and created levels for proof-of-concept
demos as well as generating many of the 3D and 2D art assets. Additionally, I was
involved in promotional activities including interviews with online game news sites
and published magazines, and creating promotional videos and graphics.
2001-2003 4DRULERS INC.
Lead Level Designer
Responsibilities:
I was involved in level building from the conceptual design through to
the building, lighting and interactive scripting of game characters and world
objects. My role also encompassed object modelling, texture creation, UV
unwrapping, interface and effect design and development. Additionally, I
directed and trained other level designers in the use of the proprietary engine
tools, and created tutorials for community distribution.
Titles in this position:
Gore: The Ultimate Soldier
Secret Service: Security Breach
Review Quotes:
Secret Service: Security Breach
“The
fascinating thing about Secret Service: Security
Breach is that it has one of
the best graphics engines I've seen, in a budget game. You got bump mapping, per
pixel lighting, and stencil shadowing. The lighting actually looks pretty nice.
Rays of light peek through some Venetian blinds onto your gun and onto other
people, and flashlights cast convincing shadows. The textures are surprisingly
sharp, with brick walls looking fairly realistic even at point-blank range…
www.ign.com
“The game actually has decent graphics ...the programmers clearly put
some time and effort into the levels. Good shadow effects, tight line of sight,
strong architecture design.
“Decent level design, good looking locations, authentic looking
weaponry, sharp textures, the game looks really good for a "bargain"
game, in fact it looks better than it should.”
www.gamezone.com
Gore: The Ultimate Soldier
"Probably the
biggest asset as far as the single-player option has to be the unique map
layout. The grandeur of fighting indoors has always entranced me. The indoor
levels rival or beat anything I've come in contact with. To me, any developer
can throw together some outdoor scenery, rocks and trees and call it a level,
but true foresight is required when developing indoor scenes."
www.netjak.com
"...the best
type is the environmental graphics. This intricate scenery will leave you
stunned. The twenty different levels available for play in this game all have
their own theme..."
"The minor
details in the graphics of each level are really what pulled this whole game
together. The creators of this game paid a lot of attention to the minor
details in the graphics."
www.mygamer.com
Pre-2001 SILICON ICE DEVELOPMENT
Level Designer
Responsibilities:
My role in this community project was to create
levels and provide input into the game design into the “Urban Terror” total
conversion for Quake III: Arena. All aspects of level design (concept,
creation, lighting, texturing, scripting) were undertaken.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
·
All titles were
delivered on deadline, on scope and on budget.
·
Milestones were tasked
effectively ensuring team members avoided overtime yet the standard of work
delivered was at the highest level.
·
I was assigned to be the
Environment Art representative for Krome Studios where I guided development of
the Environment Art pipeline to be used across all of the studio's teams.
·
Viva Piñata: Party
Animals received “Winner - Best Graphics and Best Audio” at the 2007 Game Developer Awards Australia.
·
All shipped titles that I
worked on at Krome were consistently within the highest percentile of Krome titles
on Metacritic.
·
Guest speaker at the 2004 Melbourne Independent
Game Developers Conference on "The Art of Mapping".
·
Proudly self educated
and in 12 years I have gone from a hobbyist making third party levels for first
person shooters to head of environment art of Australia’s largest games
developer with 8 shipped titles under my belt.
SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
Practical Skills
·
Team management, product management and scheduling
·
Extensive experience modelling in various 3D
packages
·
Excellent problem solving and troubleshooting skills
·
A keen eye for fine detail with constructive criticism
and analysis skills
·
Natural
and organic terrain creation
·
Hard surface
and architectural modelling skills
·
Texture creation, Diffuse, Normal, Specular and
more
·
Level design and scripting with CSG/BSP editors
·
Tutorial and Documentation creation and training
employees
·
Effect creation
·
Game and AI scripting
·
Game design and documentation
·
Marketing and promotion (interviews, game
promotional material)
·
Knowledge of underlying shader and engine features
and limitations
·
Experience developing for Anaglyph and Stereoscopic
3D
·
2D graphic design and GUI design
·
HTML and web design
Software Knowledge
SHIPPED TITLES
Title: Legend of the Guardians: The
Owls of Ga'Hoole
Year: 2010
Publisher: Warner Bros.
Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox
360, Nintendo Wii
Title: Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen
Year: 2009
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: Wii, Playstation 2
Title: Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
Lightsaber Duels
Year: 2008
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Games
Platforms: Wii
Title: Viva
Piñata: Party Animals
Year: 2007
Publisher: Microsoft Game
Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360
Title: The Legend
of Spyro: The Eternal Night
Year: 2007
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Games
Platforms: Wii, Playstation 2
Title: The Legend
of Spyro: A New Beginning
Year: 2006
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Games
Platforms: Playstation 2, Xbox,
Gamecube
Title: Secret
Service: Security Breach
Year: 2003
Publisher: Dreamcatcher Games
Platforms: PC
Title: Gore: The
Ultimate Soldier
Year: 2002
Publisher: Dreamcatcher Games
Platforms: PC
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