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Aplowcalypse / Biodrone Studios

2015 - 2016

As an undergraduate of the University of Utah’s EAE video game program, I was the lead producer on my team’s senior project, "Aplowcalypse.” Overseeing 12 other students, I defined goals, assigned tasks, compiled progress reports, made final decisions, built our website, and handled all business, from LLC to PR. As an artist and designer, I provided most of the in-game UI, made all the cutscenes, a plethora of assets, and a few animations, all with pixel art. I also created all the marketing materials, such as designing posters and cutting trailers.

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Our project began under the working title of Biodrone; a game about reflecting projectiles, versus firing them. Early in the process, we tentatively changed it’s name to Backfire. But as time went on, our game still lacked identity. I made the aggressive decision to go all out on the snow-plow-vs-aliens concept, embracing its bizarreness. Aplowcalypse was born.

Aplowcalypse was “greenlit” by the Steam community in 14 days, and released on the Steam Store in December of 2016.

My Contributions:

  • Lead Producer

  • Game Designer

  • LLC Creation

  • PR / Marketing

  • Logo Design

  • Art Assets

  • UI / UX Design

  • Animation

  • Prototyping

  • Editing

POSTERS / LOGOS

On the left, you can see the evolution of the logos and posters I designed as the game progressed. The final logo is in the shape of an oncoming plow. And the final poster (above) reflects not only some of the artwork in the game, but some of its trademark features as well (the dark environments, the phasing dash, and the hordes of enemies).

TRAILERS

As the only person on my team with knowledge of editing software, it fell onto me to cut all the trailers for our game. Knowing what i wanted the final product to look like, I would record gameplay footage with very particular goals in mind, to show off features and “wow” moments (the latter two edited to music provided by Star Wolf).

Steam Greenlight Pitch Teaser (Feb 2016)

Beta Trailer (May 2016)

Launch Trailer (Dec 2016)

PIXEL ART

After our school year came to an end in the Spring of 2016, our project had been completed as a serviceable multiplayer game. However, our lead programmer, Gordon Cooper, and I felt that we could develop the game more and add some much needed polish. Through the rest of the year, the two of us (with some minor help from a few former team members) finished the game. Gordon handled all the coding, while I provided any additional art assets that were required… which turned out to be a lot.

I replaced nearly all HUD and UI elements, provided a handful of random in-game assets, designed the entire snow level, made the level selection images, created all the achievement icons (along with their pitch perfect pun titles), and conceived the characters and monster (see story below).

ANIMATION

For in-game animations, I created only a few, as most had been completed already. See the ones I made on the right, along with their sprite sheets.

I also made the “cutscenes” for the story. I created every pixel art asset you see and made rough animations with them (to tell the most bare minimum amount of story).