My good pizzas! How have you been? Apologies for going dark for so long…
We’ve been toiling away at increasing the size of the Pizza Club! To that end, we’d love to share with you a little about our first hire: Charles Barnard, Art Director. He’s joined the team at a pivotal time when we’re ramping up production and aiming to bring a level of polish and quality as yet unseen in Raid Boss.
Question: How did you end up getting into game development?
Charles: I had been teaching 3ds Max for a small trade school in 1995, and some of my night students were working in the game industry. They shared some great stories, and I was intrigued. When the school closed, a former student recommended me for an artist position at 3DO, and I was hired.
Question: When did you start working on mobile games?
Charles: 2005 for a little company called Sorrent, that later changed its name to Glu Mobile. After working for 6 years in 3D console and PC, it was fun, and a breath of fresh air, to make simpler, 2D pixel graphic games, that were released within a few weeks rather than years.
Question: What is your all-time favorite mobile game?
Charles: That’s a hard one, but I would have to say Gun Bros I & II (yes, both) by Glu, and not just because I was a part of them. I had a uniquely-talented team of artists on those projects, and they made working on those games almost as fun as playing them. I still play them from time-to-time.
Question: What is your all-time favorite video game (non-mobile)?
Charles: Another hard one! My favorite is often the last one I played, so today it would have to be Half-Life: Alyx. It’s definitely set a new bar for VR, and I was pretty blown away by it.
Question: What is the next thing you’re most looking forward to for Raid Boss?
Charles: Seeing the game become more visually polished – with better artwork, lighting and VFX – all the while still staying true to itself. As a game it’s already come a long way, but now it just needs that big, sweet art love!
That’s all for now! Thanks for taking the time to learn a little about Charles. I’ll be back very soon with more news on the team!
Stay cheesy pepperoni.