If I could choose one of the most important decisions I've made in college, joining Ardin Interactive would come second only to changing my major from game development to animation. It was my first paid project and was merely a coincidence that I came into contact with the rest of the team. I literally slid across the table when I passed the two producers and heard they were talking about needing environment artists. I am so lucky they picked me to work with them, and although I'm often insecure with my work, I think I was able to bring a unique perspective that made the team better overall.
We managed to get funding through a business grant given to the college so that we could publish our own studio. Throughout the summer I worked on-site with the producer while the rest of the team were on coop or home for the summer, so I got to experience the publishing process firsthand. Ardin Interactive is a studio that focuses on hyper casual mobile games; Snoverload being an infinite runner. Being paid meant I didn't have to go back to Cracker Barrel and I could focus on personal projects because of the time and energy that freed up. It's not a secret that I struggle with narcolepsy, and this summer was one of the first times in years that I felt inspiration and motivation towards my work - I was constantly sketching out new ideas and working on personal projects to the point that I created a backlog of ideas and projects I'm excited to work on.
Snoverload is an infinite runner with a unique, twist mechanic. The player is a snowball rolling down a hill infinitely, collecting snowballs and power-ups to increase their score and avoiding obstacles while they're doing it. However, the player needs to balance their size by purposefully hitting obstacles when they grow too big and risk falling apart, but also staying big enough that you don't fall apart when hitting an obstacle when you are small. We have had a surprising amount of excitement and support during our playtests, and now that we have finally published the game the positive reviews come in daily. We were even approached by a publisher, who emphasized their appreciation of the art style. It was not what I was expecting, but I was so happy to hear that and it's given me more confidence about my ability to do low poly and highly optimized assets for mobile games.
I continue to represent Ardin Interactive and demonstrate our game at conferences and game fests, and plan to start a new game with them in a six credit independent study next semester. Not only am I still working with some of them on my junior film, I also consider them good friends. I got extremely lucky that my first commercial project was with such great and talented people, and I feel hopeful for the future of the company as we move towards designing our second mobile game.
Snoverload:
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