Grimstone Valley is a third-person action combat game set in an alternate history, supernatural Wild West. Wielding an eldritch arm comprised of powerful tendrils, players manipulate enemies and environments alike to defeat nightmarish foes in fast-paced, tactical combat. The tendril arm is a unique weapon that gives players complete control over the world around them. With some creativity and quick thinking, players can weaponize their environment to smash, impale, burn, and explode the valley’s alien invaders.

The interests of cultists and capitalists align to horrific ends in Grimstone Valley. Between combat encounters, players can explore the ruins of a devastated town and interact with a rich cast of characters to unravel a narrative of exploitation, corruption, and alienation.

Grimstone Valley was created in Unity by a team of 7 graduate students over the course of one year as part of Bradley University's Game Design and Development Master's Program. The full game is available to play for free on Steam.

I acted at our team's primary user interface designer and 3D character artist. I also contributed to other visual aspects of the game, such as 2D cutscene animation and post-processing.

As the principal user interface designer, I was responsible for designing the user experience flow, creating 2D art assets in Photoshop, and assuring the functionality of all UI elements in Unity.

My Grimstone Valley UI work consists of the splash screen and main game menus, the level select map, Maria's journal, the dialogue and collectible screens, and various HUD and in-world UI elements.

• UNITY PHOTOSHOP

As the main 3D character artist, I was in charge of modeling and rigging Grimstone Valley's player, enemies, and NPCs. I animated several of our characters, and managed the implementation of all characters into Unity's animation system. In the case of Maria, the player character, I was responsible for the entire character creation pipeline, from concept art to final implementation.

I did all character modeling and animation work in Blender, and rigged characters in both Blender and Maya.

• UNITY BLENDER MAYA SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER

Another important aspect of my character art work was designing, creating, and implementing the visuals for Maria's eldritch tendril arm. These visuals were crucial for selling the core conceit of our gameplay.

This involved sculpting, retopologizing, and rigging the tendril arm in Blender, painting textures in Photoshop, and creating a pulsating, alien-like shader in Unity.

• UNITY BLENDER PHOTOSHOP

With the limited scope and timeline we had to work with for Grimstone Valley, we needed to be efficient with our storytelling. One method of narrative delivery we incorporated was animated motion comic-inspired cutscenes.

In After Effects, I used subtle movement and camera panning to animate the assets created by our 2D artist, Connor Dunn. I animated 5 of these cutscenes in total, and made the decision to present the cutscenes in the same style as the in-game journal.

• AFTER EFFECTS

Grimstone Valley's art team consisted of three artists, so each of us contributed to areas of the game that were outside of our primary disciplines.

​In addition to UI and character art, I also did a lot of visual work in Unity itself. I developed several shaders, including the custom-lit cel-shader that distinguishes characters and important objects from the surrounding environment. I was also responsible for post-processing, where I focused on adjusting color to establish the mood and setting of each of the game's levels.

• UNITY