Posts Tagged ‘Artist’

In our continuing series of "Meet the Team" interviews, we sat down this week with Environment Artist Kosit Jarusripan.

What do you do at Hi-Rez Studios?

I am an environment artist, mostly responsible for architecture in the game.

How did you get into the video game industry?

I went to Savannah College of Art and Designs for a masters in Interactive Design and Game Development. At school I didn’t have clear idea what I wanted to be: animator, conceptual artist, rigger,3D artist. So I learned everything by either self-teaching or classes provided by school. I eventually focused on environment art because it was something that matched up with my background as an architect. And that’s how I got in the game industry as an Environment Artist!

Describe your video game experience, when did you start playing, etc..?

I don’t remember what was the first game I played. But I remember that I used to play a submarine warfare game that came with Sun computer that was used for operating a machine that extracted substances from sample inorganic materials (rock, for example) in my mother’s laboratory. It was very old simulation game using 8-bit gray scale. I liked it a lot in the game you play as a submarine commander navigating the submarine along narrow channel search and destroy enemies and avoid underwater mines. It was very realistic in terms of game play.

What is your favorite Global Agenda character/class to play?

Stealth/Recon so I can back stab someone.

What are your Favorite Games?

Diablo 1-2 and its expansions
God of Wars2

In my free time…

I play XBox 360 and PS2 games and play tennis, basketball. Also enjoy taking pictures.

What is your favorite aspect of Global Agenda?

Capture the robot is my favorite aspect of GA.

Name three things you can’t live without?

Video games
Camera
Internet

What advice do you have for someone who wants to break into gaming?

Do what you like and be the best.

What do you do at Hi-Rez Studios?

I am the Lead Animator, responsible for animation and animation design in Global Agenda. I also supervise the technical art standards as far as rig design, asset transferability, and overall art/animation interaction.

How did you get into the video game industry?

Making games was always a goal, I just wasn’t sure how to go about it initially. Eventually after spending my entire now useless Bachelor’s degree in History drawing all up and down the margins of my notes, I began looking into how to get into games. This was in the 90’s, so there wasn’t really the schools devoted to making games, and certainly information and tutorials were not available the way they are now. So I elected to just get instruction in animation, and to gear my work in that degree towards game art, and just kept pressing. I had to take some unrelated gigs early on — architecture and instruction, but I just kept at it until I got signed on at Heuristic Park.

What is on your iPod?

Nothing, because that would mean I owned an Apple product. On my mp3 player lately, however…Clutch, which goes without saying, as they are the best. Madball, excellent NYC hardcore. And getting the most play lately, Lucero, probably the best band that nobody knows about.

What is your favorite Global Agenda character/class to play?

Definitely Recon class. I am not the biggest fan of shooters (with the current exception of Left 4 Dead, which totally has its claws in me) and the Recon class build I use allows me to play Global Agenda without shooting, by using melee, stealth, and the array of traps. This gives me an experience in Global Agenda that is more tactical, tense…less twitchy.

What are your Favorite Games?

Way too many to name, but some that come to mind immediately:

Early Madden games — before it got to be the bloated monopoly it is today (sorry, the Sega/EPSN football games were a vastly superior product before Madden got scared and bought exclusive rights to the NFL)…Madden used to be a great game, and I know of specifically one projection screen TV that had the field image burned into it from too much Madden in college.

Bomberman — Great party game, in most of its incarnations. Most specifically the Bomberman for the Turbo Graphics back in the day. It can, and has, been adapted into a drinking game. I suggest beer, however, instead of the whiskey we used in college.

Left 4 Dead — -Currently playing and loving this game, but it makes me think of an older, and perhaps predecessor, zombie game called Hunter: The Reckoning. Great co-op undead fighting game from back in the day. The sequel was a massive letdown, however.

In my free time..

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Hmmm… Free time…I currently only have a passing acquaintance with free time as we are pushing pretty hard to make Global Agenda the best product it can be, but when I am free:

Sports — playing and watching basketball and football.
Concerts when the right band or comedian comes through (just saw Patton Oswalt in a very small venue — it was very cool).
Reading. Playing games with my nerd brethren, both video games and board games (Fantasy Flight has been good to us with the Game of Thrones series, and now a very cool Battlestar Galactica game).
Spend time with family, friends, puppy dog.
Beer and the usually clownery that is associated with it.