Gaming at Work – Increase your productivity

I was so amazed with Scary Girl that I decided to send Nathan Jurevicius an email. He is the genius illustrator behind this game…. and if you look closely to his style you might have seen some of it on Kid Robot.

G@W: Could you tell us a bit more about yourself?
NJ: I’ve been a freelance illustrator/artist since graduating art school in 1995. Mainly started out as an editorial illustrator and then played with animation and online storytelling through mini games. Began developing the Scarygirl character/brand around 2000 and produced in collaboration with a Hong Kong based company my first vinyl toys in 2002. Since then have joined forces with Sophie Byrne (producer on the early Gorillaz music videos) and have worked on developing Scarygirl into an indy feature film and a graphic novel (to be published later this year).

G@W: When did the idea come to you to create a game?
NJ: Around about the same time as Scarygirl was first conceived (so 2000)…but it was only a basic idea then.

G@W: Could you tell us a bit more about the process?
NJ: Initially I sketched up some loose roughs on how I thought the game could flow and potential level ideas along with a overall storyline. This was then given to the programmers who then expanded the whole concept and designed dummy layouts of how the levels would look. It then went back to me to
illustrate them and art direct.

G@W: What was your most important thing that you wanted embedded in the game?
NJ: I felt the story was important – old and new fans of Scarygirl had only been given a tiny glance into her world and I wanted to reveal more through interactive storytelling.

G@W: What’s more important design or function?
NJ: I’m a visual person so can forgive average functionality….but I feel that with gaming there needs to be equal weight on both. I think as the weeks/months proceed we will look back on the game and make tweaks to functionality.

G@W: Did you have to make any concessions?
NJ: I prefer working in bitmaps and had to provide most of my artwork as vectors. I find I can’t always get the beautiful shades and details in
just pure Illustrator.

G@W: Have you been approached to release the game on another platform?
NJ: We only just released the game 2 days ago but from what I understand there’s been a lot of interest and opportunities. I would love to see
this online game as a first pass to something bigger and more adventurous.

G@W: What’s next?
NJ: Apart from reviewing feedback and making some changes to the online game we hope to develop part 2 of Scarygirl – maybe as a console/handheld. I’ve also just finished a new miniseries of toys with Kidrobot and a graphic novel – both will be out later this year.

G@W: Which games do you play?
NJ: I just bought Little Big Planet….love it.

G@W: Do you think playing casual games during work hours will increase your productivity?
NJ: As long as you can manage your work day and set a time limit to how long you play I do think it helps productivity. It’s a good stress relief and distraction – can increase eye/hand coordination and possibly opens up the mind to more creative thinking/problem solving.

And there you have it. Please make sure you check out Scary Girl. You will love it!