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 Game
Development Gallery
Visual
Artists
Adam
Murguia
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| Current
Project: |
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I'm currently working on Visual FX for X3: explosions, teleportations, tracers, lightning, death and chaos. It's a lot of fun and the team is outstanding!
For the past 8 years or so, I've been pulled in a lot of different directions. It's nice to sit down and crank on just one thing - really focus. It's kind of Zen. Nice. Peaceful. Quiet. Low pressure.
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| Credits:
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Electronic Arts / Maxis / Pogo:
The Sims, The Sims Deluxe Edition, The Sims Livin Large, The Sims House Party,The Sims Hot Date, The Sims On Vacation, The Sims Unleashed, The Sims Superstar, The Sims Online, Sim City 4, 007 - Agent Under Fire, Sims - URBZ, The Sims - Bustin Out, Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle-Earth, 007 - Goldeneye, Medal of Honor - Dogs of War, Ultima Online 2, Hogwarts Online, Word Womp, Casino Island, Phlinx.
Other publishers and developers:
LuxoFlux - True Crime: Streets of LA,
Secret Level - Magic the Gathering Battlegrounds,
S3 - Unreal Tournament S3 Enhanced Version,
Mattel Interactive - Me 2 Cam,
Wild Tangent - Bud Light's Snowboard Mountain and BMX Pro,
MicroProse - Choplifter 3D,
Microsoft - Zoo Tycoon 2 2004 E3 trailer,
Blue Fang Games - Zoo Tycoon 2 opening cinematic, Corporate logo animation
OWNP - Sims Online Chris Klein TV commercial and Sims Online Selma Blair TV commercial,
See Advertising - Tiger Woods Golf 2004 TV commercial,
See Advertising / EA - The Sims2 2003 and 2004 E3 trailers, SmartPipes Corporate Identity, Kirshenbaum Bond and Partners West - Prince of Persia Print Ads,
See - The Sims 2 bedroom Ad,
EA creative services - The Sims Bustin' Out Box Cover and The Sims Bustin' Out Game Boy Box Cover,
Butler Shine and Stern - Spy Hunter 2 PlayStation Box Cover and Spy Hunter 2 - Two page ad spread, ESPN magazine,
Internet World - Editorial Illustrations,
Xeo Designs - Designed Interface for Roxio's Easy CD creator 5,
Institute for Creative Technology - Demo Level and Trailers,
Z-Axis - X3 Visual FX
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| Bio:
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I co-founded a company called New Pencil, Inc. and am an 8-year veteran of the gaming industry (and counting).
Currently, I am working at Z-Axis as a visual FX artist. I have filled many roles during my career including VP, Art Director, Designer, Account Manager, Graphic Designer, Pipeline Engineer, Visual FX Artist, Level Designer, and Environment Artist. My vision and in-depth knowledge of software capabilities set the high aesthetic standards that define the work I do - I have successfully led large-scale projects for many award-winning and best selling games.
Prior to New Pencil, I majored in photography at Humboldt State University. I then moved to New York and turned my sights toward design and 3D animation; I applied my skills at American Art Studio, Red Rocket Design, and Midnight Media Group while attending the School of Visual Arts to learn Alias and Maya. In addition, I was selected to attend the Meisner two-year professional training course at the School for Film and Television and the Actors Movement Studio. At Z-Axis, I draw on my varied life experience to inspire and inform me as I pursue my true passion - building great video games.
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| Inspiration:
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I'm inspired by the courage to do something new in the world of increasing sameness. I'm inspired by those who choose to innovate in an industry where innovation is becoming more and more dangerous. I'm inspired by those that are simply driven to make things great. I'm inspired by tenacity, vicious determination and the tireless pursuit of "the best thing" (Did I just steal the Lexus slogan)?
Oh, and I'm still inspired by a damn good looking laser blast.
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| Favorite
Game Art: |
Oh geez, you know. Favorite game art? That's a debate for me. There are two kinds of "great" art. There's the default "real... no, more real... super real... no wait, photo real!" That's a kind of great art I guess. So in that category Half-Life, Gears of War. Innovators truly. Inspiring. (I'm not being sarcastic, for those that know me).
But then there's chancy great. Stuff that takes courage to pursue. Genuinely original and inspired art direction. I don't even know what it's called (I know I'm lame), but last year I saw this game at E3 [ed. note. the game is Okami] that was created to look like a Japanese watercolor, but it was 3D and rendered. I'd have to say that's my other kind of favorite. You know, you look at something that's unique, consistent, and that took a lot of hard work to nail. |
| Why
I Got into the Industry: |
| See my inspiration section. Getting into the game industry gave me a chance to do all that. Thanks Greg, Michael, John, Scot, and everyone at New Pencil, Inc. |
| Tools
I Can't Live Without: |
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Okay, I'll answer this one directly (sarcasm aside):
Maya, Max (just because no one has chucked it yet. Wonder if Discreet will make a good Maya?) PhotoShop, Premier, AfterFX, UnrealEd, Microsoft Project and Excel (I know, those last two may be boring, but you have to keep track, right?).
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| Music I Listen to: |
Mostly Leonard Nimoy doing Beatles covers with William Shatner.
I like the Run Lola Run soundtrack, Gwen Stefani, Duran Duran, Styx, Supertramp, ABBA, any Monster Ballads, and I love the '80s and '90s. Okay, I am now open for public ridicule. |
| Favorite Book : |
| Well, that would be the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. Check out his web site. I think there's a picture of him holding a baby tiger somewhere, but I kid you not, the books really are outstanding. They are, by far, my favorite. |
| Favorite Movie: |
| Lawrence of Arabia, Amadeus, Star Wars, Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan, and all four movies have one big thing in common... okay, no they don't. |
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