joe randel's art dump

There, I said it.  People like to ask where I work and while I won’t let that out I figured it won’t hurt to let it known where I used to work.  So Gameloft was the place (Montreal studio) and I was a pretty heavy hitter there from what producers tell me.  I actually had the studio director tell me one day that when new projects start up the local producers would always ask if I would be on their team.  He said he’d never seen anything like it.  I worked there for about 5 years before I packed it all up for greener pastures.

I was generally the guy that designed the menus and interfaces.  It wasn’t uncommon for me to be on my primary project and helping two other ones with their interface.  Ah yes…  good times.

Why did I leave?  Well, I was only allowed to go so high in the ranks.  I wanted to be the lead 2D artist at my studio and they wouldn’t let me (a position I held previously and was screwed over for).  Senior artist was all that I could get and I only got that title because I was the art that was there the longest.  I wanted to be more involved in the creative process and design but what always held back.  So away I went.  But it was also during my time there that I was asked to be a speaker at the Montreal International Game Summit (talked to over 100 people about my area of expertise) and was asked to be in a book called “Character Design for Mobile Devices” so even though the job might have ended on a bit of a sour note I learned a ton about the industry and grew so much in my field.

So now you know.  So next time you play a Gameloft game, you might just be playing a game I was involved in. ^_^