Archive

Introducing Your Brand to a Metro Style Windows 8 App

Designing Metro style apps on Windows 8 can be challenging just like any other new platform.  It is especially challenging on a platform that’s so radically different than its predecessors. The most fundamental part about abiding by Metro standards is to not lose your brand’s personality and unique elements in the process.  Metro as a design style should never replace your brand as a whole.

Using Metro as a foundation along with your brand’s style guide is key.  It’s a common misconception that every app will look the same if you’re using Metro properly.

Tron: Illustrated

At Vectorform we get to work on a lot of high profile brands, and Disney’s Tron: Legacy HTML5 online graphic novel experience was no exception! Given a tight deadline, we created an interactive graphic novel that leveraged animations, effects, and audio made possible by the latest HTML5 technology.

Such a cool experience needed a unique intro screen and loading animation, something that was a bit more specialised than just a simple bar. Working on two rotating pieces that would lock together at 100%, I knew the style would need to remain consistent with the established look of the graphic novel, ink strokes and all. Instead of trying to illustrate each animation frame by hand, I turned to Lightwave.

Behind the Camera: Video Script Writing

Videos are rapidly becoming one of today’s most valuable communications tools. We’ve all heard the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”; well if that is the case, a video is worth millions.  Daily, I face the challenge of creating videos that are worth those million words; videos that can tell a concise story, keep the viewer interested and engaged, and don’t take up too much viewing time.

Design on Catan for the Surface

During my education as an Architecture and Graphic Design student, I never had the opportunity to work on or design a game. One of my first major projects at Vectorform required me to take on the role of an interactive designer for The Settlers of Catan on the Microsoft Surface. Being inexperienced with Catan, I suddenly found myself researching (aka playing) the game around the clock. I quickly learned that it was a challenge to put this game down.

Welcome to Vectorform Labs

At Vectorform, we love to play.  Whether we’re playing with the latest cutting-edge technology, Software Development Kit (SDK), or our ever-increasing arsenal of NERF™ guns, we’re always coming up with wild and crazy ideas.  Many of our finished digital experiences were born from these ideas, and we’re now opening a window for you to get a sneak peek into our systematic chaos that breeds them.

We encourage you to leave feedback as you take a look at the latest projects our engineers have developed, and hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we did creating them.

[Splat] Toxic Waste

One of the main hazards in the sewer level are vats of toxic yuck. You should avoid these at all costs as they result in the melting of skin to the bone and untimely death.

[Splat] Crankin’ out some more concepts

Thought I’d toss some more sketch concepts up here. Next week we’re really going to be diving into the mechanics of the paint and how it responds to objects and character interactions. I threw down some ideas on paper and thought I’d share.

[Splat] Sewer Style

I started cranking out assets for the game and decided to start with the sewer level. This images shows some of the depth we’re aiming to achieve in the game. Kevin’s got the parallax movement working beautifully, so I’m going to start bugging him for in game capture to post soon. In the meantime, check out the image below!

[Splat] Boss

I’ve been working on some ideas for one of the main bosses in the game. I started with these sketches thinking he could use mechanics similar to items that already exist in the game. One arm is a fan that can pull you or objects toward it and subsequently shoot those things across the room. The other is somewhat of a giant hammer that he smashes into the ground causing tremors.

[Splat] Meet Mollie

Mollie is the main character in Splat (I swear our producer Mollie didn’t make us name the character after her… I don’t think).

These are the 3 outfit choices we’re currently debating over.
I’m partial to the one on the left (the white jump suit).