Just found this level walkthrough for James Bond: Everything or Nothing. It’s the first level we did as part of the ‘Vertical Slice’ (a relatively ‘finished’ portion of the game done early) and I wanted to highlight the contribution on this level of none other than the French James Bond himself -  the legendary French designer / producer / playboy, Pierre Roux...

*Yes, that is indeed French…

Cisco Live

Posted by Phil on July 17, 2009 at 10:22pm

Here’s some architectural concepts I did this year for Cisco Live.

Spyro the Dragon

Posted by Phil on July 18, 2009 at 7:02pm

Here’s a small extract from a script I did for Renkewitz Studios. This was the third of three short Spyro the Dragon movies, entitled “Deep in the Forest”...

Phrenology - The Prototype…

Posted by Phil on July 19, 2009 at 4:35pm

When I was trying to demonstrate this game concept for Sherlock Holmes, I thought I’d make a mock-up using a sample of magnetic whiteboard that, incidentally, my wife had used in a demo for the Maxis Studios in Emeryville…

- Its a variation on the classic ‘Pairs’ or ‘Concentration’ game, only the board is constantly moving. The idea was that the ‘shape’ could be a circle, a spiral, a figure-8, ANY flowing shape… When Vinny Carrella and I came up with the concept we thought it would be a great interpretation of the ‘grey matter’ of Sherlock Holmes brain as he solved the case. Hence the term ‘Phrenology’...

- Can you imagine EXACTLY HOW MANY boxes of magnets I had to buy to get enough of each color I needed?!? A LOT!!! The house is still coming down with magnets…

James Bond Mission Totem

Posted by Phil on July 21, 2009 at 6:59pm

Here’s a look at a huge composite drawing made up of nine 11X17 sheets - it’s for a Bond Cliff mission in ‘Everything or Nothing’.

This ‘totem’ were designed to try to visually represent Bond’s actual journey up the cliff face, so all the interesting waypoints (Bond Moments) are given a kind of spatial representation and placed in the context of the physical form of the cliff. Drawings designed give a feel for what the mission might be about, drawings to stand around and look at, and hopefully to inspire. Hence ‘Totem’...

Godfather Chart

Posted by Phil on July 24, 2009 at 7:53pm

Sometimes I feel I could chart out my life like this, the 10-year plan, or ‘Decade of Change’ as we called it in the Godfather days…

(Click the topic header link to see a closer view of this enormous drawing…)

My friend Carol…

Posted by Phil on July 26, 2009 at 8:09pm

This is my friend Carol Hughes.  Carol is starring in my latest game, “The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks”, out soon for the Nintendo DS. The character Carol Hughes plays is called ‘Carol Stephenson Hughes’ - I had to change the names to protect the innocent…

Carol is a fabulous author and I urge you to pick up her books. You can find her website here:

- You will ABSOLUTELY NOT find Carol at the website “wifeofthedirectorofkungfupanda.com”

...

How to design Tomb Raider, step-by-step…

Posted by Phil on July 29, 2009 at 4:55pm

Back in the day, the Tomb Raider: Lost Artifact team - Me, Rebecca Shearin, Gary LaRochelle and Mike Schmitt - were asked this question by a magazine interviewer, and here is our answer… (Seems quite straightforward, really);

...

The Fruit Guys

Posted by Phil on September 10, 2009 at 10:28pm

Here’s a concept sketch of the mural/banner design I did for The Fruit Guys - you cannot BEAT having a crate of fresh fruit delivered to your doorstep every week!!!! Fantastic company, run by my fellow Yick Wo Elementary School parent, Chris Mittelstaedt.

Big Brother Online

Posted by Phil on September 24, 2009 at 9:38pm

I’m just starting to fill up the ‘Brands’ section of my site and I uncovered some of my design process for Endemol and EA’s collaboration on ‘Virtual Me’. Its a concept for a social gaming site for Big Brother. Pretty topical seeing as Jordan just won the latest US Big Brother - yeah!

Creating the Website - Skaggs Design

Posted by Phil on September 28, 2009 at 5:01pm

Skaggs Design bloggin’ on my blog…

Here’s a blog from Skaggs Design about how they designed my site. Bradley and Jonina Skaggs have been great friends of mine for many, many years, and their fab design team did a terrific job with my unruly mound of scrappy sheets and jumbly words…

Follow this link to Skaggs Design to see their blog post, and click on in my site to see some of the process and some rather appealing pictures of Bradley and Jonina!

Here’s my site showcased on the Skaggs Design main site - check out their other fantastic work! Thanks again to Elspeth, Robbie, Jonina and Bradley…

Liberty Mutual Driver Seat Game

Posted by Phil on September 28, 2009 at 11:06pm

Here’s some concept design I did for Shift Control Media - a driving game highlighting the difficulties senior drivers face for Liberty Mutual. You can play the game here.

Follow the link for more design images and also check out the ‘Images’ tab in my ‘Branding’ portfolio section.

Designing for Tomb Raider

Posted by Phil on January 13, 2010 at 1:42am

Here is an article I wrote about the challenges of designing Tomb Raider, including a lot of tips and tricks for budding level designers. This article was included with the Tomb Raider Editor Project Guide when the tools for Tomb Raider were released to the public.

Follow the link for the article and also check out the ‘Tomb Raider’ section in my portfolio.

Linerville!!!

Posted by Phil on February 12, 2011 at 4:02am

This is my take on a Zynga-like social networking game for Facebook. I’ve tried to evolve the format of games like Farmville and Frontierville and create more narrative, more actual shared gameplay and a more “acceptable” form of notifications. Create! Connect! Collect!