|
Game Designer & Visual Artist
I am Sierra Jones, an artist constantly studying how to make video games better. I'm always trying to improve and learn new things about creating.
What drives me most is trying to deeply understand others. With video games and art, I feel that so much can be expressed and experienced. I'm fascinated by the weird and anything unusual; so I want to share these interesting oddities with the world. I have been making small games since 2012, and I love making experiences that capture emotion and tell a rich story. Video games have given us the most capable form of storytelling yet in human history--the power to put someone in somebody else's shoes. I love creating complex characters and worlds with layers of depth and vibrancy, and I do this both through game design and the visual art that I make. Since 2019, I have been working as a 3D character artist at Manticore Games. I've been building characters, weapons, and all sorts of props for the game creation platform CORE, as well as for the roguelite game Out of Time. I am a 2019 Game Design Art graduate from University of Silicon Valley (formerly Cogswell College) in San Jose, California. Some of my favorite games are Rune Factory 2, Pokémon Platinum & Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, Stardew Valley, and Okami. I favor games that give an alternate world where life is slow and problems are fixable. (Hah!) That said, I also absolutely adore games like The Last of Us 1 & 2, Night in the Woods, Cult of the Lamb, and Boyfriend Dungeon--things that in some way or another make me question my life choices. Most of all, I love getting to experience something very different from the life I normally get to live. |
RÉSUMÉ
SKILLS
Game Engines Used: Unreal Engine 4 & 5, GameMaker, CORE
Current Proficient Programming: Unreal Blueprinting, PYTHON
Familiarity with: C#, Lua, HTML, Java, GML
- Organic character, creature, and hard surface modeling
- Low-poly model optimization
- Hand-painted textures
- Outsourcing management and written feedback to align artistic goals
- Good game design sense from working on 13 different solo games and small-team crafted indie games
- Character concept design ideation
Game Engines Used: Unreal Engine 4 & 5, GameMaker, CORE
Current Proficient Programming: Unreal Blueprinting, PYTHON
Familiarity with: C#, Lua, HTML, Java, GML
EXPERIENCE
Character Artist II, Out of Time, Manticore Games Inc.— 2022 - present
Character Artist II, Out of Time, Manticore Games Inc.— 2022 - present
- Created game-ready complete characters both inside and outside of our player customization system.
- Guided the everyday fashion design for character cosmetics.
- Painted skinning weights for facial animation of multiple new characters, including phoneme shapes.
- Active participant in organization and planning of features to be worked on, and bugs to be fixed.
- Aiding new team members in understanding the pipeline and being their shadow source.
- Communication with tangential teams in determining task logistics, and presenting of solutions.
- Worked with the game design team to come up with new weapon types, and hero abilities.
- Took over as interim Lead multiple times during team transition periods.
- Lead a project that involved creating typed & video documentation for communicating with outsourcing.
- Modeled and textured complete characters, outfits, and bodies.
- Implemented 3D models into Unreal, ensuring functionality with animation and player customization.
- Provided feedback to outsourcing in the form of paint-over images, GIFs, and writing.
- Lead research & design work for several outfits and our self-expression focused fashion movement.
- Maintained an organized Trello encompassing all tasks for our 3 person team to ensure MVP was viable by the end.
- Designed level flow and gameplay loop in coordination two other talented game designers.
- Created props along with their related programmed features for inventory & resource management.
- Represented Manticore Games as an evangelist, educating other GGJ participants on how to use our software, CORE, and publish their games for the event.
- Pushed my hard surface modeling skills in many 3D prop assets & mounts.
- Modeled complete character outfits, and several additional outfit elements.
- Aided in the feedback and design process of all characters running through our team when possible.
- Created small video games on Core both individually and collaboratively in teams.
- Wrote up feedback reviews to better the product.
- Designed maps and mechanics, scripted games, and created art and look direction over the course of all projects.
- Maintained an organized Trello encompassing all tasks for the one-weekend project to ensure MVP was viable by the end.
- Designed game structure in coordination with teammate Rudro De.
- Sketched prop designs in 2D, and modeled their 3D counterparts.
- Collaborating with one other programmer on all the major gameplay mechanics, UI programming, and design implementation on Fuzz Village in preparation for publishing.
- Creating extensive Unreal Engine blueprint-based gameplay elements.
- Led a team of 5 people to create an exploration-centered platforming game in one college semester.
- Organized meetings to determine game design and flow of Fuzz Village.
- Developed a visual style and concept art for models in the game, as well as paintings for cutscenes.
- Engineered extensive blueprint programming for a large portion of the game's functions.
- Managed a team of 12 artists to create over 120 models in a semester's time to complete a VR training simulator.
- Established a cohesive visual style for the project.
- Supported team members, held critiques, and kept students on track.
- Contributing my knowledge back to the school by tutoring other students in my best subjects. This mainly consists of various 2D and 3D art classes, as well as a variety of English writing classes.
- Concepted several monster enemies for use in game, and created their pixel sprite versions.
- Animated these sprites for a more dynamic look.
- Created 2 hi-resolution character models using zBrush for use in VR.
- Modeling from concept art, focusing on clothes and hair and done in a realistic style.
- Selected as the sole concept artist on two separate student-run virtual reality video games.
- Created unique separate visual styles for each game.
- Designed concept environments and structures, along with UI elements, level maps, comic strips, and promotional graphic design.
- Held position of Personal Designer, helping all who enter the store start projects for their personal memories through frame design, color palette selection, and thoughtful interior design. Sales skills learned allowed me to help customers feel more comfortable making very large purchases.
- Programmed an original Python fishing game from scratch with a fellow student.
- Recruited part-time as cashier and sales floor associate, providing help with any kind of questions customers may have about their games or systems.
- Much experience running a professional artwork booth (Ambrzart) interacting with customers, being friendly and informative, and making sales
- Founded Eureka High’s art club, running meetings and teaching students how to sell their artwork in the local area. I organized events and fundraisers.
- As a club treasurer in another organization, I handled the club’s monetary responsibilities.
EDUCATION
University of Silicon Valley (formerly Cogswell College) - Game Design Art - BA 2019 - GPA: 3.68
Arcata High School - Graduated with honors - GPA: 3.6
University of Silicon Valley (formerly Cogswell College) - Game Design Art - BA 2019 - GPA: 3.68
Arcata High School - Graduated with honors - GPA: 3.6
AWARDS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Cogswell College - Class of 2019 Outstanding Student in Game Design and Development: For Excellence in Game Design Art and Demonstrating Outstanding Creativity and Technical Prowess
Cogswell College Concept Design class - Best Presentation, for Our Personal Hell
Cogswell College - President's List, for high GPA, all semesters
Cogswell College Game Development Club - Best Video Game of Semester Game Jam, for Fuzz Village
Cogswell College - Dragon Scholarship, merit-based
Cogswell College - Class of 2019 Outstanding Student in Game Design and Development: For Excellence in Game Design Art and Demonstrating Outstanding Creativity and Technical Prowess
Cogswell College Concept Design class - Best Presentation, for Our Personal Hell
Cogswell College - President's List, for high GPA, all semesters
Cogswell College Game Development Club - Best Video Game of Semester Game Jam, for Fuzz Village
Cogswell College - Dragon Scholarship, merit-based