Mission 2 “Flight to Freedom” launches TODAY!

For most of 2011 I’ve been working on Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom” and I’m so excited that it’s finally out and just in time for Black History month in February! I’m eager to hear the reception among teachers and students.

EFS has done some awesome things in this Mission in terms of game design, introducing things such as the escape map sequence and interface, side scrolling scenes, 3D animation sequences, game badges and smart word integration to communicate the issue of literacy in slave communities.

Side scrolling scenes

As a game artist I tackled some new challenges with this project. The background scenes and interactive environments that I had to create were of a larger scale to allow for side scrolling and a more immersive environment. As always, the character design and environment artwork required some thorough historical research to ensure the historical accuracy as it relates to the costume design, architectural details and objects. Where Mission 1 took place in Boston in 1770′s America, Mission 2 takes place around Kentucky and Ohio in 1850′s America around the time of the Fugitive Slave act. So the date required a whole new set of historical research.

The cast of Mission 2: Flight to Freedom

Mission 2 has you in the role of Lucy, a 14 year old slave girl in a hemp plantation near Lexington, Kentucky around the late 1840′s – 1850′s. You are acquainted with slave life on a plantation and what it meant to be a young slave. Things happen that force you to run away and you realize that running away is a huge risk and takes a lot of courage and intelligence. You have to learn who to trust and to either stay out of trouble or be part of the resistance.

Dialogue interface

Fully interactive, wide, side scrolling scenes

Interact with different characters

Mission 2 has a really exciting narrative and doesn’t sugar coat life for a slave. I hope the kids take away a more thorough understanding of the complexities of slave life and the political climate of the time through this game.

My hats off to the New York teams at EFS who developed the game, THIRTEEN who produced the game in association with WNET, and our historians at ASHP for the work they’ve done on this mission.

Read the announcement on THIRTEEN here.

On SOPA/PIPA…

This being the day where the web community comes together in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) I would like to share with you all a video that explains so clearly and understandably the issues and implications that such a legislation would have on the web community and the internet as a whole. This explanation is provided by Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. If you are unaware of what SOPA/PIPA can do or have read a barrage of articles surrounding the issue but need some clearer explanation, please watch.

And to read more about SOPA/PIPA and today’s protest:

The SOPA blackout: Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, Google, and many others protest proposed law

SOPA blackout: Bills lose three co-sponsors amid protests

Google Plans Home Page Protest Against U.S. Piracy Measures – Businessweek

And for Canadians, specifically:
Black Wednesday: In Protest of SOPA, Darken the Web

Happy New Year, 2012!

As we all stumble back to work today I wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I wish you prosperity, joy, laughter, success and happiness for this year and more.

2011 was a whirlwind of a year for me. There were hardships, difficulties, sadness but also resilience, strength and love. Most of that is personal but from that came a rebirth and a chance to start anew. In 2011 I returned to more full-time work with my notable clients EFS, Alex Shakar and Mauricio Calero Photography. And 2011 marks the year of my first print publication with the illustrations I did for Shakar’s Luminarium. I also made a mental note to learn more, keep up with industry news and trends, get in touch with peers and mentors, and delve into the design & dev community in Toronto.

2012 will be more of that and I hope more work and more wonderful clients. As the year begins I already have some small projects for a couple of clients and January will be a busy month for me. January 2012 marks the launch of Mission US – Mission 2 “Flight to Freedom” on January 24th. I’m so excited to be able to finally show you what I’ve been working on for most of 2011! Be on the lookout for more soon!

Next week I will be speaking at a local high school to kids about design and development and how to leverage your skills to build the career you want. I’m also scheduled to help with Ladies Learning Code in Toronto for their January workshops. LLC is a relatively new initiative to help females learn about technology and programming, something I have recently become passionate about.

On the list this month is also a complete redesign of my website portfolio and this blog. I’ve decided that I want to consolidate my website and blog so that they are both easily accessible and people can come to one place to find all of my information. I have had this redesign in the back of my mind for the last half of 2011 but haven’t had the time to buckle down and get it done. This will be a bit of a challenge as I want to redesign it and my mind changes daily. But I’m kicking myself in the ass to find one direction, focus and get it done. The challenge is always to find one a design direction and stick to it. I can do this with my clients but always find it hard to do when designing for myself. In terms of development I’d like to leverage some HTML5, CSS3 and possibly use a Responsive Web Design approach. I am also moving all of my content to a WordPress enabled site which means that I will create my own custom theme for it. Now to get to sketching to define the look – I have so many ideas in mind. I just have to remember that this will be my design for now, it can/may change in the future but design for my taste and style now.

I hope to continue work with some of my clients in the new year and also gain a few more. Along the way I’ll continue to learn and showcase my work.

Best wishes for a productive and prosperous new year!
Ivonne