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.

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.

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.

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.

Mission US: Mission 1 Full Launch

I've taken a bit of a hiatus the last couple of months to focus on non-work related things. So this is a bit delayed but important nonetheless...

Mission US has officially launched nationwide (in the US)! It's a project that I've been enthusiastically working on through EFS as creative director and lead artist and I'm thrilled everyone gets to see it. When we first tested it in schools I got to see first hand how the kids reacted and they were so excited learning history in this way. It made me feel honoured to have worked on this project. I think Mission US is revolutionizing the way our kids learn in schools.

Check it out! http://www.mission-us.org/

Download the game and try it out, or explore the website! Even if you're not an American middle-schooler :)

Now that Mission 1 is fully launched we are working on Mission 2 and though I can't say much about it, what I can say is that I'm very excited as we've already started art production for our characters and locations!

After my hiatus, I'm back to full on work mode and there will be more coming...