DONKEY KONG COUNTRY; TROPICAL FREEZE - CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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DONKEY KONG COUNTRY; TROPICAL FREEZE - CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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DONKEY KONG COUNTRY; TROPICAL FREEZE - CREATIVE DIRECTOR
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY; TROPICAL FREEZE - CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Vince Joly
So far in my career, I've played pivotal roles in numerous AAA franchises, notably as an Creative Director and Art Director. My foundation in this industry was laid during my years as an artist and animator, experiences that equipped me with invaluable insights and skills for future leadership roles.
During my 14-year tenure at Nintendo's Retro Studios, including a decade as Director, I developed a keen understanding of game development, from creating visually immersive experiences to fostering productive team environments. I take immense pride in my contributions towards building a robust creative team and delivering several critically acclaimed games.
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Four years ago, I embarked on a new journey with EA, Maxis as the Senior Art Director for their Sims franchise. It's been a rewarding experience to tackle the challenges of enhancing visuals and adding depth to an already well-established title.
CREDITS
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SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: The Sims 4
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Hugo Hup, Coin Hole, 3D Pixel Shooter
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Donkey Kong Country;Tropical Freeze
ART DIRECTOR: MarioKart 7
ART DIRECTOR: Donkey Kong Country Returns
ANIMATION LEAD: Metroid Prime Trilogy
ANIMATION LEAD: Metroid Prime 3
ANIMATOR: Metroid Prime 2
ANIMATOR: NARC
ARTIST: World Series Baseball 2K3
ANIMATOR: Kill Switch
LEAD ARTIST: Pac-Man World 2
3D ARTIST/ANIMATOR: Pac-Man World
3D ARTIST/ANIMATOR: NBA Basketball 2000
3D ARTIST/ANIMATOR: NHL Powerplay 98
3D ARTIST/ANIMATOR: NHL Powerplay 96
3D ARTIST: Al Unser Jr's Road to the Top
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As Creative Director for this title, one of the things I wanted to do was to develop a unique set of baddies with tons of personality. I wanted enemies that felt like they fit in DK's universe, but not from his island. From there we developed the "Snowmads", the charming gang of arctic invaders who commandeer DK's island. Layering in the necessary visual queues into their designs for the player to quickly determine how they should engage them was a gratifying challenge.
One of my favorite achievements for this game was writing, and boarding the story, including the Game Intro, all the Boss Intros, and the Game Outro.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
For this project we were paired up with the Mariokart team in Japan to design and create several new Tracks, new Karts, and model several Player Characters. Between directing the artists and animators I got the chance to model the low-res Donkey Kong. Working so closely with our counterparts in Japan on this title really taught me about the small attention to details that are so important.
If you get the chance, try to beat the Expert Staff Ghost of 1:58.539 by Ret★Vince in Luigi's Mansion!
ART DIRECTOR
ART DIRECTOR
After years of our creative team becoming proficient and comfortable with making art and animation for the Metroid Prime series, we now had to expand their skill set to take on an entirely different stylization. Working with the team to develop these skills was hugely rewarding. We aimed for a bright clean look, not too simple, but easy to read with rich color palettes. Many of our textures were painted using marque selections that were then hand-brushed in with gradients of color. This method really brought a sharp vibrant look to the characters and worlds. I personally created several animations for DK to help establish the animation style.
LEAD ANIMATOR
As a team we cranked out tons of quality animations in a short period for MP3.
As an individual contributor I think my proudest achievement was personally redoing all of Samus' base movement animations; her walk cycle, jog, run, idle stance, as well as building a better "into" and "out of" animation set for her morphball transitions. The cinematic lead from Japan asked me if Samus' walk cycle was mocap... This was a flattering compliment!
Shortly after moving to Austin in 2004, I started doing cinematic, and in-game animation work on Metroid Prime 2 at Retro Studios. In this video you'll see a few of the cinematics I animated, including the camera work. It was a huge honor to be part of this franchise.
ANIMATOR
ANIMATOR. CHARACTER MODELER
For Kill Switch I modeled, textured, rigged, and animated 100% of the main character, Bishop. I also modeled, textured, scripted, and did the lighting for the tutorial training facility at the start of the game. We were at the forefront of "Blind Fire" systems with this game, and developing the animation system for this was both fun and challenging.
LEAD ARTIST
Pac-man World 2 was such a fun game to work on. I played a large role in the story and storyboards for this game. I was responsible for 100% of Pac-man's animations, model, and rig. I designed the Pac-Village; modeled, textured, lit, and scripted it. I concepted and modeled several character designs, including the first boss, Blinky's Frog. I also arted and scripted several of the levels in the first world.
