Hello, hello, fellow art community!
2020, eh? Whew.
When we look back at what we did this year, it was actually a pretty successful as we got and get to be a part of projects we're really proud to be involved in. In addition to the usual suspects, we finally got to talk about Valorant after contributing to it for over three years, got to share concepts we had done for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands quite a while ago, got to mention that we had been contributing plenty of outfits to the new Medal of Honor game, and are super-delighted to do some suit work with System Era Softworks on Astroneer. And then there is, of course, Crash Bandicoot 4 which Toys for Bob simply did a top-notch job on - for us it's been honor to have been involved in this from the earliest stages on.
We're blessed to have such an ensemble of talented artists, and no group hug is appropriately strong enough and no words able enough to capture the joy of seeing a project team hitting its stride and firing from all cylinders. To all of you: thank youuuuuuuu so much, art ninjas!
As for how we did it, ... how everyone did it, well, that's a different story. If you've been following us on other channels, you know that we had moved into a bigger office in February. Which we got to enjoy for about three weeks before work from home became the default mode for most of us. On a purely technical level, transitioning wasn't that much of a hurdle since we always had been working with a good number of artists and partners spread across the globe and thus also had designed our infrastructure and communication around that. That said, it's safe to say the Berlin team would have preferred to not work apart if it hadn't been for the circumstances.
We know we've been in a relatively comfy and fortunate position as work kept coming in; as we are a part of an industry that allows for remote work and was less affected by the pandemic than others. However, 2020 has been a taxing year on many regardless, be it worries about the general uncertainty, one's own health or the well-being of loved ones, and a lack of opportunities to mix with others for those who thrive on direct social interaction with their friends and peers - just to name a selected few points. It's been heartwarming to see the community coming together over this. The year has taken its toll on many, and there's no shame in that. If anything, we're hoping that some of the lessons learned like more flexible work arrangements and a stronger focus on mental health are here to stay.
We are fortunate enough to have reliable partners in these times, so a big, big smooch goes out to them! Shout-out to the awesome folks at Blizzard, Toys for Bob, Epic Games, Supercell, Respawn, and Riot among others! Also, always delighted to collaborate with some recurring folks as well as some we've been working with for the first time this year, e.g. SES (Astroneer), [REDACTED] ([REDACTED]), and [REDACTED] ([REDACTED]). ^_^
We're confident that 2021 will be a step up for everyone and can't wait to hopefully see our office populated again a few months from now. We also aim to get better at responding to applications again because that's something we honestly haven't been terribly good at in the past months, and we're not proud of that. There are some projects that will have been announced (and perhaps: released) by the time we post our next holiday sign-off, and some other exciting things we're in the process of tinkering on.
In the meantime, we hope you'll be well and manage to get through the holidays in whatever way you're intending to and then return healthy and ready to kick some butt. As always, thank you for all the support!
And now please behold our 2020 holiday artwork - like its 2019 predecessor done by our Ilka Hesche. We shall revisit it later next year for thematic reasons.
And as a quick recap: an excerpt of the work we got to deliver/publish in 2020. And stuff! (You also might try out this.)
Our new office shortly after we had moved in and then freshly deserted it again.
Overwatch - Submarine Wrecking Ball
Overwatch - King Jamison Junkrat
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands- Torghast Exploration
Watch out for quite a bit of portfolio posts on Crash 4, Valorant, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond and other projects to come next year! :3 And if you'd like to hear from us beyond our portfolio posts here, follow us on Twitter or Facebook.