Meet the Devs: Evan and Gani, Game Artists
Introducing the creators behind our mushroom NFTs!
In our Meet the Devs series, we’ll feature interviews of the Mushroom Mania team — our game artists, designers, and more. Today, let’s meet two of our game artists.
Who we’re meeting today:
- Evan Blanco, 2D Artist — 10 months in the game industry
- Gani Nañagas, 3D Artist — 10 years in the game industry
What do you do on the team?
Evan: I work on the concepts, splash arts, post-prod editing, and other 2D game assets.
Gani: I model, rig, animate, light, and render 3D assets for our projects.
What other games have you worked on?
Evan: I worked on Kung Fu Clicker and Battle Racers in Altitude Games.
Gani: For Altitude Games, it’s Battle Racers and Holy Ship!. Outside of Altitude I’ve been an animator for Bleach: Brave Souls, I was the lead 3D artist for Jeepney ni Jan-Jan, Big Fish Games’ The Gift, and Hoyle Illusions. I was also the producer for Big Fish Games’ Through Andrea’s Eyes.
What type of games do you enjoy playing?
Evan: I usually play MOBAs, RPGs, and farming games but I also played games like Minecraft where you build houses and craft and upgrade weapons and equipment to progress in the game.
Gani: For me, racing games like Forza Horizon 4, NBA 2K games, open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2, and role-playing games like Fallout 1 and 2.
How would you describe your experience in making Mushroom Mania compared to your other games and projects?
Evan: Since I’m fairly new to the industry, Mushroom Mania by far is where I worked on full time where I was able to start from the beginning. I also got to use other software aside from Photoshop which is good for expanding my capabilities.
Gani: Yes, it’s challenging but a good learning experience.
(Read more: Developer Diary: Bringing a Mushroom to Life)
Where do you find your inspiration in creating or designing concepts?
Evan: My inspiration can basically come from anything I watched, read, played, etc. I always love watching/reading their behind-the-scenes. I try to follow how they get their inspiration and how they do their research.
Gani: When I animated the concept art I was basing their animations on how the mushrooms looked like. All the concept art was done by Evan and Len, another 2D artist from Altitude.
Do you have a favorite character, asset, or scene from Mushroom Mania?
Evan: One of my favorites is the Mother Spore as she looks graceful and powerful. I liked the idea of her summoning other mushrooms to fight. It was also fun working on her design, she looks very mysterious like a prophet or oracle with her eyes covered.
Gani: The Fungus Titan. It was a challenge to get the model and animations done but it was very fun to see it move in the end.
If you found yourself shrunk down in a strange world, what would you do?
Evan: I would look for the most reachable spot to scan the surroundings then plan on how to get rescued and survive. Of course, while having a breakdown.
Gani: I would cry and be scared at first, then I would start exploring as I figured things out.
What excites you the most about Mushroom Mania and The Sandbox?
Evan: Aside from it being my first game to be released, I’m also excited to try it myself. It would really feel rewarding to see the game we worked hard being played by other people.
Gani: The possibility of exploring a new open world area. Also the opportunity to encourage more people to try crypto games.
Anything you would like to say to our readers?
Evan: Thanks for the support! We really hope you’re as excited as we are for the game to launch. We put so much thought and effort on this and we enjoyed the journey and experience in making this game. We’re hoping for you to enjoy it as well.
Gani: A rising tide lifts all boats. Let’s all work together to lift everyone up, not just in the metaverse but also in real life.
Thank you for answering our questions, Evan and Gani!
Do you have a question you’d like our team to answer? Join us on Discord or Telegram and let us know! Make sure to follow us and please clap or share if you like this article!
Website: http://mushroommania.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/GmrutpcEc4
Telegram: https://t.me/MushroomManiaGame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MushroomManiaGame/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MushroomMania_
About Altitude Games
Altitude Games is a Manila-based game studio behind the blockchain game Battle Racers and free-to-play mobile games Kung Fu Clicker, Holy Ship! (3rd IMGA SEA Best Quickplay), Dream Defense (2017 Android Excellence for Fall), and Run Run Super V. The company was founded in 2014 by veterans of the Southeast Asian game industry. Learn more at www.altitude-games.com.
About The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a community-driven gaming platform that empowers game makers to create, publish, and monetize a myriad of unique experiences on a decentralized platform with cryptocurrency payments. With the support of millions of creators around the world, their goal is to make The Sandbox the new standard in world-building games, with millions of user-created 3D voxel assets and games available as NFTs on the blockchain. Learn more at www.sandbox.game.
