Hey there, people.
I’m Jason Beck, the Art Director here at Runic. I’ve been with this group since Mythos and with a handful of these guys like Travis, Marsh, Greg, Brock, John, and Mike since our time together while I was pitching in on FATE. I’m originally from the Portland, OR area and saw my fair share of small to mid-sized studios try and flail before I relocated up to the Seattle area in 2001. I studied Fine Arts and Computer Animation and have had a pretty wide range of roles in the industry, from Character Artist and Animator, Level Designer, Modeler, Concept Artist, and a bundle of hybrid roles as a Lead and now an AD. It feels very strange being able to say it’s now Year 12 in the industry.
My day to day varies greatly. I strive for a nice split between management and production work, but the percentages have shifted on me as we grow. There are days where it resembles an Instant Messaging Crisis Hotline and there are others where I’m stomping around as a new monster idea with our animator. I love the variety of work, having a hand in building a creative environment, working with the best coders and gaming minds around, and doing my part to create new games and IP with the rest of the team.
Torchlight has been out as a digital download since the end of Oct. and the response has been amazing. Recently, the boxed version has been made available to many retailers, and we’re working on the final parts of our localized and regional versions as well. In parallel, we’re all hard at work on the next project and scribbling up ideas, painting beautiful concepts, and writing up a whole lotta backstory and lore as we expand and add to our IP.
One of the more difficult conversations I have with people I meet for the first time is discussing my work. After I’ve gone on and on about how I love what I do, the crazy bits of fun we have, how I basically am being paid to make monsters every day, and how I can’t imagine doing anything else I’m usually given that snarky response of “must be fun to play all day”. But while there is certainly a wealth of passion, creativity, and childlike zeal involved…there is also a tremendous amount of work, time, and commitment necessary… and this team is a tenacious band of the best of both sides of that coin. Wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else.
