After I shipped Dead Space 2, I left EA and did the stay-at-home-dad thing for a couple of years. I hung my shingle out to offer part-time consulting and contracting work from my home studio.
Audible Images, circa 2012.
I immediately got some great opportunities, including games, installation art, teaching, and more. These are three of the indie games I worked on during this time. Amazingly, all of them still seem to be available on Steam in 2024!
Warp is a top-down third-person stealth/action/platformer with a unique "warping" gameplay hook, and a delightfully twisted tone.
I came onto this game late in development to help get it out the door. There was some good audio work already present, but still a long way to go. I assembled a team of sub-contractors, including Wabi Sabi Sound and Robb Mills, and directed the remaining work to an on-time and on-budget launch.
I also directly contributed sound design for two dozen cinematic sequences, created and implemented a large selection of ambiences, edited and processed all the game's final dialog, implemented the main character's soundset in-engine, and helped refine the game's final mix.
Some gameplay capture from early in the game.
It was a lot of fun and came out nicely.
Shank 2, a sequel to 2010's sleeper hit Shank, is a super-violent but comic-book-y sidescrolling beat-em-up.
I contributed sound effects design for combat and "epic moments" (mostly big environmental hazards) in Shank 2, and I collaborated with Klei's internal audio team on strategies and priorities for audio polish in the final weeks of production.
Shank 2 combat and epic moment examples.
In the end, I think this collaboration worked well sonically (and it's a great game), but I certainly had some growing to do as a leader and teammate. I was pretty cocksure coming off of Dead Space 2, and honestly, I didn't modulate my role well. I came on way too strong, and didn't build the relationship as productively as I should have. I learned these lessons deeply and have attempted to integrate them into my work ever since.
Tower Wars is a multiplayer tower defense game. I came on as overflow capacity for sound work, just making effects and tossing them over the fence. I worked in particular on the various "tower deploy" sounds, based on some really delightful animations.
Tower Wars game capture.
As it would happen, the very next gig I would take was doing contract sound design and implementation for Dead Space 3, which inexorably led to me going back to EA part-time on Battlefield 4, then full-time as Audio Director on Battlefield Hardline and eventually Star Wars Ragtag. It's funny how these things go.