TOM EBNER ART DIRECTION & PORTFOLIO
I joined Genies and Gems as a Senior Artist on a shelved color match game that Jam City acquired and rebuilt from the ground up. Our team brought it back to life, and it has been running ever since. Over the course of the project I moved up from Senior Artist to Art Lead to Art Director, taking the game from initial concept through years of live ops.
MOOD BOARD
Rebuilding something old to something new.
GAME INFLUENCE
CANDY CRUSH TOON BLAST ROYAL MATCH
GAME PIECE INFLUENCE
SHINY, TREASURE, GEMS, VIBRANT
OVERALL FEEL
MOOD BOARD
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Vibrant colors, bouncy, and cute
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No pressure gaming, exploration
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Fun, stylized, adventurous characters
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explosive effects, big prize moments
THE SHELVED GAME
The original Genies and Gems had more of a casino look to it. Most of the structure of the world and internal game were there... they just were outdated. This was the process of taking that to it's current game today.
MYSTERIOUS, CULTURES OF THE WORLD, EXPLORATION, WHIMSICAL
WORLD INFLUENCE
CHARACTER EXPLORATION
ADVENTURE, LIGHT HEARTED, WORLDLY, STYLIZED
CHARACTER DIRECTION
Creating the vibrant cast of Genies and Gems
JENNI THE GENIE and TRIX
Early Jenni and Trix concept art
First published V1 of Jenni
V2 of published Jenni and Trix art
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
The Merchant, used for most events
Gladiator, used for pvp events
Bandit Boss, used for hard modes
Additional hero/event characters added in V3 of Genies and Gems
V3 of published Jenni and Trix art (This is when I became Art Director. 90% of all assets were created by me at this point.
Seasonal event characters
FINAL WORKING HERO CHARACTERS
GENIES AND GEMS V3
World Building and Visual Standards
Style guides, UI art, and maps
STYLE GUIDES AND DIRECTION
Style guides for events, and map elements for external teams
Pitch for Disney's live action Aladdin crossover