Nicolas RileyIgniting Creativity and Fun

My brand mantra is about sharing my passion for games with the world, hoping to spark the same feelings in them as games did for me as a child.

Hometown, life in Round Rock

Born in Annecy, France, I spent most of my life in Round Rock, on the border of Austin. I am the middle child, my dad and brother are scientists, my mom is an accountant, my sister is a vet, but I wanted to make games.

Technology from a young age

The Sega Genesis was my first console, and I had to play it on a small CRT in my garage with my brother. We probably played it almost every single day while we had it, and when we lost it, I made the switch to PC.

Drawing from my first game Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage is, like most games of that time, all about the gameplay, with the story being something about an evil guy sending people to get in your way, but you gotta go beat him up. It really gave an impression to me that games were about the gameplay, something no other medium had.

Games with the family

My dad had an old D&D set and when we were old enough we liked to run campaigns together as a family, it was always a lot of fun even though we never finished any, but it taught me a lot about world building and giving purpose to a game.

The PS2 and an introduction to animation for games

The animation in these games were amazing and captivated me as a child, I loved playing them and imitating the funny movements they made in Katamari, or the cool Karate Gene shows off in God Hand. SotC has an interesting way of animation I refer to as “noodle arms” that all Team Ico games seem to use, and it’s my favorite way of animating for games.

Drawing from Horror

The thought that went into the animations for horror games is also something that interested me. Silent Hill uses drunk people walking around as reference for their monsters, as well as babies learning to walk, and people walking with hoods. Fatal Frame used a lot of interesting ghosts that had unique ways of getting around due to their deaths.

“Old school ideas” Gameplay over story

While I don’t want to say that modern games are all bad because of their switch to more story-oriented ways, I don’t exactly agree with it. I feel that some studios aren’t trying to make games as much as they’re trying to make movies now, with the gameplay being necessary to advance the plot.

Taking advantage of an interactive medium

VR is, to me, a return to a new potential for games with amazing gameplay, where the world seems so real you can’t help but look around and take it all in, and I can’t wait for these to become commercial so that I can try my hand at developing games for it.

Fighting, Overcoming, Rock Have a cool attitude

My overall attitude about life and how I like to do things. I like the idea of being cool, playing guitars, effortlessly going through opposition, and never breaking a sweat. This is kind of the opposite of how I am in real life, and it might be why I like it so much! “Opposites attract”, they say.

Farms, Churches, and Food Pantries

I have some volunteer experience with my church, they sent me to a lot of different places and buildings and I really did like the environments. I think about the food pantry when I think of a small store, and I think of the farms a lot when I feel like going on a trip.

Neverwinter Nights and making games

Neverwinter Nights is an old Bioware RPG game where you ran through dungeons and followed several stories. But, you could also make your own in a little world builder that came included with the game. This was something me and my brother spent a lot of time in making short little adventures that sent you around towns taking quests.

Comfy with a “lived-in” feeling

My ideal workspace is anywhere I can settle down in. I’m not particularly choosy, and often I adjust all my stuff to the place, as long as it’s not too small. I like having a lived-in feeling to my places, meaning it’s the right temperature, and I know where everything is, and have clear access to all my stuff.

Having a sense of humor and learning to roll with the punches

Knowing how to have fun As well as how to stay focused

My ideal employees should fit under these general attitudes, I don’t really like people who are sticks in the mud all the time, that’s my job. My idea of humor is one where you can play off of each other, in a way that no one is taking it seriously and rolling with whatever is said.

Freelance dev, modeler, and rigger

Speaking of employees, I’m not too big into businesses, and actually prefer small businesses over a huge corporation. I know that a lot of people can get something amazing done, but a few dedicated people can also make some amazing things, maybe not in the same amount of time though.

A few models I have made, I’m sorry they’re so dark. That last one was an arm I made for CDC, it’s my second attempt at details in Zbrush. This toy train was a test in blocking something out and expanding upon it all in Maya, I had a lot of fun with it.

This is a character concept based partly on a picture in PRM, but also on a few other ideas I had floating around in my head for what would look cool. Still a WIP, and also maybe a little dark.

This was the train car scene I put together for the compositing final, the area in the window was replaced with a video and there was a TV in front of him showing off some other compositions made by my partner. This scene bumped up and down like a train car would.

The chair in that previous scene had some odd proportions, and that’s because it was made for this little guy. This another character concept I’ve been working on based off of Maoi heads, which I find funny looking. This guy is a scientist, and his game will probably take place on a train.

The Indie Game Scene

I hope to start making games in Unreal and/or Unity to get started, but eventually I’d also like to learn to make my own engines and hopefully make some more amazing stuff, with or without a team.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a great way to gauge interest for your ideas and get support at the same time, however you have to commit a lot before actually turning to it, otherwise you’ll get nowhere, or end up letting people down.

Steam Greenlight

Another way to get known is through Steam Greenlight, which can help you get your game up on the Steam store. This one won’t guarantee your idea money, but it’s definitely a good way to get your game out there and have it be judged.

Jumpstart on a global audience

These two are also good because they utilize online websites/services to automatically give your idea a global podium. Anyone from any country can see your creations, and with google translate you can even reach out to them with a little help.

Making games that are fun

This is my ultimate goal, not to make some groundbreaking story, or become famous and rich beyond my dreams, I just want to take my passion for games further and make my own, contributing my ideas for what I think a cool game would be.

Never stop making games

Above all, I never want to stop making or playing games, I think there’s always room to grow in every field, and for something like this, I know that “if I can dream it, I can make it” is a literal statement. The 3 previous pictures were from a proxy rig I made for the CRI1 rabbit model.

Contact me

You can reach me at

nicolasriley1@gmail.com

or on Steam/PSN/NNID

Photo by Kemar Minott

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