Her narrative design creates an evocative world between characters.

— Matthew Jenkins, Environment Artist, Abertay University
Courtney is the hardest working person I know.

— Peter Robe, Graduate Research Assistant, Human Computer Interaction & AI, University of Tulsa
One word can capture her work: "timeless."

— M. Teresa Valero, School of Art, Design and Art History, University of Tulsa
Really hard worker, has leadership skills, and is very well organized.

— Kristina Cutajar, Concept Artist, Abertay University
She contributes effectively in a multitude of ways to any team.

— Gavin Wood, Environment & 3D Artist, Abertay University

Great game design has a unique combo of rich artwork and engaging narrative. (Courtney) creatively balances both and is a rare find.

— Jim Korakis, Chief Executive Officer, Good Life Marketing & Media
A fantastic artist, and insightful team member.

— Zachary Reyes, Software Developer, CymSTAR – Simulation Engineering & Manufacturing
I'm proud that I discovered her talents for my project.

— Cecilia Zhang, Indie Producer, Former Project Leader at JJ World (Beijing)
Her narrative design creates an evocative world between characters.

— Matthew Jenkins, Environment Artist, Abertay University
I feel confident that she will continue to succeed in any project she undertakes.

— Akram Taghavi-Burris, Instructor Computer Simulation & Gaming, Tandy School of Computer Science

COURTNEY VALENTINE SPIVEY

game designer, character artist, hobby programmer.

FIRST STEP TO THE GODS

First Step of the Gods was a senior project in DES 506 I enlisted to help with at the University of Abertay. The producer, me, and another artist worked together with the designers to create a completely new game in look and feel.

I worked as UI Artist exclusively on this project.

Working with a dissenting lead artist in a non-communicative group

The reason why Jeff (the environment/background artist) and I were hired onto the team was because the lead artist at the time was not able to execute works or respond to feedback, instead opting to use an asset pack the group had purchased at the beginning of the semester alongside random UI he created in different styles and never letting go of them. As we created works, he actively disliked them but by that point, the team just wanted cohesive art assets to be in game so the majority ruled everytime and our artworks began to populate the game. As for the rest of the team, individually everyone was nice and helpful, but from an outsider’s perspective the group seemed split along nationalities. I was surprised at how disjointed communications seemed amongst teammates at times.

As for the artworks I created for their game, I made what the producer asked for, as she was the person who ‘hired’ me and her feedback was relayed info from the rest of the team. We ran into stylistic differences between us artists because of the same issue I had encountered in BORE, although for BORE we were able to fix those issues, which I view as a success and have grown from the experience. The issue was that a style was not decided cohesively between all the members of the team. If there was more time and more active communication (like discord voice calls) between everyone, I think the problems could have been fixed.

For now, I’m just really happy I have gained so much experience from the 506 project and it has made me appreciate my BORE team’s dynamics so much more. The art experience was also good to have.

Closing Remarks

Working on different teams with different dynamics have been helpful in my growth as a team member and I value this experience. I also think we made a pretty good looking game.