Entropia News: The work of ... Todd Verdeyen

This is the second installment of "The work of..." series, the first one having been about Ulla Jamira Braun.

Participants of Entropia Universe will have used teleporters to get to buildings, landmarks and arenas of all kinds, deployed state-of-the art weaponry and body armour against fearsome creatures and other colonists, will have explored amazing landscapes and vistas and will have traveled using fantastic vehicles of all types throughout this ever persistent virtual arena, but who are behind these creations that we perhaps take for granted.
This series introduces the highly skilled artists and designers who were instrumental in bringing some of these concepts to fruition and who kindly gave EntropiaPlanets permission to feature their works. There will be numerous installments over the coming weeks and months.

The work of Todd Verdeyen



This second installment features some of the conceptual designs of Todd Verdeyen who studied at the Illinois Institute of Art and attained the qualification of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts & Animation.
As the Art Director, Senior World Artist and Level Designer for NEVERDIE Studios in Los Angeles, CA from Aug 2008-Jan 2013, he directed and created designs for ROCKtropia, Hunt The THING, Planet Michael and Next Island. Below are just some of the works that he was responsible for.

Lobby area in the Hyperplex Theater on ROCKtropia with popcorn and 'Roca Cola' vending machines and booking terminals.


The unforgettable location of Hell on ROCKtropia.


An adaptation of Hunt The THING (by Universal Studios) on ROCKtropia.


The idyllic and surreal location of Kapu Wahi on Next Island.

All images courtesy of Todd Verdeyen.

Here is a more in-depth look at what he has done for Entropia Universe.

For ROCKtropia

Directed and created designs involving five unique grids that featured Motorhead, Kevin Rudolph, Cheri Moon and Skull Gang and also organized asset creation lists for each environment. He completed on schedule world sculpting and terrain editing for every grid and successfully developed various terrains, stylistic vegetation and overall palates for each Biome.
Was instrumental in level mock-ups for starter missions, quests, building concepts and dungeons. Additional on-going work included asset modeling, materials and textures customizations as well as lighting and other atmospheric effects.



Hunt The THING

He directed overall asset design for the in-game instance of Hunt The THING (Universal Studios) and designed and managed the Arctic-like setting that introduce players of Entropia to a starter experience that had various dynamic quest zones with gameplay that would lead to a final boss dungeon.
Other key responsibilities were environment and level design production and ensuring that styles and characteristics coresponded with underlying artwork, in addition to terrain editing, texturing, lighting, modeling and game design.


Planet Michael

For the proposed Planet Michael he assisted in the creation of a rainforest and urban setting based on the music of Michael Jackson for a promotional trailer and was also in charge of the creation of a rainforest ecosystem using SpeedTree for vegetation, terrain editing, texturing, lighting and asset placement.
He was also instrumental in the production of cinematic renderings used for the main trailer and conducted the general layout design of the city block and environmental ambiance.

Next Island

For Next island he was involved in the direction of a tropical paradise world made up of five grids and led world production sandbox sculpting as well as terrain textures and vegetation using SpeedTree. This and other pivotal efforts led to a new world in Entropia complete with jungles, enchanting spas, swamps, volcanic ranges and a desert outback.
He also developed the quests and gameplay starting area and dynamic zones.


Entropia Universe

For the general Entropia Universe platform he worked for Ilunova based in Mexico - a subsidiary of MindArk, where he was responsible for level mock-up and sculpting designs derived from the Art Department's Lead Concept Artist.
Works included modeled and textured organic assets for various outdoor environments and multi-player dungeons using modular components created in the Art Department.
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A video clip as well as other images by Todd Verdeyen can be seen on EP Wiki >
You can also visit his website at toddverdeyen3d.com to see more of his work for Entropia Universe.

 

I agree it wasn't directly related to EU but maybe indirectly in that it was an instance you could get to via RT.
On a different note, I had no idea that MA had a subsidiary in Mexico until I looked at his website.

 

I never met him in-game and had no idea as to his involvement with NEVERDIE Studios before looking at his website, but going by the work he's done he seems to know a heck of a lot. I see another MMO developer here...

 

Not in itself, I agree maybe that was a bit simplistic, but knowing how to create quality in-game content is half the battle.

 

I think there's a lobby area in the hyperplex building very similar to that one, don't know if it's the actual one though.

 

I heard a lot of good things about the Hunt The THING mission but unfortunately never got round to doing it myself...

 

The moving text in the CND tower works especially well and the glass panels and windows look real.

 

Yea, I thought it was the same one as I've been in it a few times, but not recently...

 

For certain practical reasons I can't atm, but this might change. If it does, I'll try Hunt The THING if it's still running.