Here is our mad artist who is behind some of our most important and iconic characters! Ben has modeled, and sometimes textured too, the mummy, the King, and the Tlaloc! Check out his website for some more high poly modeling madness.
Some of his work for The Ball:
http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/benpic.jpg
http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bensnake.jpg
The first shows the Tlaloc, armored and unarmored. The second shows the first version of the King. The version that eventually made it into the game has a lot less decoration and armor.
Who are you and what do you do on “The Ball”?
Hi, I’m Benjamin Erdt ‘Ben’ and I created most of the major character models for The Ball such as the King, the mummy, the worm and the Tlaloc. For the latter I also painted the textures. I’m going to move to Vancouver next year and join the Film School there to become a movie creature artist. Designing and creating characters and creatures is my passion and I do my best to improve my skills. Someone who stops getting better has stopped being good
When and how did you join the team?
I joined the team two years ago. I think it was somewhat around April 2008. I got mail from Sjoerd asking me if I would be interested in joining the mod as a character modeler. It was a honor. I had seen a lot of his Unreal Engine work in the past and I admire him. After 2 mod teams I worked for and that were never finished I felt The Ball was something that works. Great idea, hard working talents, good management.
How did you start out with character modeling?
Phew! Well… I tried out a lot of things in the past like level design for ID Engine games such as Quake, Doom 3 etc. which I’ve been doing for over 7 years. But 4 years ago I got sucked right into character and creature creation and started to realize that this is the way I want to go. Realizing my ideas digitally is one way but I feel like trying out things like Make Up Effects as well in the future.
What has been the most challenging thing you have done on the game?
Actually I didn’t have the hardest jobs. The only time that was more challenging for me was retouching the aztec king model. I had very little sparetime back then but needed to meet the deadline. Same was when painting the Tlaloc texture. I ended up with some long nights but that was basically it. Seeing the results in-game is a very pleasant moment though! The others did a great job on this!
What do you like the most about the game?
I like games that were built around a feature like The Ball. It’s simply the overall and basically simple concept of the game and what the team made of it. Young heads, fresh ideas.
Some of his work for The Ball:
http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/benpic.jpg
http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bensnake.jpg
The first shows the Tlaloc, armored and unarmored. The second shows the first version of the King. The version that eventually made it into the game has a lot less decoration and armor.
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