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Brian J. Miller, World Fixture Lead Artist

What is it you do on a daily basis? A good part of the day I spend putting out fires. Besides that, I am responsible for creating and directing the look of all man-made (or Orc-made or whatever other crazy race-made) structures, excluding cities and dungeons. This means buildings, houses, torches, torture stakes, Chaos portals, army siege equipment, you name it. In short, my job is awesome. What is your background? College? Degree? Has it helped with the job? 1st job out of school? 1st game industry job? How long have you been with Mythic? I first began in game development when I was twelve, making my own deathmatch maps for Doom, and my love for game development grew from there. I studied at a computer animation school in Orlando, FL called Full Sail. I learned many complicated subject matters there such as high density NURB modeling, rigging and animating movie built characters, and learning to program advanced shaders. Basically, I use none of this information now. However, I also learned how to network with fellow artists, how to work as a team, and to push myself past my own limits to produce good art in a timely fashion. This knowledge is far handier in the game industry. After graduation I worked at a game company called N-Space on a Nintendo adventure title for about a year and a half. I moved over to Mythic after shipping that project and have been happily settled here for almost two years now. What other titles have you worked on in the past? In what capacity? While at N-Space, I worked on a Nintendo game called Geist. I worked on environmental creation, texturing and lighting. We worked hard and played hard (mostly competitive net hacky sack during breaks). I have also worked shortly on the Darkness Rising expansion for Camelot, creating one dungeon and some city revamp art. Besides that, I’ve worked on several personal game projects for fun; Roller Toaster for life! What was your “welcome to the game industry” moment when it hit you that you were really making games for a living? I think it was the odd feeling of seeing something I made for the first time working on the Nintendo Gamecube. It’s just strange to see your art work on the consoles you’ve been playing your whole life. Also, seeing Geist in my local EB store was a good "welcome" moment. Oh, and working 18 hour days sitting at a computer non-stop. What excites you about the Warhammer property? What makes it perfect for an MMO? What cool things in the Warhammer universe do you hope to bring to life? Warhammer excels in every department of cool possible. It’s gritty, it’s exaggerated, and it will kick your ass. Personally, I would like to bring out the distinct differences between races as much as possible through their architecture. I think every race in Warhammer is completely different, more so than any other fantasy property out there, and everything from their buildings to their lamp posts should reflect that difference. Do you collect Warhammer figures? Honestly no :P. I enjoy watching my roommates spend countless hours and insane amounts of money putting their armies together. I really respect the art and storytelling behind Warhammer, but I am not much of a table top geek. Shameful... I know. To bring a new world to players that is immersive and imaginative. If we accomplish that I’ll be happy. Oh, that and global domination, of course. What are your key influences when making the game? Anything besides Warhammer? Roman, Gothic, and Medieval architecture. My nightmares. What is the biggest problem with current MMO’s you hope to fix with WAR? Grinds... I hate them. Current RvR and capture city plans in Warhammer Online should help to solve this! I want MMO’s to be fun, not work. Most people try to escape their work by playing MMO’s; why are so many people making MMO’s so much work to play? What are your favorite video/computer games of all time? What games are you playing right now? What game should the reader be playing if he’s not? Oh man, this could go on for a while. If you get to know me, you’ll notice I have an unhealthy obsession with a game called Anachronox for the PC. It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever despite it’s horribly rough edges. Best story of any game ever, best characters, and some of the coolest damn level design ever. Besides that, I’m a very big fan of games such as Fallout, Psychonauts, Shenmue 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Katamari Damacy, Phantom Dust (you must buy this Xbox game, its only like $3 now), Enemy Territory, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Yigum, Day of the Tentacle, Quake III. All these games must be played, so go out there and get them if you don’t already have them. Currently I’ve been on a Paper Mario kick, and have been enjoying God Hand. As you can see I’m a sucker for innovation and artistic merit in games. What music are you listening to right now? I am told I listen to carnival music, but I listen to a very wide range of music that I find creative. A lot of Indie rock, but I don’t stick to one genre. Recently I’ve been enjoying Joanna Newsom, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Islands, Midlake, and Rasputina. Is there a recent movie you’ve seen or book/comic you read that you’d recommend to others? Children of Men is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Idiocracy, a comedy by Mike Judge, was a very entertaining movie. Besides that I recently read a great book recommend by the very talented Carrie Gouskos (I’m sure she’ll do a profile on here soon if she hasn’t already) called You Shall Know Our Velocity. Great story about two friends trying to give away $32,000 while traveling the world in one week. Don’t you just hate when that happens? That and my precious subscription to New Scientist. Anything else you want to add? I just want to say thanks to my parents for supporting me, and giving me so much encouragement. They truly supported my love of video games and computers since I was very young which has allowed me to live a great life. Now do the same for your kids! Also, I want to encourage everyone reading this to support the great games that come out (not just the popular ones), and stop buying the crappy ones... help save our industry please. Thanks for reading!

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