Portfolio

Verdant Engine was developed by Don Pigeon Productions, a 7-person team including designers, programmers, an animator, and a composer. I served as both the producer and main artist, coordinating production across all disciplines while contributing directly to the game’s visual identity.

The project was completed in just 6 months and showcased at four expos. To keep development on track, the team used:

• Trello: task management & sprint tracking
• Discord: daily stand-ups & cross-discipline communication
• Google Sheets: asset tracking and prioritization

As the Producer of Don Pigeon Productions, I:

• Directed production from concept through release, coordinating a 7-person multidisciplinary team across design, programming, animation, audio, and art.
• Facilitated Scrum ceremonies, sprint planning, backlog management, and milestone tracking to maintain steady production throughout a compressed 6-month timeline.
• Improved cross-discipline communication by facilitating regular syncs between design, art, and programming, reducing implementation friction and rework.
• Planned and coordinated internal, external, and expo playtests, translating player feedback into prioritized action items and production goals.
• Identified production risks and blockers early, helping the team adjust scope and priorities to maintain a polished vertical slice target.
• Streamlined portions of the art and animation pipeline, reducing production overhead and improving asset turnaround time.
• Coordinated participation in four game exhibtions, including applications, milestone alignment, demo preparation, transportation logistics, and booth setup.

As the Artist of Don Pigeon Productions, I:

• Created concept art, UI concepts, and final in-game assets that helped establish the game’s hybrid 2D/3D visual identity.
• Collaborated closely with designers and programmers to ensure visual direction supported gameplay readability, usability, and technical implementation.
• Iterated on assets based on gameplay testing, balancing visual style with clarity and production constraints.

Delivering a Polished Vertical Slice Within a 6-Month Timeline

Verdant Engine was developed within a compressed 6-month production schedule while simultaneously preparing for multiple public showcases. Early in development, the team’s feature ambitions exceeded what could realistically be polished within the available timeframe.

To maintain production stability, I continuously reassessed project scope alongside the team, prioritized the core gameplay loop, and cut or reduced non-essential features when necessary. This allowed the team to focus development time on the systems most critical to the player experience rather than overextending production across lower-priority ideas.

This approach helped the team deliver a more polished and cohesive vertical slice while still meeting all major milestones and expo deadlines.

Maintaining Alignment Across Design, Art, and Programming

Because Verdant Engine combined gameplay systems, UI-heavy strategy mechanics, animation, and a hybrid 2D/3D visual style, misalignment between disciplines could quickly create rework or implementation bottlenecks.

To improve communication flow, I facilitated regular cross-discipline syncs between design, art, and programming, ensuring implementation constraints and visual goals remained aligned throughout development. I also maintained tracking through Trello, Discord, and shared documentation to improve visibility into priorities, blockers, and dependencies.

These workflows helped reduce production friction and allowed the team to iterate more efficiently across interconnected systems.

Improving Art Pipeline Efficiency

As both Producer and Artist, I identified inefficiencies within the asset delivery and animation workflow that were slowing iteration and creating unnecessary overhead for implementation.

To streamline the process, I restructured portions of the art pipeline, reducing unnecessary handoff steps and improving coordination between asset creation and animation. These changes cut the time required to animate each plant asset approximately in half, allowing the team to maintain visual quality while keeping pace with production demands.

Preparing the Project for Public Exhibitions

Verdant Engine was showcased at multiple public events, each requiring stable builds, presentation materials, transportation logistics, and milestone coordination alongside active development.

I coordinated expo applications, demo station preparation, milestone planning, and showcase logistics to ensure the project remained presentation-ready throughout development. This included aligning internal deadlines with expo requirements and prioritizing polish and build stability ahead of public playtests.

As a result, the team successfully showcased the game at multiple exhibitions while continuing active development.