James Benson

Anim/Design: Half-Life: Alyx, Ori and the Blind Forest, Firewatch

[James Benson @James9475]

Tried 2 make Firewatch reel. Ended up with something a little stranger...(fair bit of cut content shown for any fans)https://t.co/qXhZ7e84AT

[James Benson @James9475]

@croa_san Richly deserved, and makes me proud to see the quality step up from Blind Forest

[James Benson @James9475]

@JimJagger Thanks for playing! :D

[Jack @northernloss]

1. Exactly 5 years ago today, I visited my first fire lookout after playing Firewatch by @camposanto. 5 years later, I’ve visited 239 different towers and am preparing for a career in conservation. I’m going to talk about how this game changed my life.

[Panic @panic]

🔥 Five years ago, we published Firewatch. It changed a lot of things for us. We were lucky to be a part of it.

To celebrate, we've finally transcribed the built-in Firewatch Audio Tour — packed with development insight — into an 175-page PDF book. Enjoy. https://t.co/au23lzatFo

[Michelle Kuchera @MKizzyy]

One thing I learned in my years of sciencing is that "omg they are SO SMART, I don't understand any of this" is actually "oh no, this person is not good at giving talks."

[James Benson @James9475]

@ImplicitAction And what ppl cant see here is the node logic layer above these state machines which is what I love most and makes it the absolute best in class I have ever used, a dream tool for the intersection of animation and design.

[James Benson @James9475]

@joewintergreen Also, as a guy with 2 kids, children say profound sounding things constantly, and it's total madlibs. When ppl post what their child says I am baffled that they would either not realise their child is just re-combining things they've heard you say, or again, it's all made up

[James Benson @James9475]

@joewintergreen All twitter parenting stories have 1 of 2 possibilities. Either:

1) Didn't happen at all

or

2) Child didn't experience it the way you think they did

[James Benson @James9475]

@direGoldfish Maybe Shapes? https://t.co/CCKUE2VDJf

[James Benson @James9475]

@wasim_cg @OriTheGame @Pixar @Xbox Up was 100% our reference for the 1st game (cant speak for the 2nd), even though it's only 5 minutes, months were poured into getting it right, thankyou

[James Benson @James9475]

@Latienie @cgmation And I was confused! Thought you had to be somewhere that could maintain US visa. I should have actually asked...I'm really sorry, wish I hadn't done that. Ori was worse b/c you weren't on it, and you've since become the President of Animation, so believe me I feel egg-faced

[James Benson @James9475]

@Latienie @cgmation In my defence, I am a bad person and quite stupid.

[James Benson @James9475]

@JimJagger @cgmation Hey Jim :D I was born in Scotland and quite liked the idea of living there, I bet it would have been great. Who knows what the future may hold, lots of games still for us all to make. The people demand entertainment

[James Benson @James9475]

@cgmation @KrisZadziuk By 2047 all game developers will be working on the only game that still exists (porting GTA 5 to the latest console)

[James Benson @James9475]

@cgmation Oh and by the way I also interviewed at Ninja for DMC! We might have worked together (same time period, youtube interest again). They wanted a test (I hate tests) and I didn't really want a job anyway so I sort of ghosted (bad habit, sorry), sliding doors eh...

[James Benson @James9475]

@cgmation I would have been working on GTA5? around 2011. I bet I would have stayed there a long time, gone pretty mocap heavy and never made ori/firewatch etc

[James Benson @James9475]

@cgmation Im sure this path would have been cool, but. My first reel got me an interview at rockstar north, and i failed, and went lionhead instead, but started doing youtube stuff. Rockstar saw the youtube and changed their mind, but by then I wanted to just pursue personal work (1/2)

[Jonathan Cooper @GameAnim]

Playstation 1 Ghost In The Shell (1997) intro behind-the-scenes, from @ProductionIG, mixed 2D and 3D to great effect.

[Kristin Chirico @KristinChirico]

The end of this tiktok is maybe the hardest I've ever laughed