Pipeworks Modern Slavery Statement

Pipeworks Modern Slavery Statement

Introduction

At Pipeworks, we are committed to combatting modern slavery and human trafficking in all its forms. This Modern Slavery Statement outlines our ongoing efforts, policies, and practices to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place within our operations or supply chains.

Our Business

Pipeworks operates in the software development industry. We recognize the importance of ethical business practices and strive to uphold human rights across our operations globally.

Our Policies

1. Supplier Code of Conduct: We have established a Supplier Code of Conduct that outlines our expectations regarding human rights, labor practices, and ethical conduct. This includes a prohibition on the use of forced labor, child labor, and any form of human trafficking.

2. Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy

3. Whistleblower Policy

4. Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment Policy

5. Due Diligence: We conduct due diligence on all new suppliers to assess their adherence to our Supplier Code of Conduct. This includes reviewing their policies, practices, and compliance with local laws related to labor and human rights.

6. Employee Code of Conduct: Our employees are expected to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct that emphasizes ethical behavior and respect for human rights. This includes reporting any concerns related to modern slavery or human trafficking.

Risk Assessment

We will regularly assess the risk of modern slavery within our operations and supply chains. This assessment includes factors such as geographical location, industry sector, and the nature of goods and services provided. Based on these assessments, we will take appropriate steps to mitigate identified risks.

Steps to be Taken

Looking ahead, we are committed to continuously improving our practices to prevent and address modern slavery. This includes:

-Conduct audits and assessments of potentially high-risk suppliers.

-Implement processes to monitor and address any reported concerns related to modern slavery.

-Engage with industry peers, NGOs, and other stakeholders to share best practices and collaborate on addressing modern slavery challenges.

-Strengthen our due diligence processes for new and existing suppliers.

-Develop training and awareness programs for our employees and suppliers.

-Enhancing transparency and reporting on our efforts to combat modern slavery.

Conclusion

Pipeworks is dedicated to upholding human rights and preventing modern slavery and human trafficking within our sphere of influence. We will continue to work diligently to ensure that our operations and supply chains are free from these egregious practices. This Modern Slavery Statement will be reviewed annually and will be updated as necessary to reflect our ongoing commitment and progress in this critical area.

Signed,

Lindsay Gupton
Pipeworks CEO

The Making of the Pipeworks Godzilla Video Game Trilogy

The making of the pipeworks godzilla video game trilogy

As we head into Pipeworks Studios' 25th year, this November brings a wave of nostalgia for employees and fans alike who have been with Pipeworks since the beginning.

This month, we celebrate the release anniversaries of two iconic members of the Pipeworks gameography – “Godzilla: Save the Earth” (StE) in 2004 and “Godzilla: Unleashed” in 2007. As highly anticipated winter releases, these titles welcomed the holiday season in a monstrous way. Alongside their elder sibling, 2002's “Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee” (DAMM), these games are a key part of Pipeworks’ history, helping put us on the map and allowing us to grow into the successful studio we are today.

Our Godzilla video games are our earliest examples of the Pipeworks pedigree: Crafting exceptional games for all to enjoy. They stand as a testament to the creative freedom given to us to work within the legendary Godzilla universe. Not only that, but these titles also underscore the remarkable level of trust established between Pipeworks, Atari, and Toho, showcasing a collaboration that allowed us to create a genuinely unique Godzilla gaming experience. The lessons and experiences we gained from bringing the colossal world of Godzilla to life set the stage for who we are today — and we will carry those memories with us forever.

To celebrate each of the respective birthdays in the Pipeworks Godzilla Trilogy, our community team sat down for an interview with three developers of the games: Dan Duncalf, Dan White, and Simon Strange.

Before we begin, what was your role for each game in the Godzilla trilogy?

Dan D: Producer.

Dan W: Technical Director.

Simon: Combat Designer.

What was the process of landing the Godzilla contract? How did it feel?

Dan D: When Atari approached us about working with them, they had both this Godzilla game and another title that they were looking for developers for. To be honest, when looking at the Godzilla franchise, we were concerned that it wouldn't be well-received, as all the other Godzilla games up until that point were pretty bad. But the Godzilla IP was very valuable, and as of that time, Pipeworks was still an unproven studio. 


Pipeworks was able to show Atari some demos we’d made, including Xbox-related demos that were created for Microsoft, which showed our technical prowess. Basically, to show that we could make good games was our team's individual back catalog of successful games. What we had was our back catalog of games that individuals on the team had developed throughout their careers. Since the most recent Godzilla game prior to ours had critic ratings below 50%, there was a goal to beat that rating. And we greatly exceeded that goal. This was also Pipeworks' second title in production – it meant that all our eggs weren't in one basket.

Dan W: Well, we got the contract from Atari, and I don't remember how we got put in contact with Atari to begin with. As I recall, they knew the license was available, they were interested in the license, they were interested in making a game, and they wanted us. 
 
We actually made a demo for them. It was a demo, so it was not full-featured, but you could basically just drive Godzilla around in a little bit of San Francisco. The demo looked cool by the standards of the time. I think it was the fall of 2000 when we did that. 
 
We just barely got Godzilla signed when a different project we were on got canceled. If it had not gotten signed when it did, Pipeworks would have been in real trouble. But it all worked out; it was great. It came just in the nick of time. 

Simon: I originally interviewed at Pipeworks for a different project. A week after my interview, Pipeworks called me back and said, “Oh, that project doesn't exist anymore. So, if you come back for a second interview, it's going to be for this other game about Godzilla. Do you know anything about Godzilla?”

When it comes to that first game, at the time of its release, Godzilla video games had somewhat of a mixed track record. With that in mind, what did you take away from various forms of Godzilla media out at the time? What about the movies specifically – how did you aim to capture that same feeling as the films? 

Dan W: This is the fundamental challenge of a Godzilla game – clearly, it should be a fighting game because that's what they do in the movies. But also, they're giant monsters, so they should move kind of slow. Even though our monsters feel slow compared to, I don't know, “Mortal Kombat”, if you just look at how tall Godzilla is and you look at how fast his fist is moving, it's breaking the speed of sound--just because he is so big. Getting the timing right was really difficult. 

Simon: At the time of the original game, I didn't have my nuanced appreciation for why so many previous Godzilla projects were lackluster. All I knew was that I wanted to make something really good. 
 
I very much wanted to create a slower, strategic type of fighting game. I dislike the hyper-focus on speed and reaction times in "fighting games" – I wanted to explore the strategic depths and not copy existing fighting game tropes. So, I was determined to make a game that was strategically interesting and complex, but that didn't require fast reflexes at all. Godzilla was a great excuse to do that – you just kind of pushed your buttons and didn’t need to be fast or speedy. And if you push the right buttons, you’ll win. I thought that was great. 

How did you manage the pros and cons of the tech at your disposal for the trilogy games – whether it was the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, or Wii?

Dan W: For the first game, initially, we were going to do an Xbox game because we were known as Xbox developers. Very early on, the publisher told us to switch to the GameCube. And they were right to do that. It wasn't a tech decision to launch on the GameCube. It was because the publisher, and I think rightly so, thought the GameCube was liable to be a more successful platform for the game. 
 
We did the GameCube version, and then we made the Xbox version, which we wanted to release, but then we were told we needed to do the second Godzilla. 

Simon: I have two anecdotes for this, actually.  
 
I started at Pipeworks in November of 2001, and two weeks after starting my new job, everyone at the studio got a free GameCube. I remember thinking, "This is awesome. I haven't been here even a month, and I got a free GameCube! This place rules." 
 
The other story is about four-player games. Kirby Fong, the producer at Atari, was really adamant that Godzilla support four players. That was his vision, right? Four-player brawling. He wanted "Power Stone," which was a big game on the Dreamcast with four-player brawling.  
 
I don't know about Dan, but at least Solomon [Sliwinski] and I were like, "This is a two-player game. Fighting games are two-player games! We're making a two-player game, and we're optimizing for two players.” But then we hit a publisher milestone, which had to demonstrate four-player fighting. We were confident that it would get cut and that it would be a two-player fighting game. So, we just slapped that feature together with the idea that we’d cut it after the milestone. We spent maybe a week and a half on it… and it was immediately just awesome. Atari was right – we were wrong. 

Destructible environments were a major feature of each of the trilogy games, obviously. How did you go about creating the different cities, which had to be balanced out in terms of size, throwable objects, and so on? 

Dan D: I want to tell a story about the building throwing in the Godzilla games. It was found somewhat by accident, as when we added throwing objects – I think it was cars – you could literally throw anything. The cars were very tiny and hard to pick up. But picking up buildings and throwing them at each other was really fun. So, we told the publisher about it, and they were skeptical. Well, without the publisher actually seeing it, there was no way for them to see how fun it was. So, we put in a cheat code that you could enter to enable building throwing. The Atari Producer Kirby Fong called me up when he got the next version and asked if there was any way to see the building throwing. In a couple of minutes, I could hear him being excited about it, and within the next few minutes, there were people in his office playing with him, including an Atari senior vice president, who I heard say, “This is amazing! Toho has to see this.” Atari agreed they would finesse this to Toho and try to convince them. About a month later, Toho agreed, and this became one of the trademark features of the games. 

Dan W: I'll say that one of the questions from the very beginning, even from the first demo, was, what about the tail? What do we do about tail collisions? The tail is a weapon against other monsters, but does it pass through buildings? Or is it going to knock down buildings? Basically, we decided unless you are using a move where the tail is a weapon, it just goes through the environment, and that's how it works. It was the right decision, but I spent a lot of time stressing about that. 
 
We spent a lot of time thinking about how to do destructible environments. It's difficult on that hardware. Godzilla: DAMM and Godzilla: StE use this crazy Z-buffering trick to take gouges out of buildings at the pixel level. If you look at the buildings when you hit them, they sort of look like they have bites taken out. 

The geometry really isn't deformed. There are decals that are drawn on the buildings, which, through a Z-buffer trick make it look like you can see through parts of them. If you look carefully, you can see there are some artifacts around that. We spent a lot of time trying to come up with a clever way to do destruction on hardware in the year 2001. 

There was a city editor where you lay down the buildings and the traffic nodes and set up the traffic system. We had a whole destructible object system. Graphics hardware in general, particularly the hardware then, does not want to draw lots and lots of little tiny objects. To get the throughput that you expect, ideally, you would have a relatively small number of objects with very large numbers of polygons. But, for those games, we had lots of small objects with small numbers of polygons. A lot of effort was put into batching and preprocessing and trying to optimize the way all those little objects were drawn. It was a cool technical problem. 

A lot of the tricks that are used to improve frame rate, like keeping the camera pointing down or using a portaling system, none of those worked for cities because you could basically see forever. We used fog but didn't want to be too over the top with it. The fog distance would actually change based on where you were looking. There were a lot of tricks we used to try and limit the draw distance and give you a sense of being in a city while also not having to draw tons and tons of buildings that you couldn't even get to. 

Simon: There were three tracks that we developed in parallel: The "living city" traffic system, the destruction system, and the city layouts. Changes in one would often affect the other two, but we were always iterating on those systems.  

One specific feature we introduced was a "walk-through" building, which meant they offered no resistance to monster movement – you could just walk through them. We wanted "walk-through" buildings to be visually distinct so players wouldn't be confused about which buildings would block them and which would not.  

We tried setting a specific height – but there were too many buildings of various heights to make that feel good. I don't think we ever hit a 100% satisfactory solution. But even without perfection, I think everyone agrees that throwing entire buildings is one of the highlights of the series. 

I literally just played these Godzilla games last week with a six-year-old. And after playing, he said, “There was a bus driving around. This is not a ‘go on the bus’ time, this is a ‘drive away from the city’ time!” But we sure spent a lot of time making those tiny vehicles obey traffic laws. 

How much creative freedom did you have in designing the game? What was the process like for deciding which monsters should be in the game? What about creating the original ones? And what about the locations? 

Dan D: When it comes to deciding which monsters would be in the game, there were some licensing issues between North America and Japan. For example, the Japanese version of Godzilla: DAMM got an additional kaiju because it was released in Japan, but the movie was never released here in the U.S. that had Mechagodzilla 3 in it. There were also some licenses we tried to get but were never able to. 

Dan W: I feel like we had an enormous amount of creative freedom. At the very high level, there was direction, but as far as how the game played, a lot of the details were up to us. I think for engineering and design, in some ways, it felt like an original IP. We had a tremendous amount of freedom to just make what we wanted, and it turned out great. 

Simon: Mark Crowe decided on game locations – I wasn't ever aware of any discussion or push-back there. Atari and Toho were very strict about which monsters we could use – we'd ask for some, then there would be negotiations, they would come back with a counter-offer, and then we'd repeat. We absolutely became bolder with our monster requests as the series went on. Making Mothra a playable character with two forms was a big goal. Biollante, in the third game, was a big goal. 

The art for each game stood out for its time - for example, the first game featured bump-skinned characters, which wasn't standard for GameCube games at the time. How big of a priority was it to design monsters that look and feel like the ones we see in the movies? 

Dan D: Regarding bump mapping, the Xbox and GameCube were just different beasts. The Xbox had a programmable pixel shader, where you could write code to operate on up to four different textures, blending them in any way you wanted. Bump mapping is essentially taking the dot product of the bump with a light source. The “bump” would be in a texture. The GameCube had a “flipper chip” which had eight different fixed functions it could execute between what it called a TEV (texture environment) unit. So, if you had two lights, you would need two of those eight stages to do your dot product. I think when we started on the GameCube development, we didn't really know enough about how it worked to easily port over the Xbox shader compiler that was written, but between Solomon Sliwinski and Brian Apgar, they figured it out. 

Dan W: We spent a ton of time getting bump mapping to work, technically getting it to perform. With that hardware, you didn't write shaders the way you write shaders now. It was very difficult to get it to work correctly and to generate the bump maps. We spent a ton of time on that, and it was worth it. 

One thing that was cool was when you hit the barrier, you have this kind of weird shock effect that plays on the monster. Brian Apgar came up with that. He put random values in the transformation matrix and it just kind of freaks out and produces this crazy effect. 

I also feel like the lighting was, for the time, very good. That was something I personally worked on and spent a lot of effort on. 

Simon: Atari and Toho both very much insisted on a high level of visual accuracy. In terms of animations and combat style, I came up with a guide for each character based on what I wanted their personality to be. Some of that came from the movies, and some of that was just a desire to "fill out" the design space to make a good game. It's been really pleasing to see movies and comics come out that directly reference those ideas – proving that those ideas about each monster's personality resonated with players and fans. 
 
Here's a specific anecdote - the Thunderball. I wanted Anguirus to roll into a ball a la Blanka in “Street Fighter.” Toho initially balked, saying that wasn't something Anguirus could do. But we pushed, saying it was a "Rage Move" and represented a special attack beyond normal limits, etc. Plus, it was just awesomely cool. A few years later, in the "Final Wars" film, Anguirus 100% rolled into a ball to attack opponents. That was good news because then it was movie canon, and we didn't have to quibble about it anymore. Gigan's eyebeam and "shotgun blast" were similar. They didn't exist in the movies but felt important and thematic in-game. So, we pushed for them, and then the other media started to incorporate them. Destoroyah's "Horn Katana" was inspired by a single three-second shot in his film – and it turned into his major in-game mechanic. Even the name "Horn Katana" is now Toho canon, which feels great. You could say that Pipeworks invented those things, but from my perspective, we were just unearthing more elements of the characters. Those elements were sort of needed to make them robust. 

The fighting system in each of the games is iconic. What were the early goals for the fighting system in DAMM, and how did that evolve as time went on with the sequels? 

Dan W: There was always tension around this. We had some people who wanted it to be strategic, some people who wanted it to be faster, and some people who wanted it to have a nice balance. I think we feel like in the first one, the building throwing was a little bit OP, but it was cool. 
 
One of the pieces of technology we developed was a tool we called the monster editor, which we later changed the name to character editor. It was made by Solomon Sliwinski, who was the primary gameplay engineer for all of the Godzilla games. This was a special-purpose reaction state machine editor for making fighting games that was used on all the Godzilla games and on Deadliest Warrior. 
 
Simon: I wanted a game where a skilled player would consistently beat an unskilled player BUT would lose 75% of their health doing so. The point is that even though "winning" isn't really much in doubt, new players should deal a lot of damage – get a lot of strong hits in and feel powerful even if they ultimately lose. So, we eliminated a lot of the traditional fighting game elements that allow for perfect games. Blocking. Counters. Reversals. Tech throws. Air recovery. The game isn't about avoiding damage – it's about dealing enough damage before you take too much yourself. It's a slugfest. 
 
We also balanced the game around powerups, which gave it a really unique feel. Some players don't like powerups – but without them, many characters don't work as well. Destoroyah and Mechagodzilla LOVE the energy powerups, for example. Rodan's health is wildly low – but he's fast enough to grab a bunch of powerups, which is how he balances out. 
 
In terms of evolution, there are tons of details we could talk about. Unblockable attacks, attack directions, damage types, heights, etc. But the core concept stayed pretty consistent. 

Across the three games, are there any concepts that come to mind that ended up on the cutting room floor? 

Dan W: We wanted to make a more sophisticated building destruction system that would have been based on real physics. We put some effort into it and made prototypes of a sort of truss system for modeling buildings. We modeled things like realistic fire spreading and other effects like that. 

Simon: So, I know this is a very popular topic for people doing these – when talking to me about these games or when they do interviews about the games, they're always like, “Which monsters didn't make it?” Very famously, we worked on Biollante for the second game and weren't able to finish Biollante. And so, we just cut Biollante, but there were still some files and there are some fan mods where people that got the partially implemented Biollante in the game, right? And so, there are people who think, “They worked on things that didn't make it into the game!” Godzilla: Unleashed, though. We shipped with 25 monsters – we 100% got every monster we ever thought about getting in that game.  
 
Nothing ever really got cut across the three games. Biollante is really the only thing that ever got cut. There were things we toyed with or scoped down, though. Like, we did have a much longer story for Godzilla: Unleashed, but we ended up without the time to make all the cutscenes for the story. We had a whole bunch of levels in the game that were supposed to be strung together by the story. And then we ended up with about 20% of the story moments that we had planned. 

What main lesson did you learn from each of the respective games when you look back on them? 

Dan W: The first game is a triumph of a group of people united around a concept making just that, right? There's no engine. We had an idea of what that game was, and there wasn't time wasted on more general stuff. It was very focused on an idea, and it worked out great. 

Simon: For Godzilla: DAMM, when characters are supposed to be different, ANY similarities will spoil the illusion. For Godzilla: StE, mini-games are MUCH MORE WORK than you think. Even more than that. For Godzilla: Unleashed, new control schemes are very shiny – but they don't have staying power. 

Which character from any of the games in the trilogy is your favorite? 

Dan W: Mechagodzilla. I love those rockets. 

Simon: For me, Gigan. The first game had 11 playable characters, and there were 12 of us full-time on the project. So, everybody was assigned one character to master and be an advocate for. I was Gigan, and I just can't help but love him still. The Giant Space Chicken is hilarious. He teleports – which fits because my original “Street Fighter II” main was Dhalsim! 

How does it feel to still have such a loyal fan base for these games after all these years? 

Dan W: Incredibly gratifying. It's so gratifying to have worked on something that people respect 20 years later. It's incredibly gratifying, and it makes me wish every game we made was like that. 

Thank you for allowing us to make these games and having them be successful. We wanted to make a game that sold hundreds of thousands of units and that people would want to play. When we started Pipeworks, that seemed like kind of a crazy idea, and yet that's what happened. We made this game, and people played it and enjoyed it, and it's just like I said, particularly the first game is incredibly gratifying to look back on. It was a ton of work and at times super stressful, but it was great, and without the players, it never would have happened. 

Simon: Obviously, it's great to still get fan letters from something we did more than 20 years ago. It's proof that the work we do at Pipeworks can matter. It’s really cool to go to places and have people ask, “How come King Ghidorah has 350 health, but Destoroyah has 600 health? What were you thinking when you made that decision?” and I think to myself, “Oh yeah, I remember thinking on that for a couple of days!” and here we are 10+ years later, talking about it. That is great. 
A mural advertising Godzilla: Unleashed on the streets of New York City in 2007 (image credit: Toho Kingdom).
Nestled within the revered Pipeworks library, the Godzilla trilogy stands as a noteworthy gem among the myriad of games, becoming a cherished cornerstone in our gaming legacy. Discover more about our extensive gameography by visiting the "Our Games" section on our website and uncover the rich history of Pipeworks!
OUR GAMES

CardHouse: Free Open-Source Unity Tool for Card Game Creation​

CardHouse: Free Open-Source Unity Tool for Card Game Creation

Pipeworks Studios is excited to offer CardHouse, a free, open-source tool for creating card games in Unity! CardHouse leverages our studio's experience as card-savvy game developers on titles like SUPERFIGHT, Magic: Spellslingers, and Prominence Poker to offer a toolkit for adding card-based mechanics to your games.

Our very own Theodore Carter, engineering manager, penned this blog to show how CardHouse came to be and how it may help you in your own card game endeavors!

This is the story of CardHouse, a game toolkit I wrote in Unity for making card games. I’ve donated the project to Pipeworks Studios, which is now releasing CardHouse to the public domain.


I love card games - engine builders, monster battlers, hacking simulators - there’s always been a joy for me in the versatility of cards. “Pokémon” and “Magic” cards were an endless source of fascination for me during my childhood and adolescence, being both pleasing to the eye and teeming with strategic synergies. My interest in making video games started in the early 2010s just as tabletop games were having their renaissance. I watched designers push the limits of what card games could be, and it inspired me to incorporate cards into my digital side projects. But the more card-based games I made, the more I tired of rewriting the same game systems over and over. I wanted something reusable but was too inexperienced to understand how to build something I could extend to make arbitrary card games. Instead, I’d just copy and paste code as needed, dreaming of one day having a more robust system I could use to make the kinds of games I was interested in.


My interests eventually led to me joining Pipeworks Studios. It was my first time working in the games industry, my first time having my code reviewed by other engineers, and my first time even using source control! It’s so wild to remember a time when Perforce and Visual Studio weren’t the air I breathed. And so after a couple of years, I felt much more comfortable developing games in C# and Unity. I also found myself working on yet another card game in my professional life, solving the exact same problems I had as a hobbyist but this time with better architectural skills! I decided it was time to build my card-based dream framework, and so during the winter break of 2021, CardHouse was born.

My vision for CardHouse was to create a system that solved the more annoying problems I had encountered in my personal and professional programming experience making card games. Firstly, I wanted my cards to be robust - able to handle many state changes per frame with elegance and grace. I decided that CardHouse needed an abstraction layer that could handle translating, rotating, and scaling objects. This “seeker” system now handles requests for card movement and processes them smoothly, serving as the visual foundation for the rest of the project.


Secondly, I wanted to minimize code repetition by removing the need to repeatedly call methods that flip cards face up or face down, orient them in a particular fashion, or check if a player’s hand is full before moving things around. In most card games, players move cards between distinct “zones” or “groups” like a player’s hand, the board, or the discard pile. Why not let the discard pile dictate the facing, interactivity, orientation, and position of each card it holds? With this approach, developers can simply request that a card move from one group to another and leave the rest of the logic up to the CardGroup component's configuration data.


The third goal I set for CardHouse was to eliminate the need for timers, since so many bugs in card games seem to come from cascading “when this happens, do that“ effects running into each other. I wanted everything to happen in a single frame in abstract data, and then have the visuals smoothly animate the results. That turned out to be easier said than done, unfortunately. While there’s a waypoint system to help illustrate multi-step card interactions, coordinating large numbers of cards to use it in a way that makes sense visually has eluded me. Plus, testers of CardHouse immediately wanted a way to orchestrate behavior with timers so I put in a timed event chain that can be triggered when the game phase changes or certain actions are taken. I hope to someday be able to rely on waypoints exclusively, but for now, take care to minimize or disable sources of interruption like user input when timers are running.


With the basic elements of CardHouse written, I decided to give it a test drive by making a few games. I started with “Solitaire”, which highlighted the need for a specialized card shuffle seeker. Next came a memory-matching game and digital “Tarot” sandbox. These didn’t end up requiring anything that would have general utility, so the base components were largely unaltered. It was nice to see my game code and framework insulated from each other for once!

At this point, I felt ready for a real challenge - making a two-player game in the style of the CCGs of my youth. To make these I needed a host of supporting systems for phase management, currencies, card loyalty, board duplication, and conditional logic. I knew I’d want to reuse these systems for my own game ideas, so I started constructing them as optional layers - a game might use the phase system, the currency system, or both, or neither, and it should still function. These interlocking a-la-carte systems require a few months of work, but once they were in place I found that I could construct a deck builder (a la “Slay the Spire”) using the same systems without much issue. It was starting to feel like CardHouse was a fairly mature framework at that point.

It took me a little over a year to get CardHouse to a place I was comfortable with, and at that point, I was eager to make a real game with it. I had been organizing a series of internal game jams at Pipeworks and really wanted people to be able to use CardHouse to make their own things, too. Since Pipeworks Studios has worked on a range of card games over the years, including “SUPERFIGHT,” “Magic: Spellslingers,” and our own “Prominence Poker," we had the perfect audience of card-savvy game developers to put my framework to the test. And so it dawned on me that I might just want to hand the keys to CardHouse over to Pipeworks. Our CTO graciously let me continue to iterate on the codebase and get developer feedback as part of my job, and so in February of 2023, I donated the framework to my company and have been maintaining it ever since. It has been really amazing to see what my coworkers have done with CardHouse, but all of that is top secret of course.


In preparation for the public release of CardHouse, I decided to take a note from GMTK's Platformer Toolkit and create a series of interactive tutorials to show what the different components are and how they can be configured. Now, anyone who opens or imports the CardHouse package can embark on a series of lessons right in the Unity editor, gaining some hands-on understanding of its capabilities. This is no replacement for traditional documentation but should be a good starting point for new users.


And so, the time has come for CardHouse to venture out into the world. It is now open source and available for free download on the Unity Asset Store. Since this framework is being released with a CC0 Creative Commons license, you’re free to sell the games you create without any obligation to credit Pipeworks or me. You can also contribute to CardHouse’s development on GitHub if you find any glaring bugs or want to make feature requests. My goal was to release this framework to the public domain from the very beginning, and I’m happy that Pipeworks is doing the same. At Pipeworks, we firmly believe in the value of generosity and the positive impact of freely sharing our work, and I’m excited to see more projects like this come out of our studio in the future.


I hope that CardHouse serves as both inspiration and a solid starting point for your own card game development journey. May it empower you to unleash your creativity and bring your game ideas to life!


Card games are complicated! They have all these rules about what you can play and when, and coding state machines to govern all this behavior can be a headache. CardHouse gives you a starting point for adding card-based mechanics to any genre of game! This toolkit includes systems for common card operations like shuffling and dealing cards, resource management, and local multiplayer (pass-and-play style). Plus, CardHouse is written with extensibility in mind. Components focus on using UnityActions to orchestrate behavior so you can hook in your own custom game logic wherever you need!

Find CardHouse on the Unity Asset Store here

International Animation Day 2023

International animation day 2023

Every year on Oct. 28, the global community comes together to celebrate International Animation Day, a special occasion dedicated to honoring the creative minds, scientists, and skilled technicians who contribute to the world of animated art. It's a day when we pay tribute to all the facets of animation.

This unofficial holiday was established in 2002 by the International Animated Film Association (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation) to mark the historical significance of Oct. 28. On this day in 1892, animation made its first public appearance at the Grévin Museum in Paris, thanks to the pioneering work of Charles-Émile Reynaud and his Théâtre Optique, where he showcased his inaugural creation, "Pantomimes Lumineuses."

Animation, as an art form, comes to life when skilled artists breathe movement into drawings, bringing them to the realm of motion pictures. This captivating medium has been in use for over a century to craft cartoons and various forms of entertainment. Throughout the years, artists and technicians have continued to innovate, giving rise to diverse styles and techniques in the world of animation.

In recognition of International Animation Day, we spoke with Pipeworks art manager Ben Hopper to talk about his path to becoming an animator, his day-to-day work, his influences, and how he continues to grow and evolve in his role:

What initially sparked your passion for animation? Can you recall a specific moment or animated work that ignited your interest in the art?

Probably not one specific moment. As a kid growing up in Buffalo, New York, I devoured anything and everything animated. It probably started with "Sesame Street," which, back in the early 1980s had these great, really funny animated segments. Back then, not only were Saturday morning cartoons hitting their peak, but syndicated cartoons before and after school were also huge, and I watched them all. In Buffalo, Channel 29 was the home for all that stuff. And if there was an animated special on prime time, like "The California Raisins" by Will Vinton Studios or any of the animated holiday specials, I was there in front of the TV.

A lot of the American studios back then outsourced the animation to Japanese studios, and I remember gradually noticing how all my favorite shows were created in the US but animated in Japan. "The Real Ghostbusters," "G.I. Joe," "The Transformers" – all animated in Japan. Sometimes there would be an episode animated by a different studio, and I would notice how the animation wasn’t as good, and I’d be really disappointed. I even remember watching a "Strawberry Shortcake" cartoon that had really impressive animation – I think it was a pilot episode of a planned series – and of course, it was one of the Japanese animation studios in the credits.


Other shows like "Battle of The Planets," "Robotech" and "Voltron" were Japanese shows redubbed and re-edited for an American audience. They just had an entirely different look and feel than American cartoons. The animation was more exciting to me and shows like "Robotech" just had a more mature sensibility than something like, say "Super Friends" or" Scooby-Doo," which were goofy, but I watched them anyway.

So, the explosion of television animation that was used to sell toys in the ‘80s made a big impression on me. I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning during the week just so I could watch the opening intro to "Bionic Six," which was seriously, stunningly good. "Thundercats" had an amazing intro, too. And they all had great original songs to go with those intros.

Of course, I took a particular interest in the artistic side of video games early on as well. As the game consoles advanced from the Atari 2600 to the NES to the Sega Genesis and Super NES, I was fascinated how the visuals and animation in games were constantly evolving. And outside of the consoles, the fluid animation and minimal but super effective storytelling in "Karateka" on the Commodore 64 was mind blowing to me. And Don Bluth’s beautiful work on "Dragon’s Lair" and "Space Ace" in the arcades – I hated how hard and expensive those games were, but I would stand there in an arcade and just watch the demo/attract mode over and over because I couldn’t afford to keep plunking quarters into them.

So, I had a love and appreciation for animation from an early age, and I’d often think that’s what I wanted to do someday, even if I had no idea how to go about starting on that path.

Animation is a diverse field with various styles and techniques. Could you share your favorite animation genre or style, and explain why it resonates with you?

I don’t know if I have a favorite genre or style. As a working animator, you’ve got to be prepared to animate in whatever style the project demands. The work I do for a living is all in Maya these days, so I’m always trying to keep my 3D skills sharp, but I go back to working in 2D for personal projects all the time, and I’m always looking for ways to sneak that into my process at work whenever I can. I just think when you’re working in 2D you’re not constrained by a rig someone else made. You’re drawing it yourself, and often designing it yourself, so you can basically go wherever your imagination takes you. I love good pixel animation, and I do a lot of that for fun.

Many aspiring animators have role models or favorite animators who inspire them. Who are some of the animators or animation works that have influenced your creative journey?

Like many animators, I’ve got a lotta love for Hayao Miyazaki, though I’m not sure I’d ever want to work for him. The first film he directed, "The Castle of Cagliostro," might be my all-time favorite animated film. It’s just non-stop fun and action from beginning to end. I think "Princess Mononoke" is brilliant. I love the original "Ghost in the Shell," but the director of that movie, Mamoru Oshii, also directed "Patlabor" – an obscure ‘80s anime feature that I first watched in a Japanese film class in college – and I think that’s the best animated film no one knows about.

Transitioning from a fan of the animated craft to a career as an animator is a significant step. Can you describe your journey and the pivotal moments that led you to pursue animation as a profession?

Yeah, I mean, I didn’t go straight from high school into an animation career path. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, and I was a cartoonist for my high school and college newspapers, so making art was always in me, but I didn’t know how to make a living at it. I ended up majoring in English and creative writing in college and worked at a small-town newspaper for over three years before deciding to go back to school to get a degree in animation. I was in my mid-20s at that point.

It was pretty clear to me in 2001 that newspapers were heading into tough times. I knew I had to find something else to do, and DigiPen in Redmond, Washington, ticked all the boxes for me at the time. I started pursuing an associate degree there in 2002, and after my first year I landed a summer art internship at Nintendo Software Technology. So that kind of sealed the deal as to whether or not I made the right choice. It was totally surreal – the summer prior I was working in the newsroom of The Gleaner in Henderson, Kentucky, and a year later, I’ve got a paid internship at Nintendo in the beautiful Pacific Northwest? I mean, come on. It doesn’t get much better than that when you’re looking for validation in a career change.

The process of creating animation can be intricate and require significant time commitments. What aspects of the animation process do you find most rewarding?​

I’m having the most fun when I’m creating something new or using my skills to help someone visualize the ideas they have in their head. Creating a sequence or performance out of thin air is always my favorite thing to do. The whole process – from gathering references to creating thumbnails of the main keyframes to blocking out the animation – it’s very fulfilling when you take it from nothing to a finished piece of animation.

And the concept of “show early and show often” is pretty important. Putting your work out there for feedback can sometimes feel like you’re standing naked in front your peers, which just to be clear, would be as mortifying to me as it would be for most, but doing that always results in a better finished product.

Animation often involves storytelling — or at the very least conveying emotion. You recently contributed several new emotes to Pipeworks' Prominence Poker. Can you explain how you went about creating the expressions conveyed through some of these emotes — what was the process like?

Yeah, that was honestly some of the most fun I’ve had on a project in recent years. I’m not a poker player and not into the casino scene at all, but doing those emotes was a lot fun and really what I wish I could be doing all the time as an animator. Getting paid to record yourself acting like a fool to create a performance through animation – I mean, it’s hard to call that work.

Sometimes I had to animate something that I couldn’t do myself – like some of the chip tricks or spinning a gun around my finger – so I had to do some research on YouTube to animate that accurately. But in the end, it was as simple as starting with a character in a t-pose and making him or her come alive at the poker table. I’m not sure how successful I was – I feel like I wish I would have had the time to give everything another polish pass – but that’s how it goes sometimes.

The animation industry is constantly evolving with new technologies and trends. How do you stay up-to-date and continue to grow as an animator? Do you have any advice for aspiring animators who wish to follow in your footsteps?

I definitely try to keep growing as an animator. I mean, if you don’t do that, you’re dead in the water. I approach every new animation task as if it’s a referendum on how good I really am. I look at every new task as an opportunity to apply everything I’ve learned up to that point. I feel like you’re only as good as the last thing you’ve done, and I still feel my best work is ahead of me.

I’ve never been an early technology adopter, so I’m not one to jump into whatever the next hot thing is, even when it comes to my craft. I still don’t like using AnimBot, for instance. A lot of animators in my field use it, but personally, I feel like it inserts itself into Maya in ways I don’t like, and there are always licensing issues with it, and then uninstalling it is such a chore when it’s not working. So, I’m still keyframing in Maya the old-school way, and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of what’s possible there. I’m very much a pose-to-pose animator, and I’m always trying to improve my posing and timing, which for me, are really at the heart of any good piece of animation.

When I started learning how to use 3DStudio Max and Maya back in 2002, the barrier to entry in terms of getting access to that software and learning how to use them was high. Remember, this was still in the days of the CRT monitor, and PCs weren’t nearly as good as they are now. You needed a PC that could run high-end 3D software, and there weren’t a million how-to videos and tutorials on YouTube like there are now.

These days, you can download Blender, Unity, and Unreal Engine for free, and there’s a student version of Maya that’s free, so you can totally train yourself how to author an animation and get it into a game engine by watching tutorials on YouTube or using the Unity or Epic help forums. So, with a little self-discipline, it’s kind of easier than ever to learn the tools and the art form. The downside of that is it’s now more competitive than ever, so you’ve got to be prepared to go up against a lot of really good animators when you’re looking for work.

I would say to any aspiring animator – watch a lot of good animation and really study it frame by frame. There’s no shame in just flat-out copying what others have already done so long as you acknowledge that in your work. It’s a great way to learn and break down the barriers, because sometimes great animation can look like magic, and that can be intimidating to a beginner.

There are also many great resources online for serious training, like AnimSquad, iAnimate, and Animation Mentor. I took Animation Mentor’s Advanced Body Mechanics course a few years ago, and I think that’s an essential course for any serious animator. It always helps to be around other animators as well. Look all around for people you can learn from.

Apart from all of that, becoming an animator requires a strong work ethic, self-discipline, and extreme persistence. You’re going to face a lot of rejection and criticism along the way, so you can’t be easily discouraged. I’ve had many points in my career where my self-confidence was about as low as it could get, but I was able to suffer through that and pick myself back up to try again. Having that kind of intestinal fortitude can make up for any lack of natural talent. Just keep going. Don’t let anything stop you.
Prominence Poker holds a place among the array of games found in the revered Pipeworks library, a cherished fixture in our gaming legacy. Want to learn more about the game? Visit the Prominence Poker website to read more about the world's most immersive free-to-play poker game!
PROMINENCE POKER WEBSITE

Designing the Prominence Bosses

Designing the
Prominence Bosses

National Boss’s Day, celebrated every year on October 16th, provides an opportunity to recognize employers, supervisors, and bosses for their leadership and guidance. We appreciate all our Pipeworks leaders, and, of course, there’s a special place in our hearts for our all of the formidable foes throughout Pipeworks history, like our five most prominent video game bosses: The Mayor, The Beast, The Godmother, The Hammer, and The Outlaw from Prominence Poker.

For this National Boss’s Day, the original designer of the Prominence Poker bosses, Bran Ulm, took the time to share some insights on what went into creating these iconic characters.

When people think of digital poker games, they don't really think of it as a game that would have a single-player story attached to it. What was it like taking on the task of fleshing out a world and boss characters in a game centered around poker?

Because most poker games don’t have a single-player mode or bosses, it was a challenge to figure out how to inject that aspect into the game. The strategy that we went for was indirect exposition. We were trying to tell the story through the world. We wanted to build up the world and have the story be more implied, as opposed to direct story, allowing players to kind of be a part of the story and not have it be so specific that there is a right or wrong way to play the story.

That was the plan all along, and I feel like we got close to hitting that goal. You can find little bits of information for each of the big characters and the city, but it’s not necessarily enough to make a full story.

There are five different bosses in Prominence. How do you go about making them distinct from each other? Were there any inspirations or tropes that were leaned into when it came to crafting the bosses? ​

I think it's probably apparent, but Guy Ritchie's films were a huge inspiration behind the tone of the game. You can see that in a lot of the freeze frames when introducing the characters.

With that, I was really leaning into those big mobster stereotypes, which I know can be risky. But that’s why the characters are so stereotypical.

The Beast from the Club’s biker gang was actually modeled after my wife. I call her that in real life, so that’s where the nickname came from. My wife, at the time when the game was originally being developed, wore not exactly biker clothes but more studded stuff than she does now. But the purple hair is still true. So, obviously, that character is a little special to me.

What goes into creating a boss character?

I like to start by thinking from a player’s perspective: what do I want the player to feel? It’s a little different and a little more challenging due to the fact that Prominence is a poker title as opposed to an RPG, but I still started from the approach of thinking about how I would want the player to feel. Then, all the choices I make are based on the answers to that question.

Is there anything that goes into designing a boss that a player wouldn't expect?

It was difficult, for a poker game, to figure out how to have different play styles be observable by the player. We had to adjust the settings that were available to us when building the characters to have the bosses' play styles feel different from each other. I was trying to imagine the bosses’ personalities and have their poker play style kind of reflect that personality. The bosses who are more calculated would be less volatile with their chips, whereas the ones who are a little more reckless would be more likely to go all in. So, The Beast would be more likely to go all in, whereas The Outlaw would be more reserved and calculated.

What was your favorite part in designing the bosses in Prominence?

My favorite part of designing the bosses was going through the concept art and voice actor selection process.
At Pipeworks, we hold our leadership in high esteem and cherish the enduring boss battles with the legendary adversaries who have challenged us over the years, such as The Mayor, The Beast, The Godmother, The Hammer, and The Outlaw.

Prominence Poker is one of many games in the Pipeworks library — a classic staple in our history. Want to learn more about the game? Visit the Prominence Poker website to read more about the world's most immersive free-to-play poker game!
PROMINENCE POKER WEBSITE

IT Professionals Day

IT PROFESSIONALS

DAY

Sept. 19 marks IT Professionals Day, an observance dedicated to acknowledging and commemorating the tireless efforts and contributions of the esteemed individuals who uphold the vital responsibility of maintaining uptime, connectivity, and other key technological functions. This all-encompassing holiday is a tribute to the multifaceted realm of information technology professionals, encompassing network engineers, database administrators, system administrators, IT support technicians, and information security experts, among others.
In a world that is now increasingly focused on hybrid work environments, dependency upon IT teams has taken an even greater significance. Every day, IT professionals are called upon to overcome a myriad of new challenges so individuals can do their jobs and organizations can function smoothly. In the game development industry, when you work on some of the biggest titles on the planet, that means being stocked with the latest and greatest technology and software, having lockdown security protocols and measures, and being ready to address an issue at a moment’s notice.

Pipeworks is proud to have some of the best IT experts in our industry on our team. In accordance with today’s celebration of IT professionals, we’ve asked Pipeworks team members from both sides of the coin – IT and end-user – to share their thoughts and words of appreciation.
“I’m always impressed with IT’s persistence when they solve my perplexing problems, and I’m forever grateful for their kindness when they solve my simple ones.”
- Jerome Hirsch, Engineer III
“They say the invisible hand has something to do with free markets and economics, but I know the truth. Pipeworks IT is the invisible hand that makes sure we can all make great games with a safe and reliable infrastructure.”
- Codey Winslow, Engineer II
"Over the last year, our IT department has proven themselves to be the best business partners my team could have asked for. They have taken calls at all hours of the day, been there for us to help in any way they can, and set up an entirely new office and network for us without missing a beat. I am honored to have them on our team. I can't thank them all enough."
- Jessica Rolak, Producer
"The IT team are the people who make our work possible. From keeping everything secure while making hybrid collaboration possible to fixing endless problems, I know we can always count on the folks in IT. On top of all the impressive work IT does, I am especially appreciative of how kind everyone on their team is, and how they always go above and beyond no matter how simple or complicated the task is.”
- Keighlee Riggan, Marketing Coordinator
“I am always pleased to work with our IT team. They always take the extra effort that is needed with any issue. If there is a glitch or a freeze, they always have the answer. Thanks for keeping our tech on track and ensuring our screens never go black!”
- Nate Scovil, Manager, Engineering
"The PW IT team always goes the extra mile in helping production set up for events and meetings and troubleshooting the myriad of technical issues that can crop up.”
- Janice Halka, Associate Producer
The State of IT in 2023: A Professional’s Perspective
By David Lo, Lead Help Desk Technician
The year 2023 marks a pivotal moment for IT professionals across industries. As organizations increasingly move towards digital-first strategies, the role of IT has never been more crucial. We're not just "fixers" or "the people who ensure your computer works" — we are enablers of organizational success. From securing sensitive data against an ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats to implementing automated solutions to mundane tasks, IT is the backbone that allows companies to innovate and grow in today's competitive marketplace.

We are also navigators in the uncharted waters of remote work, facilitating collaboration tools that bridge the physical distance between team members. Cloud services, software-defined networks, and other cutting-edge technologies are no longer "nice-to-haves" but "must-haves" for any organization wishing to stay relevant. And let’s remember our role in ensuring regulatory and contractual compliance, a growing concern in an age where data is the new currency.
However, this heightened importance comes with challenges. Keeping up with the rapid pace of technological advancements, enabling a hybrid workforce, and maintaining operational excellence are no small feats. Yet, these challenges make our roles more rewarding. Each day is a new opportunity to make a measurable impact, solve complex problems, and enable our companies to reach new heights.

On IT Professionals Day, I encourage you to take a moment to acknowledge the relentless work done behind the scenes by these unsung heroes. Our industry is not just about coding or networking; it’s about creating an environment where businesses can thrive, innovate, and impact society.

Pipeworks Studios Welcomes Kirstin Whittle

Pipeworks Studios Welcomes

Kirstin Whittle

Pipeworks Studios welcomes Kirstin Whittle as Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships. She brings over 30 years of experience in building strategic alliances and collaborating with content owners and platform holders to support AAA partnerships for their players to the studio.

"I am thrilled to align with such a dynamic, experienced team here at Pipeworks and look forward to introducing the studio to new partnerships and supporting our many long-term partners with AAA quality game development teams."
- Kirstin whittle, VP of BD & SP

Kirstin's career began in 1991 at Mindscape, where she contributed to a range of well-known games such as Ultima, Wing Commander, Sensible Soccer, and Maxis titles before moving to Renegade and becoming a part of the Warner family.

In 1999, she joined SCEE, where she played a key role in supporting the global expansion of PlayStation 2, transitioning later to head the Content Management team, where she helped to identify and develop potential platform pillars for Sony.

Most recently, Kirstin worked as Partnerships Director at Sumo Group, where she supported key partners in navigating the challenges of the remote model, maintaining strong ex-dev support through recent times. Since 2011, Kirstin has also been working in post-production services, specializing in QA, Loc, and player support, and helping partners to navigate new content roadmaps and overcome the early challenges of GaaS.

"I am thrilled and honoured to have Kirstin joining the Pipeworks leadership team. She shares our values and the belief that building long-term relationships with our partners is at the core of what we do best. I cannot wait to see where she can take us next."
- Lindsay Gupton, CEO

About Pipeworks Studios

About Pipeworks Studios

About Pipeworks Studios

Pipeworks Studios boasts a remarkable two-decade-plus legacy as a premier videogame developer based in Eugene, Oregon. Our unwavering focus on Games-as-a-Service development, co-development, and live operations has established us as one of the most established studios in the industry, with an extensive portfolio of blockbuster AAA franchises and original titles that showcase our unparalleled expertise in quality, craftsmanship, technical prowess, and creative expression.

We prioritize empowering our talented team to produce games of the highest caliber for the enjoyment of our players and partners. With our recent acquisition by the Jagex Group in July 2022, we are well positioned to demonstrate our remarkable capabilities on a global scale.

American Artist Appreciation Month

artist appreciation month

Last month, we marked American Artist Appreciation Month here in the United States, a time devoted to acknowledging the invaluable contributions of American artists to the wide world of art. The August observance offers an opportunity to honor the accomplishments and talents of artists spanning all kinds of creative disciplines, including painting, sculpture, photography, music, writing, and performance.

In the world of game development, pixels paint emotions. These talented game artists, from concept artists to 3D and user interface artists and all those in between, paint the world one pixel at a time, turning dreams into interactive realities and timeless memories.

In recognition of American Artist Appreciation Month, we asked a few of our Pipeworks artists to participate in a Q&A where they talked about their roles, art styles, and creative inspirations:

Jadeite Mesa

Jadeite Mesa

Jadeite Mesa

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

My role as an artist at Pipeworks is 3D art lead with a focus on environment art on my current project.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

My signature style of art would have to be anything stylized or hand-painted! It's one of my favorites to concept out and create in 3D – bonus points if it is especially colorful and whimsical!

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

My inspiration to make the kind of art I do is my younger self! I was always drawn more to this style and the different ways you can push things outside the realm of reality.

Adria Grayham

Adria Grayham

Adria Grayham

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

As an environment artist at Pipeworks, I get to work with really talented people to bring games to life. My role is to shape the in-game world and help tell the story that's being told within it.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

My signature style in 3D art is definitely more realistic, with an emphasis on story-telling and moody lighting.

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

Franchises like Horizon and The Last of Us are big inspirations for the kind of art I make. Not just in style but also in how they tell stories through their environments.
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Emma Overmyer

Emma Overmyer

Emma Overmyer

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

As a video game artist, you need to be able to replicate many different art styles, and this is especially true for artists at Pipeworks. We work on a variety of games with different clients, and we need to be able to match the art and make it feel like it belongs in its game. As an artist at Pipeworks, it is my job to create high-quality art assets for the different types of games we work on. In short, I make cool stuff and make sure it gets submitted to the right places.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

My favorite art style to work in is stylized and hand-painted art. I love to create cute, bright, soft art that makes the viewer feel warm and happy. I really like working with hand-painted textures, and I like to use shaders with outlines. Creating stylized art is fun because there are so many ways you can exaggerate an asset. The exploration and the variety of styles is so exciting and is never boring.

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

Some people who really inspire me to create art are artists such as Ruslan Shabelsky, Victoria Zavhorodnia, and Cody Gindy. I love their exploration and ingenuity when it comes to 3D art and environments. However, I like to find inspiration for my art in lots of places; online, in the world around me, and in the things I do. It's important to reach outside of your discipline to find inspiration as well. I normally create 3D art, but I love finding inspiration in traditional painting, pottery, interior design, and more. Looking outside of what I normally do can be refreshing and allows me to have more references and ideas to pull from. The world is wide, and there is so much beauty out there that can inspire you to create something great.
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Michael Judd

Michael Judd

Michael Judd

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

My role is as a UI Artist. I create all sorts of static and animated assets to be used in-game to help players have a visually pleasing experience. Whether that is art that fits within tiles or animated experience icons, I create art that fits in overlays or menus to help people navigate and interact with the game they are playing.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

I think I drift to two main styles of art. I really enjoy Motion Graphics a ton, I cut my teeth on using Adobe After Effects to animate scenes, explainer videos, YouTube videos, characters, etc. On the other hand, I have really been enjoying the 3D side of art, mainly in hard surface modeling. Creating objects or scenes out of 3D elements and then adding materials, lighting, compositing, and so on.

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

I'm highly inspired by so many types of game art. I always wanted to get into game design but always felt intimidated until a little game by Team Cherry was released called Hollow Knight. That kicked off me being able to start making my own art, animations, etc. in all sorts of different styles. I'm specifically inspired by worlds created in space sci-fi games like “Destiny,” dark gothic experiences like “Dark Souls” and “Elden Ring,” and deep stories like “The Vanishing of Ethan Carter” and “What Remains of Edith Finch.” I'm always inspired by the way art pushes a player forward or conveys emotions or stories through static or animated pieces.
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Lejon Lin

Lejon Lin

Lejon Lin

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

My role as a Sr. UI/UX Artist for Pipeworks is to conceptualize UI artwork that serves to make the user experience intuitive and meaningful for our purpose-driven games division that is MetaTeq. These concepts can sometimes start as wireframes or call for a previz-type video that showcases what the final program could run like with finalized UI components. Throughout the course of a project, I could be drawing storyboards, producing motion graphics, designing UI artwork, and then implementing that artwork into the game engine.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

I would consider my style to be more focused on clean and futuristic UI designs. I also lean heavily on my prior experience as a key art designer for sports, so my art has a modern sports production flavor.

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

I highly admire the work from large design studios like Troika, Cantina, Studio C, and ManVsMachine. They hire tremendous freelancers who work on UI visual effects for major feature films and commercials.

Chloe Settle

Chloe Settle

Chloe Settle

In your own words, what is your role as an artist at Pipeworks?

I’ve filled a dynamic art and design role in the Pipeworks marketing department for the past year and a half. Due to the variety of assets the marketing department needs to deliver, I design and create art for many projects, such as our new website, the branding revamp, various game marketing assets, social media content, and occasionally projection mapping for events.

What would you say is your signature style of art?

Since most of my art career has focused on marketing and business development applications, I’ve had to adapt to various art styles and mediums for multiple projects. I create a variety of art for graphic, animation, web, sound, UI & UX projects to augmented reality with projection mapping, programming, and immersive audiovisual experiences. Outside of work as an independent artist, my aesthetic and subject matter is sci-fi oriented with a colorful, chic, feminine edge. I think much of it is derived from my love for fashion and growing tired of the constant masculine themes in sci-fi art.

What or who inspires you to create the kind of art you do?

I take a lot of inspiration from video games but perhaps the most inspiration from the various art and tech forms in the electronic dance music scene. It’s something I’ve been a part of and passionate about since I was a teenager and music has always played such a big role in my life. It fuels the attraction I have to vibrant aesthetics, immersive graphics, audiovisual experiences, and sci-fi subject matter.
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Women’s Equality Day Q&A Blog

Women's Equality Day 2023

Every year on August 26th, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of when the Nineteenth Amendment was certified as part of the US Constitution, assuring that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” This day celebrates the women’s suffrage movement and honors the challenges women have faced in their journey to equality.

The games industry has historically lacked women’s representation both in the games themselves and behind the scenes in making those games. While there has been some progress with women in games over the past few years, it has been a difficult path to equality, one where we still have a long way to go.

In addition to adding Women’s Equality Day as a company holiday at Pipeworks, we also hosted an internal roundtable about being a woman in the games industry to honor the holiday.

We have also asked some of our women employees to participate in a Q&A about their time in this industry:




What is your name, role, and how long have you been in the game industry?
Monica: Monica, Game Designer, I have been in the industry since Jan 2019

Jadeite: My name is Jadeite, I’m a 3D artist here at Pipeworks, and I’ve been working in the games industry for a little over four years now.

Adria: My name is Adria, and I’m an Environment Artist. I’ve been in the game industry for just about a year now.

Dani: My name is Dani, I’m the Lead People Operations Partner here at Pipeworks Studios, and I have been in the game industry for 3.5 years.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the game industry?
What did your career path in this industry look like?
Monica: I was pursuing a career in Film/TV in college, but it was very hard as an Asian Femme looking person living in the Midwest. I tried to study for law school but got a bad concussion leaving me on bed rest for a year. I started playing video games for the first time to recover cognitively. I got hooked by its magic and decided to pursue a game dev career since law school was no longer an option due to my concussion (In hindsight, it might be a blessing in disguise... haha).

I started in Quality Assurance while studying game design in grad school. Later, I got an internship in production/localization because I was bilingual. I left the industry to work as an instructional designer when that company fell through (and the pandemic started). After school, I returned to the industry to work as a Community Manager and eventually got a job as a game designer.

Jadeite: I’ve been an artist and a gamer my whole life, so once I found out this was something I could pursue as a career, I went full force into it. I went to a film and performing arts high school, so this was a pretty easy decision. If I wasn’t drawing or 3D modeling, I was playing games, so I wanted to sink my teeth into that world and create experiences people could get lost in the same way I would. My career path in this industry was not typical, I was extremely lucky and got my first game job almost right out of college, and I’ve been in it since.
Adria: I’ve been playing games since I was a little girl. As I got older, I started to fall in love with video games and realized I wanted to be a part of making them. I was one of the fortunate ones that got into this industry just after graduating college.

Dani: I have always loved video games, and even though I work on the operations side, being part of a creative and innovative industry is important to me and the enjoyment I find in my work. I received my degree in Organizational Communication and was fortunate to start working in the games industry and the role I currently hold shortly after graduation.
What challenges have you faced as a woman in the game industry?
Monica: There are several challenges I have encountered. The first one is when I am in a room of men; sometimes, I will be talked over or not heard, maybe due to my softer voice. When I first started in game design, I learned to assert myself (somewhat aggressively) to be noticed, but then I got feedback that I was too “bossy” and “scary.” Secondly, I have worked with male leads/managers who are uncomfortable interacting with women. While luckily, many of them would still try to work with me regardless (and we became close friends after), I have leads who refused to communicate directly with me due to my gender, and it impacted my performance review because of that.

Jadeite: I’ve faced several challenges throughout the years, mainly in school and my early years just starting out in games. Not to go into too many details, but a small example for my day-to-day would look something like constantly having to prove myself and show that I was just as capable as my peers, which gets tiring.

Adria: One of the challenges I face is the internalized pressure to make myself more “palatable” to others. Rather than being direct, I find myself trying to be softer spoken to avoid being perceived as abrasive or rude. I think a lot of women, especially in male-dominated spaces, experience that added pressure to be more demure.

Dani: HR/People Operations is a female-dominated field, so I did not experience a lot of the same challenges that many women in game development do while trying to break into the industry. However, I have felt and witnessed the effects of underrepresentation since working alongside female developers. Being one of few women in a male-dominated industry has led to feelings of not belonging and imposter syndrome. Women must also work harder against stereotypes and biases that assume they are less skilled in the various aspects of game development.
Why is having more women in the game industry important?
Monica: When I first joined the game industry, it was still very macho (maybe it still is in some places); the issue is, you have a lot of seasoned cisgender white male game designers who have only designed for themselves and people like them for their whole career. They would make decisions that don’t make sense according to user research/player feedback, but it fulfills their player fantasy, which is, unfortunately, bad for business.

I advocate for diversity because our player bases are very diverse, so it is essential to have design input from people with different backgrounds and gaming experiences. In addition, design meetings with designers from other backgrounds encourage game designers to think beyond what they enjoy playing, leading to better and more inclusive game design.

Jadeite: There are lots of reasons! Representation for one, equality, and diversity. There’s no real reason why you shouldn’t hire women, and having a diverse team, in general, is great since this could give you insight into other areas you might not have thought about prior.
Adria: There are many reasons why having more women in this industry is so important. Our voices, our different backgrounds, and our unique stories add needed diversity to the games being made, from indie to AAA. Having more women in games also creates the representation that empowers young girls and other women alike to become artists, designers, writers, etc. Especially as a black woman, seeing the representation of other women and minorities in the game industry gave me extra confidence to pursue a games career.

Dani: Representation matters for so many reasons! Teams and work environments are strengthened through diversity and having a variety of perspectives. Women bring diverse backgrounds and experiences to game development, resulting in unique games and a broader audience. Their experience is necessary to avoid stereotypes and to produce characters and narratives that authentically represent women.
How can we encourage more women to pursue careers in traditionally male-dominated industries and roles, like game development?
Monica: I don’t want to sugarcoat this; working in the game industry will be much harder if you are not a man. Depending on the discipline, some are harder than others. I recommend that every woman who wants to join the industry actively seek and form allies with other game developers with marginalized identities. While I haven’t met many people with the same identities as mine, I have been getting a lot of help from other game developers with marginalized identities who taught me what to expect, being the only woman in the room, and how to detect and navigate toxic situations. If you cannot find allies in your workplace, you can always reach out to the growing number of organizations that aim to create opportunities and allyships for gender minorities in game dev.

Also, be careful with predatory places that charge you a lot of money and promise to send you to the game industry. Some places like International Game Developers Association and Code Coven (Limit Break if you are in the UK) will help pair aspiring game developers with diverse backgrounds with game devs willing to provide mentorship on the side, which can be very helpful.
Jadeite: Treating women better would be a start. Male-dominated industries also tend to have a huge “bro-culture” as well, which typically degrades women, sadly. A concern for many women as well as the pay inequality that happens. I think being transparent with salary and wage compensation could be helpful in the process. Within the last few years, I’ve seen more companies branching out and adding small benefits for women. For example, menstrual leave, accommodations for mothers, and longer maternity leave which can be a huge deal for some women when looking for a job.

Adria: A way we can do that is by making those industries more inclusive. Showing that women exist in those spaces, not just at an entry level but also in leadership roles.

Dani: Encouraging women to pursue careers in male-dominated fields comes down to creating inclusive environments and breaking down existing barriers. At the earliest stages, it’s important that girls and young women have exposure to STEM/STEAM programs. This can be accomplished through increased access to internships, job shadows, and targeted programs or workshops in these fields. Within our companies, we can play a significant role in raising awareness of gender disparities to help educate the workforce and combat bias to create more inclusive cultures that attract and retain women. Additionally, policy changes within companies should be implemented to help overcome some of the barriers women face in male-dominated industries. These efforts could include mentorship/leadership programs, increased parental leave, Employee Resource Groups, and inclusive hiring practices.
What progress have you seen in addressing gender-related issues in the game industry, and what steps can we take collectively to accelerate that progress?
Monica: The fact that women can openly talk about their negative experiences without worrying about never getting a job in the industry again is already a bit of improvement from when I first started. I started to pursue a game dev career shortly after Gamergate, and everyone thought I was insane. Even with the few short years I’ve had in the industry, I can already see the improvements from the DEI initiative to more women taking leadership positions.

However, as an industry, we still have a long way to go regarding creating a safe space for women. Many game dev events are very alcohol-driven, which doesn’t help. Early in my career, I often had to put myself in unsafe situations for opportunities to make connections or talk about design. We should have either more alcohol-free alternatives for game dev gatherings or have strictly moderated events where we can keep out predatory behavior (which requires more staff and budgets).

Jadeite: A lot of what I would describe as horror stories have come out throughout the years regarding the treatment of women in games. As a result, I’ve seen more companies establishing policies to protect women and minorities in games, which is a start, I suppose. Not having these events occur should be the goal, and I think more companies are trying to stay true to that.
Adria: While I’m still new to the games industry, historically it hasn’t always been as diverse as it is today. Progress has been made, with more women joining the industry every year, but there’s still a long way to go. Collectively, we can invest in it by mentoring or encouraging more women who are trying to break into the industry.

Dani: I am happy to see an increased effort to raise awareness, implement diversity initiatives, and produce inclusive characters and narratives in recent years. However, there is still a long way to go. Although a lot of these initiatives are reactionary, they will contribute to improved representation within the industry, eventually fostering more proactive and progressive policies for women. To accelerate progress, spreading awareness and advocating for equality remains important for individuals while implementing mentorship programs, increasing transparency, and reducing bias through policy and process are important at company and industry levels.
What initiatives or programs have you found effective in promoting gender equality and diversity within game development teams?
Monica: Quick plug for Save Point Gathering. It is a global game dev network for people with marginalized genders that I am on as part of the leadership group. It hosts monthly online gatherings and many in-person events at various gaming events. We do our best to create a safe, supportive space that many women may need help to afford at the workplace. It was super beneficial to stay in the industry during difficult times and helped me with my ongoing imposter syndrome. The place is open to anyone who identifies as a gender minority and works in the industry.

Jadeite: I’m not well versed in this area. Still, something I heard about recently that might be helpful was some companies using a system that disregards things like race and gender in the hiring process, so the focus point is your skills and abilities.

Adria: Women in Games International (WIGI) is one organization that comes to mind. Their mission is to advance economic equality and diversity in the global games industry. It’s an organization that regularly makes space for and elevates women's voices in this industry. I think groups and organizations like this contribute to creating a very visible representation that women looking to join the game industry need to see.

Dani: I have found that Employee Resource Groups, mentorship programs, and continued training and education around the inequalities that persist in the game industry have effectively created more inclusive environments.