Box Office Tycoon

Box Office Tycoon is a game about running and managing a movie theater business.

I worked on Box Office Tycoon in it’s early stages as one of the main environment artists. I moved off of this project for a good chunk of its development to work on another game but then later came back on to help build this map. This was one of the games main event maps. Rather than running a movie theater for this event the player was in charge of running a Drive-In theater.

I was responsible for leading the art direction on this map for a small group of artists. My first task was to plan out and design the layout. I worked closely with the designers and programmers to make sure the vehicle and customer flow through the map would be optimal. Vehicles needed to drive through to one of the two theater areas, then customers would leave their vehicles to enjoy the amenities (Stations) in the center area of the map.

Once I had the layout done I then handed off my blockouts of the stations to the other artists for them to make the final versions. While the other artists worked on their pieces I worked on the environment and theater areas. Collaborating and working in parallel was very important to ending up with a map that felt cohesive.

The areas in red were created by the other artists on the team while I built the rest.

I also had the opportunity to animate the entrance and exit of the VIP, a special character that would periodically arrive in the map to offer cash to the player.