In the Fall of 2004, the Game Wizards were in production on our fourth MOD Priest and contemplating what would be our next project. It was at this time that I was approached by Robert Valdivia. Robert was an excellent student and talented artist that had already earned his BA in our Media Arts and Animation program and working as a 3D artist.He had become increasingly interested in game art and design and had come up with a great concept for a game. He had also considered that he was interested in perhaps pursuing a career in the gaming industry.

What he proposed was that he come back to school to earn his BA in Game Art & Design and use his classes to produce his game idea. I advised him to write up a game doc and bring it in when he was ready. He had already begun won and we met again in a few weeks. The work he showed me was incredible, and I said yes almost right away. The Mayan mythology that he chose to work with fit perfectly for a game and was so rich in character, environment, story, and design that I was surprised we havenít seen many using this as a source. Since the Animation and Game programs share many classes we figured that it would only take another year for Rob to complete his Game degree and complete his project.

Before he came back to school, he took a trip to South America and took a great amount photographic reference that he was able to bring back and share with the team. In his first quarter he also took the class Game Design & Gameplay and developed a board game or paper prototype of the game concept. This help us get a sense of the overall gameplay and balance we were shooting for.

Mask of Eternity is our most successful MOD to date, making new advances for us in terms of design and gameplay.