PM: HOSTILE TAKEOVER

The evil Apex Corporation is gaining ground in Parallel Mafia, but we added some new items for the players to resist the oppression!

DROPFOX LOGO

I had the opportunity to create a logo for a really cool guy, Trent Brusky of DropFox. Trent creates music for secular shows and podcasts. Definitely give his site a look, this project has been on fire, and if you or anyone you know would be interested in this service, drop him a line. And for that matter, the music he makes sounds great so give it a listen even if you aren't involved in skepticism or secularism. Trent was also kind enough to plug me during his interview on The Skeptic Zone podcast (thanks bud!!).

PK: SWARM SWAG

Insect swag! Because we introduced air combat, and insects are in the air. Hey I thought it was a good idea.

PM: APEX SECURITY

New security officer enemy for Parallel Mafia.

PK: VALENTINE'S DAY

The King and Queen of Hearts inspired our new Valentine's Day swag for Parallel Kingdom. I didn't plan on making them look like a bitter married couple, but I'm single this Valentine's Day, maybe it was subconscious.

PK: AGE FIVE

It's a new Age for our flagship game Parallel Kingdom, which means a major overhaul and the addition of fantastic new features, including an entire sky world with new items, enemies and airships. The ships have cannons with a wide variety of projectiles and upgrades available; and the skills menu has been completely redone with larger, more detailed art.

INFLUENCES: GEORGE TAKEI

I was going through old photos and found this picture from a few years back of me with George Takei. I met him when I was still in college at UW-Madison, and he was doing an HRC-sponsored speaking tour, primarily addressing LGBT rights and talking about his experience growing up in a Japanese internment camp. It was a very good, sometimes heartbreaking, but ultimately very hopeful and inspiring talk.

The funny thing is that everyone was asking him questions about civil rights or Star Trek... and I was the only one to ask him about his role in Mulan. He didn't even seem to remember it at first, and then after a few seconds, in his very low, low voice he said "Oh that's right, I was the fat ghost. Heh heh heh." A delightful moment I will cherish as long as I live.

I admire him for several reasons. I am a huge fan of Star Trek, and it's helped shaped my humanistic values in such profound ways I could probably devote a very long essay to it; he's been an absolutely wonderful advocate for equal rights, and because he was on the original show I found that his example made it easier to talk to older people about social issues such as marriage equality; and when I met him in person, he was so incredibly nice, it really made me proud to be a fan. I am very happy to see that he has enjoyed quite a bit of social media popularity as of late (some people think he might be the king of facebook). George is a great guy and has a lot of really important and interesting things to say. We're all lucky to have him, and I feel blessed to have gotten to meet him in person.

PM: CYBER KNIGHT

Old meets new as we introduce some futuristic knight swag into Parallel Mafia. Kyle made a Mecha Dragon to compliment my knight, check it out on the Parallel Mafia update post!

PK COSMIC CHAMPION

Went with some time/space sorcery action for this round of Parallel Kingdom swag.

PM: RESISTANCE SWAG

I may have watched a few 80's action movies to get in the mood for drawing this swag for Parallel Mafia.

PK: APOCALYPSE SWAG

Although we were fairly certain that claims of the 2012 apocalypse were unfounded, we decided to go ahead and celebrate the end of the world in Parallel Kingdom.

PM STEAMPUNK

We had so much fun doing steampunk swag for Parallel Kingdom, we decided to bring it into Parallel Mafia as well!

PK CHRISTMAS

Christmas time again in Parallel Kingdom. Be merry and bright or whatever. I seriously have the worst cold right now. Ho ho ho!

PM CHRISTMAS

Celebrating our first Christmas in Parallel Mafia!

AMAZ!NG ADVENTURE 2012

VERY proud to have had the opportunity to work with JREF once again on a fun t-shirt design project. This time it was to celebrate the Amazing Adventure, a seven day cruise to the Mayan Riviera. The design plays with pop culture memes concerning the apocalypse supposedly predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar. I hope everyone involved had a ton of fun. It pains me that I was not able to participate. Here's to next year!

Skeptic writer and all around decent guy, Ben Radford.

And for an additional treat, the man himself has been wearing the hoodie with the design I made for last year's TAM:

PK: WILD WEST SWAG

Confession: I enjoyed the contemporary Wild Wild West movie adaptation starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Salma Hayek and Kenneth Branagh. Don't judge me. Or do, I don't much care either way. In any case, here is the wild west swag I made for Parallel Kingdom players.

PM: SWAGGIN' SWAG

A bit redundant but you get the idea. Some stylish new swag for Parallel Mafia players to look sharp in.

PK: STEAMPUNK SWAG

We held a vote in the forums to let the players choose the look of this batch of virtual goods, and the most popular suggestion was steampunk. The balloons are neat because it's the first time a flag decoration will be floating above the banner, instead of being a standard flag pole. It should spice up the game's aesthetic and I can't wait to see them on the game map.

PM: RAT MUTANTS AND TOXIC SWAG

New enemies and items introduced for Parallel Mafia.

'YOU SHALL NOT OCTOPASS' WOOT SHIRT AVAILABLE AGAIN!

It seems shirt.woot has reactivated ALL previous derby winners. That means my "You Shalt Not Octopass" design is available again! Click here if you want to buy.

PK: LANTERNS AND ADVENTURER SWAG

Added a new lantern feature for players to explore dungeons, and as always, swag!

PM HALLOWEEN 2012

Celebrating our first Halloween in Parallel Mafia!

PK HALLOWEEN 2012

Our company was founded in October, so we take Halloween quite seriously. This year we had plenty of new items, monsters and challenges released over two updates. I love Halloween and the horror genre so it's always fun to draw spooky things; and since I also love mythology, I was extra excited that the programmers decided to focus on an ancient Egyptian theme this year.

PK ADVISOR PORTRAITS

I was asked to design the look of three of our recurring characters, who had been described in journal entries but not visually depicted yet; based on rough outlines of their personalities and abilities. Our talented UI designer Joe Horan created the frames and icons for the in-game portraits.

PM: MAFIA HQ

We wanted to provide our Parallel Mafia players with some feminine swag options, so I made them a flapper dress and headdress. A feature added for this update was HQ destruction; players can now destroy floating cities known as HQ's. My co-worker Justin, our resident 3D expert, had created the original model. I got to take the model and (utilizing my working knowledge of Autodesk Maya), rearrange his buildings, and then add smoke and debris effects later in Photoshop. I think I enjoyed wrecking his city just a little too much.

PK: AMETHYST DECORATIONS

Our Parallel Kingdom players have been able to decorate the interiors and exteriors of their cabins with furniture and objects themed to each of the gem types available in the game. We recently added a new gem, amethyst, which meant I had to create a new unique furniture and decorations set to go along with it.

PM: PYRO SWAG

Some fire-themed items for Parallel Mafia.

SKEPTIC INK NETWORK LOGO

I had the pleasure of designing a banner logo and promotional images for the new Skeptic Ink blog network.

The figure represents Hypatia, a Greek philosopher and the first historically noted woman in mathematics. Hypatia taught mathematics, astronomy and philosophy in Alexandria during a time of social and political unrest, and was murdered by a Christian mob after tensions between various religious groups and political leaders boiled over. In a modern context she has come to represent the conflicts between science/reason, and religious fanaticism. A movie starring Rachel Weisz called Agora dramatizes the events leading up to her murder (although it contains a fair bit of artistic license, it is still a good watch and available for streaming on Netflix). The lighthouse in the logo is, of course, the Lighthouse at Alexandria, one of the great wonders of the world and an obvious symbol for guidance and enlightenment.

I was drawn to this project partly because there has been a lot of nasty Internet drama going on for quite a while in some on-line skeptic circles, and this new blog network presents an opportunity for fresh perspectives. I don't expect to agree with every author or article at Skeptic Ink, and as some might have noticed, I have been working on art projects with progressive people of faith to oppose anti-LGBT discrimination. As a result of continuously positive interactions with religious people (as well as negative ones with atheists), I've been much more interested in building bridges between religious and non-religious people who share humanistic ideals such as equality for all people and concern for the environment.

But that's the point of an endeavor such as this blog network: to challenge and debate orthodox ideas. Skeptic Ink Network (also known by its cleverly irreverent acronym, SIN) has a clear discussion policy that prohibits discrimination, personal attacks and insults. Conversations surrounding religious and paranormal beliefs in our society are important, and robust debate is healthy. I look forward to reading, and wish them all the best!

FIGHTING REAL MONSTERS WITH DPM

Here's me rocking the great shirt from Dance Party Massacre:

20% of the profit for these orders went to Minnesotans United for All Families, to help fight against anti-gay discrimination. I'm proud to support fairness and equality for all Americans.

You should also check out DPM's other designs, which are inspired by the horror genre. As a fan of horror films myself, I really love that!

PK: NORSE SWAG II

Part 2 of our Norse-themed swag for Parallel Kingdom. This time I got to design a brand new dragon. I based its shape on the dragons that sometimes adorned the front of Viking ships. It can generate molten gold puddles and encase the player in solid gold shells. I was also asked to design a new exterior decoration players can purchase and place on the game map, and I decided to make a rune stone.