Zachary Adams

Entertainment Design

Biography

Zachary Adams has been a game developer since 2002, graduating from ArtCenter with a Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Design that same year. Beginning his career as production 3D artist, he focused his energies on environmental storytelling to create immersive and compelling experiences for console games. Over his career he began taking on more leadership responsibilities as a senior, lead and eventually environment art director.

Spending the majority of his career at Insomniac Games in Burbank, CA, he has shipped 11 AAA titles over 3 console generations and on multiple platforms. His credits include the Resistance and Ratchet & Clank franchises, Sunset Overdrive and most recently Marvel's Spiderman. He has developed for the Playstation 2/3/4, Xbox One and Oculus Rift, gaining experience with standard development software (Maya, Photoshop, Substance Designer) as well as proprietary game engines and tools. He balances a strong background in the technical and aesthetic aspects of production art with the leadership skills necessary to direct a large team of artists.

Keeping his ArtCenter experiences to the fore, Adams believes that fundamental design principles can be brought to bear on any kind creative problem solving and that games are no exception. Seeing game development as an inherently collaborative process, he strives towards a shared vocabulary of design that encompasses the diverse disciplines necessary to create cohesive and meaningful game experiences.

Classes

ECPT-261-01: Stylization
ECPT-309A-01: World Building
EGAM-252-01: Level Design 2
EGAM-352A-03: Game Concept Development
EGAM-352A-04: Game Concept Development
EANI-403-01: Portfolio 1
EGAM-110-01: Visual Design and Games
EGAM-251-01: Level Design 1
EGAM-465-01: Advanced Game Project