An Interview with Bill Meyer

About Bill Meyer

Bill Meyer is the Art Director at Big Fish Games, Inc in Seattle, WA. A veteran of the gaming industry, Bill has been creating game art in the 80s and has established himself as a creative leader.

Tell me about yourself (i.e. how you got into art, where you got your training — if it was in game design, how you came to Big Fish Games)

I’ve always drawn and began pursuing art as a career in the mid 1980s. I studied graphic design and illustration school at Seattle Central Community College. After that, I started working as freelance illustrator. I had an art rep that got me illustration jobs mainly in the advertising and graphic design world but also occasionally from companies that made CD-Rom games. The game company jobs involved much longer contracts (3-6 months) and I found that working with a team of people to produce a product was a lot more satisfying than working alone in my studio doing one time use illustrations.

After that, I began working at a small company called Mindsai where I did all the background art for a couple of games based on characters from Scholastic Books illustrator, Tedd Arnold. Seemingly set with that company, I came to work one day to find the founder had decided to dissolve the company and head to Europe to play jazz.

For the next 6 years or so, I worked at Amaze Entertainment working on children’s games: Magic School Bus, Rugrats, Power Rangers, Harry Potter. But I never had the opportunity to develop my own ideas and IP. That opportunity came when I answered an ad from Big Fish Games in Craig’s List. This was long before recruiting started at Big Fish. I was the first artist to be hired by Big Fish Games and was given the chance to come up with my own look and feel for a game that involved finding hidden objects. Working closely with developer Adrian Woods we started the Mystery Case Files series. What was so different about Big Fish Games was the creative freedom we were given from the onset. With the success of the MCF series, came the growth of the studio. New artists were also encouraged to tap into their own creativity to create something unique. The theory was to give the artist creative freedom to do what they wanted which would produce better results. It’s worked out well.

How did the Hidden Expedition franchise get started? Was the idea for the game born from another casual game, or was the idea pitched by a team member?

Part of Titanic was built by another developer but we took the game, and completely reworked everything, then launched an awesome game. Our players responded so well to it, that we decided to quickly start work on Everest. Right now we are diligently working on the third game in the series.

What are the early planning stages for a game in terms of artistic inspiration and research? Is there a general process for each game?

We always storyboard out the games to get the flow down correctly. This is a really fun part of the process. With Hidden Expedition: Everest, we added more mini games and expanded the range of location settings. With game-play becoming more complex and storylines becoming more important, we now go through a conceptual development stage where the whole flow of the game is storyboarded out before we begin production.

Tell me about coming up with the name, "Hidden Expedition".

We wanted to develop a franchise that would compliment and contrast with our other successful franchise, Mystery Case Files. Pat Wylie came up with the name, "Hidden Expedition". The original idea was that the player would become a member of the exclusive Hidden Expedition Club and go off on a fantastic adventure. The look and feel would be more exotic and colorful than the MCF games.

We start out with an iconic, strong, and inherently interesting name with strong appeal such as "Titanic" and "Everest" and base a game around it. It’s becoming our brand identity.

With each new release of Hidden Expedition, the Hidden Expedition Adventure League travels to a new location. How are these locations selected?

We really try to think about stories or fantastical places where we would want to go - then we come up with the root location or name.

How do you see the Hidden Expedition franchise differing from the Mystery Case Files brand?

We are definitely moving these games into different directions. They are both puzzle games at their base but we try to be a lot more light-hearted with Hidden Expedition and we try to explore the world. Mystery Case Files has a more introspective exploration.

Are the storylines developed from the art that’s produced or vice versa? What was the process for Hidden Expedition?

Storylines are developed along with the art. As the game develops the art will influence the storyline and vice versa. This is all part of the development process.

Ed Viesturs, one of the world’s top mountaineers, plays a major role in Hidden Expedition: Everest. How involved was he in the development of the game?

Ed was a huge inspiration during the game development process. The design was all done in house, but Ed was gracious enough to supply footage, his persona, and answer any questions we had about his experiences. My most memorable day with Ed was when he came in one day and gave an extremely thoughtful presentation about his climbing experiences. After he was done, you could hear a pin drop! With his persona, he had a very good sense of humor about it all, like when we made him a mountain chef.

Why do you think the hidden object genre has become so popular? Since you’ve also worked on the Mystery Case Files series — do you see this genre being around for awhile?

The hidden object genre is easy to play and understand. Really, we didn’t know what to expect when we released the first Mystery Case Files game. It came as somewhat of a surprise when it took off the way it did and our demographic latched on to it the way they did. What we had created was a game that was more immersive in terms of artwork and storytelling than anything else than had previously been produced in casual games. And the casual games audience was ready for something new.

The hidden object genre seems to have real staying power. Because there are now so many hidden object games being released that it puts the onus on us to keep setting the bar higher and keep our ideas original. It’s nice to be in the position of a leader in this genre and stay one step ahead of those who copy us.

What’s it like working inside the Big Fish Games Studio with your team?

It has really been great working with the team of artists here. We have a good chemistry and share techniques. There really is a feeling of camaraderie. We learn from each other. This has been the best job I have ever had.

How do you lead your artists?

By giving them the creative freedom to create art that they’ll be happy with. Beyond that we work together in a cooperative environment. Each artist has something to contribute to the group and we learn from each other. With creative freedom and autonomy, we have seen some of the best work in games.

Can you offer any general advice to someone who is interested in bringing their artistic talents to the computer gaming world?

Play a lot of games and be familiar with the software. You have to be a good artist, but you also have to understand the industry and the demographic. You must have a passion for the games and for the artwork you’ll be creating for them.