Simon Barsky

Battlefield Heroes Release

Simon — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:04:54 +0000

Battlefield Heroes, which I’m currently working on, has just released a night setting. I was in charge of taking three existing maps and converting them to night versions. This involved painting sky textures, adding glow effects and lighting.

Canary Wharf - Unreal 3

Simon — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:51:14 +0000

I started a small scene in Unreal 3, trying for a more realistic approach than the rest of the stuff in my portfolio. This is only a couple days of work. It’s probably not going to be much more than this, I might make the upper section as well, and I need to add some smaller props still.

CTF Lounge

Simon — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:04:55 +0000

I’ve started another Team Fortress 2 map, this time with capture the flag mode. It has a spaceport/lounge setting, based on the layout that my earlier Unreal 3 project was going to have. I’m making all custom content for it. The layout is mostly done, and now I’m working on detailing. Lighting is going to play a big role in the overall look of things, so I’m experimenting with different approaches, including the texture lighting I’ve described in my tutorial.

Arena Coalmine Beta 1 Release

Simon — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:33:31 +0000

My Team Fortress 2 map is now ready for it’s first beta release. I’ve added a few custom models and textures, a stove and some log walls. Let me know if you find any bugs or just have something to say about it at simon@simonbarsky.com

Download here: http://www.simonbarsky.com/arena_coalmine_b1.zip

TF2 Map

Simon — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:18:32 +0000

Ok, so the unreal map never ended up going anywhere. I’ve instead started a map for Team Fortress 2, focusing mainly on gameplay. I may end up doing one or two custom objects, but for the most part I’ll be using Valve’s assets. The layout’s mostly done, just starting on the first art pass now.

New Project

Simon — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:56:33 +0000

Well, I’ve finally started working on some personal stuff at home. I had an idea of a museum with classical architecture floating around for a while and I had started to make some mockup units for that. I wasn’t very impressed with how it was going though, I felt I wanted to make something more unique; something not often seen in games. I have also been wanting to do something differently from what I usually do at work, which is often destroyed and dirty objects. All this led up to the current idea, a sort of futuristic mall/lounge/possibly spaceport sort of thing. The style is going to be very clean, and focusing more on the overall look and feel of the environment rather than the small details. I’m working on the layout right now, I don’t think it won’t be used as an actual playable map, but rather more as a showcase piece. I’m using Unreal Tournament 3, with only models, no brushes. Here are some shots of the layout so far.

Website redesign and such

Simon — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:32:45 +0000

Well, that was quite a while without an update… I just recently got the urge to rearrange the site a bit, pushing the portfolio to the front and adding some stuff from Bionic Commando.

I don’t have any new work to show, as all my 3D efforts have been going into the games at work and I try relaxing when at home. I travelled around a fair bit the past year, going to a festival in the south of Sweden, camping solo in the fjords of Norway, travelling to London and Paris with my sister, as well as going to the I ♥ Techno festival in Belgium. I spent Christmas and New Years in Stockholm with friends, so it’s been a year now since I’ve been back to Canada. I might think about visiting in the summer or something, when it’s not -45. I might also add a photo section to the website later on, to let you see what happens outside of work.

Hopefully I’ll keep this a bit better updated this year, I’ll be sure to let you all know when the games I’ve worked on are out.

First post of the new year

Simon — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:20:30 +0000

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve updated, so some things have happened. I went back home to Canada for Christmas and New Years, which was fun, if a bit cold.

Grin has announced another game recently, Bionic Commando: Rearmed. This is a 2.5D remake of the original game, which follows the design and layout fairly closely. It will be available for download on Xbox live and on the Playstation network. It will be release a while before the main Bionic Commando game, to generate some interest around the whole project. You can see the trailer here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29800.html or the HD version here http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29799.html I’m not working on this game, but the team that is has been doing a fantastic job.

Last night I went to a design workshop being hosted by Scott Hasen (www.iso50.com) He talked about his work, and gave a demonstration of how he created one of his pieces. It was a quite inspiring and informative talk. There was a raffle for some prizes at the end, and I ended up winning a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium. Needless to say, I was quite happy at receiving that. After the workshop was over everyone had a chance to mingle, and I talked a little with Scott. I bought a poster from him as well, now I just need to pick up a frame.

I made this poster thing today, using some of the methods that Scott demonstrated.

Portfolio Merge

Simon — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:53:31 +0000

I’ve moved the content from the portfolio part of my website into here. I really need to make something new to put up. Unfortunately I haven’t done any personal work since I started at Grin, but that may change with all the time I’ll be spending inside over the long, dark, Swedish winter…. I’ve still got to think something up for photos, but for now just look at my flickr page.

Bionic Commando

Simon — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:36:23 +0000

Hurray! The game I’ve been working on here at Grin over the past few months has finally been released. It’s a remake (sort of) of the NES game Bionic Commando. You can find some more info at the following sites. There’s going to be more screenshots and info released over this coming week, which will be updated at Gamespot. Grin’s site has just gotten a makeover to go with the new announcement. Let me know what you think of it.

http://www.gamespot.com/event/live/bionic-commando/
Visit for interviews, articles, and gameplay videos.

http://www.bioniccommando.com/en
The official site for Bionic Commando.

http://www.grin.se/
The website for Grin, who is developing the game, and where I work.

HD Trailer