So at long last the Happy Badgers have released their first iOS game. It’s been a long road getting here, and being proud of the accomplishment only describes have the feelings I have as artist/animator.

Artists always say their work is like their child. Boredom often breeds kids (applicable to both artists and farmers), and the Gents were born nearly six months ago on a chilly early-spring evening when I, personally, ran out of stuff to do.

The rest of the Badgers were working on a larger project with assets divvied up between us. I’ve always been a quick-draw (with a pen not a gun, I’d be under the table at the OK corral) so I finished a bit ahead of the other assets. Now one can either sit on their hands and be a lazy good-for-nothing, or one can be an independent developer and make something. Let that be lesson one for both artists and farmers – you want something to grow, you better get busy.

So I proposed a side project – something I could contribute to specifically while the rest of the team toiled on the first. I figured it would be small (which was wrong,) I thought about what would be easy (its funny how quickly that word loses relevance), and I hoped it would be quick (I think I was deluded).

The first step was design – as primary contributor I had the opportunity to play to my strengths. My heart has always been in character expression both as an illustrator and animator. With the help of the team we crafted the Stodgy Gents.

From there it was up to Phil, our illustrious programmer, and the rest of the team to plot the framework and brainstorm all the features, costumes and alternate slappers we could implement. The brainstorming is always the most fun – sitting around with your dev team talking about “Oooh we could do this!” or “Wow, why not that!?” Most the time you end up with more ideas than you bargained for and have to cull away things that take too much time or flirt with Apple’s pc rules. No no, nothing overtly offensive! We’re good little Badgers (winkyface).

Six months and a lot of work later the Gents hit iTunes.
Stodgy Gents trailer by Carol Mertz and the Rampant

You know how some parents push their children out of the nest and stand with a hanky on the porch waving goodbye? Yeah, I’m not that kind of mother. I was out sowing seeds and milking cows when Stodgy Gents left the nest… still out there now actually. It doesn’t help that the kid comes home all the time for bug fixes and graphics and pot pie – aren’t children supposed to move out and earn money for themselves? Maybe send some back to the farm to help with the long winter months? Well there’s something else farmers and developers have in common. Even when the game is out in the store there’s still work to do on it. I’m currently hacking away at new costumes and DLC – knitting sweaters if you want to keep up the metaphor. So many sweaters.

But as any parent, taking care of my child – even when he’s grown – is both a joy and a privilege. The Badgers and I have created a fully-functioning, beautiful, creative, addicting casual game, and although it’s our first one it’s creation and launch have informed how we approach all it’s little brothers and sisters to come – and there will be more. We’re artists; we’ve got to keep sowing the fields!

Tags: animation, art, development, Jennifer Stolzer, stodgy gents
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