Different animated bits that I have added to the Wizard101 site. All of these were done in Flash. I also created a javascript framework to support the way that they were activated and used.

I was tasked with creating some animations to draw attention to the "play" button in the top left corner of the page. They had to be contained within the play button area and be very quick, not more than three seconds (with a little leeway). The animations also had to be lightweight and couldn't interfere with people clicking either of the links that they would cover.

I had a ton of fun with these. I made a series of animations with just the letters of the button and another series based off the doodles from Wizard101 artist Jeff Toney. This is also something I am allowed to work on in my downtime, so more should appear as time goes on.

Watch the play button animations (watch the top left corner of the site)

This is a remnant of a task that I was given when I first started at KingsIsle. They were for very long animations that would stretch across the entire page and would interact with the elements on the page. They were very difficult and I'm very proud to have come up with a working framework that met those requirements. Work on them was grueling, however, and I can't say I was crushed when they were scrapped. Late into the game it was decided that the site needed to be redesigned and, since the animations interacted directly with the elements of the old design, they didn't work anymore. The firecat animation was fairly generic and it was decided later to bring it back.

In this I'm most proud of the steam at the end. I spent some time looking at exploding geysers to try and get the feel just right.

Watch the firecat animation (wait 10 seconds when you hit the page)

This was just something I added to make the background sky a little more interesting. I added a few twinkling stars scattered across the left and right of the content area. They consist of five different animations that are randomly switched between. I enjoy doing subtle animations, like this, on sites. The sorts of things you might not notice the first time you visit. See the twinkling stars (watch the top left or right star areas behind the content)