I worked with Hugo the Troll for 7 years at Interactive Television Entertainment (ITE). For me as an artist, it was a great adventure! Each day presented new creative challenges that required a lot of imagination. New worlds that needed concepts and designs.
One thing I learned at ITE was to find timesaving solutions. The company released a new console game each year for Christmas. This is seen in the concepts that are mostly rough sketches. If the team got the idea - move on. No time for polishing.
Released: 1999-2004
2000 Hugo: Quest for the Sunstones
Animated the cutscenes in 'Quest for The Sunstones'. I pretty much learned the stuff as I went along. A silent Hugo combined with a newbie animator - and the result is awkward. Anyways. It was fun to make.
2001 Hugo: Black Diamond Fever
Hugo returns to the Jungle Island to liberate the Kikurians from slavery and stop Scylla’s evil plan to find the black diamonds and to become the most powerful witch.
2002 Hugo: The Evil Mirror
I like this story. Hugo gets trapped in a magical mirror by his arch-enemy Scylla. The mirror is broken in 3 pieces and spread out. So, it is up to Hugo’s 3 kids, each with their own special ability, to find a piece of the mirror and break the spell. Really interesting environments. A chocolate factory run by gangster squirrels inside a giant tree. Beavers fortress in a roman style. A world inside a mirror.
2003 Hugo: Bukkazoom!
Hugo as small as a bug and drives around in a car that looks like a ladybug. How did Hugo get small? Hugo’s world is an imaginative place.
2004 Hugo: Cannon Cruise
Hugo on a boat. A return of the beavers and vikings from The Evil Mirror. I’m especially happy with how Hugo’s boat turned out. I wanted the player to clearly see their interaction with the boat when controlling it, which can be difficult with normal sailboats. This game was the first to be produced with an agile method (extreme programming) and was delivered on time.
Among the artists that helped visualize the Hugo world while I was there: Jørgen Ørberg, Stephen Meldal Foged, Martin Vestergaard Madsen, Claus Friese, Søren Cornelius Larsen, Anders Pedersen, Michael Wettendorff, Kian Zanno Ejlertsen, Klaus Gjørup, Martin Ciborowski, Rasmus Andreasen, Marit Max Abrahamsen, Thomas Steenholt, Jesper Rønne, Laust Palbo Nielsen, Jonas Fromm and many more.
The programmers (too many to mention) did an AMAZING job inside the given timeframe.
