Portfolio

Click on one of the portfolio pieces to get a further deep dive into its creation

Project Quiver was my attempt to recreate the bow and arrow system from one of my favourite games, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and just like that game I wanted to put that extra love and time on the animations. And I couldn't have done it without my technical artist collaborator:
Markus Norén

The Journey

Quiver started small as my main assignment in our Advanced Production Project (APP) where I wanted to recreate Kena's bow and arrow system with Unreal Blueprints. While buggy at first I was able to get a functioning system by the end of the 3 weeks that we had for APP.

Aim offsets has its challenges...

...but the end result is rewarding

A few months later, it was time to start working on my portfolio. I was happy with what I had achieved during my APP, but I always felt I could do so much more on the animation front. So, I picked up my files once more and got to work, paying extra attention to getting the follow-through just right on the hair and accessories.

Collaboration

What started as a quick "Wouldn't it be cool if the arrow had a little bit of wind behind it?" conversation with the technical artist Markus Norén warped into an incredible collaboration project where nearly all animations and systems got to shine like never before. And his addition of the arrow recall system really was the cherry on top bring all animations together.

Let's have a closer look at those animations

Idle

Run

Draw/hold/shoot

Whistle

Catch

Blueprints

Here's a closer look at the Unreal Blueprint system for the archery that I created in collaboration with Markus. The Recall system, all NS nodes and additional polish was made by Markus while the remaining systems was made by me after heavily modifying the basic Unreal Third Person template.

Use RMB to move around the Blueprint
Ctrl + Scroll wheel to zoom in/out

Credits

Rig: Kiel Figgins
Technical Art and Design: Markus Norén

Choose your champion!

When I finished up Quiver and the Fall of Pythos I wanted to make a piece to tie them both together, inspired by Street Fighter 6 and Guild Wars I landed on the idea of a character select where the animations take center stage.

An early prototype to test the UI system

Collaboration

I couldn't have done this alone, a few months earlier the fantastic character artist Isak approached me and Lisa, a phenomenal technical animator, about working together on a character she'd received permission to model. One look at the concept art and we both jumped on the opportunity to animate Kerbe, the Paladin.Later on I asked the incredible environment artist Oliver if I could use their scene (made in collaboration with Markus) and they so kindly let me use it to set my stage.

Bringing Kerbe to life

After I had the blueprint system created in Unreal, it was time to animate Kerbe. Since I wanted this heavy paladin to feel more realistic I started by filming myself to better capture the body mechanics (Thank you Tim for your directive assistance).

When moving over to the blockout and early spline phase i made sure to absorb and implement as much feedback from my friends, teachers and peers as i possibly could

Let's have a closer look at Kerbe's final animation

Credits

Original Character Concept: Giulia Carli
Character Model: Isak Zillén
Rig: Lisa Martijn
Ui: Emilia Koleva Georgieva
Environment: Oliver Lincke & Markus Norén

Fall of Pythos

For our 5'th game project Spite we wanted to have a cinematic ending, one where Cinder the Torchbearer brings upon the fall of Pythos, the Corruptor of Ephtael.My original goal was to make the cinematic feel like a reward for defeating the boss, similar to the games I played growing up. But as I kept working on it, adding additional details and feedback polish to it, I knew that I wanted this to be a portfolio piece, one that shows my love for cinematics and giant boss fights!

A Project in 4 Acts

Act 1: Humble beginnings

I started by sketching down a rough storyboard on paper, I find this part rewarding since I can very easily make changes and work with feedback to get the story across.

Act 2: Mocap

Along side the production of Spite we had our Motion Capture course, I decided to use the knowledge I got from there to enhance the "Special" feeling that I wanted the cinematic to have, in the suit is my fellow animator Vika.

Act 3: Maya

Once the mocap was cleaned, it was time to bring Pythos and the camera to life in Maya. For the original release of the game I had the cutscene rendered out using Maya's Arnold renderer.

Act 4: Unreal

A few months after the original release, it was time to bring a new light to the project, Unreal lights to be exact. I took a week of gathering feedback from the previous version and started working on making this Unreal cut as shiny as it could be.

Credits

Rigs: Lisa Martijn
Cinder model: Dante Eklöf
Pythos model: Oliver Andersson
Mocap Actress: Viktoriia Shvydak
VFX: Marinó Fannar Bjarnason

Game projects

During my time at The Game Assembly I got the privilege to work on 7 game projects together with some of the most talented people that will shape the future of the gaming industry.Click on a project to learn more about it

Spite: Ashes of Ephtael

Maruk: Shipwrecked

TBA

Second year games

First year games

I am Ambulance

Treasures Through Time

Bardo

Keysnapped

As Cinder, crusader of the Torch bearers, ventures into the corrupted swamp, Ephtael. Blaze a path through the foul creatures of the swamp to reclaim it from Pythos' grasp, as you, and your faith, grow stronger.

During the 6 months development period of Spite I produced a lot of animations, primarily the enemies and excitingly all the boss's animations.I'm also proud of the in-game intro cinematic and prerenderd outro cinematic, marking my first time implementing Motion Capture into my work.

Cinder the Torchbearer

Shrine activation

Leap ability

In-game intro cinematic (mocap)

Looking for the outro? See Fall of Pythos

Crackskitter fly enemy

Attack

idle

Take damage

Death

Fleshweller enemy

idle

Take damage

Pythos, corruptor of the swamp

iIntroduction

idle

Roar attack

Line attack

Fake Death

Sweep attack

Scripted event (VFX by Marinó)

Now available, play here:

Credits

Artists

Dante Norling Eklöf
Linus Bergström
Oliver Andersson
Oliver Lincke

Technical Artists

Markus Norén
Marinó Fannar Bjarnason
Nora Kemphe

Animation

Anders Nilsson
Viktoriia Shvydak

Audio

Björn Djurnamn
Kimberly Palsäter

Programesrs

Brian Wannstam
Camilo Chavez Torres
Christian Le
Jonas Anders
Linus Rodhammar
Wiktor Ciechonski

Level Designers

Love Lustig
Nom Köhler
Tiger Tjellesen

"Washed ashore with no rum in hand, deckhand Maruk must woozily dash, jump and traverse across a treacherous archipelago. Strike a bargain with the ghost captain Greedy McNeedy to peer into the world beyond and find treasure, and hopefully, a way home."

For Maruk's adventure we were faced with the challange of turning raw mocap data into stylized and cartoony animation. To make things even more interesting, I took a step completely out of my comfort zone and decided that I would do all the rigs.

Rigs

Maruk

Mocap

For this project we were graciously provided access to the optic motion capture studio at Sharkmob. Nearly all animations on Maruk were recorded with me as the lead actor.

Cleanup

The following animations were first cleaned up in Autodesk MotionBuilder by Lisa and Vika then further iterated on in Autodesk Maya by me.

Walk

Before

After

Mantle

Before

After

Launch

Before

After

Take damage

Before

After

Celebration

Before

After

The following animations were cleaned up in Autodesk MotionBuilder and then further iterated on in Autodesk Maya entirely by me.

Drowning

Before

After

Respawn

Before

After

The following animations were made using keyframing in Maya.

Landing

Level transition

Greedy McNeedy

idle

Tresure chest

Closed idle

Unlocked

Unlocked idle

Open

Sequencer implementation

Cannon sequence

Tresure open

Credits

Artists

Dante Norling Eklöf
Linus Bergström
Oliver Andersson
Oliver Lincke

Technical Artists

Markus Norén
Marinó Fannar Bjarnason
Nora Kemphe

Animation

Anders Nilsson
Viktoriia Shvydak

Audio

Kimberly Palsäter

Programesrs

Brian Wannstam
Camilo Chavez Torres
Christian Le
Jonas Anders
Linus Rodhammar
Wiktor Ciechonski

Level Designers

Love Lustig
Nom Köhler
Tiger Tjellesen

I am Ambulance

Avoid obstacles and collect pills in a squishy ambulance as you speed down the lane to reach someone in need!

I am Ambulance was the first game I ever worked on so it holds a unique place in my heart. I'll always be especially proud of how much joy the jump animation has brought to me and others who have played the game.

Ambulance locomotion

Jump

Slide

Intro

Credits

Animation:Anders Nilsson
Theo Hübner SallisArt:Isabelle Ehnroth
Dante Norling Eklöf
Marcus IsaxonLevel Design:Erik Andersen
Oliver Riem Vis
Frans WittingProgrammers:Joar Andersson
Ylver Blum Buer
David Grahn
Jonathan Rozenberg
Camilo Chavez Torres
Elias ÖströmMusic & SFX:Jonathan Rozenberg
Frans WittingVoice Acting:Isabelle Ehnroth
Theo Hübner Sallis

Now available, play here:

"As a time-travelling robot intern, solve puzzles of the past to complete your boss' acclaimed collection of "mythical" artefacts!"

Treasures Through Time (TTT) was a lot of firsts for me:
First mobile game
First time in charge of narrative
First time riggingTo sell the idea of a clumsy robot travelling through time to collect "Priceless" treasures I made an IK spline on the robot to really exaggerate the movements and allow for cartoon physics to take center stage.

Robot assistant

Idle

fall

Jump

Trip statue

Statue animations

Idle

Fall over

Credits

Programmers:Brandon Mach
David Olsson
Elias Öström
Freja Tollebäck
Melvin Turesson NilssonAnimators:Anders Nilsson
Viktoriia ShvydakArtists:Emmy Lövdahl
Marcus Isaxson
Susanna Kwidzinska
Veronica PerezLevel Designers:
Alvin Berthet
Love Lustig

As a young boy, explore your way through feudal Japan in search for your missing brother.

Working on Bardo felt way more like a passion project then a school assignment, everyone in the group gave it their all.Having to make a unique pipeline to get our experimental Maya animations to spritesheet and then implemented into the custom engine was an interesting challenge, and I'm happy with how that allowed us to deliver a more emotional tone and story.

Showreel

Due to unavailability of certain files, my work on Bardo will be presented as a showreel rather than the structure of my other projects.If you have any questions regarding the process of any of these animations feel free to contact me.

Now available, play here:

Credits

Programmers:Algot Sandow
Joel Paulin Hugo
Johannes Keczan
Christoffer Nilsson
Melvin Turesson NilssonAnimators:Lisa Martijn
Anders Nilsson
Linus Berglind KvarnrydArtists:Isak Zillén
Oscar Hofling
Veronica Perez
Marcus CarlsonLevel Designers:Ediz Mehmet
Erik AndersenMusic:Joel Paulin Hugo

Your car keys were stolen by alien magpies. Blast and slash their feathery butts to get your keys and go home!

For Keysnapped we wanted a simpler narrative due to a smaller development time than the rest of the projects, so I came up with a goofy toned pitch where an overconfident space adventurer gets his car keys stolen by alien magpies.To sell the tone I worked on bringing the magpies to life and to feel as cartoonishly appealing as possible, I'm very happy with what we were able to make in such a short time.

Magpie enemy

rig

Walk

Idle

attack

Knock Out

Other

Player respawn

Wall break

Now available, play here:

Credits

ProgrammingDavid Grahn
Joel Paulin Hugo
Ella Isaksson
Elias Ronefors
Algot Sandow
Adrian Ã…grenGraphical ArtElias Andersen
Mikael Brunberg
Isabelle EhnrothAnimationEmilia Eriksson
Anders Nilsson
Nils PÃ¥hlmanLevel DesignIvan MÃ¥rtensson Blomberg
Erik AndersenAudioVille Kemi
Myra Wennerström

When 4 year old me first picked up a controller and saw the Italian plumber jump exactly when the button was pressed, I was absolutely blown away, the TV was alive I thought.25 years later and I’m just as blown away by the incredible medium that we call video games, the only difference is that now I'm the one that makes a character come alive and do anything at a press of a button with my own animations and implementation, and I'm loving every second of this journey.And hopefully bringing to a player that same joy I felt all those years ago.

Special thanks to everyone who made all of this possible.
And an extra special thanks to my big sister Karolina Nilsson for helping me with the website, creating my graphical profile and making the illustrations.