FOUREIGHTSIXINTERACTIVE
ABOUT
I always found the hardest thing to write was the first words. Inertia is a hell of a drug. But before I spiral out down the meandering pathways that my brain seems to insist on taking us down today, I should probably explain what this whole shebang is.
This is the home of foureightsix interactive?
But what is foureightsix?
That’s a very good question. In it’s current form, it’s the respectable front for an independent game developer, Jared Tyers. I’m also just some guy called goose. Call me what you will, but just don’t call me late for dinner.
I’ve has done many a thing across what some people have described as an “interesting life”, from the mundane decanting of hydrocarbons for the preparation of traditional cooking, helping to maintain the prestige of an electronic pigeon carrier network, brokering deals to beam corporate propaganda directly into the brains of the average citizen, wrangling bards, being a bard, wrestling a bard, and a brief stint as a tax collector. Yet after all this, I’ve decided to hand all that in and enter the mundane world of game development.
I was never good at selling myself.
WHAT I DO
AUDIO DESIGN
SOUND DESIGN
From the biggest of bangs to the tiniest of birds, I’ll be able to create something that can bring the unseen atmosphere of your project to life with insane attention to detail. I’ve spent many, many, many, many, many, many, many hours working with community radio stations, and on independent content creators crafting some lush audioscapes.
MUSIC COMPOSITION
In the somewhat cryptic introduction, I alluded to being a bard. I’ve been a musician for almost 25 years now, cutting my teeth playing in terrible punk bands and producing terrible psytrance tracks, I’ve worked as a touring musician for a period, and even longer as a live sound engineer. I’ve maintained that creative spirit even after I stepped off the stage, and have continued to write, compose, arrange, mix, and master music ever since the early days of “borrowing” my sister’s guitar to learn how to play old Creedence songs.
VOICE OVER
I have had a couple of people mention that I have the good voice for reading things. I guess doing radio work has given me the tools to be able to do that. I’m even capable of emoting sometimes.
GAME ART
2D & PIXEL ART
I’ve a fair amount of experience and time spent in cartooning and creating pixel art assets for various projects that I’ve been tinkering with over the years. Personally, I love the impact that shifting a single pixel in a sprite can change so much.
2D & 3D ANIMATION
I guess it comes with growing up watching a combination of old Loony Tunes cartoons, Futurama, and a smattering of some anime that I’d develop a love for animation, and I’ve always been creating goofy animations for the fun. I specialise in 2D pixel art animation, but I’ve got experience with traditional 2D animation and even some 3D animation experience.
INTERFACE DESIGN
Ever since playing Star Wars Dark Forces and seeing how less intrusive the HUD was compared to other FPS games of the time, or how Gran Turismo’s UI could turn a menu into a work of art, I’ve had a small obsession with UI. To some it appears to be an afterthought, ignored, and only given the bare minimum to make it readable, to others, it’s an extravagant way to cram as much art in as possible without any care for how it would actually function. The two exremes are fascinating to me, and I’ve spent far too long obsessing over it.
Then Persona 5 came out.
GAME DESIGN
LEVEL DESIGN
For me, a game level is the perfect chance to tell a story. I’ve spent the past 10 or so years making mods and levels for a wide variety of games, with a personal favourite being Doom II. I’m not only proficient in boomer shooter level design, but have also designed levels for a wide variety of games, normally as mods.
GAME MECHANICS
I have a motto when it comes to how I design game mechanics: “Stories through Systems.” Similar to my level mods, I love to use game mechanics to tell stories, even if they’re small tales.
DOCUMENTATION
It’s not the most glamourous job, but I’m more than capable of writing clear, succinct, and comprehensive game design documentation for projects. For my own projects, I even try to challenge myself to fit the overview on a single page with goofy cartoons.
That’s definitely not due to my brain getting bored at some point.
OTHER SKILLS
GRAPHIC DESIGN
As part of my time working in the live music scene, I spent a lot of time designing posters for various gigs, club events, and the like. I’ve also spent a lot of time doing album art for the various bands that I have been a part of.
NARRATIVE WRITING
In the end, I’ve always been a storyteller, and it’s no wonder that I’ve spent a lot of time crafting my own narratives. I’ve crafted worlds for my own mods, for my own homebrew D&D campaigns, and just for the sake of writing something.
PROJECTS
Created as part of my University studies over the course of 12 weeks by 4 people, Mechanised Survivor was a blend of autoshooters like Vampire Survivors with the vehicle mechanics from games like Factorio.
I served as the main audio designer, as well as designing the dynamic music system, (I didn’t program the system, but did the design for it.)
I designed the player vehicle sprites, as well as animating the enemy sprites.
Across the entire project, I was a generalist who would fill any skill gaps within the team and help get the project over the line.
The most recent of my Doom II mods, this level mod was an exploration in some of the fancy new features that modern Doom source ports have added to the game, and push my environmental art chops to create a surreal tale of regret through level design alone.
In retrospect, releasing it in the same week as the legendary myhouse.wad probably wasn’t the best idea.
The longest running of my musical projects, ZEDAXIS is the pseudonym that I’ve been making music under for 20 years. I once described it as “The toybox of a man with too many ideas for one band.” Strangely enough, the side project has been the one that’s lasted the longest.
foureightsix interactive 