Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elijah Wickerham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Elijah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I’ve taken was co-founding a video game studio, JollyWare. I’m a lifelong illustrator and artist. That’s why it came as a shock to some when I started attending college for video game programming. But it wasn’t a strange choice to me. I believe the most important thing an artist can do is branch out and learn other skills. I wanted the tools to create experiences, not just images.

After learning the basics, I found computer programming to be extremely rewarding and interesting. I loved exercising my brain in a different way, but something was missing. I missed the thrill of taking on ambitious art projects. I missed the creative release of drawing for hours every single day. In an attempt to balance my skillset, I had leaned too far away from my creative side. That’s why I pitched Gnomad for my capstone project.

Gnomad is a hand drawn action/exploration platformer game where you play as a gnome who fights and platforms by bouncing balls. Developing Gnomad with a couple of my classmates would allow me to balance my time between programming, illustration, and animation. Working this way throughout my senior year proved to be both rewarding and effective.

That’s why when we graduated, the Gnomad team submitted our game to the Shawnee XP Game Accelerator. With the help of the accelerator, we formed JollyWare, our indie game studio. Taking the leap from amateur developers to forming a studio was a daunting experience, but now we work together every day doing what we love. Without taking that leap and committing to Gnomad, I never would have been able to fine tune the art style into something that I’m truly proud of.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Our goal at JollyWare is to make games that make you smile. More than that, we strive to craft lovingly handmade worlds brimming with detail, character, and life. Worlds that you can get lost in and forget about your worries.

As the creative director at JollyWare, fantasy art is very important to me. The escapism of wonderful, whimsical, and magical fantasy worlds has always been a source of comfort for me during many arduous times in my life like long nights of coding and demanding finals. I owe a lot to the creatives who came before me, crafting delightful worlds to get sucked up into.

Gnomad is our love letter to the whimsical, the wacky, the strange, and the superb. We are working to create a world that can draw you in while sparking your imagination.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part about being a game developer is seeing players engage with our work in totally new ways. It’s not uncommon for us to see players interacting with Gnomad in ways we never even considered. For example, a creative movement technique discovered by one player at GDEX led to an unofficial Gnomad speed running competition that ran throughout the event.

Making games is very hard work, but it’s also a highly playful and collaborative art. The collaboration doesn’t stop with our team though. It extends to the players too.

A lot of artists look for ways to let the viewer interpret, recontextualize, and interact with their work to bring new meaning. This collaboration is at the heart of what makes video games a unique artform. Games allow for a continuous back-and-forth between the players and the developers. That conversation-like energy is exactly what makes video games such a rewarding medium.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I co-founded JollyWare, I worked as a freelance concept artist and digital painter. Even now I love making concept art for Gnomad, but it’s hardly the bulk of my workload. Concept art is an exercise in creative problem solving, but the same can be said about game design. So why the pivot?

Working at an indie game studio forces you to wear a lot of hats. Between illustration, animation, level design, creature design, writing, shaders and so much more, the variety of work is extremely freeing. Though this role is more broadly demanding, it’s also more broadly rewarding. It allows me to flex every artistic muscle I have and learn so many new media. Not to mention the creative freedom that comes with being my own creative director. The challenge and freedom of working on games is great, but those aren’t the real reason I switched.

The biggest factor that led to the change is opportunity. One of the reasons I believe every artist should try new media is flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more prepared you can be when opportunity presents itself. That’s exactly what happened when we were accepted into the Shawnee XP Game Accelerator.

It’s tough out there for artists, and you have to be open to pursuing many different creative avenues. Not just to get a job, but to continue enjoying your craft. You never know what you might like even more than what you already love. It’s often the opportunities you never saw coming that can change your life the most.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4165290/Gnomad/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elijahwickerham/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elijahwickerham/
• Twitter: https://x.com/JollyWareStudio
• Other: [email protected]
  https://www.artstation.com/elijah_wickerham

  http://discord.jollyware.studio/
  https://jollyware.studio/