David Frankel
Technical Art
Professional
Personal
Prototypes
About

Hearthstone

Hearthstone is an online collectible card game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released in 2014 and has grown into an international esport. I joined the Hearthstone team in 2020 as a senior technical artist. I spent my time creating Unity tools for artists, scripting components for effects designers, prototyping new features, and managing a team.

Amoeba Battle

Amoeba Battle is a major overhaul of an earlier Grab game. This new version includes new platform support, new game modes, and a redesigned UI. Our experienced team was challenged by the need to create modern, complex features using the game's older engine and toolset. I created in-game art and animation, UI, and developed art-related tools that we used throughout the project.

Knockout League

Knockout League is an original IP developed by Grab Games and optimized for VR. I handled many of the visual effects, including magical constructs, mad scientist electricity, octopus ink, and fireworks.

John Wick Chronicles

Wick represents Grab's first major foray into VR, during which we worked alongside Starbreeze Studios. I was in charge of prototyping, VFX, and creation of the tutorial sequence.

Legends of Mythica

Legends of Mythica is a card battler for phones and tablets. Early in development, I handled prototyping and art direction. Later, I was in charge of VFX—including particle effects, specialized scripts, and 3D assets and animation. I did all the attack and damage sequences in the trailer.

WWF Explore!

Explore! is an animated, interactive ebook for the World Wildlife Fund. I managed art resources—including internal hires and outsourcing—throughout development. I also did art, animation, and tech for various elements within the app.

Twinkle Smash

Twinkle Smash is a match-three for mobile devices based on Skechers products. Early in development, I was in charge of interfacing with the license holder regarding art. Later, I created VFX.

Flash Tools

I created a comprehensive set of plug-ins for Flash: Flash's “missing functionality.” Used frequently by my team, the tools included replacing element names in batch, modifying transformation matrices, a fully-functional particle generator, and much more.

777 Slots

After Grab published the cross-platform Grab Money Slots (a collection of digital slot machines), the title was picked up by DeNA for incorporation into their worldwide Mobage network and rebranded as 777 Slots. I was heavily involved as art director and occasional artist throughout the Slots project's various iterations.

Robot Junkyard

Robot Junkyard was primarily developed offsite. I interfaced with our outsourcing partner and designed various UI elements.

Winning Touch

Winning Touch was a lottery game containing numerous mini-games, each with its own theme and art style. I worked with senior artists on the artistic direction, managed the team throughout development, and created various UI elements, and assisted with UX design.

Chromaverse

Chromaverse was an arcade-style game for tablets and mobile devices. Its initial development came from a game jam-inspired mentality that I helped spearhead at Grab. I was one of two artists on a small, tightly knit dev team.

Gold Miner Go!

Gold Miner Go! was a casual game iOS and Android, and part of Grab's Gold Miner franchise. Although it no longer used blitz-style gameplay, Go! retained the visual direction that I spearheaded in Rush. I acted as a hybrid art manager and director.

Picsy

Picsy was a social photography game for mobile devices. It was Grab's first major mobile project. I managed the art team throughout the development cycle and I helped design the user experience flow.

Gold Miner: Rush

Gold Miner: Rush was a casual Facebook game and a blitz-style spinoff of Grab's popular Gold Miner franchise. It was the first Grab project in which I was involved from the beginning. I acted as both art manager and director, working closely with the team to develop the game's style.

Survivor World

I acted as art manager and backup artist on my first few projects at Grab Games. I worked with company leadership to improve the art team's morale, structure, and direction. Survivor World was one of several branded Facebook games that were already underway when I arrived. I helped the team to add polish and bring these games to completion.

iZombieland

I was the art director for the iZombieland iPhone game, based on the movie Zombieland. At its peak, it ranked in the teens for Top Paid Apps on the App Store.

Wheel of Fortune Deluxe / Jeopardy! Deluxe

Sony Pictures Television collaborated with Javaground on video game adaptations of its popular game shows for flip phones and early smart phones. I managed the art team and made various pieces of UI.

My grandmother would be proud.

Blood+

I was art director for the mobile game adaptation of the anime series Blood+.

007: Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace was the mobile game based on the James Bond movie of the same name. I was the art director.

God of War: Betrayal

Betrayal was a mobile game based on the hit console franchise. It was developed as a collaboration between Javaground and Sony Online Entertainment; I was the Javaground-side lead artist and animator. Betrayal's accolades include winning AT&T MEdia Mall's best action game of 2007 and ranking in Verizon's top ten most successful games of the year, alongside The Simpsons, Assassin's Creed, and Tetris.

(Interestingly, Betrayal is the only "canonical" game I've worked on professionally.)

Spider-Man 3

I was the lead artist for the Spider-Man 3 mobile game based on the Hollywood movie.

Casino Royale

Casino Royale, based on the film of the same name, was the first released game that I worked on from start to finish. I acted as lead artist and outsourcing manager.