Playing around with dragon rigs (ps I'm still looking for work)
Bre Melvin (Animator Looking for Work)
@89ravenwolf.bsky.social
Looking for work. Formerly Lead 3D Animator @spryfox on Spirit Crossing, Cinematics on The Pathless, Lead Animator on Yami; Freetime Artist; NoAI; she/they 🖤🩶🤍💜 bremelvin.com
I've been chatting with a bunch of video game contractors who have recently worked with major AAA companies about how the relentless budget cuts are affecting them (spoiler: badly)
Kotaku@kotaku.com · 2w agoThousands of full-time video game industry workers have been laid off in the last several years as game companies scramble to cut costs. But there are even more cuts happening quietly to contract workers, wh... https://kotaku.com/amidst-mass-layoffs-contract-workers-devastated-video-games-2000718416
insane how there isn’t a single industry where being good at your job does anything for you variety.com/2026/film/ne...
Pixar Bears Brunt of Disney Studio Layoffs as Company Axes Several Hundred Staffers
Pixar Animation Studios, despite riding high on the success of summer blockbuster "Toy Story 5," was hit particularly hard in a wave of corporatewide layoffs at Disney.
variety.com
The main way in which AI has negatively impacted games industry jobs is not through actual automation of those jobs or even untrue claims about automation. It's by making capital unavailable because it's tied up in AI investments while also destroying the consumer base for video game hardware.
The one good thing about being out of work, is having time to work on personal work. I decided to make a dialogue shot, since it's been an age since my last one, after being in game mode for the last decade Anyways, have a bear 🐻🎣
The one good thing about being out of work, is having time to work on personal work. I decided to make a dialogue shot, since it's been an age since my last one, after being in game mode for the last decade Anyways, have a bear 🐻🎣
Bre Melvin (Animator Looking for Work)@89ravenwolf.bsky.social · 2mo agoI'm Bre Melvin, and I'm currently looking for work. Previously, I was the lead animator on SpryFox's Spirit Crossing, and the cinematics animator for Giant Squid's The Pathless. Latest demo reel at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UESx...
Dream project
befores & afters magazine@beforesmag.bsky.social · last mo.Shooting scenes for ‘Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age’ --> An excerpt from the new issue #61 of @beforesmag.bsky.social, featuring the on-set shoot involving Practic Creations and @framestore.bsky.social. beforesandafters.com/2026/07/01/s...
There's this underlying assumption behind every bad decision being made in the game industry these days that people will just suck it up and accept those decisions. Nah man, people are just going to stop playing games. People are not going to have access, and games are not a necessity of life
If the entire industry swings this way (which seems likely), this ends the public library's ability to lend new games to players who can't afford them. Sony loses that chunk of their demographic forever, and Playstation games are the most popular console games in my library system.
Aftermath@aftermath.site · last mo.Sony will stop making video game discs aftermath.site/sony-discs-202...
Made a quick salmon rig to use as a prop in a personal shot 🐻🐟
I'm just so mad and sad and scared all the time now with the current state of industry and everything else, and I don't know what else to do anymore. Still trying, but everyone is barely surviving
I'm Bre Melvin, and I'm currently looking for work. Previously, I was the lead animator on SpryFox's Spirit Crossing, and the cinematics animator for Giant Squid's The Pathless. Latest demo reel at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UESx...
Bre Melvin - Animation Demo Reel 2026
YouTube video by Bre Melvin
youtube.com
This feels all sorts of illegal. There's definitely a case against this in the realm of discrimination law
Dawn Xiana Moon@dawnxianamoon.bsky.social · 2mo agoCompanies are scraping social media pages & using other personal data to identify "financial vulnerability" and pay vulnerable people less.
Showing off our diorama exhibit creator 🦖 #fossilquest #dinosaur #fossil #indiegame
Game failure? Layoffs Game success? Layoffs Game delayed? Layoffs Game delivered? Layoffs Game announced? Layoffs Game unannounced? Layoffs Game good? Layoffs Game bad? Layoffs Game AI? Layoffs Game no-AI? Layoffs Game hated? Layoffs Game beloved? Layoffs Money cares more for layoffs than games.
The new key art and some screenshots of my tiny oasis building game WATERFUL ✨️
One of the dogs threw up a whole-ass sock this morning.... when? how?! 😑 Luckily, she seems okay for now, but this is the dog who beat cancer; the idea that she might be taken out by a sock
I'll reserve full judgement until I see more, but I'm so tired of remake = realistic. Zelda as a franchise is suppose to experiment and push art style conventions. But it feels like a lot (not all!) Nintendo games have been doing muddy uninspired realistic textures vs a strong art direction lately
Spirit Crossing, the game I've been working on alongside the amazing folks at @spryfox.bsky.social , is now available for free playtesting on Steam!! It's been a long time coming and I'd love for you to check it out! 🌞 Please consider giving it a try! store.steampowered.com/app/2321960/...
PLAY NOW: Spirit Crossing is a cooperative life-sim MMO from the makers of Cozy Grove. Explore islands with unique daily minigames, decorate your home, rave with spirits (and tiny bears), and build villages together. Join the playtest on Steam today! #WholesomeDirect2026
Kind of wish there was a semi-regular Seattle-area animator meetup. Kind of similar to the energy of AnimX, but not locked to something like GDC. The Perk Up game dev meetups down in LA seem like a good model Anyways, I know there's a bunch of us up here, and it'd be nice to hang
Yeahhh one big element of the horrendous job market in games is that pay is plummeting across the board. I was super fortunate to make $205k/year as a senior tech designer at Epic. I'm currently waiting to hear back from multiple contract Sr Tech Design roles I've applied for that pay $90-110k
Max Nichols@maxnichols.bsky.social · 2mo agoIn a healthier job market I’d probably only consider contract if it was something like +20% over salaried pay to account for health insurance and dead time between contracts. In this job market? I’ve applied to contract roles that pay less than half of what my last salaried full-time roll paid.
In just 17 years, Seattle went from not having light rail to having the most ridden system in the nation. We’ve proven how leadership & investment can change a city and people’s lives for the better
Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 2mo agoSeattle's light rail & streetcar lines carried 4.8 million riders in April—a 44% increase above March, after Link Line 2 was extended to connect Seattle & Bellevue across Lake Washington. Seattle's light rail & streetcar lines are now the most-ridden in the nation, above LA, Boston, or San Diego.
It’s just a damn shame so many are now lost and locked out of what they once did. It’s even more of a shame that those that had ambitions of entering this industry will never step foot in it and have to move on. Yes, there will be indie devs but it won’t be for a long while. Everyone is exhausted.
Baldur Bjarnason@baldurbjarnason.com · 2mo ago“One-Third of Video Game Workers Laid Off in Past 2 Years” https://variety.com/2026/gaming/news/one-third-video-game-workers-laid-off-2025-1236644512/
Been dealing with some GI stuff for the past year, so it's only natural that I found myself in the big fiber aisle with all the olds right when Costco opened this morning. Was just there, reading the nutrition info, while screaming inside that I had arrived; I the olds now
IMPORTANT: For any artists/writers/etc etc, using Linktree to point people to their work, from 5 July, they'll be feeding all imagery you use on your landing page into DALL-E by OpenAI. I deleted my account this morning.
Arte es Ética@arteesetica.bsky.social · 2mo ago¡ATENCIÓN! 🚨 El 5 de Julio de 2026 entra en vigencia la actualización de los ToS de Linktree. Esto incluye el uso de IA generativa (Dall-E de OpenAI) con los textos, imágenes y links que el usuario suba a su cuenta. Incluso compartirán toda la info del usuario con otros proveedores externos de IA ⚠️
