Impressive visuals and an immersive gaming experience have always been driving forces behind Crytek’s games; Crysis, Warface, and the upcoming Ryse: Son of Rome rely heavily on beautiful environments, characters, and creatures created within the CryENGINE®3. One of the key roles in ensuring the aesthetic quality of the game is that of the Art Director. For Ryse, this is Patrick Hanenberger, who recently joined Crytek after an exciting career in the entertainment industry.
“I have always been an avid gamer,” says Patrick, who has played on almost all consoles since childhood, starting with the Commodore 64. “I was always using my imagination, with drawing and building sets, so I developed a great interest in art and design as well. It took me a couple of years to get into the entertainment industry though, since there were very little schools that offered that specific sort of education. Instead I studied Industrial and Graphic Design at the University of Michigan (later also at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena), during which I did several internships – most notably at Pixar Animation Studios, where I worked on The Incredibles and eventually fell in love with CG animation. CG movie making is the best because you get to create everything from scratch. So after finishing school I got a job at DreamWorks Animation, where I worked on movies such as Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, Monsters versus Aliens, and Rise of the Guardians, on which I was the Production Designer.”
