Josiah Colborn - Creative Game Development
Josiah is a creative professional in the greater Seattle and Nashville areas, hell-bent on creating powerfully engaging games. He has a broad creative skill-set, refined in the fires of both indie and AAA development. This skill-set empowers him to work very well independently, but also serves to aid in informed collaboration with all disciplines in a game development team.
Josiah is an avid gamer and is always learning how to make better products from industry leaders, peers, games and customers.
Josiah is an avid gamer and is always learning how to make better products from industry leaders, peers, games and customers.
According to Professionals
"I remember interviewing Josiah for a position at Gas Powered Games for Age of Empires Online. Compared to the many applicants, Josiah's resume easily sat on the top. His skill set was impressively broad, making him valuable to any production. And after talking to him, it was an easy decision to bring him aboard. It didn't took long for him to bring positive impact to the project. He was a wizard in terms of organization with a keen eye for attention. Josiah's art tracker was insanely comprehensive, beautifully color coded, but yet easy to work with. It blew away everything that we had in the studio.
Production wise, Josiah excelled as well. He took his work seriously, bringing his top-drawer quality to each task. Josiah's work ethic, speed, creativity, craftsmanship, and his professional but approachable demeanor made working with him a blast." January 21, 2013 |
"I have had the pleasure to work with Josiah on a couple of projects. He is both passionate about game development and video games.
What I am impressed most by Josiah is that he brings a positive attitude, thoroughness and professionalism to every interaction. On many occasions, I’ve seen him take on extra tasks outside of his realm of expertise. He’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done – either by delegating to others or doing it himself. Josiah communicates well across multiple departments. He gives pointed feedback and direction when appropriate. He has a special gift for tracking assets oftentimes making concise tracking documentation that is accessible to all. I highly recommend Josiah to any game development team. He has proven to be a key contributor and a driving factor in getting quick, quality work done." January 22, 2013 |
"I met Josiah while working at GPG on Age of Empires Online and sat right next to him! He displayed his skills right from the start by helping the entire team stay on track and organized while also creating 3d and 2d art for the game. If anyone needed help or if they were falling behind on a deadline, Josiah jumped in and offered assistance because that's just who Josiah is. Aside from that he is actually a cool guy too! Going to work was that much more awesome because this guy has a great sense of humor and all around good person.
I really miss those days man!" January 20, 2013 |
"Working with Josiah is a truly joyful experience. He takes on any task, any responsibility, with enthusiasm and tenacity. Even when he's unfamiliar with the technology or systems, he manages to find away to get brilliant work done with remarkable efficiency.
I recommend Josiah not just for his impeccable work, I recommend him for his amazingly positive attitude that would greatly benefit any team." January 23, 2013 |
"Josiah is a very dedicated and creative individual. I witnessed him take on task after task with a smile and complete professionalism. His joyous personality is always positively upbeat which makes working with him always a pleasure. Josiah is quick to offer assistance to those who need it. In meetings he provides educated thoughtful and constructive critiques.
Josiah is a smart self motivated worker. In a team environment you will find no one better. He is considerate to his team and passionate about his work. Josiah jumps at new tasks with enthusiasm. If given the chance to pick my own team of professionals to work with you can bet Josiah would be one of my first choices! I cant recommend him enough!" January 21, 2013 |
"I had the great pleasure of working with Josiah as leads on a project for 8 months at Gas Powered Games. Josiah was an excellent art lead who was always professional, easy to work with, and very hard working. Among his many qualities that impressed me over time, I have always appreciated his ability to work with engineering to push the limitations of systems while producing a better looking game.
On a number of occasions, I have expected to have to allocate engineering time to tackle last minute issues, only to find out that Josiah had already taken leadership in solving these issues. This was done while Josiah had to deal with external studios that were providing us with content. This initiative, diligence, and care for the final product, are attributes I sincerely appreciate and respect, and made my job much easier. I highly recommend Josiah, without any reservation, and hope that some day we will have the chance to make another game together." January 22, 2013 |
"Josiah is one of those people who is so laid back you don't always realize the treasure you've got. His humility and the pride he takes in his craft mean everything gets done, and done well. Problems simply become new challenges to overcome.
In addition to amazing 2D and 3D art skills and creative vision, he can lead and mentor a team, weigh in on content pipeline discussions, evaluate user experience flow, and contribute to game design. He's comfortable diving into new content tools as well as the weird in-house tech that inevitably arises during game development. He's even volunteered to take engineering tasks off my plate when I've been swamped. He's a class act in every way: respectful, dependable, professional, and just a nice guy. I hope to have to chance to work with Josiah again." January 20, 2013 |
"Josiah is an experienced artist whose positive leadership and artistic skill raises the entire team to new heights. He is highly organized, and he is capable of easily thinking and communicating across the disciplines.
While I worked with Josiah on Age of Empires Online, I best know his work from when we worked on an unannounced project together, where we both tackled the project's UI. I could count on him to clearly understand design's needs and construct not only detailed mockups but finalized in-game UI. I often consulted with him on difficult pieces of UI, and his feedback was always respectful and spot-on. If given an opportunity to work with Josiah again, I'd jump on it. His wide-skill set and open mind, combined with his ever-present optimism, guarantee that the team will always benefit with his presence and input." January 21, 2013 |
"Of all the artists I've worked with on all my various projects, Josiah is by far the best suited for game development. His technical knowledge and inclination allow him to tackle problems other artists couldn't, and his deliverables can skip the production or integration step, providing a serious value to the team.
His open mindedness and agile mind ensures that this will remain the case regardless of which environment or tools he works with. For the above reasons alone I would work with Josiah again in a heartbeat, but the humor and entertainment he brought to the company truly made it a joy to do so." January 21, 2013 |
James Thrush
President of Super X Studios hired Josiah more than once at Super X Studios Eric Anderson Programmer Super X Studios worked directly with Josiah at Super X Studios Kenneth Scott Game Programmer, Super X Studios worked directly with Josiah at Super X Studios Morgan Dudra, www.dudra3d.com 3D Environment Artist, reported to Josiah at Super X Studios |
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Josiah on several game projects, and I can say it was a joy each time. Josiah has a true passion for games, both from the creative side and from the technical side. It’s rare to find someone who enjoys playing games as much as he does but can still buckle down and attack the nitty-gritty details on his own projects with the dedication necessary to make truly quality work."
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative" December 21, 2010 “I have nothing but absolute admiration for Josiah and his dedication to games. His artistic vision as art director is wonderfully distinctive, yet flexible to the needs of the project, and his skill set as an artist is just remarkable. Josiah’s ability as an artist is only rivaled by his prowess as a designer. His uncanny critical sense combined with his unwavering honesty make him absolutely vital to distilling a game’s experience down to only the components that are actually fun. Add to this the fact that he’s always extremely friendly and jovial, and you have not only the ideal employee, but the ideal person.” December 16, 2010 “Josiah is a talented artist and a capable lead who was always on top of the creative side of the project. Any time I had questions about the art or design of the game, I could go to him and get a straight answer. He managed the artists under him, both in office and remote, well, keeping the scope and schedule realistic under tight deadlines. His cheerful attitude continuously lightened and uplifted the office. Even in the most stressful times, he kept his good humor and approachable air. I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him again.” January 18, 2011 “Josiah is a pleasure to work under. His upbeat attitude, diverse experience, keen eye for detail, and structured work ethic made my job a breeze. Even when he was completely happy with my work, I could always count on him for useful, positive critique –and to deliver it in a way that showed his respect for my ability. Given the chance, I would leap at the opportunity to work with him again.” April 19, 2010 |
"When Josiah first joined us, his bright, charismatic personality, incredible work ethic, and artistic flexibility had everyone whispering his name within hours. Other artists on the team began immediately soldiering up just to keep up with the pace that came naturally to him. He was a living force of nature. He was so personable, that we immediately plugged him in as our primary liason for external subcontractors on the project.
When it came time to start a new team for another in-house project, I fought hard with other managers to get him as my Art Lead. I can remember that I actually fist pumped when the final decision came down in my favor, and on day one, Josiah wasted no time in exceeding my already stellar expectations, and diving in to fearlessly master technologies that would have stopped lesser artists in their tracks. As an artist he is a juggernaut of efficient productivity with very high personal standards, as a teammember he inspired by pulling many times his weight while making it look easy, and as a lead, he was careful, fair, and attentive. Josiah is a match for most artists I have met with twice his experience. If you seek a brilliant centerpiece to your art department, you will not find someone more perfectly suited to the task then Josiah." January 20, 2013 |