Right at this moment Tulio is on his way to Madrid, Spain, to attend Idéame – Young Videogame Developers Conference – 5th Edition. This event takes place at the Complutense University, on the 13th and 14th of this month, also sponsored by Nintendo.

Every year the organizers bring different perspectives according to current interests; the event’s theme is much related to the economic crises that Spain (as well as other countries in Europe) has been through for the past few years, and how young developers can use their ideas and skills to create new job opportunities in the game industry.



Tulio was invited to be one of the speakers for the event, specifically talking about crowd funding – what the best method of funding your idea is, based in his own experience after Pier Solar HD Kickstarter campaign.

The event will also count on over twenty representatives of the current gaming market, such as Dan Adelman, from Nintendo of America, member of the Global Business Development of Nintendo America, and many others.

For more information, visit:
http://ideame.es/ 
http://ideame.es/tulio-goncalves/ 

For how long time have you been working with digital art? Where does your interest for it come from or how did it get started?
I’ve been doing digital art for years now and I also started as a concept artist in the videogame industry that’s 13 years now. I always want to be as good as I possibly can and so I have been influenced by allot of Japanese anime and art. I especially like their cyberpunk 80’s – 90’s anime. You can always learn from the line work, coloring and art style of these anime’s.

Tell us about your experience working on previous projects, which one was your favorite and why?
I have worked on many games demos and games these past years. Games such as Dante’s Inferno, Wet, Indiana Jones and more recently Tomb Raider. Eventually I worked on a game demo called Chrono Trigger Resurrection, I was the co-creator (art director / artist) with my friend Nathan Lazur back in 2004, but we were asked to stop the development by SquareEnix for this nonprofit project. The game looked really great for its time and still does I think. At the time of releasing our first trailer and announcement we had over 1 million people visit the site, some were from Square Enix. But to answer your question Independent smaller games like this one we are creating is by far my favorite type of games to be creative on.



How did you get involved with ProjectY?
The Sega Genesis has always been one of my favorite consoles for its great looks and awesome game library, so I started collecting them and it’s great fun to see your shelf with these amazing box arts from the 80’s and 90’s. When I heard about Pier Solar I was really impressed by the quality of the game and the packaging. It showed me the dedication and talent of the team. So I immediately contacted Tulio and Fonzie asking if I could be part of their next project. I’m assuming from what they saw of my previous works or art they kindly accepted and I eventually joining the team. So far, I am very happy to be part of . Everyone has been really kind and professional. Very talented friends.



How do you deal with Genesis/MegaDrive technical limitations? Do you take any advantage of them or they only make the process more complicated?
Well as far as technical goes, I don’t find it complicated. Sure there are limits to what you can do on any given console, but that’s the best part I find. Trying to make the best looking game you possibly can within the limitations given to you. For the more complicated technical aspects Fonzie is the brain and support for all of that. My goal here is to do the best artwork and visuals I possibly can. Also, we work very closely to create the right direction, visuals and atmosphere for our game. All I can say is that so far it’s looking great.

Why did you decide to dedicate your time to work on ProjectY? What attracts you the most about it?
When I heard was going to create a Beat Em Up for the Sega Genesis. I immediately knew this was the right time for me to dedicate my personal time to this type of game. I always wanted to work on a Beat Em Up. Giving I’m a big fan of the 16bit era, working on a game for the Sega Genesis was an opportunity that I did not want to miss. We are creating a Post-apocalyptic, cyber world, characters with a retro vibe, without being too serious. All these factors are fun ways to be creative and mimic the type of games we loved to play back then. I want people to know we are working hard to make this a great game. And I can’t wait for them to have a nice copy in their hands and play it.

Want to become investor in ProjectY, check this link:
MGF/factory/projecty_2/ 

Enjoy & feel free to comment & ask more questions in comments!

The moment of transaction from office A to office B has a mixture of emotions, we get excited, anxious, and stressed out with so many things going on at the same time, but overall the feeling of watching our dream growing is stunning and incomparable to anything else.



Down to factual instigation, here are some pictures to illustrate part of our current routine:



Where ever you see a bottle of water, there Tulio shall be! As a matter of fact, we can track where he’s been to by looking for empty water bottles, it’s amazing.



Among all of this awesomeness, what would be the mystery behind this pile of stuff? Any guesses?



Should we hang it in the building bathroom? Inside the elevator, perhaps? Advertising is never too much…



The fantastic view of the WaterMelon (and watermelons to, as a matter of fact) Land, Muscatine, Iowa! It’s very inspiring, but we all prefer to look at our monitor screens instead.
Do not forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter!

It's time to show our love & affection to those who really care for what we do! It's not a simple Valentine's Day gift, it's a whole Valentine's Deal going on throughout the entire month of February.
WaterMelon is giving to one lucky person 500 GEMS -- that he can exchange for any WM products he wants or simply to help fatten his GEMS treasures -- plus a $50 gift card on Amazon.com -- to spend with your Valentine (most likely yourself) on anything!

Rules to participate on this giveaway:


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=464032236997792&set=pb.110283612372658.-2207520000.1359763897&type=3&theater 

The giveaway starts today, February 1st. and it ends February 28th. The winner will be randomly chosen and the person's name will be announced March 1st. here on our Blog. The giveaway is international and you can enter only one time.
Good luck and have fun!

We would like to give you all who supported Watermelon during the Kickstarter Project for Pier Solar HD - a huge THANK YOU!
Our project was greatly appreciated by lots of people who have either reinforced or discovered their passion for our game. The Project Pier Solar HD was a success, and we have been working hard to turn it into our slice of reality.


On the top of that, be sure to check out the Pier Solar Strategy Guide that is filled with absolute AWESOME stuff! This guide includes instructions on how to play and enjoy your game at maximum power, for both Mega Drive and HD versions!
Pre-order your game and guide now and guarantee your next self Christmas gift! We can't promise the world isn't going to end in a few days, but if it doesn't, we promise that your next December (yes, not this one, next one) will be UNFORGETABLE!

MGF/factory/pier-solar_1/ 

Enjoy!