Hi Gang,

This week, I want to show you the newly completed box for our upcoming Wii title: JumpStart Pet Rescue. Please note that the actual art and messaging is still pending approval from Nintendo of America. (Sorry, our legal department is making me put this in).

Anyway, the art department, along with marketing, has produced a pretty cool box. I want to give a big SHOUT-OUT to Lance, Megumi, Seth, and Jen for all the art and Carlos for the messaging and layout.

I have included most of the steps that we took to complete the box art.

We begin by creating thumbnail sketches of the different ideas that we have for the box.

Thumbnail #1

Thumbnail#2

Then, we sketch out a rough layout for the background and continue to add detail.

Layout #1

Layout #2

We have to draw some cute characters. No box is complete without our characters. Thanks, Seth!

Character designs #1

Character designs #2

Now Frankie and the pets can be added to the world…

Characters with background

But where is the color?

Characters with color

Background with color

Here is the color. YAY! Megumi painted most of the characters, while Lance painted the background.

Here is the final image before Carlos works his magic.

Complete image - but no words!

Now we let Carlos do his thing, and…

Ta-Da! The “final” box art.*

Note that we painted a larger picture than what is on the final box.  Check out Frankie’s ears.  This is extra bleed area for when the image is cut to fit the plastic case.

* The views and information expressed in this article are those of the authors alone.  They do not represent the views or opinions of JumpStart or its staff, nor do they represent the view or opinions of Knowledge Adventure, or any entity of, or affiliated with said company.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  Oh yeah, this box is still pending approval from Nintendo (whom we love)…(a lot).

Well, I hope you enjoyed this quick peek into the box design for our first Wii title.

Good times, everyone!

Chris “I love Audibles” Williams

Twitter @JumpStart_Chris

For the last few days, I’ve been hanging out at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I got the chance to meet a lot of great people from the computer and video games industry. As I explored E3, I also met a lot of other computer and video game characters, like Mario, Sonic and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The JumpStart Team and I also got to hang out with the staff of Woot, an online community and store. And guess what! They chose me as the best mascot of E3 2009! loved playing games with the Woot staff, and I’m glad they had a great time too.

Some of my favorite demos included EA’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game. The game allows you to play your favorite characters and duel with different spells using the Wii remote as a wand. I was also blown away by the new Beatles Rock Band! Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr from The Beatles, along with Yoko Ono, made an appearance to premiere the new game. This includes some of my favorite songs such as Octopus’ Garden, Here Comes the Sun, and Day Tripper.

Happy exploring,
Frankie

For those of you who love both social networking and gaming (we do!), you might be interested to know that Microsoft has announced integrated Facebook and Twitter functionality will be coming to Xbox 360 this fall. If straight gaming is more your thing, be warned that Microsoft is on the verge of making gaming possible with no remote at all! Their new camera attachment for Xbox captures full-body movements to let players control games without wielding a remote of any sort. Watch a preview! Sony is also developing a whole new way to play games and showed off a prototype of a new motion controller at a recent press conference.

Over at the JumpStart booth, Executive Producer Jeffrey Kessler and Associate Producer Jeremy Holmes gave a number of great demonstrations of the new JumpStart Pet Rescue game. A few lucky visitors had the chance to try their hands at the game, and quickly managed to teach their virtual pets to backflip, jump, spin and dance with the help of the Wii remote – such fun! We also showed off MarineLand, our upcoming addition to JumpStart.com, complete with mermaid tails and underwater Punk Punks! We’re currently gearing up for E3 Day 3 and hoping it will be as busy and fun as the first 2 days of the show!

If you happen to be attending E3 this year, be sure to stop by Booth #2461 in the South Hall to say hi. If you aren’t attending, stay tuned here and @JumpStart_Erin on Twitter for updates on the show!

Down one of the aisles, visitors found our Knowledge Adventure booth – complete with stations to try out our new DS, Wii and online games. Our producers and artists were on-hand to show off their creations and everyone was very excited to see (and try!) JumpStart Pet Rescue – our first game for the Wii. Visitors also had the chance to see into the future, literally, as they explored a demo of what JumpStart.com will look like over the next few months. Get excited…there are llamas involved!

Plus, JumpStart’s own Frankie made an appearance in the flesh…errr fur…and delighted the attendees with his stellar dance moves. He even played Dance Dance Revolution and won – in spite of those clumsy paws!

Frankie showing off his dance moves!

But Frankie was not the only game character on the show floor at E3. A quick stroll around the booths and you just might run into a pair of furry bunnies or Bayonetta, a leather clad warrior from one of Sega’s new games.

Elsewhere at the expo, Michael Gallagher, President of the Entertainment Software Association, delivered his State of the Industry Address. Gallagher announced that “an impressive 68 percent of American households play games together and 42 percent of families own a dedicated game console” (source: E3 Official Show Daily). Now those are the type of numbers we like to hear – especially with our new Wii games in the works!

Part of the JumpStart crew hanging out with Frankie

If you happen to be attending E3 this year, be sure to stop by Booth #2461 in the South Hall to say hi. If you aren’t attending, stay tuned here and @JumpStart_Erin on Twitter for updates on the show!

JumpStart Pet Rescue is the first of its kind to dive into Wii’s audience. “The Wii marketplace is an exciting opportunity for us to leverage our trusted brand and leading market share in kids’ games,” says David Lord, CEO of Knowledge Adventure. “By serving parents’ desire to provide better learning experiences for their children while providing a fun, immersive game, we intend to capture market share in the fast-growing youth category.” Get ready for another great adventure and keep your eyes and ears open as JumpStart makes its debut on the Wii!