omg, you guys, have you ever stopped to think about the amazing animation in valve's games? like, team fortress 2, left 4 dead, and portal are all total classics, and their characters are so full of life and personality. it turns out, one of the people behind that magic is a former jim henson company puppeteer - how cool is that?



i was reading up on valve's history and stumbled upon this awesome fact: they hired a woman named karen prell, who used to work on fraggle rock, of all things. she was the one who played red fraggle, which is just the best. apparently, she was only 22 when she started working on that show, and she went on to do some pretty amazing things, including working on labyrinth - remember that movie?



anyway, karen prell's career took a pretty interesting turn when she started working at pixar in 1997. she worked on some amazing films, like a bug's life and toy story 2, and even did some animation for that adorable short film, geri's game. but then, in 2007, she made the switch to valve, which is just mind-blowing to me. i mean, can you imagine going from working on movies to working on video games, with no experience playing them beforehand? that takes some serious guts.



so, what did karen prell do at valve, exactly? well, she started out working on left 4 dead, which is just a fantastic game. she did some animation and playtesting, and apparently, the younger employees at valve got a kick out of hearing her reactions when she played the game - especially when those gross boomers would spit their bile all over the screen. from thereRead more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com

What do you think about this?