Dan Paladin (born September 14, 1979), also known as Synj, is an American
video game artist
Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects for video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are visual artists inv ...
,
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
, and co-founder of the video game company
The Behemoth
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
.
He began collaborating with
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
I ...
creator
Tom Fulp
Thomas Charles Fulp (born April 30, 1978) is an American programmer known for creating the website Newgrounds and co-founding the video game company The Behemoth.
He has been credited with "changing the landscape of the Internet forever" by kic ...
and in the early 2000's designed several
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
-based
browser games
A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer.
Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...
: ''Sack Smash 2001'', ''Chainsaw the Children'', ''Dad n' Me'', and, most notably, ''
Alien Hominid
''Alien Hominid'' is an independently developed run and gun video game developed by The Behemoth. The game was developed from an Adobe Flash game originally released on Newgrounds in August 2002. O3 Entertainment released the game for PlayStati ...
''.
In 2002, he, Fulp,
John Baez
John Carlos Baez (; born June 12, 1961) is an American mathematical physicist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in Riverside, California. He has worked on spin foams in loop quantum gravity, appl ...
, and
Brandon LaCava founded the video game company The Behemoth. Paladin designed the critically acclaimed remake of ''
Alien Hominid
''Alien Hominid'' is an independently developed run and gun video game developed by The Behemoth. The game was developed from an Adobe Flash game originally released on Newgrounds in August 2002. O3 Entertainment released the game for PlayStati ...
'', as well as the
beat 'em up
The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
game ''
Castle Crashers
''Castle Crashers'' is a 2D side scrolling hack-and-slash video game developed by The Behemoth. It features music created by members of Newgrounds. The Xbox 360 version was released on August 27, 2008, via Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Xbox L ...
'', with his 2D style becoming signature for these games.
Aside from working for
The Behemoth
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, Paladin has also worked for Gratuitous Games and
Presto Studios
Presto Studios was a computer game development company of the 1990s. The company is notable for its award-winning series '' The Journeyman Project'' as well as '' Myst III: Exile, the'' 2001 sequel to Cyan's Myst series.
In August 2002, Presto ...
. He also composed the polka-style closing credits tune for the ''
Cyanide & Happiness'' animated shorts.
Personal life
Paladin lives in
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, where
The Behemoth
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
is located. He was an active member of
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
I ...
.
Awards
''
Castle Crashers
''Castle Crashers'' is a 2D side scrolling hack-and-slash video game developed by The Behemoth. It features music created by members of Newgrounds. The Xbox 360 version was released on August 27, 2008, via Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Xbox L ...
'', a game Paladin is credited as the art director of, won two awards in
Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...
2007: "Excellence In Visual Art" and "Audience Award".
References
External links
Dan Paladin's profile at NewgroundsPaladin's siteSome of Paladin's sketches on Castle Crashers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paladin, Dan
American video game designers
21st-century American businesspeople
1979 births
Living people
People from Ohio
Indie video game developers
The Behemoth
Newgrounds people