Pixel Art on the Train

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am not an artist. I should get that out of the way up front. I’m a programmer who, through a series of events that seemed reasonable at the time, ended up being the person making all the pixel art for Tomb of the Snake King. On an iPad. On the train to work.

The original jam sprites were made by Fintan and Ellie back in 2021, using Piskel. They were great–especially for a fifteen-year-old and a 12-year old working to a deadline while I was 5,000 miles away working in Seattle. But when we rebuilt ToSK from scratch, we needed a complete new set of art to match the new design. Fintan’s doing game design in college now. Ellie’s moved on. That left me.

From Game Jam to the Snake King's Tomb

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Back in 2021, my kid Fintan–fifteen at the time–and I sat down for a weekend to enter our very first game jam. ZenoJam 3, theme: “It Never Ends.” We built Tomb of the Snake King in Unity, a roguelike-meets-snake game where you collect cursed treasure that follows you around, growing your tail while you dodge mummies and scarabs. Fintan and little sister Ellie did all the pixel art and music. We came 5th out of 79 entries, which for a first jam felt pretty great! It certainly inspired us to try more, although I don’t think we’ve ever done as well since :-D

Tosk on Golden Grove Games

Pixel Art on the Train

From Game Jam to the Snake King's Tomb