when you hear about people modeling internals that are never seen (the engines in gran tuirsmo) how does that make you feel
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I've been an artist in videogames for 14+ years. I'm between jobs and have a week off. Ask Me (mostly) Anything
- Thread starter XaviConcept
- Start date
Thanks very much. I've been interested in this subject for a while, because I was told that the task of trying to fit all the art into the budget has long been a nightmare where you're struggling against the show HDDs, and that the SSDs of the next generation won't just make games prettier and more seamless, but also make things genuinely easier for devs because they won't be constantly having to fix mensuration bugs and use every trick in the book to get everything working. I hope that's really the case for you guys.
10th Batch
OP
OP
10th Batch
Thanks! Im pretty excited, its a pretty big opportunity. Its not without risk and I LOVED my previous job but sometimes you gotta go for it, you know?
Hard to say, for so many of us devs theres a ton of cancelled work I cant really show you or however proud I am of the work we did it sometimes doesnt reflect in a really cool image or video
Its hard to top that I was one of the Inside Cover Artists for Street Fighter IV, though
Project wise, while at Kiwi is where I learned I actually wanted to be an Art Director and that I could actually be good at managing people? The Heroes: Islands of Adventure project started as just me with two interns with a team of Indian engineers working remotely and we turned it into something that if it had been made under a real company actually had a shot at being something special. Seeing the growth of my team during that project, the many people we proved wrong and the challenges we were able to overcome definitely makes me proud, you can see it if you scroll all the way down to this page
Already answered earlier with a Chrono Trigger piece but I still like this other Megaman piece from a few years back
Very little, being a fulltime artist in games has paid for all of my needs. I could hustle a lot more and make a lot more but Id rather use my free time on art I want to make and my hobbies, gotta strike a balance somehow. Thats one of the reasons I stopped pursuing comics, in that field you have to basically work for free for 5 years until you can get some recognition and honestly fuck all that
Gross income? Well its hard to say accumulated, various 401k's and whatnot. The new job is in Euros and Im not sure about taxes yet, but after yearly bonuses and whatnot its well over six figures.
It makes total sense. Im not a child, I know how the world works and how this business operates. If I wanted to be rich I wouldnt be in this business, haha
If I had a giant problem with it then Id go off on my own and try and make my own IP happen.
Seems like a great console for the people that want to keep playing more Halo, more Forza and more Gears
Thanks bud! Not like EVO was gonna happen this year anyway, seeing how things are going ... I will be stateside a few times a year, though
a) honestly it depends on your talent and work ethic. Some Gnomon courses are great, some arent and I dont know what you respond best to. Maybe your flow needs work, maybe its the speed, maybe its the anatomy or maybe its the application. DM me and I can give you more detailed feedback
b) its not necessary, if your models are dope then nobody will give a shit. If you want to be good though, I dont see how having strong doundamentals would hurt you, although Ive seen plenty of amazing modelers that cant draw for shit.
Im experienced enough that even if Ive never drawn something before I can do a pretty good job by looking at the right reference and breaking it down into basic shapes. We all have areas we are weak at, mechanical design being mine, and its important to find ways to work at them. You dont have to be a jack of all trades, btw! Instead just become good at being resourceful and make sure you practice different kinds of styles, linewidths, rendering techniques etc so when a client throws you a curveball youll have a more extensive library.
As to how actually BUILD that library, well, varied sources help! Artstation, Pixiv, art books, look at different shows, games, etc and try to see who the concept artists are. Those experiences are what will make you a unique artist, for instance, my art improved a lot more by learning how to box than by drawing more, Im the kind of artist that observes and absorbs his environment more than the guy who needs to thumbnail something 50 times, so at 38 I basically know how I learn the quickest, you know?
Also, people wont tell you this but as far as PRACTICE is concerned and learning how to draw something in particular ... just TRACE IT. Put your ref in Photoshop, lower the opacity and, on a new layer, break it down to basic shapes, realizing how theyre layered in 3D space, paying close attention to the negative spaces, then try drawing it on your own! Its a great way to learn
Depends on the studio, you probably wont be hired as a Lead right out of indie gaming though, maybe a senior at most, as a Lead they would want to see some sort of leadership and management experience. Ive worked with AD's that want the Lead to be the one who sets the look and feel of the game, some companies also separate the position between being a Principal Artist and a Lead Artist. Its the same level of seniority but one is targeted toward making art and the other one towards art direction.
Hopefully you land on a team that can see what youre best at and leave room for that, even in a more directorial role. For instance, in Star Wars I was the Lead and, really, the Art Director by all intents and purposes so MOST of my time was spent managing the art output and quality ... however, there were plenty of times were I was still making art because I was the best person for the job
Your best best, however, is probably to aim at getting hired as a Senior and, after seeing how their management structure is and what their policies are, youll decide wether you want to pursue a more managerial role or do something different. Do research Principal Artist though, its a very cool role.
New IP always, unless its something really fucking cool like Star Wars or Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Dark Souls, etc ... otherwise I like making new stuff, its more invigorating
Having lived in Utah, New York and California ... Im pretty sure you can guess which was which. Sometimes it can be hard to keep politics out of the conversation but hey, its a job and backing the other party aint against the law.
That being said, boy am I glad to be leaving
In SWGOH I think its pretty safe to admit that every character has been considered at one point or another. As you can tell, Im sure, we tend to focus more on bringing new factions than single one-off cool characters. At the end of the day, it just makes more sense.
Release strategy changes a lot and has to do with a bunch of moving parts, most of which I cant talk about. Nihilus was before my time but Sith sure were strong for a long time, the ultimate goal is to reward the players for a vast collection and not just "use this to top the arena shard". Plus, remember that there really isnt a best practices sheet for a game like ours with that longevity, its still pretty damn unusual so CG will continue to take educated chances and experiment with who and what they release in the future
Thank you! Its appreciated
Madrid, siempre
Churros, por favor, y con chocolate
Tifa y escoge los miembros para tu fiesta
Complete and utter insanity. I feel horrible for the team that was forced to crunch like crazy and give up their careers due to burnout. Not worth it.
Also, that wont be replicated for a while, horrible standard to set, too. I dont want other teams to think thats the level they need to reach.
Thanks! Im pretty excited, its a pretty big opportunity. Its not without risk and I LOVED my previous job but sometimes you gotta go for it, you know?
Hard to say, for so many of us devs theres a ton of cancelled work I cant really show you or however proud I am of the work we did it sometimes doesnt reflect in a really cool image or video
Its hard to top that I was one of the Inside Cover Artists for Street Fighter IV, though
Project wise, while at Kiwi is where I learned I actually wanted to be an Art Director and that I could actually be good at managing people? The Heroes: Islands of Adventure project started as just me with two interns with a team of Indian engineers working remotely and we turned it into something that if it had been made under a real company actually had a shot at being something special. Seeing the growth of my team during that project, the many people we proved wrong and the challenges we were able to overcome definitely makes me proud, you can see it if you scroll all the way down to this page
Already answered earlier with a Chrono Trigger piece but I still like this other Megaman piece from a few years back
Very little, being a fulltime artist in games has paid for all of my needs. I could hustle a lot more and make a lot more but Id rather use my free time on art I want to make and my hobbies, gotta strike a balance somehow. Thats one of the reasons I stopped pursuing comics, in that field you have to basically work for free for 5 years until you can get some recognition and honestly fuck all that
Gross income? Well its hard to say accumulated, various 401k's and whatnot. The new job is in Euros and Im not sure about taxes yet, but after yearly bonuses and whatnot its well over six figures.
It makes total sense. Im not a child, I know how the world works and how this business operates. If I wanted to be rich I wouldnt be in this business, haha
If I had a giant problem with it then Id go off on my own and try and make my own IP happen.
Seems like a great console for the people that want to keep playing more Halo, more Forza and more Gears
Thanks bud! Not like EVO was gonna happen this year anyway, seeing how things are going ... I will be stateside a few times a year, though
a) honestly it depends on your talent and work ethic. Some Gnomon courses are great, some arent and I dont know what you respond best to. Maybe your flow needs work, maybe its the speed, maybe its the anatomy or maybe its the application. DM me and I can give you more detailed feedback
b) its not necessary, if your models are dope then nobody will give a shit. If you want to be good though, I dont see how having strong doundamentals would hurt you, although Ive seen plenty of amazing modelers that cant draw for shit.
Im experienced enough that even if Ive never drawn something before I can do a pretty good job by looking at the right reference and breaking it down into basic shapes. We all have areas we are weak at, mechanical design being mine, and its important to find ways to work at them. You dont have to be a jack of all trades, btw! Instead just become good at being resourceful and make sure you practice different kinds of styles, linewidths, rendering techniques etc so when a client throws you a curveball youll have a more extensive library.
As to how actually BUILD that library, well, varied sources help! Artstation, Pixiv, art books, look at different shows, games, etc and try to see who the concept artists are. Those experiences are what will make you a unique artist, for instance, my art improved a lot more by learning how to box than by drawing more, Im the kind of artist that observes and absorbs his environment more than the guy who needs to thumbnail something 50 times, so at 38 I basically know how I learn the quickest, you know?
Also, people wont tell you this but as far as PRACTICE is concerned and learning how to draw something in particular ... just TRACE IT. Put your ref in Photoshop, lower the opacity and, on a new layer, break it down to basic shapes, realizing how theyre layered in 3D space, paying close attention to the negative spaces, then try drawing it on your own! Its a great way to learn
Depends on the studio, you probably wont be hired as a Lead right out of indie gaming though, maybe a senior at most, as a Lead they would want to see some sort of leadership and management experience. Ive worked with AD's that want the Lead to be the one who sets the look and feel of the game, some companies also separate the position between being a Principal Artist and a Lead Artist. Its the same level of seniority but one is targeted toward making art and the other one towards art direction.
Hopefully you land on a team that can see what youre best at and leave room for that, even in a more directorial role. For instance, in Star Wars I was the Lead and, really, the Art Director by all intents and purposes so MOST of my time was spent managing the art output and quality ... however, there were plenty of times were I was still making art because I was the best person for the job
Your best best, however, is probably to aim at getting hired as a Senior and, after seeing how their management structure is and what their policies are, youll decide wether you want to pursue a more managerial role or do something different. Do research Principal Artist though, its a very cool role.
New IP always, unless its something really fucking cool like Star Wars or Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Dark Souls, etc ... otherwise I like making new stuff, its more invigorating
Having lived in Utah, New York and California ... Im pretty sure you can guess which was which. Sometimes it can be hard to keep politics out of the conversation but hey, its a job and backing the other party aint against the law.
That being said, boy am I glad to be leaving
In SWGOH I think its pretty safe to admit that every character has been considered at one point or another. As you can tell, Im sure, we tend to focus more on bringing new factions than single one-off cool characters. At the end of the day, it just makes more sense.
Release strategy changes a lot and has to do with a bunch of moving parts, most of which I cant talk about. Nihilus was before my time but Sith sure were strong for a long time, the ultimate goal is to reward the players for a vast collection and not just "use this to top the arena shard". Plus, remember that there really isnt a best practices sheet for a game like ours with that longevity, its still pretty damn unusual so CG will continue to take educated chances and experiment with who and what they release in the future
Thank you! Its appreciated
Madrid, siempre
Churros, por favor, y con chocolate
Tifa y escoge los miembros para tu fiesta
Complete and utter insanity. I feel horrible for the team that was forced to crunch like crazy and give up their careers due to burnout. Not worth it.
Also, that wont be replicated for a while, horrible standard to set, too. I dont want other teams to think thats the level they need to reach.
11th Batch
OP
OP
11th Batch. This has been super fun so far, yall, thank you!
At Kiwi/SGN/Jam City I did work with writers since we were building your casual storytelling based world builder style games. At EA we dont have a lot of writing for SWGOH and writing is handled by the design team, but its not like they have no skill, either, theres some good writers there
I havent been in a great position to be in a game where theres a clear head writer for me to throw ideas around with. I think a good writer for games would highly benefit from coming up in the design or art pipeline as there is SO MUCH to gain there and you can cater your writing to be much more inline with the gameplay instead of "insert wall of text here"
Depends entirely on you. Im not build for freelance, I do better when I have some job security. I did freelance for a year and while I was LUCKY to work on Steambirds, Skullgirls and more ... it was just too stressful knowing that I needed to always be looking for the next paycheck, remind companies to pay on time and take up any job just in case the market dried up.
OIn the flipside, I know some people that only do client work and fucking thrive doing it, being able to make more money, buy fancy things and take cool vacations. It makes me wish I was more like that, to be honest. I just LIKE being in a studio and making a little work family, you know?
Yeah, every now and then. Nothing as dramatic as a bowl of pasta but a lot of snot has made its way into my illustrations .. in that case you get a paper towel and slowly drain out the fluid, let it dry and try not to touch it so the pencil doesnt smear. Once you take it digitally you fix it up
Of course! Happy to provide something to pass the time :)
Most recently, when we introduced the Ebon Hawk in SWGOH I made a really cool event image for it where it was flying a bunch of Sith Fighters which left behind a blue trail, framing the image. It was rad!
However, we decided the Ebon Hawk would not use our event system after all, so there was no need for the image. Shame. Worse thing is, I cant even show you
A lot of the "aw shucks" pieces come during the exploration phase when you dont know what your game looks like yet, kind of the "what ifs" Like, for a while I worked on restaurant game and my pitch was to make it feel like a Ghibli movie. I made the lineart to prove my point and, if we liked it, would have gone full color but we killed the idea, leaving this in its wake :(
Happy to provide something of value during the pandemic!
I would hope so! Pre rendering backgrounds are expensive (test renders are time consuming, final renders even moreso) and not very future proof though, as the recent VII/III/IX remaster can attest so thats a definite challenge. Maybe something with upscaling via machine learning could make them viable again? I could see a game making those kind of backgrounds with set camera angles but rendering them in realtime. Thats certainly something I could see a AA game company do on the PS5
EA is always, always making prototypes for cool game experiences. Do they ship? Not most of them, are people interested in making them? Absolutely. EA has some awesome leaders at the helm right now and theyre people I trust to make good decisions, hopefully a year from now you have a better opinion of their output.
Thank you! I am very much in love with the medium still and I am always playing 2/3 games at the same time. Right now its FF VIIR, Shibuya Scramble and ACNH. My relationship with games has certainly changed over time but so does the industry. I like most genres and Im always looking for new things to play so I have not become a cynic yet, I also dont veer towards massive time syncs so you will barely ever see me play over 100 hours on a single game, Id much rather play the ten hours it takes to play something new than hours 120 through 130 of Destiny.
Many, many things inspire me, my hobbies outside of work are playing sports (soccer, bball, climbing, tennis) and I also practice boxing. I love reading manga (re-reading Bakuman right now) and of course watching anime like Haikyuu, BNHA and shit like that. Im also studying Japanese in my free time! Its a good thing for any artistic person to get into hobbies outside of their usual norm, itll allow you to draw from different areas of life. Artists I admire: Moebius, Yoshida, Daigo, Akiman, Nomura, Bengal, Snakepixel, Taiyo Matsumoto, etc etc, I try to keep a good curated amount of cool stuff on my twitter likes (plus compliments I get cause Im fucking vaaain)
You know, I almost worked on Dead Space, I was on that team for about a week! The Tiger Woods PS2 games were technically AAA but ... shit, I dont think Ive ever worked on a legit AAA game. I mean, Galaxy of Heroes has made more money than almost any AAA game ever sooo theres that :P
Tech discussions are great! At the end of the day, even for devs its all conjecture even after they get the devkits. Often when a game company gets a new devkit for a new console its a bit of an arms race to see who can get it to even fucking work before other companies do. I think having good discussiuons about tech in this forum are great because somebody will eventually be able to turn it into something they can expand on
I did, I feel like Im pretty far but then I noticed Im probably like less than halfway through. I liked it, it played great and has a unique art style but ... something about it made me lose my grip after a coup[le of weeks, to the point where now I dont have much desire to go back to it. Im not advocating it to be shorter but, for instance, take Souls games, even when I drop them Im always pining to return to them. Hollow Knight Im more like "yeah I played a bunch, I got it, Im good"
Not very much. If youre at a small startup they are much more up in your business and theyre annoying as fuck to deal with, like they feel like they need to approve every single thing but like, at EA I dont ever hear from the GM or Lead Producer. They trust in the work that we do and only if something major happens do they have an opinion about the art
It is and it isnt. The stories you hear are true but ... this industry is much bigger than people think. Every iOS game, every steam game ... thats a lot of people and just because they dont get an OTT in ERA or have a gamefaqs page it doesnt make them any less real or valid. Its a good industry full of amazing people and a lot of amazing experiences. That being said, for yourself, focus on what you WANT to do and when and if the time comes to work for a particular studio, due your due diligence (Glassdoor is a good strart) and take it from there. On the technical side, is it hard? Well, if you want to make a game by yourself its fucking overwhelming but otherwise ... its not so, so bad, just find what you wanna do and find out how to get good at it, dont worry about the true nature of polygons too much just yet, just know that a polygon with more than 4 sides is broken and will not work
Ive had to bend to some requests I knew were dumb, like making a character wear a cowboy hat eventhough everyone involved knew it wouldnt be approved. But .. overall nothng all that weird, art in games is a collaboration, not a client and we dont have to just accept any and all requests if we think theyre a waste of time. At EA Salt Lake though, for a while, we were working on this Gardens game which featured Tanukis and me, knowing that the studio is/was mostly Mormon, went ahead and drew the Tanukis with the (much needed) GIANT BALLS just to see what the reactions from the more conservative folk would be. I think THEY would say that was pretty weird.
Im also kind of into weird shit, so my barometer for weird is probably broken
ugh, were you in New Orleans? Know Shawn Peters? I was in NY. Hope things are well!
Leaks mostly happen because of outsourcing. That random company you have making concept art just doesnt give the same amount of shits about confidentiality.
Most games in this industry get cancelled, Id say about 70% of them, even if its a made-up stat it feels true. Iteration does, eventually bring out high quality work but so, so much concept art gets thrown in the way there its unbelievable ... and youll never see it.
Spryfox, one of my favorite companies to have ever worked for, say it best. They know that only one out of every ten games has a chance at success
www.digitaltrends.com
Please do! Would be glad to help
Eh, Ive done it all, really. For Steambirds I was doing ... everything, models, environments, implementation, lighting. When you join a bigger team you just find the things you can help the most with. In SWGOH I was both a 2D artist and I made the cinematics myself in Unity and implemented them myself, which were complicated because they were made using our battle engine. For Kiwi we didnt have an engine so eventually I learned how to implement all the art myself via Jawa code ... ugh, still annoys me, haha
Anyways, yes, agree, HD games are a steaming pile of shit processes and a complete waste of manpower. Companies should invest 3x the amount they do on processes and tech that can improve the implementation pipelines. So, so much fucking time in gamedev is just spent fucking WAITING for shit to work instead of working
Its ... kind of wasteful but I dunno, its kind of cool too plus, its probably needed for the license holder to be happy
I personally wont be touching a PS5 or an XbXbxbsriesxboxx anytime soon but, in my experience, devs just arent that great at optimizing as a whole. I remember looking at how well Nintendo games were optimized when I was ripping them to an HDD and then being shocked at how BIG fairly minor games by third party devs were. Anyways, nextgen will of course make things easier for a little while but then some unreasonable company like Rockstar, Projekt Red, Squenix or Naughty Dog will make something that fires the fucking thing and setting a new standard other companies will feel obligated to follow, fucking it all up in the process.
I havent made any Xenogears fanart for like, 20 years and I would have LOVED to work on that game. Most recently though, Ive made a ton of Dark Souls fanart and I really, really wish I would have worked on it
At Kiwi/SGN/Jam City I did work with writers since we were building your casual storytelling based world builder style games. At EA we dont have a lot of writing for SWGOH and writing is handled by the design team, but its not like they have no skill, either, theres some good writers there
I havent been in a great position to be in a game where theres a clear head writer for me to throw ideas around with. I think a good writer for games would highly benefit from coming up in the design or art pipeline as there is SO MUCH to gain there and you can cater your writing to be much more inline with the gameplay instead of "insert wall of text here"
Depends entirely on you. Im not build for freelance, I do better when I have some job security. I did freelance for a year and while I was LUCKY to work on Steambirds, Skullgirls and more ... it was just too stressful knowing that I needed to always be looking for the next paycheck, remind companies to pay on time and take up any job just in case the market dried up.
OIn the flipside, I know some people that only do client work and fucking thrive doing it, being able to make more money, buy fancy things and take cool vacations. It makes me wish I was more like that, to be honest. I just LIKE being in a studio and making a little work family, you know?
Yeah, every now and then. Nothing as dramatic as a bowl of pasta but a lot of snot has made its way into my illustrations .. in that case you get a paper towel and slowly drain out the fluid, let it dry and try not to touch it so the pencil doesnt smear. Once you take it digitally you fix it up
Of course! Happy to provide something to pass the time :)
Most recently, when we introduced the Ebon Hawk in SWGOH I made a really cool event image for it where it was flying a bunch of Sith Fighters which left behind a blue trail, framing the image. It was rad!
However, we decided the Ebon Hawk would not use our event system after all, so there was no need for the image. Shame. Worse thing is, I cant even show you
A lot of the "aw shucks" pieces come during the exploration phase when you dont know what your game looks like yet, kind of the "what ifs" Like, for a while I worked on restaurant game and my pitch was to make it feel like a Ghibli movie. I made the lineart to prove my point and, if we liked it, would have gone full color but we killed the idea, leaving this in its wake :(
Happy to provide something of value during the pandemic!
I would hope so! Pre rendering backgrounds are expensive (test renders are time consuming, final renders even moreso) and not very future proof though, as the recent VII/III/IX remaster can attest so thats a definite challenge. Maybe something with upscaling via machine learning could make them viable again? I could see a game making those kind of backgrounds with set camera angles but rendering them in realtime. Thats certainly something I could see a AA game company do on the PS5
EA is always, always making prototypes for cool game experiences. Do they ship? Not most of them, are people interested in making them? Absolutely. EA has some awesome leaders at the helm right now and theyre people I trust to make good decisions, hopefully a year from now you have a better opinion of their output.
Thank you! I am very much in love with the medium still and I am always playing 2/3 games at the same time. Right now its FF VIIR, Shibuya Scramble and ACNH. My relationship with games has certainly changed over time but so does the industry. I like most genres and Im always looking for new things to play so I have not become a cynic yet, I also dont veer towards massive time syncs so you will barely ever see me play over 100 hours on a single game, Id much rather play the ten hours it takes to play something new than hours 120 through 130 of Destiny.
Many, many things inspire me, my hobbies outside of work are playing sports (soccer, bball, climbing, tennis) and I also practice boxing. I love reading manga (re-reading Bakuman right now) and of course watching anime like Haikyuu, BNHA and shit like that. Im also studying Japanese in my free time! Its a good thing for any artistic person to get into hobbies outside of their usual norm, itll allow you to draw from different areas of life. Artists I admire: Moebius, Yoshida, Daigo, Akiman, Nomura, Bengal, Snakepixel, Taiyo Matsumoto, etc etc, I try to keep a good curated amount of cool stuff on my twitter likes (plus compliments I get cause Im fucking vaaain)
You know, I almost worked on Dead Space, I was on that team for about a week! The Tiger Woods PS2 games were technically AAA but ... shit, I dont think Ive ever worked on a legit AAA game. I mean, Galaxy of Heroes has made more money than almost any AAA game ever sooo theres that :P
Tech discussions are great! At the end of the day, even for devs its all conjecture even after they get the devkits. Often when a game company gets a new devkit for a new console its a bit of an arms race to see who can get it to even fucking work before other companies do. I think having good discussiuons about tech in this forum are great because somebody will eventually be able to turn it into something they can expand on
I did, I feel like Im pretty far but then I noticed Im probably like less than halfway through. I liked it, it played great and has a unique art style but ... something about it made me lose my grip after a coup[le of weeks, to the point where now I dont have much desire to go back to it. Im not advocating it to be shorter but, for instance, take Souls games, even when I drop them Im always pining to return to them. Hollow Knight Im more like "yeah I played a bunch, I got it, Im good"
Not very much. If youre at a small startup they are much more up in your business and theyre annoying as fuck to deal with, like they feel like they need to approve every single thing but like, at EA I dont ever hear from the GM or Lead Producer. They trust in the work that we do and only if something major happens do they have an opinion about the art
It is and it isnt. The stories you hear are true but ... this industry is much bigger than people think. Every iOS game, every steam game ... thats a lot of people and just because they dont get an OTT in ERA or have a gamefaqs page it doesnt make them any less real or valid. Its a good industry full of amazing people and a lot of amazing experiences. That being said, for yourself, focus on what you WANT to do and when and if the time comes to work for a particular studio, due your due diligence (Glassdoor is a good strart) and take it from there. On the technical side, is it hard? Well, if you want to make a game by yourself its fucking overwhelming but otherwise ... its not so, so bad, just find what you wanna do and find out how to get good at it, dont worry about the true nature of polygons too much just yet, just know that a polygon with more than 4 sides is broken and will not work
Ive had to bend to some requests I knew were dumb, like making a character wear a cowboy hat eventhough everyone involved knew it wouldnt be approved. But .. overall nothng all that weird, art in games is a collaboration, not a client and we dont have to just accept any and all requests if we think theyre a waste of time. At EA Salt Lake though, for a while, we were working on this Gardens game which featured Tanukis and me, knowing that the studio is/was mostly Mormon, went ahead and drew the Tanukis with the (much needed) GIANT BALLS just to see what the reactions from the more conservative folk would be. I think THEY would say that was pretty weird.
Im also kind of into weird shit, so my barometer for weird is probably broken
ugh, were you in New Orleans? Know Shawn Peters? I was in NY. Hope things are well!
Leaks mostly happen because of outsourcing. That random company you have making concept art just doesnt give the same amount of shits about confidentiality.
Most games in this industry get cancelled, Id say about 70% of them, even if its a made-up stat it feels true. Iteration does, eventually bring out high quality work but so, so much concept art gets thrown in the way there its unbelievable ... and youll never see it.
Spryfox, one of my favorite companies to have ever worked for, say it best. They know that only one out of every ten games has a chance at success
Spry Fox developers on Triple Town and The Road Not Taken | Digital Trends
The Road Not Taken and Triple Town developer on the importance of luck and kindness
www.digitaltrends.com
Please do! Would be glad to help
Eh, Ive done it all, really. For Steambirds I was doing ... everything, models, environments, implementation, lighting. When you join a bigger team you just find the things you can help the most with. In SWGOH I was both a 2D artist and I made the cinematics myself in Unity and implemented them myself, which were complicated because they were made using our battle engine. For Kiwi we didnt have an engine so eventually I learned how to implement all the art myself via Jawa code ... ugh, still annoys me, haha
Anyways, yes, agree, HD games are a steaming pile of shit processes and a complete waste of manpower. Companies should invest 3x the amount they do on processes and tech that can improve the implementation pipelines. So, so much fucking time in gamedev is just spent fucking WAITING for shit to work instead of working
Its ... kind of wasteful but I dunno, its kind of cool too plus, its probably needed for the license holder to be happy
I personally wont be touching a PS5 or an XbXbxbsriesxboxx anytime soon but, in my experience, devs just arent that great at optimizing as a whole. I remember looking at how well Nintendo games were optimized when I was ripping them to an HDD and then being shocked at how BIG fairly minor games by third party devs were. Anyways, nextgen will of course make things easier for a little while but then some unreasonable company like Rockstar, Projekt Red, Squenix or Naughty Dog will make something that fires the fucking thing and setting a new standard other companies will feel obligated to follow, fucking it all up in the process.
I havent made any Xenogears fanart for like, 20 years and I would have LOVED to work on that game. Most recently though, Ive made a ton of Dark Souls fanart and I really, really wish I would have worked on it
How many more generations until we have holographic visuals displaying all around us in our gaming caves? Are you looking forward to the that occupational challenge?
Lastly, have you tried VR yet? If so (as an industry professional and a gamer), what are your impressions of it as a medium for interacting with virtual 3D environments, objects, people and SFX as opposed to traditional displays?
Lastly, have you tried VR yet? If so (as an industry professional and a gamer), what are your impressions of it as a medium for interacting with virtual 3D environments, objects, people and SFX as opposed to traditional displays?
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Yes, very much appreciate the reply. It's nice having insight into the industry without the PR filtering that generally must apply.
Super cool to read Raging Spaniard
Cool to see one of us getting some well deserved attention!
and nice to get some perspective from a different studio (EA), even tho 95% of it is very similar to where I work and is just how the game industry works
A ton of people have little clue how much hard work goes into making a game and what a tightrope walk and miracle it is to get anything out to the public that isn't a roaring dumpster fire, since it surely was months to weeks before gold hahaha.
Being an artist, especially a concept artist is a tough job, and often, even within the industry is misunderstood and not as respected. The amount of backseat driving and general "you are just a concept artist" that goes around is sometimes a bit shit and often gets treated as a necessary evil to go from Idea to final product. That said, I wouldn't trade this job for anything else in the world!
Cool to see one of us getting some well deserved attention!
and nice to get some perspective from a different studio (EA), even tho 95% of it is very similar to where I work and is just how the game industry works
A ton of people have little clue how much hard work goes into making a game and what a tightrope walk and miracle it is to get anything out to the public that isn't a roaring dumpster fire, since it surely was months to weeks before gold hahaha.
Being an artist, especially a concept artist is a tough job, and often, even within the industry is misunderstood and not as respected. The amount of backseat driving and general "you are just a concept artist" that goes around is sometimes a bit shit and often gets treated as a necessary evil to go from Idea to final product. That said, I wouldn't trade this job for anything else in the world!
I hope it doesn't become that nightmarish for you guys. Fingers crossed that the sheer size of the storage speed multiplier (50-100x apparently) and advances in AI and procedural generation keeps things easy, but yeah, I'll bet you're correct.
Woah. Those are really good.
Another question, ignore if it's already been answered. (still working my way through the threadmarks!)
Any resource recommendations on getting started on drawing, or animation etc..
I was in AKL. I think there were a couple of occasions where we helped out on NY projects :)
Do you have any experiences with level design?
I'm looking to start level designing as a hobby for HL: Alyx, I'm just curious what skills you think would be most useful there. Any books or resources that you could recommend would be highly appreciated. I know 3D modeling is the first thing that comes to mind.
I'm looking to start level designing as a hobby for HL: Alyx, I'm just curious what skills you think would be most useful there. Any books or resources that you could recommend would be highly appreciated. I know 3D modeling is the first thing that comes to mind.
Personally what advice would you share to people trying to practice effectively? Also do you personally have an opinion on what order art students should tackle their fundamentals(Structure, Composition, Values, Perspective, etc)?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this! I've always enjoyed drawing, but I've believed the transition to the digital space to be too daunting. The more I've realized my love of hand-drawn games, I've wanted to create my own animations as well. I'm using a program called Paint Tool SAI to get used to drawing on a computer, but I think I have access to Photoshop on a different computer.
Congratulations on your new gig, and enjoy the time off!
12th Batch
OP
OP
12th Batch
I own a PSVR unit and use it sporadically! Tetris Effect was really my jam for a good few months. Unfortunately, the barrier of entry needs to drop significantly, it needs to be twice the resolution, it needs to be completely wireless and it needs to be way more fully integrated into a consoles OS. I want to watch wrestling in VR or to recreate famous soccer matches in VR. I want every games to all have basic VR functionality because its not going to be all gimmicks, having a traditional game with a VR headset as a means to look around would be great, Id be happy just with that!
It has a bright future but another quantitative jump needs to be made still
Thank you! Glad it was helpful :)
I wanted to be as honest as possible, not that Im usually not, but a company filter always happens when you work for someone, even if you dont actually have it, people place it on you sometimes. Obviously you never want to reveal too much, because people can often weaponize that information but as far as general "heres how the industry actually works" theres a lot fans could learn
In my last two and a half years at EA nobody, at any point, has ever mentioned Dino Crisis in any capacity
My Wolves hype died exactly the second Rubio's ACL tore trying to defend Kobe
Havent watched much NBA since, to be honest. Those were good times, though!
Hi! Thanks for dropping by and sharing your experience! I should have made sure to say that these are only MY experiences and that I can still be wrong about a lot of the things I say but I am glad you found some common ground.
The root problem artists face is that they dont have enough artists in leadership positions to influence decision making. Most companies I go for I'll go to leadership meetings to find 4 managers, 3 producers, 2 designers, two engineers and one artist ... so that person will get downvoted all the time. When I left EA I made sure that in those meetings we had at least 3 art reps at all times which greatly reduced the number of annoying art requests that were coming down the pipeline
No problem! Here at ERA we have the excellent Art Self Study thread with TONS of resources, give it a look!
www.resetera.com
Yeah, Gameloft was my least favorite job by a country mile. I hope youre somewhere you enjoy now!
Outside of making stages in Smash and a few Mario Maker levels, cant say that I have. I've certainly met a few level designers and learning how to block out a level in 3D can be very useful and a good learning tool. Do you have mod tools available? Maybe it would be easier to start by modding some other games with a more robust level editing set? Technical skills can be learned at any time but level creation skills need repetition and playtesting, so find out which communities have a good mod scene. I can also ask some designer friends of mine and check back with you, if thats alright?
Complicated question and unsure answer. Maybe? The game industry already deal with the voice actors guild so its not as UNHEARD OF as they like to think it is ... but good luck. Videogames is basically carny bullshit and I dont think youre ever going to find the kind of mass agreement you need in order to actually make it happen. Even if the US government stepped in and laid out some ground rules, what would stop companies from outsourcing to companies in some other country? I see a lot of blind idealism from younger gamedevs on this issue and I wish them the best but .. I just dont see a feasible way to get where they want.
The one thing that can fix crunch is more rules, more transparency and more accountability. A more educated userbase will make better decisions and a more transparent process will bring out these shameful practices to light.
I find a lot of people dont know how to practice very well, often drawing the same thing over and over and over again. Practicing art is like working out, you cant just do pushups forever, the body will get used to them and youll get stronger much slower. Same with art, try drawing different things from different perspectives with different styles! That will give you less high quality art at the beginning but a MUCH higher return on investment! I personally get a little embarrassed when I see people draw the same thing over and over again, then try to hide the fact that they cant draw a chair to save their lives or draw a character with a different facial complexion. Its VERY important to step out of your comfort zone and draw the things youre AFRAID to draw! The SECOND time will be SO MUCH better than the first! You have to be a bit courageous about it, but so many artists are sooo sensitive that they only do that stuff when being forced to.
I attribute this quote to Miyamoto but I believe he was citing someone else when he said that growth always hurts. Even when your body is growing, the act of your bones extending is physically painful so no matter what you do in life, the process of growing and learning will always come with pain at the beginning. I think about that often, especially when Im trying something new and I, a longtime pro, am NOT used to art not looking like my standards! Then I remember to just get the fuck over it, try again and boom, always better
That being said, and speaking as a bit of a devils advocate by nature. I always tell people to draw what interests you first and expand later, because you should drain all the fun out of your process for the sake of learning. For instance, once I learned about perspective, I started laying out perspective grids before drawing and holy shit, thats the "right" way to do it but it suuucked for me, my art looked incredibly lifeless and boring. What I do now is Ill draw the scene loosely the way I want it to look THEN Ill lay out the grid and see what I have to fix. Same with anatomy, I studied anatomy the boring ass, necessary way first, then I reverted to drawing shit the way I used to but with the knowledge that at any point I could break it down and apply anatomy fundamentals to it. Thats a great way to develop your own personal style without sacrificing the fun out of it.
Ive also mentioned tracing as an effective learning tool when needed. Look back at my other replies and you'll find that bit of advice. Lots of ways to go about it depending on your interests, talent and dedication
All the fundamentals you mentioned are important, we can take this privately and I can tell you, depending on your work, what you should first focus on (hint, it'll be your weakest!)
Thank you! I highly recommend Clip Studio, then! Frenden (look him up)makes some GREAT tools for that prgram that are very, very good and should help you make the transition to digital
I own a PSVR unit and use it sporadically! Tetris Effect was really my jam for a good few months. Unfortunately, the barrier of entry needs to drop significantly, it needs to be twice the resolution, it needs to be completely wireless and it needs to be way more fully integrated into a consoles OS. I want to watch wrestling in VR or to recreate famous soccer matches in VR. I want every games to all have basic VR functionality because its not going to be all gimmicks, having a traditional game with a VR headset as a means to look around would be great, Id be happy just with that!
It has a bright future but another quantitative jump needs to be made still
Thank you! Glad it was helpful :)
I wanted to be as honest as possible, not that Im usually not, but a company filter always happens when you work for someone, even if you dont actually have it, people place it on you sometimes. Obviously you never want to reveal too much, because people can often weaponize that information but as far as general "heres how the industry actually works" theres a lot fans could learn
In my last two and a half years at EA nobody, at any point, has ever mentioned Dino Crisis in any capacity
My Wolves hype died exactly the second Rubio's ACL tore trying to defend Kobe
Havent watched much NBA since, to be honest. Those were good times, though!
Hi! Thanks for dropping by and sharing your experience! I should have made sure to say that these are only MY experiences and that I can still be wrong about a lot of the things I say but I am glad you found some common ground.
The root problem artists face is that they dont have enough artists in leadership positions to influence decision making. Most companies I go for I'll go to leadership meetings to find 4 managers, 3 producers, 2 designers, two engineers and one artist ... so that person will get downvoted all the time. When I left EA I made sure that in those meetings we had at least 3 art reps at all times which greatly reduced the number of annoying art requests that were coming down the pipeline
No problem! Here at ERA we have the excellent Art Self Study thread with TONS of resources, give it a look!
Art Self Study |OT| Drawing and Painting 101
(Text and images based on the thread by DeathTM on the old forums) Welcome to the ResetERA Art Study Thread! This thread’s main purpose is to help the ERA community improve their art and get a better understanding of fundamental concepts. We hope that this thread will inspire you to take up art...
www.resetera.com
Yeah, Gameloft was my least favorite job by a country mile. I hope youre somewhere you enjoy now!
Outside of making stages in Smash and a few Mario Maker levels, cant say that I have. I've certainly met a few level designers and learning how to block out a level in 3D can be very useful and a good learning tool. Do you have mod tools available? Maybe it would be easier to start by modding some other games with a more robust level editing set? Technical skills can be learned at any time but level creation skills need repetition and playtesting, so find out which communities have a good mod scene. I can also ask some designer friends of mine and check back with you, if thats alright?
Complicated question and unsure answer. Maybe? The game industry already deal with the voice actors guild so its not as UNHEARD OF as they like to think it is ... but good luck. Videogames is basically carny bullshit and I dont think youre ever going to find the kind of mass agreement you need in order to actually make it happen. Even if the US government stepped in and laid out some ground rules, what would stop companies from outsourcing to companies in some other country? I see a lot of blind idealism from younger gamedevs on this issue and I wish them the best but .. I just dont see a feasible way to get where they want.
The one thing that can fix crunch is more rules, more transparency and more accountability. A more educated userbase will make better decisions and a more transparent process will bring out these shameful practices to light.
I find a lot of people dont know how to practice very well, often drawing the same thing over and over and over again. Practicing art is like working out, you cant just do pushups forever, the body will get used to them and youll get stronger much slower. Same with art, try drawing different things from different perspectives with different styles! That will give you less high quality art at the beginning but a MUCH higher return on investment! I personally get a little embarrassed when I see people draw the same thing over and over again, then try to hide the fact that they cant draw a chair to save their lives or draw a character with a different facial complexion. Its VERY important to step out of your comfort zone and draw the things youre AFRAID to draw! The SECOND time will be SO MUCH better than the first! You have to be a bit courageous about it, but so many artists are sooo sensitive that they only do that stuff when being forced to.
I attribute this quote to Miyamoto but I believe he was citing someone else when he said that growth always hurts. Even when your body is growing, the act of your bones extending is physically painful so no matter what you do in life, the process of growing and learning will always come with pain at the beginning. I think about that often, especially when Im trying something new and I, a longtime pro, am NOT used to art not looking like my standards! Then I remember to just get the fuck over it, try again and boom, always better
That being said, and speaking as a bit of a devils advocate by nature. I always tell people to draw what interests you first and expand later, because you should drain all the fun out of your process for the sake of learning. For instance, once I learned about perspective, I started laying out perspective grids before drawing and holy shit, thats the "right" way to do it but it suuucked for me, my art looked incredibly lifeless and boring. What I do now is Ill draw the scene loosely the way I want it to look THEN Ill lay out the grid and see what I have to fix. Same with anatomy, I studied anatomy the boring ass, necessary way first, then I reverted to drawing shit the way I used to but with the knowledge that at any point I could break it down and apply anatomy fundamentals to it. Thats a great way to develop your own personal style without sacrificing the fun out of it.
Ive also mentioned tracing as an effective learning tool when needed. Look back at my other replies and you'll find that bit of advice. Lots of ways to go about it depending on your interests, talent and dedication
All the fundamentals you mentioned are important, we can take this privately and I can tell you, depending on your work, what you should first focus on (hint, it'll be your weakest!)
Thank you! I highly recommend Clip Studio, then! Frenden (look him up)makes some GREAT tools for that prgram that are very, very good and should help you make the transition to digital
That would be really awesome, thank you!
And I'm learning Source 2 Hammer right now, but the tools for HL Alyx specifically isn't released just yet. There's an unofficial hacked together version people are using right now, but it's buggy and missing quite a bit of stuff.
Do you think EA would ever consider bringing Dead Space back and what is their perspective, feeling about that IP. I miss it and want it to come back.
Thank you for your time12th Batch
I own a PSVR unit and use it sporadically! Tetris Effect was really my jam for a good few months. Unfortunately, the barrier of entry needs to drop significantly, it needs to be twice the resolution, it needs to be completely wireless and it needs to be way more fully integrated into a consoles OS. I want to watch wrestling in VR or to recreate famous soccer matches in VR. I want every games to all have basic VR functionality because its not going to be all gimmicks, having a traditional game with a VR headset as a means to look around would be great, Id be happy just with that!
It has a bright future but another quantitative jump needs to be made still
Thank you! Glad it was helpful :)
I wanted to be as honest as possible, not that Im usually not, but a company filter always happens when you work for someone, even if you dont actually have it, people place it on you sometimes. Obviously you never want to reveal too much, because people can often weaponize that information but as far as general "heres how the industry actually works" theres a lot fans could learn
In my last two and a half years at EA nobody, at any point, has ever mentioned Dino Crisis in any capacity
My Wolves hype died exactly the second Rubio's ACL tore trying to defend Kobe
Havent watched much NBA since, to be honest. Those were good times, though!
Hi! Thanks for dropping by and sharing your experience! I should have made sure to say that these are only MY experiences and that I can still be wrong about a lot of the things I say but I am glad you found some common ground.
The root problem artists face is that they dont have enough artists in leadership positions to influence decision making. Most companies I go for I'll go to leadership meetings to find 4 managers, 3 producers, 2 designers, two engineers and one artist ... so that person will get downvoted all the time. When I left EA I made sure that in those meetings we had at least 3 art reps at all times which greatly reduced the number of annoying art requests that were coming down the pipeline
No problem! Here at ERA we have the excellent Art Self Study thread with TONS of resources, give it a look!
Art Self Study |OT| Drawing and Painting 101
(Text and images based on the thread by DeathTM on the old forums) Welcome to the ResetERA Art Study Thread! This thread’s main purpose is to help the ERA community improve their art and get a better understanding of fundamental concepts. We hope that this thread will inspire you to take up art...
Yeah, Gameloft was my least favorite job by a country mile. I hope youre somewhere you enjoy now!
Outside of making stages in Smash and a few Mario Maker levels, cant say that I have. I've certainly met a few level designers and learning how to block out a level in 3D can be very useful and a good learning tool. Do you have mod tools available? Maybe it would be easier to start by modding some other games with a more robust level editing set? Technical skills can be learned at any time but level creation skills need repetition and playtesting, so find out which communities have a good mod scene. I can also ask some designer friends of mine and check back with you, if thats alright?
Complicated question and unsure answer. Maybe? The game industry already deal with the voice actors guild so its not as UNHEARD OF as they like to think it is ... but good luck. Videogames is basically carny bullshit and I dont think youre ever going to find the kind of mass agreement you need in order to actually make it happen. Even if the US government stepped in and laid out some ground rules, what would stop companies from outsourcing to companies in some other country? I see a lot of blind idealism from younger gamedevs on this issue and I wish them the best but .. I just dont see a feasible way to get where they want.
The one thing that can fix crunch is more rules, more transparency and more accountability. A more educated userbase will make better decisions and a more transparent process will bring out these shameful practices to light.
I find a lot of people dont know how to practice very well, often drawing the same thing over and over and over again. Practicing art is like working out, you cant just do pushups forever, the body will get used to them and youll get stronger much slower. Same with art, try drawing different things from different perspectives with different styles! That will give you less high quality art at the beginning but a MUCH higher return on investment! I personally get a little embarrassed when I see people draw the same thing over and over again, then try to hide the fact that they cant draw a chair to save their lives or draw a character with a different facial complexion. Its VERY important to step out of your comfort zone and draw the things youre AFRAID to draw! The SECOND time will be SO MUCH better than the first! You have to be a bit courageous about it, but so many artists are sooo sensitive that they only do that stuff when being forced to.
I attribute this quote to Miyamoto but I believe he was citing someone else when he said that growth always hurts. Even when your body is growing, the act of your bones extending is physically painful so no matter what you do in life, the process of growing and learning will always come with pain at the beginning. I think about that often, especially when Im trying something new and I, a longtime pro, am NOT used to art not looking like my standards! Then I remember to just get the fuck over it, try again and boom, always better
That being said, and speaking as a bit of a devils advocate by nature. I always tell people to draw what interests you first and expand later, because you should drain all the fun out of your process for the sake of learning. For instance, once I learned about perspective, I started laying out perspective grids before drawing and holy shit, thats the "right" way to do it but it suuucked for me, my art looked incredibly lifeless and boring. What I do now is Ill draw the scene loosely the way I want it to look THEN Ill lay out the grid and see what I have to fix. Same with anatomy, I studied anatomy the boring ass, necessary way first, then I reverted to drawing shit the way I used to but with the knowledge that at any point I could break it down and apply anatomy fundamentals to it. Thats a great way to develop your own personal style without sacrificing the fun out of it.
Ive also mentioned tracing as an effective learning tool when needed. Look back at my other replies and you'll find that bit of advice. Lots of ways to go about it depending on your interests, talent and dedication
All the fundamentals you mentioned are important, we can take this privately and I can tell you, depending on your work, what you should first focus on (hint, it'll be your weakest!)
Thank you! I highly recommend Clip Studio, then! Frenden (look him up)makes some GREAT tools for that prgram that are very, very good and should help you make the transition to digital
I'm an environment artist (finishing up schooling this year)! Could I get some general feedback on my real-time environment work? 🙂My portfolio
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Most of the time, when I look at vectorised 2d art, it looks bland and uninspired, something that I never feel when I look at pixel art. Is there something intrinsic to either those approaches that affect the general perception I have when I look at them?
Also, how do you think a 2d Mario sprite in hd should look like?
Also, how do you think a 2d Mario sprite in hd should look like?
yeah the studio went under during the whole Vivendi thing, but been working for an indie company the last 4 years and its been awesome.
Such a cool read, thanks OP!
I often read that game engines do not use intuitive tools, you mentioned the "use PS2 tech to make a PS4 game". I always wonder: Aren't there ways to make engines better so that they don't frustrate you as much as a dev? Many things seem to take a looong time. Sometimes too long, right? If everything can be such a chore, why aren't tools improved over time?
Also, have you tried Dreams and what do you think of it?
Thanks :)
I often read that game engines do not use intuitive tools, you mentioned the "use PS2 tech to make a PS4 game". I always wonder: Aren't there ways to make engines better so that they don't frustrate you as much as a dev? Many things seem to take a looong time. Sometimes too long, right? If everything can be such a chore, why aren't tools improved over time?
Also, have you tried Dreams and what do you think of it?
Thanks :)
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Not OP but I've seen your work featured around the web (especially that last piece, don't remember well where but I've definitely seen it) and you're clearly very talented, definitely gonna keep up with what you put out for people to see (am a big sucker for stylized environments)!
Raging Spaniard Oh man this line got me chortling real hard:
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to the query with substantive information. I am going to be going through your other responses taking my sweet time. Gracias and good luck with your future projects.
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to the query with substantive information. I am going to be going through your other responses taking my sweet time. Gracias and good luck with your future projects.
Man, color and volume in art. Can you please-please direct me with this in any way? I've been trying to deal with color for the last 3 years and I just can't. Shape and volume design gradually improved as I practiced more and more, but my color remains horrible, atrocious. No amount of reading about color theory seems to give me any push in the right direction. Most tutorials and videos also appear to be superficial when dealing with color (or plain suck at color too). It really seems like some sort of dark secret in art. Like seriously, I understand the color schemes, importance of volume in driving eye's attention, vectors, 70/30, whatever. But whenever I come to any practice I suck so bad. Some 4 years ago it was the reason why I deleted all of my work and scrapped all of my paintings. I was so pissed off. Thousands of hours wasted. Pretty much gave up. I still remember how, when I was dealing with shape design, the guy that helped me was an artist from 343 who directed me to his teacher from South Korea, who often posted lessons on Facebook which were so much more useful and practical than anything I had read or studied before, it was silly - pretty much made it possible for me to finally advance in my sketches after drawing shit for 1 year. I'm still waiting for something like that in color. No amount of just "continue practicing and studying" seems to cut it. Any advice would be really-really appreciated.
What's your professional opinion on the Dishonored art style?
I only own three artbooks and they're on Dishonored and Prey. I love the art style of their games and I was in awe to see how close the concept art and art design was to the final game and its assets. How hard is it to transfer the art style into the game, or, do you think this requires a very specific workflow?
I only own three artbooks and they're on Dishonored and Prey. I love the art style of their games and I was in awe to see how close the concept art and art design was to the final game and its assets. How hard is it to transfer the art style into the game, or, do you think this requires a very specific workflow?
Not sure if you're still answering questions, but:
I'm 27. Is it too late for me to break into this industry as a newbie? (In general, not art specifically)
I'm 27. Is it too late for me to break into this industry as a newbie? (In general, not art specifically)
With a new generation of consoles on the horizon, is there anything the platform holders can do to make your life easier? Not just hardware, but software, guidelines, technical requirements, something else?
Oh god yeah I hate when some studios go the "sharper always equals better" route.
Worst offender was the first Resident Evil 4 remaster imo. Ok so now everything is sharper, but it lost parts of its atmosphere.
I have read some concerns about artist doing erotic art about the recent policy changes in digital platforms hosting such content. Patreon, Tumblr and another site I don't remember the name. A relevant article:
thenextweb.com
As an artist what is your opinion of this and do you worry this could lead to further consequences in artistic freedom and passion?
Patreon continues to crack down on NSFW content creators
Earlier this month, the crowdfunding site Patreon cracked down on its NSFW content policy. It seems the crowdfunding site has now taken a step further.
thenextweb.com
As an artist what is your opinion of this and do you worry this could lead to further consequences in artistic freedom and passion?
First and most importantly, I hope you are doing well and I wish you the best in your new role.
What's your opinion on crowdfunding? In an industry wrapped in secrets one of my favorite things about this avenue was/is being able to candidly have an open dialog about the 0-100 process of game development and everything it entails. I learned so much about content creation from these teams and it informed a lot of processes in my own work. How do you feel about its impact on game development discourse, if it has had any? And alongside that, do you prefer the 'indie' style or 'AAA' style divulge of information? I know some creators like to bring the audience alongside them in the creation process but others prefer to only let them see the final work.
What's your opinion on crowdfunding? In an industry wrapped in secrets one of my favorite things about this avenue was/is being able to candidly have an open dialog about the 0-100 process of game development and everything it entails. I learned so much about content creation from these teams and it informed a lot of processes in my own work. How do you feel about its impact on game development discourse, if it has had any? And alongside that, do you prefer the 'indie' style or 'AAA' style divulge of information? I know some creators like to bring the audience alongside them in the creation process but others prefer to only let them see the final work.
Can confirm this.
Also, since 99.9% of your development time is spent working on something that's a complete mess (because once it's not a mess, you ship it), my memories of our games are of them in that broken, not ready-for-primetime state. When I watch someone play one of our games, it stresses me out because I assume it's about to break at any moment. I can only imagine how much more this is the case for games that are made by more than a handful of people.
I have some questions if you're still taking them:
Who are your favourite artists in the industry?
Which artists inspire your work? (can be outside the industry)
Who are your favourite artists in the industry?
Which artists inspire your work? (can be outside the industry)
Man I'm the same exact situation, I've ALWAYS struggled with color.
Can you please point us to this South Korean artist?
@RagingSpaniard thanks for making this thread, I'm really digging your insights in the industry. Hope you have a great journey back to Spain soon.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. 5 years ago I wouldn't have even considered myself an artist honestly. I was in business school and the only art I did was music related. Then i decided to make a big life upheaval and change my direction towards something more creative. Definitely the right move for me I believe! :)
OP
OP
Good morning! For those wondering I am still taking questions :) Thank you so much for participating!
As a programmer myself (in a field which has nothing to do with video games), I wish more people would get that. I know firsthand that it does help in dealing with bugs, even "gamebreaking" ones, as knowing how much it's a freaking miracle the game even worked up to that point just makes you happy :)
And of course it makes all those games which exhibit no visible bug all the more impressive. Even if some of those games tend to be "simpler" games (a hundred quotes) in terms of overall interaction complexity, it's still amazing when you can basically see no single crash or even a game impairing bug in tens of hours of play, sometimes 60+ hours for lengthy RPGs.
Kudos to all of you guys and gals making gaming possible.
Ibas bien hasta esto. En lo de los churros la cagaste.
Unless you're making a highly replayable and/or multiplayer game, why would you play your own game? And even if you were making a highly replayable and/or multiplayer game, you probably already played it to death while developing & testing it and are sick and tired of it by the time it comes out.