#aaa game art studio in studio

[notaplushtoy]

Me:  Ugh i hate it when [insert AAA game studio] give their female characters outfits like they’re a sex doll!!

Also me: [addicted to drawing a hot tiefling in black leather]

[camodielsart]

i hate him so!!

Commission info | Patreon | Buy Me a Coffee

[deltoravivisection]

SO, WHAT THE FIG IS ALL THIS?

Hi! Hello. This blog is an archive of the work I'm doing for a fangame based on the Deltora Quest series, as well as a testament to my supermassive levels of autistic hyperfixation. I am a grown man with a full time job, and this project is purely one of passion with no profit involved, so the going will be slow. I'll be posting sketches, thoughts, and eventually animations and gameplay here. But we're nowhere near that point yet. If you're interested in the project or have suggestions for me, please reach out!

THE GAME

Deltora: Vivisection will be a free open-world* version of the original 8 books in the Deltora series, wherein the gems can be collected in any order, and many events will be altered depending on player choice and the order in which quests are finished. It will be part visual-novel, part JRPG, with tons of original art and frame-by-frame pixel animation. When will it be finished? When will the demo drop? I have no idea.

*There will be limits - I'm not a AAA studio. But there will be plenty to explore.

THE CREDO

Though there will be some minor rewrites, the goal is to be as faithful as possible to the original books. Even as a child, I found the anime lacking. I craved blood. To make up for this, I want to create something that would make my younger self go completely insane, while appealing to the now mostly adult fanbase and expanding on ideas I felt could be explored further. We're keeping the blood, we're keeping the terror, and we're also keeping it clean.

THE TEAM

Meeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (With help from friends for designs and ideas. Full and specific credits will be present ingame.) (My name is Miles btw.)

THE PLAN

PRE-PRODUCTION PAHSE:

Concepting ✔️

Outline ✔️

Character Designs (In progress)

Creature Designs (In progress)

Dialogue/Event Scripts (In progress) - Forests of Silence ✔️ - Lake of Tears ✔️ - City of Rats ✔️ - Shifting Sands ✔️ - Dread Mountain ✔️ - Maze of the Beast ✔️ - Valley of the Lost ✔️ - Return to Del ✔️ - Midpoint Revision/Edits ✔️ - Ranesh Sidequests ✔️ - Shopkeeper Dialogue ✔️ - Environmental Interactions ❌ - Inventory Item Descriptions (In Progress) - NPC Dialogue (In Progress) - Final Revision/Edits ❌

Talksprites (In progress -- MAIN FOCUS) - Neutral Poses/Color Layouts (In Progress) - All Variation Sketches ❌ - All Rough Colors ❌ - Final Versions ❌

Environment Art ❌

Sprite Art (In progress)

Animations ❌

Sound/Music Sourcing (In progress)

Combat Mechanics (In progress)

UI Design (In progress)

DEVELOPMENT PHASE:

God Forgive Us All ❌ (We'll cross that bridge when we get there.)

DOWNLOAD THE IN-PROGRESS SCRIPT HERE!!!

[prokopetz]

“I want games with worse graphics if it means less crunch time” is a fine sentiment, but, like, it’s still very much buying into a framing of what having good graphics means that’s been constructed to favour AAA studios at every level.

Straight up, the number of polygons a game engine can push tells us nothing in particular about whether it’s nice to look at. I’ve seen games with sixteen-colour pixel art and a native resolution of 320x240 that look amazing, and I’ve seen games with photorealistic 4K graphics that look like shit.

We’ve been suckered into accepting a notion of “good graphics” that’s defined purely in terms of how labour-intensive they are to produce. We’re like a bunch of 16th Century noblemen shovelling our faces full of whipped egg whites and pretending it doesn’t taste like eating a plate of cold air because hey, not just anybody can afford to hire some poor peasant to spend all day destroying their arms whipping egg whites by hand, and exclusivity is the measure of quality, right?

We can talk about how “good graphics” aren’t important all we want, but unless we challenge the idea that pouring hundreds of thousands of person-hours into shadow-mapping every individual hair on the protagonist’s horse’s nutsack is the definition of “good graphics”, we’re playing by the AAA studios’ rules.

Like, the AAA studios aren’t stupid – the reason they do ridiculous shit like that is precisely because it allows them to define what a quality product looks like in a way that only they have access to.

[artsekey]

Companies I've Applied To

I figured that as I embark on my quest to Get Hired, I should probably document the process for both myself and for others who are trying to get their foot in the door for industry work.

For context (and for those of you who don't know), I have a Bachelor's of Fine Art in Emerging Media: Character Animation and an Master's of Fine Art in Animation and VFX. I graduated in spring of 2022 after completing a fully independent short film, and have been working as a "visiting lecturer" at my University ever since.

My Employment History

When you're looking to get hired, your past work experience matters... a lot. Because of how intense my Undergrad/Graduate programs were, I didn't have a lot of time to cultivate my portfolio or bolster my resume. Getting hired by the University right out of college was a huge relief, but it doesn't tick that pesky "2+ years of Industry Experience" or "At least 1 AAA Game Shipped" prerequisite on most job postings.

With that in mind, I'm doing my best to push for the "or equivalent experience" caveat.

What I Do:

I've mentioned this a few times on this blog, but my professional focus is in 3D character modeling, rigging, groom, and sim. In the art field, this is usually considered a technical job, and from what I understand the market for tech is usually a little less competitive than the market for modeling/animation.

So, with all that out of the way, let's get to it!

DreamWorks:

I sent in my application for Character Tech Anim about three days after the posting opened. They had their own hiring website through nbcUniversal. I'd gone through the process before with internships, so it was pretty painless! It's a remote position, which is huge, and the salary would be competitive with the one I have now as long as I can stay remote.

Biggest con in my application is that I'm still missing Python proficiency. I'm learning it right now, but god damn is it an in-demand skill!

It's a job I'd love to get, and I think my skills in rigging/groom/sim line up well.

Process Pros:

Easy to apply.

Clear (and reasonable!) qualifications listed for the job level.

Honest about expectations regarding overtime and hours.

Allowed PDF uploads of CV & Resume.

Sent a confirmation email after the application had been received.

Had a section for "Additional Comments", which was a great place for me to throw in that I'm learning some of the skills they want.

Process Cons:

Likely will not receive a rejection notice in the event they decide not to hire. This isn't a huge con; the studio is massive and sending out rejection notices would be a time sink for them.

Advertised working weekends and overtime in the listing... definitely something I'll ask about if I move forward in the process. Work/life balance is important!

Had to enter my resume information and upload my resume. :(

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Gearbox:

I sent in my application for Technical Animator (Character Rigger) about two weeks after the listing was posted. They had their own hiring website. This is a hybrid position, which wouldn't be ideal, but a friend of a friend works remotely for them, so maybe it's negotiable?

Biggest con in my application is, yet again, that I'm still missing Python proficiency and tool dev experience. Learning it now!

I was missing a lot of the credentials on this one, so it's more of a hail-Mary application.

Process Pros:

Easy to apply.

Clear (and reasonable!) qualifications listed for the job level.

Allowed PDF uploads of CV & Resume.

Sent a confirmation email after the application had been received. Seems to promise a prompt response, which means I can likely expect a notice of rejection if they choose not to hire.

Company culture seems extremely reasonable and employee health is a priority.

Process Cons:

May have to relocate if hired.

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Aquent:

Honestly... no idea what was happening here. It was for a character rigging position, but it seems like it might've been for a broader hiring agency?

Process Pros:

Allowed PDF upload of CV and Resume.

Process Cons:

Had to apply for the job and make a separate account on their website to set up the application.

Confusing website.

Had to upload resume and then type up the resume again.

No place for a CV for the specific role.

Honestly, I'm not sure what company this went to.

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Steamroller:

Local studio that I've seen a lot of people go into! Applied for a rigging position in their animation department. Hybrid and remote are both an option for me!

Process Pros:

Allowed PDF upload of CV and Resume.

Easy to apply!

Received a confirmation email.

Credentials were clear and well listed; I matched most of the requirements.

Competitive salary! :)

Flexible work methods.

Allowed me to link to my website AND upload a static portfolio, which I love.

Process Cons:

Likely will not receive a rejection notice should they choose not to hire.

Result: Rejected (03/21/2023)

BonusXP:

Can't speak about the process much on this one! They have a rolling, general application process which means I just send in an email and if a job comes up, they'll let me know. Feels straightforward and simple. :)

Result: Too Soon to Tell

[sukimas]

in a broad sense, video games, unless they are intended to be quite literally a resource hole with no expectation of return, will always be moderated by the same market forces all things are under capitalism. social democracies or centralized economies fundamentally have to gamble on which luxuries should be supported (and they do- non-essential industries get subsidies all the time in plenty of places.)

due to the way that programming works nowadays with dependencies and such, making a game at minimum requires a good 5-6 people working on it at one time to complete. use of previously existing libraries does in fact mean the people who build and maintain those libraries count for dev numbers, even if they don't show up in the credits. most, of course, require many, many more.

therefore even under an idealized economic system, you require 3-4 NEETs on UBI working around the clock for years on end to publish a single good game. many indie teams fall apart or if their early games don't get good reviews they no longer want to keep making them. but in a more common scenario (because, let's face it, people are more likely to play big AAA-style games, even if they aren't quite AS big as the AAA games of today- marketing is necessary even if your product is totally free) the game that people are likely to play simply won't get made without outside funding. not everyone who works at a big game studio would rather work there than anywhere else excepting the paycheck; many people would in fact not make games if they had to collaborate with large teams for enough income to survive and have a little left over. in addition, hardware and software packages are needed, and not everyone who works on making THOSE only wants to do it for UBI, either. you need increased incentives for things you want to exist beyond the minimum necessary for existence, because while people do work together, they only work together well up to Dunbar's number and then it all goes to shit.

so, what's the most likely scenario under a non-capitalist economic system for the creation of video games? remember, luxuries ARE created under non-capitalist economic systems, because they make life worth living. it is plausible that some people would find video games a reason life is worth living, therefore you would want to fund it.

i expect they would be created under a system of government grants. you apply to the government with your game scenario, concept art, perhaps a short demo, and they give you grant funding. however, there's a small problem- presumably, the government cannot afford to fund every game that people want to make. perhaps some of those which aren't funded go on to become indie games made by NEETs, but the majority probably crash and burn because their concept was too ambitious.

so, you have to convince the government that your game will be well liked, in order to get the grant money, to make your game. they want to fund things that will increase the satisfaction and well-being of their constituents as much as possible, you see. do you see the issue with this?

yep, it's exactly the same issue with pleasing investors in the modern day. creative endeavors that require large teams and need to aim for an actual specific goal rather than ars gratia artis = people creating proposals that aim for specific keywords and things that are currently in vogue, not for the wildest and most interesting. this creates games that are just like modern AAA games- attempting to appeal to the market as much as possible.

now, how do I know this incentive structure will be created? well, you might have heard of heard of a small organization called the "National Science Foundation"...

[potatosteinsillustrations]

Playstation Showcase 2023

Yesterday showcase was really cool!!! I have made a list of the games that I liked the most!!!

Metal Gear Solid Δ Snake Eater (MGS3 remake) 

H Y P E D   A F

I was jumping with my sister with this one!!!! I can’t wait to play it!!! I hope they don’t mess it up because I love MGS3!!!!!!!! And when you realize the parrot is The End’s parrot AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Alan Wake 2 

Same as Snake Eater SUPER HYPED!!!  and the fact there was a cameo of Max Payne has me even more hyped (confirming that Alan Wake, Max Payne and Control happen in the same universe aghflkahfla) Neva The artwork is beyond beautiful and the trailer made me cry :’(

Phantom Blade ø 

Looked like a super amazing action game! And for once set in what seems chinese lore? sign me up! 

Revenant Hill 

Looks so cute, quirky and interesting!!!!!!!! 

Sword of the Sea  THE ART IS SO PRETTY!!!!!!!!!!! As a recent fan of Journey I can’t wait to see this one too!!!

Foamstars 

Looks like a really fun multiplayer game! Loved the character design so much!!! I know it is basically splatoon but nevertheless it looks really interesting!!

Dragon Dogma 2:

I liked how they basically said FU to final fantasy XVI’s lack of ethnic diversity, since DD2 will have more diverse characters I’m gonna get this one!

Final Fantasy XVI Don’t care about it, since the director said they won’t be adding  ethnically diverse characters because of realism in the quasi european setting (in a game where they ride giant yellow birds as horses btw) I lost all the hype. Street Fighter VI I played the PS4 demo and it seems Capcom is not going to repeat the mistakes of SF V and I’m all for it and the world tour mode is so much fun!!! Gran Blue Fantasy Relink: I have been waiting for this game to come since forever!!! Looks so amazing I can’t wait to play it!!! As a side note: Since most AAA studios are aiming for high fidelity graphics that look as close to real life as possible... Is it me or they are starting to feel a bit generic? in the sense that visually they start to look the same since these games go for the same thing visual realism, on the other the games that got most of my attention during the showcase were actually the ones with distinctive  art styles.  What were your favs??? :D

[chouchen]

Hey there! You're a very inspirational person to me and one of the reasons why I realized that art is my true passion unlike all of the other professions i convinced myself to like because they're more "profitable". So I'm now seeking to enter an art college once I finish high school, but in my country it's a little hard for me to find anything "eye-catching".

I'm going to apply for a visual arts course next year in a very popular public school here in my country for preparation (the applications are only at the end of the year and i didn't apply for anything last year), but I'm still a little worried about finding a good art college, specially since art is very undervalued in my country (maybe it will change bc of the new president, hopefully), but i was very interested in the weekly schedule you posted of your art school last year, since it's pretty much everything I wanna learn in my art journey, so I'd like to know if you have any tips on finding a good college? There are quite a lot of art colleges here but I find it hard to find something that fits what I want,,,

very long reply

hi ! first of all i'm super glad that i can be such an inspiration to you aa ^_^

second of all, i don't really know how colleges work for you but for me i made sure of 3 things to choose mine.

first is the teaching, art colleges are very different from each other because art is a very vast and each college has a speciality so choose wisely depending on what you want to do.

second is the diploma, idk how it works for you but here some diplomas are certified by the state (means they recognize you has a student etc) here certified diplomas can help you find a job and its easier to change job all that. Honestly in the art industry the school you did isn't that important (ofc it's always better to have a prestigious school on your resume but) your portfolio is really what's gonna show your work and this is what employers are gonna look at !

third is the cost, here we have free or paid colleges, either free or not art studies cost A LOT, all artistic material is expensive traditional or digital (especially digital) if you can't afford everything they are some solutions (second hand material, adobe cracks etc) just please make sure you don't put yourself in too much debt because art is still a job that doesn't pay much at first (especially if you go on freelance)

and lastly, ask your college it's employment rates, in my college for example, big studios directly come to recruit some people, they're the judges for our final exams etc, make sure your college has connections with the working world because as fun as it sounds at the end of the day you're looking for a job !!

bonus, ask old students from the college and ask about their experiences, here we have special conventions where college show what they do and you can meet people (YOU DONT WANT A COLLEGE WITH WEIRD PEOPLE!!! especially if you're a girl and you want to go in video games like me, i got asked my number and to go get a drink by some dumbass and let me tell you i did not choose to go to this college, students reflects what the reputation of their school and you don't want to go to a place full of dumbasses)

i also really recommend you visit the colleges you're interested in !

bonus bonus, art studies takes a lot on your mental health, there's a real difference between drawing as a hobby and doing art for a living, but i think you already thought about that so all i have to say is good luck !

that was long aaa i hope i didnt discouraged you too much, it took me a while to find my college too but once you're in you're good !!

[samsantala]

Welcome Everyone!

Thanks everyone who's decided to follow me and join me here on Tumblr.

I'm not new to this place as I was actually pretty active way back in something like, 2014/15? So for those who have stuck with me this far, I have to say a very special thank you <3

But for those who are new to me and my work, I thought I'd do a little introduction and throw some little facts out there.

I'm 34 years old

I live in Finland, but I'm from the UK

I'm an Art Director in my own art outsourcing studio for the entertainment industry called Songhorn.

My university degree was actually in Computer Animation where I specialized in 3D Modelling, so I'm capable of wearing many hats

My first in-studio role was as a 3 month conept art intern at SixMoreVodka in Berlin

I've been in the industry for about 8 years now

I've worked on all sorts of games, Mobile, AAA, MMO.

I specialize in creature design, but I have a love of ancient cultures, history, and also generally cute things.

I've always wanted to make my own games, but felt programming was out of my skillset, but I'm now learning how to use Unreal Blueprints (So expect a lot of gifs)

And I have about 5-6 personal projects that I hope to complete and share work on at some point

I want to try and be as open as I can about everything I do, what I want to achieve and how I improve as an artist and game dev.

So welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay and that you learn a lot from here :)

[gamesindustrynormal]

I want to make video games but I’ve hated all the programming tutorials I’ve tried. Should I (A) just keep trying, or (B) team up with someone that already knows what they’re doing?

The short answer is if you don't like programming then don't force yourself to do it.

One of my favorite pieces of pithy advice is that you should always focus on what you like doing for its own sake and not because you like where it will get you - if you enjoy it you can do it for longer without getting tired. Doing it more will make you better at it, and growing better at things naturally leads to more opportunities. I have seen people struggling in QA when what they really wanted was to get into design, or be miserable modeling props because they are hoping to one day get into concept art. But because they are not very interested in doing the job they have, and they are not improving the craft they hope to have, they get stuck.

Admittedly, if your passion is in writing really efficient and safe platform tech, you will have a much easier time finding someone to sponsor your learning than if your passion is to take glorious naps. But it can be a useful guiding principle in this case - why is it that you want to make video games? regardless of whether you are in a small indie studio or at a massive multinational AAA publisher, there are plenty of different roles you can fill.

If you are looking to get into game development one of the best things you can do for yourself is to figure out what it is about it that you enjoy doing, and then work on ways to do that as much as possible and everything else as little as possible. Just want to do art? start with making skins for other games. Enjoy design? build maps or games you can test with pens, paper and dice. Writing? go make branching narratives. Or maybe you just have a really good idea of how your dream game should work? make detailed plans. Plenty of ways to get into building games without doing any programming. You can always involve others that complement you, yes, but make sure to bring something to the table yourself.

I really don't want to get too deep into this because the easiest and most common ways to get into building games as a hobby or professionally changes with some frequency - even if you do know why and how you want to build games the recommendations are not going to be without caveats. So to reiterate - don't do programming, find something about it that you actually like. And be honest with yourself about what you like and don't like, find ways to do more of what you enjoy. After that you can figure out where you want to go - if you want a hobby, a career or just a specific game you want to build.

[askagamedev]

What is the hiring process like ramping up to production after pre-production for a triple aaa studio?

When we finish preproduction and move into production, we've essentially finished figuring out the bones of the game. We've got the outline for what we want to do, and the remaining task is filling in the gaps, putting flesh on the bones, and coloring in the blank spaces. These tasks, large and small, usually require additional help in order to finish. The leadership figures out how much work needs to be done to finish the game out, how much the team as it currently stands can do, and the difference represents how many additional people we will need to hire in order to finish the project.

The specifics determine the kind of roles we need to hire - the cinematics team might need several animators, the quest team might need two narrative designers and a gameplay engineer, the item art team might need a VFX artist and a technical artist, and so on and so forth. The needs of the project determine what kind of roles we need to fill. These requests then get sent up to the executive level for approval - they want to make sure the team isn't going to break the game's budget.

Once the openings are established and approved, it's up to the recruiting team to find candidates to fill the open positions. Usually this is a combination of recruiting events, reaching out to candidates on social media, posting to job boards, crawling LinkedIn networks, hiring external headhunters/staffing agencies, and collecting referrals from current employees. From there, the recruiters collect and vet candidate resumes. The recruiters then set up calls with promising candidates to gauge their interest in potential employment, answer basic questions that the candidate might have, and (assuming that the candidate wishes to proceed) [start the candidate process]. From there, depending on the availability and impressiveness of candidates, we start hiring developers and bringing them up to speed on how the work is done.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[lost-semicolon]

What is something that typically inspires you, idea wise? Movies, music or, art? Or does it all just come to you in the shower XD

All manner of things inspire me! It's usually a premise or theme that speaks to me.

Games, movies, shows, music, comics, books. It can all be very inspiring! I mainly draw inspiration for media where the protagonist has some cool unique ability, I often find myself thinking of how I'd go about implementing that.

Lately I've been looking at a lot of indie titles and their awesome concepts; Like The Big Catch by Filet Group which is coming out sometime when it's done.

It's a really cool puzzle exploration platform, a genre I've always adored! It has a big focus on the wonderful aesthetic of the CRT, soft edges and muddles colors. Interlacing too even!

To my knowledge it's being developed in Unity, which is also my engine of choice. Main sing the praises of Unreal Engine, but with Unity you are able to be more flexible with your artstyle in my experience.

Games like this, really inspire me to make something I find wonderful, but also reminds me of what kinds of game I really love! The 3rd person puzzle platformer is a dying breed sadly, most AAA studios have their scopes way higher now adays.

As for shower thoughts, I have plenty, but they tend to vanish once I've left the warm water.

[narratingvoice]

Have you ever sat down and thought about how David Cage is allowed to like. Write games. Like they’re not even good but he keeps getting the money to write them. What kind of story would you make if you had that kind of budget?

David Cage?? You come into my inbox and you talk to me about David Cage???? Well at least you have the correct opinion. You are being very generous to call his writing "not even good". It is drivel of the highest order; pretentious and self-absorbed, practically turning to the camera and shouting "Look at me, I'm an auteur!" It's as though he's terribly interested in being perceived as a purveyor of enlightened wisdom about the human condition, but without actually doing the hard work of having anything meaningful to say. Thus we get ham-fisted racism allegories written by someone who's never experienced any sort of discrimination in his life. You get serious emotional choices distilled down into mindless quick time events that give you no room to contemplate the implications of your decision before making it. I don't even think he likes games at all, and is under the impression that he is making Oscar bait movies that happen to include some button presses. Honestly, what kind of person is that desperate for attention?

To answer your first question, yes, I think about it all the time. You know Heavy Rain won a BAFTA for its story? The game that lets you do this, undercutting the gravity of the situation entirely? What a farce! In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret: seeing the way that game unfolded was a major impetus for me to finish the first draft of the Parable. That is because I played half of it and thought, surely I can write better than this. I find spite to be a powerful motivator, and I simply could not let my own genius go unpublished when this melodramatic nonsense was out there getting accolades.

And yet Cage keeps going! They're giving this man a Star Wars game? One of the most famous and beloved franchises of the century?! And I have to sit here and remake my first game because it's all I can afford to do on an indie budget. If I had a AAA studio at my beck and call you can bet things would be different around here. My story wouldn't be set in an office building, no no no, it would be a far more expansive setting, taking the player on a mystical journey through a mysterious ruined world. But not like in an open world way, heavens no. Like in a way where I am your tour guide showing you the rich worldbuilding I have concocted, and presenting players with the opportunity to meaningfully affect the fate of the entire planet. If they make the correct choices, that is. :) And I'd have ray tracing and a full orchestral soundtrack. And I'd have tons of NPCs and I'd hire the finest actors of our generation to play them: Dev Patel as the deposed king; Lupita Nyongo as the hardened general sending her troops to war; Tim Allen as a sinister wizard. You will fall in love with every character and have your heartstrings pulled when you are forced to- oops! Spoilers!

Oh, and if I was making a Star Wars game I'd want to take the franchise in new and bold directions. Instead of rehashing the same old Jedi vs Sith conflict, my story would focus on the plight of the droids. I think they're treated terribly throughout the series and they should probably go on some kind of uprising to get revenge on the mortals who treat them like tools. People like robot vs human stories, right? Ah, but this is all a pipe dream. In truth, I'm happy here in the little piece of art that I made. It is not exactly what I wanted it to be when I wrote it, but it is mine to be proud of.

[transgenderer]

i wonder if AAA game studios can solve the problem where big open worlds need a huge amount of artist time handcrafting textures and models and stuff with AI art generation. it seems like a good use case cuz you dont really need anything specific but getting them to make good 3d models would be WAY harder than images, and getting them to do textures would be hard cuz theyre kind of weirdly structured. maybe a gimmick where you use AI to generate procedural skyboxes for some sort of monkey ball type game, or anything else where you float in a skybox

[victoriandragon]

Do you all not know how long it takes to make games? How game engines work? How producers in the game industry have to fight and mediate battles between a studio's investors, distributors, creative team, and the inherent crunch culture that burns out its leads, supervisors, and employees to the point of having to leave their job? This "more, more, more," culture in games directly contributes to this, you, as a consumer, contribute to this.

You're allowed to be disappointed that you might have to wait years for the next game. You're allowed to be disappointed when that game realeases and it's not what you wanted. You're allowed to feel however you want about that.

You're NOT allowed to stalk devs on twitter and tell them that their concept art is pointless. To tell them to get jobs elsewhere. That the work they put in is meaningless if you dont get a gameplay trailer within 9 months of a game announcement.

To say Bioware is in the shitter because they're not pushing their team like they did in DA2, DAI, and Andromeda is embarrassing. They're down a studio since the Montreal studio was closed.

Go play an indie game while you wait for this studio to release something. Support game developers of color who are trying to make their way in the industry. Support women-led teams. They need you more than AAA studios do.

[jesawyer]

Hi Josh. I am a huge fan of yours, and I will be honest and say you are one of the people I look up to most in this industry. I am currently a VFX artist at a AAA company, but I have aspirations to play a bigger creative role later in my career. My worry is that I have locked myself into being "just an artist." While I love what VFX bring to games, I want to eventually play a bigger role creatively. Do you think there is an avenue to get into creative director/game director roles as an artist?

Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully I have some helpful advice. Obviously I'm highly biased due to my design background, but I feel that design is so central to game development that if you want to be a director, you will eventually wind up doing it.

That said, even if you started in VFX, that doesn't mean you can't transition over to game design. I don't know what the structure of your studio is like and how flexible they are about letting people shift disciplines, but at Obsidian we've had people switch tracks from time to time.

My advice would be to see if you can get involved in the design of something directly connected to your current discipline. In the case of VFX, this is often connected to system design (arguably area design, but VFX usually works with environment art more than the area designers). Combat is the obvious choice, but it depends a lot on the project and its needs. Because you're already working with the design discipline in a particular way, you have a framework for understanding what's going on.

If you find you enjoy that, see if you can transition fully over into design at least for a while to understand how the broader discipline works. Goal-oriented critical thinking is at the heart of design. While it could be argued that it's important to any discipline, it's essential in design. Without it, you're not really designing, you're just... making stuff. A "designer" who "makes stuff" without designing it generally just leads the rest of the team in circles because they don't know or can't articulate what they're trying to accomplish.

I've seen programmers, UI artists, and producers go into game director roles, but IME the best directors always have a good critical mind for game design even if it isn't their career discipline. I hope that helps. Good luck.