Low Poly & No sculpting into the Game Industry?

sama.van

Hello,

First, that is not the first time I speak about it, but I feel important to continue the subject every 2 years!!!


I would like to get feedback from 3D artists or other, currently working into the Game Insdustry.


The subject is the following :


I am performing low poly work for years hoping to find a job into the game company still dealing with low poly constraint.

I first started working into a company and keep the freelancer statue for 3 years.
Also always liked to practice 3D and scripting as well.
Then I am not a 100% fully artist but also not a 100% fully programmer.
I like it in this way.

Checking around on most 3D communities, devmap.com, etc... It always request "sculpting" skill.

To tell the truth I recently start training on this field, but well, still hoping somewhere a company still looking for "old school" skill.

Anyway!! Does all studio starting to work for next gen AAA??
Or is there still somewhere company(ies) still following this very colored and low poly skill? O_O!!


That is like :
- US + Canada + Europa >> Next gen
- Asia >> the only one to keep a colored touch with low poly skill O_o.... of course also next gen, but that is 50/50


Do I am wrong??

Feel free to give your comment, experience, etc...

Muzzoid

Its mostly phone games that still require it. i work at halfbrick in australia and it's mostly low poly and pixel art/hi res 2d.

gsokol

Yup mobile games is your best bet.

Keep in mind though...mobile games are advancing too...If your looking to stay in the industry its probably important that you keep up with new techniques/technology, since there just isn't as much demand for old school 3d anymore.

Sandro

It's fine if you want to work in handheld market, but ultimately you are limiting yourself as an artist.

You seem to have no problems with artistic side of things, and learning sculpting tools will be a piece of cake with today's wealth of training material available. No need to complicate stuff without any reason.

Hell, I think every artist should make a habit of doing hobby projects exploring different media. This way you grow faster and it's just fun. Game industry might prefer specialist approach to things, but don't forget that as an artist (and human being, basically) you have to be open-minded.

SsSandu_C

Europe= current gen more than next gen But it is not entirely true. In Romania Gameloft has opened 2 studios that focus more on mobile games which still is a growing and profitable market. In a few years the mobile hardware will have the standard of gaming the current gen standard. The thing is that if a game has a painted style then it doesn't matter if all games have normal maps and stuff. I mean lots of mmorpgs for pc still have the basic painted textures even though they are not really low poly. I looked at your work and I have to say that you should get into the sculpting, normal map creation workflow as it will open lots of new doors for you. If you want to get started then search for some tutorials on next gen character creation and sculpting on youtube. It is not that hard to learn. I think during a day of research on the subject you can get enough info to actually tackle a current gen asset. As for the best sculpting apps... I see you have very good knowledge of photoshop so I think you should give Mudbox a try due to the painting tools that are close to photoshop style(paint layers, layer modes, clone brush, and other photoshop like brushes) when it comes to painting your model. So give it a shot i think you are going to love sculpting as much as painting .

chrisradsby

Sculpting skills is good, but not necessary I'd say. All the companies I've worked for haven't been doing high-poly stuff at all. Sure it's mainly racing-titles but even the game I'm working on now rarely have high-poly stuff unless it's character, vehicle or weapon models.

mbknielsen

To me it sounds like you are the tech-art kinda guy, I think you should focus on that strength instead of going into sculpting. That is a very valuable combination as finding artists with a solid tech knowledge is way harder than finding good sculptors.
So, build on your scripting side by training some FX, shaders, rigging or a combination of them all

JacqueChoi

I think most of the industry is still on low poly / hand-painted diffuse.

The Wii dominates the console market. WoW is still the biggest MMO, Diablo 3 is the most highly anticipated PC title, and mobile/social networking account for a ridiculous amount of game sales, along with XBLA, PSN.

There's also a lot of games that chose that chose to go that route for stylistic/budget reasons (such as Torchlight).


B1ll is one of the OG badass hand-painty dudes, and he always has an abundance of work.

sama.van

Thanks you for the feedback!


Yes I mainly perform on iOS during the past 2-3 years.
That is a very good platform to work on and I love it!

Well, I can say that clients are cheaper month after month.
It seems the iOS market is overloaded of app and starting to be difficult to get good income.

If you check freelance website like oDesk, all iOS request job are the target of 40% Chinese , 50% Indian both working for 4-15$USD/ h and another 10% with guys hoping good rate with 25-40$USD. That is hilarious.


That is the main reason I wish to leave the freelance field to be sure to get income every month.
Life would be easier with wife and both kids.


Other than that :

@ Muzz : look and sound good yes!!! Don't they recruit overthere? ^_^!

@ gsokol : yeah I mainly work on Unity and already following the probs subject for "fake" next gen content... My worry comes from here too.

@ Sandro : I started sculpting one week ago and giving a try to Sculptris. It look pretty simple but need more practice... I'll show it later!
About hobby projects I already started too much and always waiting for programming side. Well, that is should be the difference this year, since I am able to script C#.

@ SsSandu_C : yes I heard on many website about Gameloft's branch in Romania. But don't it sound cheap? Knowing that is for Mobile development, thing starting to be cheap... Maybe the monthly income could be low as well. I have a wife and 2 kids then would like to keep decent income o_<

@ chrisradsby : Well, for now recruit section from each company website I browse on gamedevmap require at least sculpting skill ....

@ mbknielsen : hahaha yeah, I do not hide it but a technical position is also something I am looking for. But like the 3D artist + sculpting, they always ask for solid C++ and extend stuff on programming field. Never really ask for a 50% 3D artist . that is more 10 or 5%.
Well lets say they are often looking for 100% artist or 100% programmer. It seems to be the rule for a large game structure. Small game company aren't looking for technical guys anyway
Now about Rig, already made several tools.... shader is not my good points yet! I write some C# under Unity to control FX emitter and cool effects, but what did you have in mind?
Technical side can be more than that, from workflow tools, export, extra editor, etc... there are a bunch of thing to do!!

@ JacqueChoi : haha yeah, already tried Blizzard as well, but never got answer. maybe not the skill they are looking for!!



Finally, main difficult is to find those companies keeping hand painted + low poly graphic.
I always browse the gamedevmap.com but there aren't much of them.
Dunno if all game company are listed here but I do not know another list.


Anyway, if you guys have more advise but also company name I could give it a try that would be welcome!


Thanks again for the answers! o_<