Game Jams and 3D artists

Damian Nachman

As a desperate attempt at socializing, I decided to sign up to an upcoming Game Jam.
Then it hit me.... As a 3D artist, can I really contribute much?
Creating good looking assets usually takes time, planning, and alot of polish. Rushing like a madman to spew out some unfinished godawful assets doesn't sound like alot of fun.
So obviously, I probably wouldn't even try going in with a "production" state of mind. But then again, how can I assist my team?

Did you even join a game jam as a 3D artist, and if so, what was your experience?

almighty_gir

game jams are a great way to learn many shortcuts and really put pressure on yourself to achieve something within a short space of time. it's also a great way to learn about scope.

Steve Schulze

More than anything, you need to keep it really simple. I usually go with something more in line with Minecraft or older handheld/mobile titles than your fancy normal mapperies and albidioes. The first year, I didn't even have textures - just did the whole lot using vertex colours.

I've seen plenty of others do more elaborate art though. It's just a matter of looking at what it's going to take to get something roughly game shaped after the 48 hours and choosing an art style and technique that'll get you there.

Fomori

It's all about emphasising the design end optimising the hell out of pipelines. Thinking in simple shapes and silhouettes for modelling and removing time consuming UV unwrapping and texturing from the pipeline is a good way to start.

But as part of a game jam you have to wear as many hats as possible. Maybe somehow try and push your design skills by concentrating on things like colour, composition, lighting.

Take a game like Thomas Was Alone. Simple primitives and what must be a fast pipeline, but it looks great due to all the other subtleties in design. Other games that spring to mind that emphasize design over detailed 3D are Monument Valley, Second Sight and Polycraft.

Damian Nachman

Sounds like a chance to look at the bigger picture!
Avoiding extensive texturing and optimizing seems like the way to go.
Stuff like Massive Chalice comes to mind:

You could probably pull something like that in a gamejam, and it looks dope thanks to simple, clean art direction.

Finalhart

From my experience in 1 game jam i could tell you a few things. It will push you to the extremes to finish on time, there is no time to say "i will finish this tomorrow". You will be always thinking how can you make your assets fast. The most important think to consider is, if the asset is going to show off or not, we miss a lot on this part and we texture and UVd everything and when putting things on the game most of the assets didn't even requiere a normal map because they were too far, others were good but we lost a lot of time on making assets that didn't worth the time. And this is the kind of stuff we as an artist should be thinking in a bigger project and better test everything before putting the detail on so we can save a lot of work time. You will learn a lot so i would give it a try if i were you and have the time, this is what we got in UE4 october game jam, the game looked good but our programmer didn't have enough time to make it playable. I would give a try if i were you, making games is fun

Here is a screenshot of what we got in 2 days of work, that was super hardcore:

Higuy

game jams are alot of fun. it takes a good amount of time and puts the pressure on immensely. The last few hours can be a total rush of exhilaration. And they are fun too!

Like you may have figured out, if your doing 3d, alot of it will be trying to keep things simple while still interesting and nice to look at. The examples that Fomori posted are good examples.

glottis8

Game Jams are also a good place to try your hand at something else that you are not very familiar with. Try to do some code, or animate, or do design.

You'll learn a lot.