Studios and non-public portfolio

Mar_to

Hi guys. Just registered because I need advice from community.

When I apply for a job in certain studio is it possible to give them link to non-public portfolio, like for example shared dropbox folder or password protected portfolio on an own site?
None of my assets are secret, all the games they belong were released. The only problem is that I worked for outsource studio which is closed now. And I never asked for permission not from studio itself not from a client. But now studio is closed and I have no one to ask. So simply placing them in my portfolio is impossible.
So will it be acceptable to give just a dropbox link or will it be just huge NO sign for recruiter?

Kevin Albers

The first rule of Fight Club is: Don't Talk About Fight Club!

The reality is that potential employees need to find some way to demonstrate their abilities to potential employers, regardless of the hurdles society/the legal system/etc puts up. Therefore my wildly uniformed guess is that what you are describing happens very often, and recruiters would therefore not be surprised or offended by such things. Publishers, on the other hand, definitely are not fond of such things.

AlecMoody

If the game have been released just put the work in your portfolio. If someone complains apologize and feign ignorance. There is no functional reason for an NDA to cover your work after a game ships.  Being able to share the work you have done is fundamental to your business.

ZacD

Sometimes it easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

Mar_to

@Kevin Albers As terribly uninformed person do you know any good ways to do that, except dropbox or google drive?

@AlecMoody @ZacD Some of my assets were made for major AAA project and publisher. As I know they need to approve renders. So publishing them without approval would put me in bad position.

Eric Chadwick

It is easy to set up a password-protected subfolder, if you run your own website. I have seen multiple artists do this for sharing sensitive items.

mazz423

The answer will mostly be down to who they're for, some studios are perfectly fine with you showing off the stuff you did. While others actively discourage it. Having a password protected section on your site is something a fair few artists do, but keep in mind it's not a perfect solution. If you're really weary about putting this stuff online then I'd say your best bet in my opinion would be to bring it along with you to interviews on a USB or something and show it off in a nice and safe NDA'd environment :P

That being said, as Zac and Alec have said, if the games are out there then you'll probably be better off asking for forgiveness than permission, after all there's really nothing stopping someone from ripping the assets out of the game and doing renders of them and posting them online, so why shouldn't you be able to show off what you made? I'd probably suggest only really avoiding putting stuff online that maybe never made it to release, or posting breakdowns that expose some form of proprietary workflow that's maybe not public. Worst comes to worst just find what you made in the game and take screenshots of them directly in game if you can, highlighting specifically what you did in the shot.

Jonas Ronnegard

If it really worries you, maybe take screenshots in game and put in your portfolio, nothing they can say about that.

Also Dunked has good portfolio templates and you can password protect projects.

radiancef0rge

"all the games they belong were released." "outsource studio which is closed"

See @AlecMoody's post.