What is the first few months like at a new studio?

AGoodFella

Hey,

I was just wondering, when you start at a AAA studio, I imagine things to be quite busy and ideally you would want to hit the ground running.

Assuming you're a junior/entry level, is there a ramp up period? Do they give you practice assignments to work on first so you can learn their pipeline and methods?

Cheers.

Progg

We're a pretty small art team but when we have more junior artists start we usually expect there to be a little while for them to get up to speed with our pipeline. We usually try to gear the first few assignments towards things that arent destructive to the project and involve tasks that get them familiar with the import/export pipeline. It depends on the artist but sometimes it's a day or two of cleaning up outsource textures/models or world building in a new temporary level with the assets we have in the library.

alexk

In my personal experience, the first week on the job is typically setting up your computer and programs, getting acquainted with the project, getting forms filled out for HR, meeting the team, getting your first task assigned. When I was a junior, I was expected to do the same as everyone else regardless of seniority but my task volume and scope was smaller

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

You'll get small assignments at first so you can learn the pipeline, and so the team can feel out your speed, quality standards, and communication style.

Kevin Albers

What alexk says is true. Other than the first few days, it can vary tremendously, depending on the studio, team and project. Is the studio management organized and effective, or incompetant? Is the project totally behind schedule and doomed, or is it going really well? Is the team used to bringing new junior people onboard?  

I've personally experienced everything from having way to much to do immediately, to being asked to sort of 'sit on the sidelines' literally for months while most of the team barreled towards an upcoming milestone. In my very first position, I made a rather significant contribution to the game in the first few weeks. It all really depends on the specifics of the situation and studio.

beefaroni

alexk said:

When I was a junior, I was expected to do the same as everyone else regardless of seniority but my task volume and scope was smaller

Yep. I did a knife as an associate when I first started. Spent the first half of the day setting up my computer / hotkeys then jumped right into the project. Learned any engine/team specific pipeline tweaks as I went along. 

Did some work for the game and learned their pipeline super quickly. Moved onto larger assets after that.

Brian "Panda" Choi

They buy your lunch sometimes.

I try to make it a point to bring homemade food in as a token of appreciation at some point early on.  Seduce their stomachs.

chrisradsby

I've mentored several juniors and some intermediates and they all have like a warm-up period where they go through the Wiki, learn the editor/engine & workflow. After that they get assigned simpler tasks so they can take what they learned and put it into practice.

AGoodFella

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm eager to work in a games studio so I wasn't sure what it was like. 

Cheers!