Are environment asset creators less desirable than environment artists?

ned_poreyra

I'm more interested in creating environment assets from scratch rather than building whole environments in-engine from already existing or modified assets, but I noticed that a lot of games these days use megascans and store-bought assets, and even outsource asset creation entirely. Am I even an environment artist then? Can I apply to such positions? I generally want my job to finish on the stage of exporting the model (and maybe importing into the engine and setting up materials etc., but that's it).

Alex_J

the more people can do it the less they are worth.

sounds like you'd fit better in a governmental type organization, more so than a corporate one, and definitely not an indie one.

ned_poreyra

Alex_J said:

the more people can do it the less they are worth.

Yeah, but I'm asking if my remark is true. I don't know the situation in the industry very much.

Meloncov

Asset creation is easier to outsource than world building. In the U.S., Western Europe, Japan, and other high cost of living areas, that means those jobs are harder to find. In the rest of the world, where most game development jobs are at outsourcing studios, it means they're easier to find.

PixelMasher

there are lots of large outsourcing studios in china like virtuous, you could always get a job as an asset artist there, or any of the other outsourcing studios around the world. If you want to make assets, I would label yourself a asset/content artist and focus your portfolio on that. most in house environment roles at big studios these days are level art jobs (world builders) but some studios like naughty dog still have their environment artists creating assets in addition to world building. I would just research how it works at the studios you are interested in working at and then aim for ones where they have internal asset teams, or go for an outsourcing job. 

sprunghunt

I'd ask why you want your job to stop at importing assets. Don't you care about the final product? Maybe you should try becoming a weapons or vehicle artist instead? 

marks

Its the same job everywhere I've worked. 

ned_poreyra

sprunghunt said:

I'd ask why you want your job to stop at importing assets.

Because I already know all the tools I need to create assets, while I don't know the tools to set up whole in-game environments. Game engines seem to me like a part of a whole different profession that requires entirely different type of thinking.

sprunghunt said:

Don't you care about the final product? 

I care about delivering results according to the client's specifications. I learned a long time ago that having any emotional attachment to a paid work is as reasonable as a doctor who gets attatched to every dying patient. It will drive you insane. 

Alex_J

when somebody pays me to do work before i deliver the thing i make sure i stress test it in the same environment they'll be using.

when i hire people for help, if they don't do that I consider it a mark against their professionalism. 

sprunghunt

ned_poreyra said:

sprunghunt said:

I'd ask why you want your job to stop at importing assets.

Because I already know all the tools I need to create assets, while I don't know the tools to set up whole in-game environments. Game engines seem to me like a part of a whole different profession that requires entirely different type of thinking.

sprunghunt said:

Don't you care about the final product? 

I care about delivering results according to the client's specifications. I learned a long time ago that having any emotional attachment to a paid work is as reasonable as a doctor who gets attatched to every dying patient. It will drive you insane. 

Doctors will still take pride in their work and care how well they did their job even if their patient dies. 

The final product affects how your work is presented. And how your work is presented affects how much you can get paid in the future. For example if you work on a successful game you can demand a higher salary. 

And learning new tools and technology is part of the industry which you should get used to. During my career I've had to learn about 20 pieces of software. I've worked on 4 different engines and learnt 3 programming languages (I'm not even a programmer). Even now there will be a shift towards different workflows with new technologies like Nanite making old techniques obsolete.