40 people on a project isn't that small. Plus I think they outsourced a lot of their assets (as shown when someone from Streamline recently showed their Gears work in P&P).
Still, it'd be interesting to know how long each model was scheduled to take, from start to finish.
Any of the Epic guys on these boards got clearance to talk about stuff like that? I wouldn't think it was a vital company secret...
Also, I'm wondering what the final resolution for the character textures was on the 360. In the book it says that most of the characters tended to have 2 2048x2048 texture sheets - were they downscaled at all for release, or were they all used at full-res all the time in the game? Or maybe they were only used full-res during cut-scenes? Anyone able to enlighten a poor wondering soul?
That is true MoP. Completely forgot about the outsourcing part. I'm an idiot. Just thought the next gen studios these days had more people. Got no experience in a studio like that.
And about the textures. As far as i'm aware you are correct MoP. Downsample while playing and full size in cutscenes.
The outsourcing was a tiny component, mostly some misc destructible items and a few homeless /bum type characters.
A lot of other developers seem intent on pushing the point that there must have been a secret army of outsource resource we used but sadly there was not ( though I'm not trying to say this notion is being pushed here)
There was 1 character guy, 1 weapon/vehicle guys, 4 environment guys and the lead artist. That was it as far as art resources for the majority of development of Gears until the last 6months when the 3 environment guys on UT (maury,peter & myself) pitched in for 4months, the 4 UT LD's pitched in for 6months , as did the 3 UT coders.
There were only about 4 or 5 coders on gears, 2 animators, until the 1 UT animator went over too.
The majority of the coders at Epic are the engine team and the service everyone that uses our tech.
We have a tiny team, we get through it by working our asses off, I kind of take it as a compliment that everyone assumes we have more people or outsourcing than we do..
I the characters were downsized to 2 1024's in the end, or 1 1024 and 1 512 on 360 ingame and higher in the cinematics.
Thanks Kevin, great information
I wasn't sure how much outsourcing was going on, definitely nice to hear that the majority of the legwork was done by you guys in-house!
Mop 40 people on a next gen team is tiny!My team has 120+ lol
Of course they also had the engine development team - that would have been working on Unreal/Ed further the Gears teams success. I think it was a great a achievement for a small team though, great quality through out (except for the driving level - were the gameplay sucked.. .but everyone over looked this because the rest of the game is so tight!)
Definately a landmark game.
Mop: But are you making 2 games whilst providing a technology to multiple companies? 2/5 of the company is on the engine team, the rest are split between 2 products, it makes a big difference.
Also, the engine team is more devoted to the people who license our tech,during most of Gears development time we had to wait until contractual stuff for external companies was met before focus could be placed more on Gears!
Anyway I dont want to derail away from Kev's interview, he's an awesome guy and probably one of the most respected artists here, I personally consider him an integral factor in defining Gears look.
As for the time frame, i know Kev has gotten a pretty quick. 3 years ago it may have taken 2 months per character, and i think near the end of gears he was up to 4 weeks or so, but much longer for the bigger critters. He literally touches every inch of a mesh, and never neglects details. He is extremely patient
Kev is a great dude, really psyched he got this interview and coverage in this book.
Replies
It's a copy and paste of part of his section in the Character Modeling 2 D'Artiste book.
Very good stuff.
I like how they say on the last page that the Wretch is a "fowl" creature
Hahha we also have a recruiting guy named Kevin Fanning.
oh and we have a Robert Roberts.
-caseyjones
Anyway, I trust the book is a must buy?
*looks in the wallet* Nope, I'm so poor that even the hobos come up to me and give me money.
*goes jobhunting*
Still, it'd be interesting to know how long each model was scheduled to take, from start to finish.
Any of the Epic guys on these boards got clearance to talk about stuff like that? I wouldn't think it was a vital company secret...
Also, I'm wondering what the final resolution for the character textures was on the 360. In the book it says that most of the characters tended to have 2 2048x2048 texture sheets - were they downscaled at all for release, or were they all used at full-res all the time in the game? Or maybe they were only used full-res during cut-scenes? Anyone able to enlighten a poor wondering soul?
And about the textures. As far as i'm aware you are correct MoP. Downsample while playing and full size in cutscenes.
A lot of other developers seem intent on pushing the point that there must have been a secret army of outsource resource we used but sadly there was not ( though I'm not trying to say this notion is being pushed here)
There was 1 character guy, 1 weapon/vehicle guys, 4 environment guys and the lead artist. That was it as far as art resources for the majority of development of Gears until the last 6months when the 3 environment guys on UT (maury,peter & myself) pitched in for 4months, the 4 UT LD's pitched in for 6months , as did the 3 UT coders.
There were only about 4 or 5 coders on gears, 2 animators, until the 1 UT animator went over too.
The majority of the coders at Epic are the engine team and the service everyone that uses our tech.
We have a tiny team, we get through it by working our asses off, I kind of take it as a compliment that everyone assumes we have more people or outsourcing than we do..
I the characters were downsized to 2 1024's in the end, or 1 1024 and 1 512 on 360 ingame and higher in the cinematics.
r.
I wasn't sure how much outsourcing was going on, definitely nice to hear that the majority of the legwork was done by you guys in-house!
Of course they also had the engine development team - that would have been working on Unreal/Ed further the Gears teams success. I think it was a great a achievement for a small team though, great quality through out
Definately a landmark game.
Also, the engine team is more devoted to the people who license our tech,during most of Gears development time we had to wait until contractual stuff for external companies was met before focus could be placed more on Gears!
Anyway I dont want to derail away from Kev's interview, he's an awesome guy and probably one of the most respected artists here, I personally consider him an integral factor in defining Gears look.
r.
Kev is a great dude, really psyched he got this interview and coverage in this book.