Need Industry Advice

buddikaman

I was hoping to get some opinions on some decisions and directions im trying to go to eventually be qualified for a Industry job. Please advise.

Brief History:

Im currently very serious about making games, its my passion in life, and has been since the atari days(im 25), long story short over the years ive had various development spurts such as, programming games for C64, computer animation in Highschool(1998), level design for HL1, modeling for a custom game engine friend made, the list goes on, ive always been hardcore into games, but never really took it seriously enough till the past year or so.

Alright so heres the deal. My main strenght currently is art, mostly character creation. Ive built up my skills the past few months to point were i think i can work on Indie games for experience and fun. As of now im working on a UT2004 Fantasy MOD, mostly learning the unreal engine and importing models ect. My main interests are Fantasy and Sci-fi, and im trying hard to have variety in my work, not just relly on one style.

My problem currently is, While my low poly skills are fairly fluent, minus the fact i struggle with model sheets, my hi poly skills suck, i can barely UV, and my texturing skills are under par. So, im headed to college to take some basic art classes to improve my skills, and i practice every chance i get. BUT, over the years and as a 3d artist i feel helpless to contributing only art to the game and not having a clue on programming and implementing my ideas. So my university has a pretty sweet online game programming certificate im tempted to take. THE problem is, im torn between taking it and having a grasp on programming, and than letting my art, level design, and hands on project experience with indie teams lag behind, or try to be a jack of all trades so to speak. Would anyone advise an aspiring artist/level designer/designer to just concentrate soley on one pirticular skill. It makes sence to, altough i love every aspect of making games, and feel crippled to soley only be able to make character models, when i have passion for level design, game design, and even programming.

So basically, i can either go to school, work up my art skills(2d/3d/texturing) and just work on MODs and Indie games doing that and some level design, OR throwing in a major online programming course and trying to juggle that with all the other stuff.

Id really appreciate any advise on anything i said whatsoever, im trying to have a clear direction so that i can improve my skills.

Thanks

aesir

You're not gonna find a job where they let you program games and also make art for them, and frankly, if you try to learn both, you'll probably be sub par at both (unless youre just awesome which is possible i guess). I guess it would give you an opportunity to start your own studio and create a game almost entirely on your own though...

If you actually want a job in a big studio though, you've gotta specialize. Even really tiny studios seperate art and programming.

There is such a thing as a technical artist who is a programmer and an artist though who helps solve problems and works between the two teams though. That might interest you... im gonna copy and paste some of what they do from wikipedia:
The Technical Artist must have a gamut of both technical and artistic skills, including some but not limited to:

Scripting and script debugging/troubleshooting
Visual effects implementation
General art creation (inc 2D and 3D tools)
C/C++, C# or an understanding of programming
The ability to utilize art tools/assets to demonstrate advanced techniques
Effective communication skills (i.e. translate communication between artists and programmers)
Drive tool development



anyways, your first order of bussiness needs to be to decide exactly what job you want. Then it will be easier to give you advice on how to get it.

Mark Dygert

You will have to choose, I have yet to see a job listing that lists programing and art creation. Like aesir said, there are "technical artists", but you will need to walk down the artist learning path before you can be any good to anyone in the art department. Technical artists are artists first who happen to dabble in things like MaxScript or MelScript, know the ins and outs of most of the technical procedures. They are the person the artists turn to when they need to pull something off and can't figure out how to do it. They will hammer out new pipelines and streamline old ones. They often get stuck training new artists how to use the in house tools. Very little of a tech artists job relates to what is going on over on programing side of the shop. Normally a tech artist springs up out of the trenches of the art department.

It definitely will help to know a little programing if you become an artist, so you can talk to code monkeys and have a basis of reference. But without a solid art background no one is going to hire a technical artist. Mostly because when they aren't doing all of the above they are asked to preform normal art duties.

You'll spread yourself too thin trying to learn everything, get frustrated and quit.

Richard Kain

Ahhh yes, my friend. I am quite familiar with your dilemma. Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Your interests are overreaching your abilities, and there just isn't enough time in the day.

I have to agree with the other posters. If you want to get an actual paying position, you are almost certainly going to have to specialize. This is no longer an industry where an individual can make his or her mark. Most major companies are going to want you to do a single task, and do it well. If you are considering taking classes, make sure your focus falls heavily on one area or the other.

From the sound of it, you already have a leg up on the modeling, I would probably go with that. The need for game artists is increasing with the increasing size of game projects in this hardware generation. There should be work available. Also, be sure to take some traditional painting courses, and if they are available, digital painting courses. That will help you out with the skin painting and color theory. UV mapping isn't all that hard, and the tools these days for it just get better and better. All you need for that is a little practice.

I would suggest taking some programming. But unless you really get into it, I wouldn't make it your focus. Programming is for those with a natural gift for mathematics, and logical reasoning. Take a course on Java, actionscripting, or just basic C++. It is useful to know the basics, as it would help you to better communicate with any programmers you do run into.

coldwolf

I'm in the same boat as you buddikaman. And as the others said, specialization is more important these days. However, I've heard that companies generally value artists who can paint their models over those who can only model or only paint (and those who can also program even more so--especially small studios). So, in my opinion it would be best to simply make stuff--model, unwrap, and texture each one. This way you'll get better at all 3 and if one or two aspects suck, don't put them on your portfolio But you'd still be left with at least a good model to show off.

At the moment I'm also working on a mod but I find I'm spending more time importing my creations rather than actually creating them. So I have a few personal projects to work on when I get fed up with the engine (mostly highres stuff actually). This is working nicely, so I recomend trying it.

I, like you, absolutely love every aspect of games, and add to that the fact that I have ADHD, I've picked up programming (Python though, which I think is the perfect intro language that you'll still have uses for far into the future). But I wouldn't have done this if it weren't for my ADHD because it's actually stupid of me to "waste" time on programming when I already know my focus is art. At the moment people like you and I need to get good at one thing and just get our foot in the door (of the industry). THEN we can pick up other skills in our free time. So just remind yourself that there's time for everything, but you have to start somewhere--not everywhere.

Good luck and, as always, have fun

buddikaman

I appreciate all your advice, it has helped me alot. I actually think learning programming at this point would just hurt my focus on art, and that is what i really need to be focusing on. I actually think im going to dabble with level design though, just to test the waters. I also think im going to decline the offers i have from indie companys to work on there games, and stick to this MOD for the unreal engine, simply because it is a industry proven engine, and learning it along with the new one could only help me keep up to date with the times. I also feel like my focus is out of whack, as a week ago i was all about modeling and making levels, now i lost that focus and drive, so think i should just concentrate on one project at a time and follow through. And if i do get bored, im dying to model in zbrush 3, which i just recently got..

Thanks again!