Liquid Development still a good place to contract for?

Snowfly

I remember a lot of Polycounters doing work for them, but their site seems to be semi-neglected...especially the job opportunity page, which hasn't been updated since 2006. And if not them, anyone else?

Gav

I did some work for them a while back. Personally, I found my experience with them to be pretty good...I worked on 4 projects for them, most of which were bigger names...so, in the long run, it definitely helped me out and was a good experience. The only complaint I have is that they pay per asset...so, given poor circumstances, it could possibly be not worth your time...but I found them to be okay.

If not them, I would recommend Shadows in Darkness...the few times I've worked with them has been cool, the guys who run the place are easy to get along with and the projects are fairly interesting.

Snowfly

Thanks Gav, good to hear they're still around. Although they've been slow responding to my emails.

Pay per asset is perfect. A colleague of mine is going back to school, and rather than hunt down freelance work, I suggested he do some work at LD or a similar company to keep up with his work experience and make a little cash moneys on the side (Singapore is not the type of place you want to be in without some form of income)

Haven't heard of Shadows in Darkness til now...will look them up.

fr0gg1e

Sorry to post in this to ask, but do you guys know any other company employing contract remote workers?
I might want to do some freelance soon and was wondering about Liquid as well. So thanks gavimage, and thanks for SiD, will contact them shortly

Snowfly

np froggie, here are three more studios that I've contacted about offsite work. I found them on the front page of Gamasutra.
http://www.valent.us/
http://www.alcazar-entertainment.com/
http://www.nikitova.com/site/index.php?option=com_artforms&formid=5

fr0gg1e

Snowfly wrote: »

I found them on the front page of Gamasutra

Doh.

Thanks a lot snowfly

MoP

okkun from these forums is one of the guys at Valkyrie if I remember right. And someone else too, can't remember the name though.

demoncage

if you enjoy having your life sucked away when you might be better off bagging groceries with more free time, then work for liquid. the amount of money they offer per asset is a joke once revisions come into play, and it creates a huge amount of pressure to meet impossible deadlines that will destroy your mental health. but yeah, they're alright.

Snowfly

demoncage, could you post again without the bitterness tags on? jk So I take it LD's rates are non-negotiable? Are you expected to complete batches of assets per assignment, or just single pieces? Is the work doable on a student's schedule? I'm guessing not, since you were freelancing fulltime with them. Good info though...definitely something to think about.

demoncage

bitter about liquid? fuck yeah. i definitely wouldn't work for them if i had other stuff going on, or under any circumstances for that matter. i think they prefer that you work on multiple assets at once, somehow balancing everything in the intermissions when you are waiting for feedback on an asset. ideally you could make alot of money that way, but i never went for that. the only way you can manage that is if you are content to submit complete crap. i never knew the management to be very flexible as far as rates go, and you are pretty much helpless and ingnorant in all respects, which is a general crux of freelancing. some places are definitely better than others though. i would check out valkyrie. they paid well when i worked there and the production pace was sane.

MoP

It is doable on a student's schedule provided you don't overload yourself. I was in my 3rd year of university when I started working with them. I actually ended up declining extra work because although I could have made some good money, I wouldn't have finished any of my coursework

demoncage

just my experience though. obviously others had a better time so don't let me bring you down.

Vitor

I worked for them about an year ago and I have no complains at all, big name projects, easy people, and I could do a few works every month while studying on university without loosing a single sleep night.

OneFuzzyBrain

There are always projects going on at Liquid. The only real way to learn about current job opportunities is to be in direct contact with someone that works in house. Feel free to completely ignore the opportunities section on the site. I have personally never seen it change.

arshlevon

its a mixed bag at liquid it all depends on who is the art manager.. but once you start finding out how much an asset is really worth the rates they pay might be a bit disheartening, and this is all depending on the project. but your also paying for the opportunity to work on a project and not having to building up a contract clientele, if you do it alone it can take years of networking.

if you have a lot of experience under your belt you should be able to easily pull in 75 to 100(US funds) an hour doing contract, or pick a day rate that feels good for you. liquid is awesome for people starting out but you find its about half or even a quarter the pay of going out and finding your own contracts. When tax time rolls around, you will really start feeling the pain. but if your in school, or you don't have to pay taxes, its great. i was a big fan of red fly, but they started actually making games and stopped doing contract.

Jesse Moody

I did contract before going in house with Liquid. It is a great chance to touch a lot of big name projects and cut your teeth with industry experience.

Pay could be better but if you are in school or whatever it's an awesome gig. Plus if you are looking for clients it will help fill in those empty time frames.

MeshMan

Demoncage... you worked on Hellgate London, right? I actually found that project to be abit of fun. Too bad the game didnt' do well. The art direction rocked though.

Where you the guy that contacted the client directly and bitched about their feedback? I believe that you were very quickly removed from that and all LD projects.... You came across as a bitter person pretty early if I recall. It's a small industry, hope your rep doesn't follow you around, my man.

Hope you have found a place that is a better fit for you and hope that isn't bagging groceries!

-MM

demoncage

hmm, that was a really mature response. i don't recall specifically outing any individual or their behavior. i've seen my fair share of industry bashing on these boards without that type of retribution. sounds like mm really has the hots for me. why don't you try exercising some self-control next time. i believe the question of the thread was wether or not liquid was still a good place to work. i gave my opinion and then said that it was "just my experience". i didn't realize i had so much power, i'm sorry.

adam

Hello

Pedro Amorim

oh ok.. mesh man. what a crappy first post man. jeez

Jesse Moody

Ok let's keep this on topic. You girls want to have a flame war then do it over pms. We don't care about your personal issues with each other and yeah Meshman. You wont last long around here with posts like that.

demoncage

no problems here.

demoncage

another place you might try is extra large technology. the work isn't necissarily what you might be into, but the pay was good and i felt i had the appropriate time to manage given tasks. they work more in the hollywood scene and are not really geared towards games, but i found i was using pretty much the same skillset.

MeshMan

Doh! Sorry everyone, I honestly did not mean to piss anyone off. Demoncage, seriously, I apologize. I just felt like you were flaming a company without possibly giving both sides of the story. Regardless, I really liked your modeling, both high and low poly.

My feedback would be a little different. As long as you can hit the style (which admittedly , can be a challenge in itself), and are an experienced artist, I have found LD to work out well for those who are looking to contract. So let us call this balancing the feedback at this point by showing an equally biased but honest opossing opinion. I'm sure there are a wide range of experiences, I guess different strokes for different folks

Peace guys, good luck to everyone here!

(Demoncage, sorry about the food bagger thing at the end, I honestly was just trying to be funny referring to your post, nothing personal, seriously)

-MM

stimpack

Been doing work for these guys over a year and a half now. Its been complete hit and miss the whole time. They will load you down when the work is there, but they by no means give priority to better artist. I never missed a deadline, and my work was always liked by client, but i would still get shoved crap projects, while new guys that didnt do so hot got nicer stuff (ie: assets that pay out more). I guess in the end, its just doing projects for money, but a little company loyalty would be nice. Even if it was just a fake smile.

Also, in the down time, you wont hear from them for months. Its impossible to budget any kind of life around this pay. So my advice, if your a student. Get a job at a local coffee shop, and mayb do some projects for liquid here and there. Do not depend on them to pay your rent!! you will find yourself homeless very fast.

Just my experience.

demoncage

amen to that.

for the record, i'd much rather be a grocery bagger than an insecure/sleazy businessman personally slandering someone for sharing their opinion. but i guess i took that risk by being "out there". apology accepted meshman. oh by the way, do you have a website? you seem to have a bold personality so i was surprised not to see a link in your profile.

MeshMan

wow... "grocery bagger than an insecure/sleazy businessman personally slandering someone for sharing their opinion". Not sure where you are going with that, especially after busting my chops for maturity and getting personal.

Sorry for starting a flame thread everyone, not sure what else I can do but apologize... Demoncage, let's just agree to disagree. I understand you were sharing your personal opinion, in my apology, I was trying to share my opinion/counterpoint. If there is something else I can say, or something else you need to hear, let me know.

Regardless, I know this is getting off topic so I will respectfully bow out of posting to this thread.

-MM

demoncage

ok, no prob. i've said/heard all i want to so i'll step out as well. sorry things got off track here.

aesir

Snowfly

Sigh. I guess this thread served its purpose and more. Thanks.

adam

aesir, you don't miss a beat.

AstroZombie

MeshMan wrote: »

DMy feedback would be a little different. As long as you can hit the style (which admittedly , can be a challenge in itself), and are an experienced artist, I have found LD to work out well for those who are looking to contract. So let us call this balancing the feedback at this point by showing an equally biased but honest opossing opinion. I'm sure there are a wide range of experiences, I guess different strokes for different folks

So, how have you found LD to work out for the full time employees? Pretty sure none of you would stay there if there where any other opportunities to work in the game industry and stay in Portland. At least, that was the general sentiment while I was working there.

I'd have to say that Stimpak probably gave the most honest and unbiased feedback about LD, based on my experience while working there.

Gav

Yeah Stimpack is pretty much right on the money. Although my experience with them was fine, I got along pretty well with my art managers, I always had other projects on the go and never really relied on them as the primary source of income. If you're a student and don't need to pay bills for some reason, if you're THAT fortunate, it would be a great opportunity to do work for them here and there to build up a portfolio before officially getting into the workforce....if that makes sense...

CounterSeal

I'm not quite sure how to go about applying for one of these freelance jobs. Do I simply e-mail LD with a link to my portfolio and ask about off-site freelancing? I'm interested in this because I am currently a student, but I don't really have financial obligations at the moment, so I could most likely find the time to do freelance work. Since I'm graduating soon, this just seems like the prefect gig for me at this time.

Forgive me if I seem to be naive, but I have been going to school full time for the past three years, and are just now looking into getting myself professional experience as my graduation date aproaches in December. Am I better off just simply focusing on further developing my own portfolio by doing non-NDA'd mod and personal work? Any insight from those of you more experienced would be very helpful.

bugo

I´m sorry, but as for this thread I just want to laugh a lot!

aesir

CounterSeal wrote: »

I'm not quite sure how to go about applying for one of these freelance jobs. Do I simply e-mail LD with a link to my portfolio and ask about off-site freelancing? I'm interested in this because I am currently a student, but I don't really have financial obligations at the moment, so I could most likely find the time to do freelance work. Since I'm graduating soon, this just seems like the prefect gig for me at this time.

Forgive me if I seem to be naive, but I have been going to school full time for the past three years, and are just now looking into getting myself professional experience as my graduation date aproaches in December. Am I better off just simply focusing on further developing my own portfolio by doing non-NDA'd mod and personal work? Any insight from those of you more experienced would be very helpful.

Just send them an e-mail explaining who you are and what type of work you want to do for them. Attach a resume. Give them a link to your online portfolio. Thats it.

If you dont get a job, keep working on the portfolio, if you do, then the work you get can probably go into your portfolio eventually anyways.

PaK

all of my expereinces with Liquid Development have been overwhelmingly positive. I was always proptly paid, they communicated effectively, and they returned to me for work when they found it approriate.

It's a good place to find extra work when you need it.

-R

Pavel

2 bugo
hahah...Hugo, hi there
look like funy thread here

2 all

could you guys share some contacts to Europe freelance company?

TWilson

Liquid is what it is. I take the odd job from them here and there and I work quickly. They're nice people doing what they love. I've enjoyed my relationship with them.

Freelance is all about hopping around and juggling a variety of contacts at once. So don't get in a twist if they're not lining up 9-5 glamor work for you. A small percentage of freelance work is really the awesome stuff that people want to do. The fun stuff is done in house typically.

Pavel

2 TWilson

absofuckinglutely!