Many strong points here. I would like to further expand on three of the points you mention with some of my personal experiences. Vague Documentation This has been an absolute nightmare for some art tests I've done. One of the main problems I've run into is art direction, where the technical aspects of the test might have…
Just a quick answer: I've been working for a big outsourcing studio for the past year, so things are a bit different then at other studios. Being less known than your AAA-clients makes it harder to get staff, so it does pay off to invest in juniors and train them (investing in intermediates and seniors as well), if you see…
you've picked two interesting examples. Horizon was developed over a very long time by a studio that is utterly uncompromising and dedicated to quality - nothing goes out of the door unless it's good enough. Andromeda was clearly overscoped, under-resourced and piled out of the door before it was ready in order to hit an…
100% agreed. The time thing is a huge issue. On the one hand you want to have time to do polish as much as possible on the other hand putting dozens of hours into a test for free isn't exactly the best use of your time. Those employed only have their spare time, but freelancers are missing out opportunities to put food on…