Creative Development Week11:CG Hub

Who they are?

CGHub are a community of artists within the entertainment industry, providing a website in which their updated work, tools, tips, job vacancies and networking with other artists. CGHub focus on artists who use a computer to generate imagery for a range of mediums.

What services they provide?

As stated in what CGHub do, they provide services for all aspects of digital art such as helpful advice with modelling high and low models or tools to aid in the work flow of concept art to create realistic imagery. As CGHub have a large community group they provide job listings to suit certain digital areas from arious entertainment companies and whilst searching for that speacial job CGHub set challenges to get the creative juices flowing and further develop your skills. Along with challenges or briefs CGHub have paid online sessions to work on specific areas of digital art by experienced teachers that have worked with the biggest names in the entertainment industries.

How it's relevant to you?

The services that CGHub provide are relevant to me as they allow me to build on my current skills by receiving advice from experienced artists. Also relevant to me are the job listings for either concept art or 3d modelling as these will aid me in indetifying what the needs are for these two areas and working on the requirements.

What are the benefits of aligning yourself with them joining/ paying for membership/subscribing to newsletters/ attending networking events?

CGHub's benefits are a large experience of talent that are available through master classes or feedback through other digital artists and as the paid master classes as well as the membership are benefits from known and experienced artists within the current industry but also the website is free allowing artists to publish their own work and recieve experienced feedback fro other artists who have worked with certain softwares.

Website: http://cghub.com/

Creative Development Week11:Concept Art

Who they are?

Conceptart.org are a social organization providing events, schools, workshops, available jobs and a large community. The Conceptart.org are largely based on the social networking of artists to be able to organize events and provide feedback on one anothers work.

What services they provide?

The services that Conceptart.org provide are social networking, which involve events, workshops and schools to allow the integration of various artists to be able to develop their skills. The main service as stated is the social awareness of artists providing a website to showcase individual work and recieve attention and feedback from other artists who can steer you in the right direction. Also there is a shop which enables downloading, streaming and purchaing of classes, tutorials and other art content to provide knowledge for tactics of producing a high level of work.

How it's relevant to you?

Conceptart.org is relevant to me as it is a social provider for concept artists holding events, schools and workshop which not only exposes your skills but develops them. Another relevant service to me is the endkess forum feedback from experienced artists in similar softwares and there is a chat which eneables instant help if i'm stuck.

What are the benefits of aligning yourself with them joining/ paying for membership/subscribing to newsletters/ attending networking events?

The benfits of having mostly free services and the events, which provide more of an outcome because of social meet ups allows for group discussions and their chat services give me more areas to turn to when needing help.

http://www.conceptart.org/?

Creative Development Week11:Conceptart World

Who they are?

Concept Art World are an online presence in which showcases the world best concept art, ranging from films to games and even amateur concept art.

What services they provide?

The services that Concept Art World provide are awareness of concept artists, studios, artists, books, training, inspirations and information as well as the details of the artists providing exposure.

How it's relevant to you?

This is relevant to me as it is a website in which i can not only be provided with skill development in the form of training, books and artist communications but also be provided with exposure of my own work.

What are the benefits of aligning yourself with them joining/ paying for membership/subscribing to newsletters/ attending networking events?

Exposure of my own work as well as communication with other artists from amateurs to professionals  within the industries.

http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/blitz_academy/

Creative Development Week11:CGSociety

Who are they?

CGSociety are an organisation known globally and respected for their support of creative digital artists. CGSociety offer support to all digital artists by providing services to support the artists, ranging from creating and sharing work to discovering jobs available within your country and speciality area.

What services they provide?

CGSociety provide an online portfolio allowing for all digital artists to create their own online portfolio and have an online forum alongside to post questions and queries on others and own work. This gives other digital artists to give feedback as well as solutions to problems about your work. With feedback CGSociety also provides tutorials for you to develop your skills and workload to speed up certain processes and unlock new abilities. As well as tutorials, CGSociety have an online workshop which will help in your development and get straight to the point in key areas such as modelling, UV mapping and so on, with key areas in which are needed for certain job specifications and CGSociety also have listings of available jobs in certain digital areas.

How it's relevant to you?

The services that CGSociety provide are relevant to me as they allow me to build on my current skills, along with expanding my range of tools to aid in work flow. Also relevant to me is that CGSociety work on digital artists ranging from 3D modelling and concept artist providing me with a directed road to follow when focusing on either 3D modelling and concept art, which will enable feedback from both areas by other digital artists.

What are the benefits of aligning yourself with them joining/ paying for membership/subscribing to newsletters/ attending networking events?

The benefits of aligning myself with CGSociety is that there is a wide aspect of knowledge for free users with payed membership being given more benefits. The benefit of free knowledge from forums is there is already a large community of digital artists who are open to viewing and giving feedback on other peoples work. The tutorials and workshops aren't from amateur digital artists but well known and experienced artists who have worked with large companies.

Website: http://www.cgsociety.org/

Final Major Project Week 03: Second Team Project

Another one of my final major project is again a team project this time being a two man team. I have decided to team up with Tom Newton to produce a 2D children's game we will blog our steps throughout the project and use an independant blogger which is accesed by this web address:

http://tomandifraz.blogspot.com/

Creative Development Week10: HBO Indie Game Deveoper Series

News of a television series following the journey of production on games is being planned by the network HBO, with the series showing the development stages to the release of the indie game this series is showing once again the rise in the games industry and how games are produced along with the work gone into the games and this is something which could prove very informative to inde game developers as well as myself as to how hard it is to produce a full blown game. A trailer has been released:


Link to article: http://tv.ign.com/articles/121/1217079p1.html

Creative Development Week09: Sloperama Productions

Through the Creative Skillset website i found an interesting link which is another website which has a ton of information ofn teh games industry and the information i found was the applying for a job in games design page which i felt was close to what role i was going for than any other link i could find. So i looked throught the page and there was the usual bit of information which i expected but there was mroe information than that really goes in to detail about what to do and the information is in order of the process to going for the job which i foun dvery useful in the fact that following this procedure would be a good layout to use when trying to apply for a job in concept art, here is the information:


"LESSON #4:
Applying for a job in game design


NOTE: this article was originally written for aspiring game designers, but many of the concepts described herein also apply to those who aspire to other types of jobs in the game industry. This article is subject to changes and improvements; reader comments are welcome.

---

Get this, and get it straight. The job of "Game Designer" is a much sought-after position that requires a lot of game industry experience. So even if you have just graduated from college, don't hold out for the vaunted title of "game designer". Just apply for any game industry job you can get * (preferably one that you will find reasonably enjoyable).
The key is getting in in the first place. Your first goal must be simply to get inside the industry. We're talking about a career -- a way of life -- not a sinecure.
Once you are inside, you have to work hard, volunteer to help out in any way you can, learn everything you can, and prove yourself, before you can gain the title of "Game Designer". I wrote more about this concept in my IGDA "The Games Game" column for April 2006, Playing the Upgrade-To-Designer Game.
After proving yourself as a game designer once, you will have to prove yourself time and time again. Know that ahead of time, steel yourself, and be willing. And you'll be fine.

---

Okay, the necessary basic info is out of the way now. Here's how to apply for that game industry job...
1. First, you must be prepared for the job. Presumably, you have already read Lessons 1, 2, and 3 here at this website. Presumably, you are a high school graduate and have a college degree. (Yes, you really need a college degree. Besides, they say a college degree adds a lot of money to your lifetime income. I even heard this on a TV show, so it must be true! Check out "Degree Dollars: Four Years of Higher Education Can Pay Off for a Lifetime" at http://advancedu.org/CAREER_NEWS.htm.)
Presumably, you are an avid game player. Presumably, you have already been participating in the game forums, to wit:
o http://www.igda.org/Forums/
o http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/
If you have to register to access the IGDA forums, then register! You need to belong to the IGDA anyway. Same goes for GameDev.net.


2. Next, you need to have a well-written résumé. I'm not going to tell you how to write a résumé; click here to find lots of websites and books on that topic, on our Game Biz Links page (look for the section entitled "About résumés and Cover Letters").


3. Next, you have to have a target list of game companies. I can't give you a target list; each aspirant has to make this for himself (hint: see our Game Biz Links page - look for the section entitled "Listings of Game Companies") (another hint: I put that section right at the top so it's REAL easy to find!). Any game company worth working for has a website. And there are lots of game industry job websites. Assuming you're active in the forums and know how to use Google you will find them. Ideally, your list contains companies in your local area, or in an area you are planning to move to very soon. Since you are starting out, you will not be telecommuting; you will be reporting to the office for work every day. Only the very experienced veterans manage to work out telecommuting arrangements (and even then it's rare). You are not there yet. If you are finished with your education, and you are looking for a job in the game biz, you need to live in a city with (hopefully more than one) game companies. If you don't live in such a city, you need to move. BEFORE you can hope to get a game job.


4. Next, you need to educate yourself about your target companies. Read their websites. Learn their product lines. Find out about their stock, if they're publicly owned. It looks bad if an applicant comes in and says, "Well, I don't know anything about your company, but I'd like to work here.".


5. Now you're ready to contact the target companies. Don't pin all your hopes on getting a job with one specific company. Have multiple companies to contact. You never know what's going to happen. Find out the name of a person to contact at each company. If you know someone who knows someone at a company, get in touch with that person and find out who you should send your résumé to. You need a name to put at the top of each cover letter. If you don't know anybody who knows somebody, call the company and ask for the name of the studio head (the VP in charge of the game production department) or for the name of the Human Resources head.


6. Cover letter. As with résumés, you can find information about how to craft cover letters on the internet (see our Game Biz Links page). However...

• These days, and in the game industry, in most cases, the best or preferred way to submit your application is via email or via online application.
• When submitting via email, then, the email itself IS the cover letter.
• Most applicants write cover letters that are better left unwritten. For instance, they sound like they were written using a formula from a book on how to write résumés and cover letters.
• But you can't not write anything in the email, and I hate emails that just say "see resume attached." Very unimaginative. So you have to write something.
• But I'm not going to tell you what to write -- because then guys like me would get flooded with applications that all say the same thing.
• One thing you can do with a cover letter (cover email) is to share information about yourself that couldn't fit in your résumé or portfolio.
• Just say something short that makes me want to click on the attachments and read your résumé now rather than later. If you are suited to the job of game designer, then you ought to be able to say something that isn't sappy or formulaic or boring.

See FAQ 12 for some suggestions about things you can do at home to sweeten your cover letter, and for information about design portfolios and demo reels.


7. Have everything ready in one handy place. If you are an aspiring designer, and if you have read FAQs 1, 2, and 3 here on this site, then you have probably written some game concepts. You should have:

o Cover letter. o Résumé. o Portfolio (samples of your work).

Note: Inclusion of the third part, the sample, is a problematic suggestion on my part, for legal reasons (game companies do not want to see unsolicited submissions). So make it a short sample, one that describes a standard genre or type of game - do not divulge your dream game idea in your portfolio. Although portfolios are standard for graphic artists, a "game design portfolio" is not a standard concept. Therefore I can't tell you exactly what to put in a design portfolio (if you're so creative, you think of something creative to do), but don't send a phone-book-sized design document. A game design portfolio should be no larger than a regular artist's portfolio - when printed, it should be under 20 pages, in a flexible binder (which might never be returned to you), with your name and contact information emblazoned on the front. See FAQ 12 for general guidelines about portfolios.
The danger of including a short sample of your design writing style in a submission is that the company's "no submissions" policy may result in their not looking at it. It might be better not to include any sample in a submission (the short writing sample is better used for an in-person interview) - or you could contact the recipient in advance, and inquire as to whether a short sample of your work would be helpful and/or welcome along with the résumé. Maybe they'd want you to sign a disclosure agreement or submission agreement first, if you are going to include a complete concept in your portfolio.
If you make a game design portfolio, it's probably a good idea to also put your stuff on the internet somewhere. Go get a free page or blog. Then write on the material, "this portfolio also available online at http://www...." and put the exact address of your online portfolio. More on portfolios in item 10, below.


8. Send it in. I used to advise aspirants ("wannabes") to call on the phone or drive to the game company, but I've changed my advice to reflect the changing reality. H.R. departments (Human Resources) are increasingly favoring the emailed application. Your portfolio may be online - so your email should include a link to that. Make sure that your email attachments all contain your name as the first part of the filename. "résumé.doc" is the stupidest filename ever, and I can't tell you how many of those I've received - because there's just one in my applicants folder (all the old ones were overwritten by the newer ones).
It can take up to 2 weeks for a game company to reply. So don't sit around waitin' and hopin', just move on and apply to another, and another, and another.
Hopefully the game company will like your résumé, it fills an opening, and they call you in for an interview. It's unlikely that any game company will want to pay your airfare to fly out for an interview for an entry-level position.
When speaking with the person on the phone, don't be nervous. Be your normal warm and personable self. Don't say you want to come in for a job interview, just ask if you could come in to meet the person and introduce yourself. You're interested in learning about the game industry, you're a college graduate, you've done some stuff on your own, and you'd appreciate a short chat. Whatever's applicable and true.


9. The interview. Don't put on a 3-piece suit. Nobody in a game studio (aside from some top executives) wears a suit. Wear clean presentable clothes. Long pants. A shirt with no holes in it except those needed for your head and arms to poke out of. Shoes and socks. Bring your package (maybe 2 or 3 copies of the résumé and cover letter; you might or might not be leaving your sample behind, most likely, depending on what's in your sample).
The main goody, the best thing you bring to the interview, is you . Be eager, attentive, charming. Your goal is to get a job, any job, so that you can eventually be a game designer. As discussed above, don't hold out for the highly-sought-after "Game Designer" position. Find out what job openings are available. Figure out which opening is suited to your skills and interests. That's the job you should be angling for.
What the company is looking for is hard-working, smart, capable communicators first and foremost. That's the impression you want to convey, through your appearance, your eye contact, and what you say during the interview.


10. The sample of your work (mentioned in step 7 above). In an in-person interview, you could at a logical point in the conversation show samples of your work. Your portfolio, in other words. Perhaps you could ask the interviewer before the interview about bringing samples of your work to the interview. If you're a game designer, sample game concept designs might be construed as an unsolicited submission, making the game company liable to a lawsuit from you if they ever did anything similar. It might be wise to put your designs (especially the portions that are included in your portfolio) on your own website (like a free blog page for instance), which would make them public knowledge (taking your portfolio out of the realm of "submission" and into the realm of "portfolio"). Letting the interviewer know this in advance could prevent what might otherwise turn into an awkward moment if someone perceives your portfolio as an unsolicited submission. And it shows that you are both savvy and sensitive to the company's needs.

The foregoing assumes that your sample illustrates a game concept for your original game idea, with sketches and words that communicate the game idea clearly. If you have a portfolio of just sketches (without any game concepts expressed), even better (bring that, and be prepared to leave it there and never see it again). If you have an interactive demo of your work on a CD, that's fine (be prepared to leave it there and never see it again). But the interviewer may not have the time to look at it. Do not expect the interviewer to go to your website, navigate through whatever labyrinthine path you've designed, and wait to download and run a game during the interview. It don't work like that. If you have an interactive demo on a laptop, that's fine. But the interviewer may not have the time to look at it. Obviously, you're not going to leave them your laptop. See FAQ 12 for some suggestions about things you can do at home to sweeten your interview, and for information about design portfolios and demo reels.
An important point about game concepts you developed on your own (oft stated on the game design newsgroups): It's unlikely that anybody is going to steal your idea and make your game idea without you. (It's also unlikely that they'll take your idea and make the game with you. See FAQ #1 and FAQ #11 .) Game companies are teeming with more ideas than they can ever make. What game companies need is people, not game ideas. Your purpose in showing them your sample concept is purely to show them that you're a creative individual that they should hire. A future article will go more into how to protect your ideas.
If you are more worried that showing your idea in an interview will result in its theft than your are about getting a job, then do not take a sample to the interview. It's as simple as that.


11. After the interview. It's unlikely that the interview will end with you walking out the door with a job offer in hand. That's possible, and that's desirable, but it's more likely that the interviewer will discuss you and your résumé with others before any decision is made about offering you a job. When you leave the interview, you will probably have a sense of how well the interview went. If it didn't go very well, then just spend a few minutes thinking of what you could have done to make it go better. Then use that thinking on the next interview. When a stumbling block is in your way, use it as a stepping-stone.
Send thank-you notes to the people who interviewed you. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but we're not talking about robots, we're talking about human beings with whom you want to build human relationships. Some folks send thank-yous electronically, some will tell you a paper letter is best. Here are some tips on thank-you letters from the Sunday May 25, 2003 Los Angeles Times CareerBuilder (latimes.com/careerbuilder):

• Send the thank-you letter (in other words, "email") within 48 hours of the interview. The idea is to show them that you have follow-up skills.
• One page max.
• Each one you send must be written specifically for the individual. If you met multiple individuals, get their business cards so you have proper spellings and job titles, and take notes immediately after the interview so you recall details for personalizing the letters.
• An important purpose of the letter is to restate why you are a good candidate, and also to answer any potential objections, especially those you may have heard the individual mention during your interview. Like lack of experience if you're a recent graduate.
• Just like with a cover letter or résumé, the smallest writing error can spoil any good impression they may have gotten of you.

Don't pin all your hopes on one company. Go for other interviews. The worst thing that can happen is that you don't get any offers. The second-worst thing that can happen is that you get one offer. The third-worst thing (the same thing as the best thing that can happen): you get more than one job offer to choose from. While it's a good thing to get multiple job offers, it's usually a painful decision to make, and almost always an awkward situation to be in.
* Here's more about taking whatever job you can get, and then moving into a design position... "



Also at the end of this website page i found that there is a comments section in which people have given their feedback and experiences of using the process that was written and here is the one which i found that stood out because the preson giving the feedback really speaks about the time of each process that he had gone through and how long replies and the interviews took:



"I can be rather verbose, part 3
>Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:31:57 -0800 (PST)
>From: Joe B
>Subject: Well worth the cost of lunch
>Hi Tom,
>I wanted to let you know that I managed to land a job in Irvine a few months after speaking with you. It's a QA testing position and I made it through both the phone and in-person interviews without any problems. The information on your website, and the advice you gave me personally helped me prepare for some of the questions that were asked. I dressed casually as you suggested, and I'm glad I did, because the people interviewing me were all in jeans and t-shirts.
>The one thing I really wasn't prepared for is how long it takes to finally land a job in the industry. Originally, I expected to land a job right out of college, though I don't know if that was over-confidence on my part or just not realizing how bad the economy is right now. I also expected to get more than a single job offer, but that didn't happen either (which is quite stressful when you have student loans looming and have been living with family for seven months). The company first contacted me nearly two months after I had originally applied. It took another week for me to get a phone interview, another month for me to get the in-person interview, and two weeks after that for me to get the job offer, which starts a month later. So from the time I applied to the time I start working, the whole process has taken over four months. With all my previous part-time jobs, I had been hired within a few weeks of first applying, so four months caught me off-guard.
>Again, thanks for the advice. I'm thrilled that I managed to get a job in the video game industry at a company I respect.
>Sincerely,
> Joe [I can be quite verbose] "


Website accessed at: http://www.sloperama.com/advice/jobapp.htm

Final Major Project Week 02: First Team Project

One of my final major projects was to create a game within a team and here is the separate blogger with all the details and process of making the game eleMental, with our team as a company named Broken Games. With each individual taking on certain roles, the synopsis for the concept is that one of the statues on Easter Island gets hit by an asteroid that contained a large crystal, thus turning the statue into a living thing. One of the crystals lands in the hands of an excluded archaeologist who wants to take revenge and so the statue has to go through levels, finding crystals that allow certain elements to be controlled which are used to stop the ex-archaeologist.

Click the image above for the website

Final Major Project Week 01: Project Ideas

After being made aware of employment expectations such as time spent on projects and seeing that the ship project would have taken around six months altogether i decided to shift my final major project into doing a series of three or four small briefs, with a months deadline for each. The reason i will be doing small briefs focusing on both concept art and 3d modelling is based off of my independant practice i began to understand concept art much more and i felt that it was my best work to date. With the independant project being my best work and then carrying it on into the final major project, i would only have a best piece of overall work to show for my portfolio where as doing mini briefs, helping to speed up my creative process as well as giving me a range of projects to add to my portfolio would be a better way to go.

For my final major project i will be doing three to four briefs, focusing on concept art and 3d modelling being utilized within each briefs. I will be solely focusing on environment design with a possibility of adding character designs to the concept art to showcase charaters that inhabit the environment. To broaden my mindset and skills one of the briefs that i will be doing will be a team project with Chris, Tom and Danny in creating a 2d children's game. Another team brief that i will be producing with Tom because of him also doing three to four briefs is a 'Food Landmarks' brief.

This brief inspired by Toms hunger was just a random idea, manifesting into a possibility to now having many ideas for particular 'Food Landmarks' we feel we should go ahead and use this idea as it is one that isn't used much. Along with the two team briefs i will be creating two self briefs, one idea that i feel i will be going ahead with is 'Nightsky', 'Skynight' or 'Nightfall' as the name of a game surrounding the sky. The idea i have is for the gamer having to get to one end of the level to the other before nightfall to which gameplay would change and also after watching Hugo i have a rough story for the game.

The final brief is still being developed but the possibility of creating a female based brief would help to strengthen my portfolio with a range of work from the female brief which will likely be much more detailed than the previous three briefs which will be directed at children. What i hope to achieve at the end of the final major project is a range of products for my portfolio, strengthen my maya and photoshop skills to which i feel i got the hang of at the end of my independant practice and working within a team.

However to sum up for my final major project I will be breaking my time into four projects, two being team briefs and the other two being self briefs all which will be focusing on games. With each of us working towards the games industry the next stage was to produce something as a group to become familiar with the industry's process and contribute to each other and allow ourselves to experiment and reach the status of producing a full game, with each role fitting the skills of each member. The overall projects will have a month of time and a limit of 100,000 polygons to keep the workload stable.

The first of the two briefs will be a four man team which we will make a game together with each individual taking on certain roles. The synopsis for the concept is that one of the statues on Easter Island gets hit by an asteroid that contained a large crystal, thus turning the statue into a living thing. One of the crystals lands in the hands of an excluded archaeologist who wants to take revenge and so the statue has to go through levels, finding crystals that allow certain elements to be controlled which are used to stop the ex-archaeologist.

The second team project is a two man team which will again produce a game based on landmarks being formed by food, the synopsis of the game will revolves around an obsessed adult who want all landmarks for himself and finds that through them in the form of food. The story of the gameplay is that one night he dreams he is inhabiting the food landmarks but something goes wrong and insects start to eat the food and the character has to stop them by going through the level and fighting them off.

The first self brief is night sky project, the synopsis is that the sky has been damaged due to the missing part that brings the sky together and makes it stable. The balance of the sky has fallen out and the clouds have been affected with one cloud rising up and going through the level before nightfall when the full extent of evil is released.

The second self brief will be a fairy tale princess game, where the gamer has to fight his way through the castle and work his way up to the princess in the tower, to which the gamer would then take the role as the princess in seek for hero revenge on the evil wizard. The synopsis is that an evil wizard traps a princess in the tower of his castle and leaves, which leads to the princess being rescued and going after the evil wizard.

Each project focuses on the aspect of game and will make me work towards a new objective such as a team game, creating a children’s game and even a female game, but all the projects will build my skills and maintaining that frame of mind to become consistent.

Creative Development Week08: Breaking Into the Industry

I had come across an article in which Philip Simmons an environment artist who gives an insight into his games industry role and life which holds some interesting points such as the fact that he doesn't play game much and also that it would be better to focus on props rather than whole levels and environments,, this is a very interesting article, one which i now feel much more connected to in terms of the goings on within the industry and how similar it is to my own. Along with this article there are many more insightful articles on getting into the industry on EA's website, http://www.ea.com/news/tag/game-jobs and below is the full Philip Simmons article:

Breaking Into The Industry: Philip Simmons, Environment Artist

Article by Katie Beall

Breaking Into The Industry is a weekly interview series that speaks with video game professionals from all across EA. We hope that by sharing how some of the industry's biggest (and smallest) players got their start, you can learn how to do the same.

You’re an Environment Artist, correct? What exactly does that entail?
So, Environment Artists are kind of broken into two categories: World Builders and Prop Artists. As an Environment Artist – a World Builder – I make all the scenery you walk around in. All the architecture you interact with.

And you did the environments for Dead Space 2?

 Yeah. I made a couple of the boss rooms. Pretty much the first 10 to 20 minutes of the first level were my environments you sprinted through.

How many Environment Artists do you have on a game like that?

 Here at Redwood Shores, there are five of us, and then there are another five or so in Montreal.

And do you work as a team, or do you have a specific area that’s assigned just to you?

 Whole areas are given to one artist at a time. They want you to own it, and you’re responsible for it. That way, if it breaks, they know who to tell to fix it or who to go yell at. So, the idea is that they give you a whole area, and a picture, and they say “Make this,” and you have to make it as close to the content as you can while still making it function, run, and do what the designers want.

Were you a horror fan before Dead Space? Or was it a pretty unexpected assignment?

 It was unexpected! Prior to Dead Space, I was doing a lot of very realistic-looking games, where they wanted things like real brick textures and stuff like that. And it just got really redundant and uninteresting to me, because the artistic challenge of making space stuff, with the space style that is Dead Space, was just really appealing. Really different. I wanted to try it.

So do you ever find that horror stuff leaking into other parts of your life?

 Well, kinda. After doing Dead Space, I was massively desensitized to gore and horror. Any paranoia I had was just gone. I just don’t have it anymore. I can see kibble and road kill and stuff and just be like, “Oh, hey, look at that.” Before I’d be like, “Ugh, I don’t want to look at that,” but now it’s like, “Oh, hey, inspiration.”

Just another part of the environment?

 Yeah, exactly. [laughs] I even got into watching that Dexter show, because he analyzes blood splatters, and my job is a lot of placing blood splatters. I watch it and think, “Oh, he’s right. I should have done this to make it look like he got his head chopped and… more blood to the left.” So it’s fun. Little things like that have started to creep into my life.

Do you create any art outside of work?

 I do art. I’ve got my little sketchbooks and I’ve been trying to oil paint in my free time. So, I do art, but it’s not like… for example, I make gore and sci-fi and all that stuff at work, but then the oil paintings at home are flowers. I kind of do the complete opposite of what I do at work when I get out, because my brain’s just drained. I can only do so much gore. So I like to draw nature and stuff like that. Which makes it sound like I’m a 60 year-old grandmother, but whatever.


What were you working on before you took on Dead Space?

 I started as a freelance Character Artist, and from home I worked on Hellgate: London, Rock Band, Rock Band 2… a slew of games like that. After that, I switched to being a Prop Artist, still freelancing from home because, you know, it’s fun working from home. And I worked on Borderlands.

What was really fun was Rockband, because I made the microphone for the game, and there’s only one microphone in the game, and then they use it again in RockBand 2. So my little microphone, that I spent like, two hours making, wound up being in everyone’s face across the world. …If I’d known that, I might have spent a little more time on it.

So you’ve been in the game industry for a while. Did you go the college route?

 I went to the Art Institute in San Diego for Game Art & Design. Just on a whim. I wasn’t really good at much of anything except making art, so I started doing my homework, like: “What art discipline makes the most money securely?” And that was pretty much my driving factor. It was weird. When I got into the school thing, it was when games just started requiring degrees to get a job.

I think I was in the second or third graduating class that had a degree that was purposely tailored toward video games. Which didn’t really mean anything, because, at that time, they didn’t have teachers that knew anything about video games. They just kind of had professors who were like, “Oh, I was an architect, I can kind of teach you Maya.” And I was like, “Well, that’s not very helpful, but…” “Don’t worry, we can fumble through it.”

It was a lot of basic learning, and not very specialized, so you had to spend a lot of time learning on your own outside of school.

Do you find yourself having to adapt a lot even now?

 Oh yeah. Sometimes I think, “I should take a year off, or try something else, or travel, or take a little hiatus,” and then I think, so much changes in six months; if I come back in a year or two, I’ll be massively outdated. The odds of me jumping right back in – it would be pretty difficult.

Time is definitely a precious resource when you’re doing the nine to five. Do you get much gaming in?

 No. I don’t play games.

To be honest, I don’t even own a computer. I have nothing. I’m like a caveman. I have nothing except my iPhone and it doesn’t work 90% of the time.

Really? That’s an unusual thing to hear from someone in the industry.

 Well, from my perspective, you can either play games or make games. If you’re going to make art for games, that’s a craft you have to practice, and it takes a lot of time, and it’s a lot of learning, and you can’t fit 60 hours of gaming in with whatever’s left of your “awake time.” It’s just not going to work. It’s one or the other. For me, at least.

Of course, once you get a job, and you’re working, and you put in your 40 hours a week, then in your own time you can go game. And that’s what I’ve done. I’ve played a handful of games. I’ll play like ten minutes here or there just to see what other companies are doing. But other than that… if they had a mode on games that was called like, “Just Walk Around Mode,” that’s how I’d play them. Get rid of the bad guys, get rid of the puzzles… just let me walk around and look at stuff. That’s all I want to do.

So you don’t play much, but you play a little. What games do you play?

 So, since I don’t have much time anymore, I just play the games I can pop in and out of. If I can play ten minutes of Counter Strike, that’s fun. But as far as more current games go, I like racing games. You can pick up a controller, run a few courses, put it back down, and you don’t lose anything. I’m not dependent on other people to play with and I don’t have to find a group or anything.
And now, with the more advanced cell phones, I find myself playing those little GPS games a lot. I’m pretty much in charge of the west end of San Francisco right now, in one of my games.

Which game is that one?

Turf Wars. And I only play that game because my cell phone’s old and I can’t get Life of Crime. That’s the one I really want, and I can’t get it, so I’ve kind of had to make do with its unwanted cousin.

Can you tell us what game you’re working on now?

 I can't. It's unannounced.

Mysterious. But you’re still doing environment work?

 Yes. I like doing environments. I don’t really care to change from that. I’ve tried pretty much all the disciplines you can do within art, and this is the one that fits my lifestyle the best. It’s the least headache and the most freedom of creation without people micromanaging you, so you get to pretty much – as long as you do it well and do it correctly – you can pretty much do what you want. Nobody really comes around to me and is like, “Tweak that to the left a little.”

Is there any one thing you’ve done that really stands out in your mind?

 Everything? [laughs] That’s a tough question. I guess in Dead Space 2 I enjoyed the first boss room that I built, which was the Chapter One hospital boss room. It was just a big open area where ambulances came, dropped off people, and then the people were wheeled into the rest of the hospital. It was like a big hub area. But it was the biggest space I had gotten to make working at EA.

Could you walk me through a typical day for you?

 Sure. After I show up, I talk to my leads and we kind of synch up for the day so that they know what I’m doing, I know what I’m supposed to be doing, and we make sure everything is going according to plan. Then, I download all of the data from the previous day and set up all my dev kits.

After that, I set off working, and the majority of an Environment Artist’s day is dedicated to working on the little area that you’re designated to work on – your environment. If there are any dependencies – if I need to talk to the lighters, or VFX, or sound, or anybody – I just kind of wander over to their desk. I don’t like to bother with emails. I like to bug people in person. We have little micro-meetings throughout the day as well, but most of the time you’re sitting at your desk, building and testing.

At the end of the day, the Art Director comes around and reviews what you’ve done for the day. If he has input, I’ll take that input into account for the next day. Or, if what I’m working on is due at the end of that day, he’ll give me the thumbs up or thumbs down. And then I go home.

Of course, you have to mix in the coffee breaks, feeding the fish, you know…

Any advice for aspiring Environment Artists out there?

 The easiest way to become an Environment Artist is to be a World Builder. If you’re going through school, lots of schools will try to get you to be a Prop Artist, because props are the easiest things to turn around and make nice-looking. The problem with that is that most prop work gets outsourced. Companies need people who can make entire spaces. And to get those jobs, you have to show that you can realize an environment in its entirety, concept it, build it, and handle it – all by yourself.

Sounds like solid advice. Thanks for sitting down and talking with me, Phil.

 No problem! Thanks for inviting me.

For the article vist: http://www.ea.com/news/breaking-into-the-industry-philip-simmons

Creative Development Week07: Creating a Portfolio

Since joining Twitter i really have been able to get more of an insight within the games industry and this ne piece of insight came from Mark Davies' blogpost on creating a portfolio for the games indutry and with looking at Mark Davies' credentials:

GAMEOGRAPHY

Professional Work:
In Production - Designer - The Last of Us (Naughty Dog - Sony - PS3)
2010 - Lead Designer - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Ninja Theory - Namco - PS3/360)
2007 - Lead Level Designer - Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory - Sony - PS3)
2004 - Senior Designer - Sudeki (Climax - Microsoft - XBox)
2004 - Lead Designer - Serious Sam: Next Encounter (Climax - Global Star - GameCube/PS2)
2002 - Lead Designer - Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction (Climax - BBC Multimedia - PC/PS2)
2001 - Designer - SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge (Climax - THQ - PSOne)

PUBLICATIONS
2009 - Examining Game Pace -- How Single-Player Levels Tick - GamaSutra.com
2007 - Designing Character Based Console Games - Charles River Media

HOME PROJECTS
In Production - Supernatural Empires - Unity Project
In Production - Golf Wars - Unity Project

having the amount of insightful information from him will be beneficial so i started to read his introduction on how to create a design portfolio and he had broken down each area into five parts such as documentation, level design, game mechanics, gamebalance and playtesting and critical analysis. One  piece of information that had stuck out to me was that he mentions that there isn't many people who bring a design portfolio in for an interview but rather designers would be judged on their perfomance in the the interview or a company design test as the interviewer wouldn't have time to sit through and view many pieces of work. Looking through the sections and just reading further into the sections i found that documenting some of the areas of gaming it would be best but there wasn't any mention of documenting concept art so documenting is not needed for me. The next section being level design wasn't too much towards my area but there were some interesting points in games such as Little Big Planet and engines that could be shownas well as the level design process which actually now looking back favours my modeling side which i would produce levels to further build my level skills, so knowing how to show this would be again beneficial to me. Another section which i do feel that isn't in my area but are some instances which i could use and that is with the game mechanics section such as user feedback and game modding. Once again another area in which isn't really applying much to me is the game balance & playtesting although some parts such as the playtesting will benefit me especially with positioning and perhaps the scale of areas of levels which i may have missed. However the final part of the how to create a design portfolio which was the critical analysis part and reading what Mark Davies had written was pretty much what i believe to have been doing since i learned the fundamentals of the games industry and the processes of producing the game and that is analysing the games i play such as Uncharted 3, figuring out how certain areas of th egame were produced as well as the technique, gameplay and just the overall aspect of game production so that i can use those techniques for my own work.

Here is the link: http://lifeofadesignmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/how-to-create-design-portfolio.html