Creative Development Week18: Mark Davies, How to Get a Job in Game Design

In my previous blogposts i mentioned a series of five blogposts in which Mark Davies who is a games designer at Naughty Dog and additional experience under the role of designer working for Ninja Theory and Climax as well as having two publications where in these blogposts went through the areas that are needed for a portfolio and coming from someon with so much experience really stood and was well received information. Once that was read i started to go further into is blog and found a more detailed description of getting into the game design part of the games industry and Mark Davies states that without these essential skills you wouldn't be able to get a job in the industry.

So i read further on and the first section that is essential to getting into games design is

• Communication which Mark Davies states that ideas are worthless unless you can communicate the ideas across to others - Communication wasn't really my strong point but as i developed my skills in college my confidence started to grow as well the people around me giving me confidence to which it showed in the exhibition we had held at the start of the year when i really got talking to multiple people,
• A Lack of Preciousness in which collaborating with others and compromising ideas are essential - Once again this is an area in which i never really collaborated with anyone and that was not because i didn't want to but rather because i wasn't sure if anyone wanted my skills but i learned recently how beneficial collaborating is and this to me show through the two team briefs i took on,
• Passion for Games which is simple enough that enjoying what you do is essential as does the types of games you play which can narrow down your mindset on the design process, so eenjoying and expanding what you do is essential - I really enjoy creating ideas and designs for characters and environments and really bringing them to life but this is an area which i feel i really need to find that passion as i believe that the result of taking on multiple briefs has really drained me and taking a breather and really playing games which i never got to really do with the multiple briefs going on to find that spark again,
• Passion for Information which is stated that every knowledge from Math, Science, English and more is essential and that research is an essential part in developing a good game - This is an area which at first i started to overlook and go right to the design stage but as of now i have grasped the research part much more to where i spend enough time to research as much as i can on certain areas of my design,

Mark Davies went on to the advantages of qualifications as far going to say that those that study games design aren't always the ones that get the job but some other subjects such as Computer Science Graduates to which are some courses backgrounds of people within the industry. Academic qualifications are stated by Mark Davies as extremely useful but not essential as they show employer that you have the ability to work at a certain level and that you have applied yourself to an area and mastered it along with the thirst for knowledge. He goes on to state that doing courses in Engineering, Computer Science, Product Design or Architecture are areas of which teach skills that will be learnt on a daily basis and aren't as narrowly focused as games design courses and to also have a fall back plan if you don't get into the industry. Games Modding is mentioned as the best way to get into the games industry as it provess a passion for games, creating things and self motivation to do your own work as well as building up your portfolio, also to do extra curricular stuff as this shows your well rounded and not just playing or making games and that this is something important to an employer.

Blogpost can be found at: http://lifeofadesignmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/how-to-get-job-in-game-design-revisited.html

Creative Development Week17: Digital Tutors

Through Chris Rhodes @CRhodesDesign twitter i came across Ant Ward a 3D modeler who has a tutorial in which he shows production on a low poly model in which at the start the model is really low on faces but as the tutorial goes on the tutorial shows how he UV mapped the low poly model to which really made the model stand out from that UV texture, so i feel watch and even following the tutorial will help in uncovering some tools to produce a better model.

http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=689

Creative Development Week16: Next Gen Assets

I was looking through the Digital Tutors website and something caught my eye when i saw an article on producing next gen assets within Maya, Mudbox, 3DS Max and Z Brush which i will be trying out when i have the time but if you want to see the post visit http://www.digitaltutors.com/dtlabs/?p=4563 and along with this very interesting post there are many tutorials ready to be tried out.

Extra Work: Fort 4 Storyboard

Sketched Page 01 of 05

Cleaned Up Page 01 of 05

During my final major project i was approached by Fort 4 to do some clear visuals for their fashion storyboard for a small fee and they had basic outlines of the storyboard which were given to me to use and i accepted this job because i felt this would be a breather to my multiple projects and wasn't much work that was needed from me other then the outlined specifics of the storyboard and the deadline of Friday, i had completed the work on Wednesday night and had given the images to Fort 4 who told me that the work was great and in the transaction of the money i remembered something of which Bridget had mentioned in class that a deal of 'you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours' would be beneficial to both parties and this is when i thought rather than take the money if i ask Fort 4 to have me in mind for their next piece of artwork or stoyrboard needed then i would let this piece of work pass over to them and in which they agreed so i feel this benefited me because i would have work coming from them when needed.

 

 

Sketched Page 02 of 05

Cleaned Up Page 02 of 05

On the left side is the sketched version of the storyboard that i had done and on the right side is the cleaned up and handed to Fort 4 version.

Sketched Page 03 of 05

Cleaned Up Page 03 of 05



Cleaned Up Page 04 of 05

Sketched Page 04 of 05

Sketched Page 05 of 05

Cleaned Up Page 05 of 05

Creative Development Week15: Professional Feedback

As this was my final major project i saw it fit to get some professional feedback and asked a few of the concept artists i was following via twitter if they could take a look at my concept art that i am currently working on for the final major project. So after sending requests for feedback i received a reply from Mike "Daarken" Lim, a freelance artist working in the games industry and currently these are listed as his clients and other employed works, saying that sure he would give feedback on my concept art and try to help improve it and gave me his e-mail address to send the artwork over.

Here are the listed works that Mike "Daarken" Lim has done:

Clients
Mind Control Software
Wizards of the Coast
Fantasy Flight Games
Brick Design Group
Breakaway Games
Triad Toys
Widescreen Games
Digital Extremes
Upper Deck
One Ton Ghost
3D Total
Blizzard Entertainment
Bioware Mythic
ImagineFX
Pasozebra Producciones
Big Huge Games
Trion Worlds, Inc.
Honda
Projects

Video Games
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Rift
Highlander
Iron Dukes

Collectible Card Games
A Game of Thrones
Call of Cthulhu
Hecatomb
Magic: The Gathering
World of Warcraft
Warhammer: Invasion

Role Playing Games
Midnight: Star and Shadow
Dungeons & Dragons
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition

Board Games
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Deluxe Edition
Horus Heresy

Magazines and Books
Spectrum 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
2D Artist Magazine
Digital Painting Techniques Vol 1, 2
Digital Art Masters Vol 2, 4
Exotique 5
ImagineFX Magazine
BlueCanvas Magazine

Commercials
Danone Actimel

As you can see the credentials of Mike Lim is evident and beneficial for me to contact and receive feedback from him and here is the reply i had received from him:

Hey Ifraz,

I think it would be beneficial if you did some studies from photos. Take some pictures of castles and try to paint them. Take some time to study perspective and understand how it works. I would also suggest working on your edges. Many of your edges are very soft and wobbly. Take Castle - 1st Floor.jpg for example. The pillars are very soft and crooked. Also doing some still life paintings would help a lot with lighting and how to render objects. I hope that helps.

Mike "Daarken" Lim
Website: daarkenart@daarken.com
Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/daarkenart
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daarken/45213851359?ref=ts