What do you do?
A typical day varies according to the different stages
of the project. Early on in the project, I’m working
on these tools to get them ready. So when the guys are
really heavy into production on the project. It’s
all there ready to go.
Later on in the project, it is also my job to make
sure all of the tricky things in the game are working.
For instance, objects that get destroyed in the game.
I make sure all those work properly, to make sure all
the connections between models are working properly
so that everything smashes right and everything is performing
well to the limitations of the hardware.
I’m actually smack bang in the middle of the
programming and the art side. I was actually employed
initially at Torus as an artist, but I had a bit of
a programming background. I did a Computer Science degree
at Monash before working at Torus. Whilst at Torus I
started doing more scripts just because I could see
we could speed up the pipeline. And that just evolved
into a technical artist position.
How did you get to where you are today?
I initially started doing Chemical Engineering at Monash.
After three years I decided I hated it and then switched
to Computer Science. The whole time I was in Chemical
Engineering I was failing because I was working on Doom
mods and Quake mods and making levels and monsters and
things for those games. And then I thought ‘I
want to get out of uni, but with a degree’ so
I switched to Computer Science, loved it and blitzed
it. Then I used all my art from the mods that I made
to get a job at Torus. So that’s how I got in,
as an artist. The programming experience from my degree
has helped develop my career further.
I was still working part-time after I finished my course
and I just sent in a few mods and things I’d worked
on to Torus, and also a few other Melbourne games companies,
and I was lucky enough to get a job. They employed me
to work on Carmageddon initially. It was pretty good
seller. I then worked on Duke Nukem Advanced and Doom
II Advanced, and then Sentinel Crisis and now our latest
title.
What skills are necessary for you
to do your job?
Programming. You also need a pretty
good understanding of Maya, or 3D Max, and 3D modeling
as well. You need to know real specifics in how
a 3D model is put together - the poly’s,
the vertices and the UVs, You need to how that actually
gets done in code and how it translates into the engine,
and the limitations of the hardware. Sony Play Station
has really low limitations on how many polygons you
can draw, whereas Xbox 360 has almost unlimited. So
you really have to know the hardware and know what you’re
getting out of Maya or Max and have a really good understanding
of how they all interact.
I’m sort of the go-to guy for programmers and
artists and the interaction between them. I’ve
got to be able to communicate well
with the programmers and with the entire art team, and
translate between them because often they can’t
talk to each other. They use a completely different
language, and I’ve got to know both languages.
That’s the difficult part of the job sometimes.
I really love the position and love doing what I’m
doing but it can get tricky at times trying to balance
what I have to do to keep the tech happy for the programmers
and then the art tools happy for the artist, and get
some art done for games as well. It can get pretty stressful
at times, but I do love it.
How important was your education/training?
For the scripting and programming side, it’s
pretty important. It's good to know how to structure
your code properly and program well. For the
art side of things, you can almost teach yourself. Anyone
can get an evaluation copy of Maya or Max and just spend
a few months in their bedroom practicing. That sort
of thing I think you can teach yourself if you’ve
got enough passion and desire to do it.
Where do you see your career going?
The progression for an art technician probably would
looking after be larger teams and developing tools for
the next platform like the Xbox 360 and Play Station
3 and whatever comes after that. There is always new
hardware coming out and the engines are always advancing
and progressing, so we are always updating and improving
the tools.
What advice would you give to someone
wanting to enter the games industry?
I think it’s getting a lot harder. Six or seven
years ago when I started, there was a lot less competition.
There were no real courses and a lot less people trying
to get into the industry. Now there is something like
500 or a 1000 people graduating every year to go into
games employment, so there is a lot of competition.
I have the job of going through all the artist’s
folios and applications. To make yourself stand out,
just concentrate on games. Prove to the employer that
you know games and want to
work on games. So many applicants that we get
show websites and movies and that sort of thing, which
isn’t games. If you can prove to us that you are
a dedicated gamer and that you know game art and you
can make your models and your levels and your cars to
games specific requirements, then you are almost guaranteed
to get an interview and hopefully a job.
It doesn’t matter what software you’ve
used to develop the game. As long as you’ve got
good knowledge of Max or Maya or XSI or Light Wave or
any of those packages, you can transfer that
knowledge between package to package pretty
easy.
Persistence is a quality as well.
We’ve had many people apply over and over, and
as long as you see improvement to each application,
then that’s good. So as long as you keep trying
to improve your folio. Look at the best games out there
and try and get your art as good a quality as that.
If other games look great and your art doesn’t,
then you probably won’t get an interview.
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