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Diplomaticus posted:the other being CCP's in-house team for EVE. I love those guys. "Harden The gently caress Up" is perhaps the most blissfully deranged bit of marketing I've ever seen.
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Oct 9, 2011 11:20
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Well about half of them came from my old site, so there's a connection there.
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Oct 9, 2011 14:35
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Diplomaticus posted:Turbine's PR team, esp. the external ones (e.g. Elicia) are boss. Because talking about $1000 jeans is the best way to connect to your audience? CCP's EVE PR has been.. less than stellar, lately. Though perhaps they're perfectly pleasant to work with. hailthefish fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Oct 9, 2011 |
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Oct 9, 2011 21:07
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hailthefish posted:Because talking about $1000 jeans is the best way to connect to your audience? I don't follow the reference.
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Oct 9, 2011 23:36
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ceebee posted:The only way I'm ever leaving Trion and heading back to Boston is if I get a well paying job at Irrational. I just totally want to work on Bioshock Infinite :3 I was pretty depressed when I didn't get the Senior QA job they had open 
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Oct 10, 2011 00:28
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GeauxSteve posted:I was pretty depressed when I didn't get the Senior QA job they had open EDIT: Quick question...has anyone here found work through FILTER before? http://www.filterdigital.com M4rk fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Oct 10, 2011 |
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Oct 10, 2011 01:27
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I think I'm ready to start applying for art positions now.  My portfolio isn't stellar, but I'm going to start sending out apps with it tomorrow whether I feel ready or not. Is there anything obviously awful about it that I should fix?It's too bad no one had heard anything about Kabam. I too am looking at applying there. Speaking of, how does one on the outside looking in get a gauge on if a gaming company would be good to work for or not, besides "Do you like their games?" 
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Oct 10, 2011 04:32
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Diplomaticus posted:I don't follow the reference. Basically they introduced microtransaction stuff in their recent expansion and the price points have been heavily derided. $70 for a monocle in a spaceship-flying game where your character portrait barely warrants a glimpse by other players, virtual shirts that cost as much as the real shirts in their merchandise store, etc. So their producer came out and tried to defuse the situation by comparing it to buying $1,000 designer jeans. OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Oct 10, 2011 |
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Oct 10, 2011 05:10
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M4rk posted:Very cool. Also, anyone else get out of memory errors with Stencyl? I've got 12 freakin jigawatts of memory, I shouldn't be having this problem. :l I had this happen, somewhere on the Stencyl forums it was mentioned that updating java on your machine might do the trick. They were talking mainly about Windows but it worked for me on a Mac.
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Oct 10, 2011 08:12
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Giant Boy Detective posted:I think I'm ready to start applying for art positions now. I don't know poo poo about 2d art positions outside of UI and concept art positions, but I am curious as to what you think people are going to hire you to do? Looking at your portfolio, I don't really know what you'd do for games - concept art? You're not there yet. Game-ready art for flash/iOS/etc? I don't see anything other than a retro Apple IIe game. I think you would really benefit from A) figuring out what sort of games you want to make, and what sort of studios you want to work at, and then B) making some art that targets that directly. For example, if you want to make iOS games, make some mock screenshots of an iOS game or two. If you want to do UI for console/PC games, get some HUD-less screenshots of games and create your own over them. If you want to do concept art, do more quasi-realistic drawings of characters, equipment, scenery, etc. Right now I look at your portfolio and I have no idea what position you would fill. That means you're probably not going to fill a position. What sort of positions are you applying for? e: I hate your layout, too, you're hiding art. I missed that "character design" for caravan has 3 images, etc. Also that golem sucks compared to the others, he's completely flat shaded, I wouldn't lead with it. Seriously, you need to thumbnail any links to images so that people know there are more images, the 1 2 3 4 stuff does not communicate clearly. If I wasn't going over it to give you feedback I'm not sure that I would have even noticed them. I am a huge advocate for image dump portfolios but I know that's not for everyone. Still, you shouldn't be hiding images behind text links, ever, without exception, and having to click twice to see any particular image, especially when I don't know where it is, is terrible. I used to use a similar organization system to yours, but with two levels of thumbnails. I still hated the amount of clicking it required, it makes it a pain in the rear end to find any particular image quickly and hides a lot of your portfolio along the way. FWIW this is my portfolio (kind of WIP at the moment, I need to trim like crazy) https://www.ghostscape.com Sigma-X fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Oct 10, 2011 |
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Oct 10, 2011 15:37
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OneEightHundred posted:http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=932&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update&utm_content=devblog&utm_campaign=eveonline Which may be dumb, but has absolutely zero actual effect on their PR efforts.
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Oct 10, 2011 15:52
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Sigma-X posted:I don't know poo poo about 2d art positions outside of UI and concept art positions, but I am curious as to what you think people are going to hire you to do? Looking at your portfolio, I don't really know what you'd do for games - concept art? You're not there yet. Game-ready art for flash/iOS/etc? I don't see anything other than a retro Apple IIe game. I love your resume. Very slick and memorable.
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Oct 10, 2011 16:57
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Diplomaticus posted:Which may be dumb, but has absolutely zero actual effect on their PR efforts.
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Oct 10, 2011 17:18
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GeauxSteve posted:I love your resume. Very slick and memorable. I stole the basic layout from a buddy of mine (with his blessing) who is a UI artist/web designer, changing up the graphics and fonts he used for something more modern/clean, as his had a lot of embellishments and flourishes, whereas I'm trying for a very clean presentation. I think the words need work. I also need to trim the portfolio and should really consolidate to consistent widths for my images, rather than using my lazy rule of scaling things down until they're either 1800w or 1000h, which results in varying widths (heights do not matter with my layout, I think). I basically tossed it together really quickly and need to revisit everything before I make any serious attempts, but I'm not in a position where I am making any serious attempts.
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Oct 10, 2011 17:27
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OneEightHundred posted:It suggests that they still think the main criticisms leveled against their recent not-very-well-received expansion were actually good ideas. I actually don't see the big difference. I mean, they're just luxury vanity items in both cases, totally useless and unnecessary but some people will want and buy them just to have them. No one's forcing them to buy the stupid kitsch, and EVE of all places is one where "A fool and his money are soon parted" holds true. I mean, is "Yes, it's stupid overpriced poo poo, but if someone wants to buy it who are we to stop them" really bad PR coming from EVE? Or is it more along the lines of the old "Why are you busting me for speeding when there are murderers and rapists about?" canard, saying they should never have done it in the first place with all the bugs that still need working out? (What is the major problem with EVE these days, anyways? I'd heard they'd fixed the lag more or less.)
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Oct 10, 2011 21:36
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GetWellGamers posted:I actually don't see the big difference. I mean, they're just luxury vanity items in both cases, totally useless and unnecessary but some people will want and buy them just to have them. No one's forcing them to buy the stupid kitsch, and EVE of all places is one where "A fool and his money are soon parted" holds true. I mean, is "Yes, it's stupid overpriced poo poo, but if someone wants to buy it who are we to stop them" really bad PR coming from EVE? Or is it more along the lines of the old "Why are you busting me for speeding when there are murderers and rapists about?" canard, saying they should never have done it in the first place with all the bugs that still need working out? (What is the major problem with EVE these days, anyways? I'd heard they'd fixed the lag more or less.) It wasn't just the producer's jeans talk, it was a months-long pattern of ridiculous PR failures, empty announcements, censored meeting minutes, community outrage, and critical articles in the gaming press that ended with a heartfelt apology from the CEO. The big problem lately has been a lack of necessary game balance changes to the "Flying in Space" portion while the "Walking in Stations" had a protracted and unimpressive rollout. They're doing a really cool time dilation thing to help with the lag.
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Oct 10, 2011 22:52
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OneEightHundred posted:It suggests that they still think the main criticisms leveled against their recent not-very-well-received expansion were actually good ideas. Yes, but what has this equated to in revenue? This is the metric by which Marketing is judged.
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Oct 10, 2011 23:02
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After a spirited email exchange regarding a QA position, I have been asked if I'd like to come by and meet the team at Loot Drop on Tuesday the 11th. This was five days ago. I said that I'd love to and asked when and where, but I haven't received a reply yet. I sent a follow-up email last night politely asking the same thing, but I still haven't gotten anything back. My only remaining option seems to be calling directly, but I'm kind of at a loss. Any suggestions?
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Oct 10, 2011 23:03
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It's a holiday?
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Oct 10, 2011 23:05
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I guess Columbus Day is taken pretty seriously around San Francisco. I don't remember folks making a big deal about it back in Philadelphia.
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Oct 10, 2011 23:16
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Diaghilev posted:I guess Columbus Day is taken pretty seriously around San Francisco. I don't remember folks making a big deal about it back in Philadelphia. I would give them the benefit of the doubt. I had to work today, but some friends had it off at their studios.
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Oct 10, 2011 23:26
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I'm working on a programming test for a games company! Yay! I'm not going to ask (or share) about particulars, but I did have a style question. In a question that suggests using minimal additional memory in manipulating a string am I being pedantic by using the XOR swap?code:
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Oct 11, 2011 00:57
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I think if you said "I consider this rather inefficient and would personally do it this way:  " wouldn't hurt you, but you should still do what's put in front of you. A lot of tests aren't about whether you know the answer but rather if you know how to follow directions. So, do what they ask of you, but I don't think saying afterwards would hurt anything.
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Oct 11, 2011 01:13
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Diplomaticus posted:Yes, but what has this equated to in revenue? This is the metric by which Marketing is judged. 
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Oct 11, 2011 01:56
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Daaaamn, them metrics... Also, that crazy Lineage 2 contract community manager job? Someone took it. I fear for their sanity.
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Oct 11, 2011 02:36
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Diaghilev posted:I guess Columbus Day is taken pretty seriously around San Francisco. I don't remember folks making a big deal about it back in Philadelphia. I work in QA. We don't get anything off.
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Oct 11, 2011 02:56
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GeauxSteve posted:I work in QA. We don't get anything off.  ..but I hear you.
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Oct 11, 2011 03:04
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We got today off (our QA did too)
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Oct 11, 2011 03:17
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Sigma-X posted:I don't know poo poo about 2d art positions outside of UI and concept art positions, but I am curious as to what you think people are going to hire you to do? Looking at your portfolio, I don't really know what you'd do for games - concept art? You're not there yet. Game-ready art for flash/iOS/etc? I don't see anything other than a retro Apple IIe game. RE: The lack of the focus: You hit the nail on the head. I think the best place for me would be a mobile/social company that does 2D games either for Facebook or iOS/Android. But the listings that crop up are things like this 2D Game Artist position at Kabam where the list of responsibilities ends up being something like- "You'll be expected to do everything from concept art to mock ups to in game art to materials for marketing to character designs to images for icons and avatars to hyper-realistic paintings to super-deformed chibi characters-" -and all I really take away from that list is that that job entails doing a little bit of everything? And that leaves me uncertain as to what specifically I should preparing to submit (especially in regards to a broad a category as "in game art" or when they ask for someone who specializes in both painterly rendering and cartoony depictions). It's really dumb of me, but I didn't realize it was kosher to include mock ups or fake screenshots of things, especially if it isn't an actual game you have in development. Is that something that's okay to work on as just one big canvas, or would it be better to make the character, background, UI, etc. as separate files and then copy and paste them together? You're right and I needed to think about what I specifically want to do. If I'm honest with myself, I think I would probably be happiest working on games with a cutesy aesthetic and a whimsical outlook, ideally something like Spiral Knights (though that's 3D). I should make more cartoony plainly rendered characters and items and backgrounds instead of just frustrating myself with my mediocre painting skills. (Not so)deep-down, I long to work on action rpgs that are lauded as grim-dark epics, but working on super-detailed realistically rendered things that take themselves too seriously would probably drive me insane in the long run. It's the combination of that irrational longing, the idea that cartoony poo poo is somehow lesser art, and the nagging belief that casual games aren't ~Real Games~ that are distracting me from what I should be focusing on: Bobble-headed animals. RE: Layout: The unobvious number links to see more work from the same project is what worried me the most about it. I think the variable proportions of my images wouldn't lend well to the kind of image dump layout you used, but I'll get rid of the nested images and put all the thumbs on the main page at least. I should probably make the thumbs bigger too. Thanks for taking the time to help, Sigma-X. Also, your little return to top graphic is adorable. 
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Oct 11, 2011 03:29
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Pfhreak posted:I'm working on a programming test for a games company! Yay! I'm not going to ask (or share) about particulars, but I did have a style question. In a question that suggests using minimal additional memory in manipulating a string am I being pedantic by using the XOR swap? IMO do what seems "right" to you as a programmer and if you think it's worth it put a comment indicating the other possibility and why you chose not to.
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Oct 11, 2011 04:03
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Personally I would go for the readable answer with a comment showing the faster version. I prefer to get something in that works and is understandable first, and then go back and optimize later if it's slow.
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Oct 11, 2011 04:11
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Giant Boy Detective posted:Wow, that's actually a huge help. Thanks for long critique! Note: I make console/PC games, not mobile, and know jack poo poo about actually getting a mobile job. Someone like Aligigne should really show up and talk about their mobile job  In regards to the lack of focus, pick a specialty, first. I do weapons and robots (as I hope was obvious) but I also did marketing renders, some vfx, character, and environment stuff (pinch hitting, not focused), and also did post work on some magazine covers (painting over some raw renders to make them look nicer). This is at a large studio! With a smaller studio like a mobile studio, you'll be stretching thinner, but pick at least one area (the part you love!) to really specialize in and make it your own. you want to be the person everyone thinks of as the "X"-Girl. Maybe it's that you have fantastic cartoony stuff, maybe it's that you're super slick graphic designer chops and make slick UI, etc. For mobile, think of it stylistically rather than "character artist" or "environment artist." It's good to show flexibility, but you also want a voice that is really "you." Especially if you're doing cartoony stuff. Next, since those jobs are "do everything" kind of things, come up with some mock projects that run the whole gamut. Caravan is a great project because it shows you can handle all aspects of the game stuff. Mock up a Cut The Birds or Angry Rope and do some 'screenshots' of menus, gameplay, etc, and then do some larger marketing images, logos, etc. Working through the whole process will give you a portfolio that demonstrates all aspects of the workflow. Also if you have all the art put together and an idea of what the game is maybe you can make programmer friends and make it happen, but that's a side dream to "make a cool portfolio." As an aside, it's really important as an artist to make good looking art, rather than lovely looking games. Having games in your portfolio is good (definitely helped mine when I was looking for work for the first time) but you don't want your abilities to be held back by deadlines and practicalities. That's why I'm saying keep the "I could turn this mock game into a real game" as an aside to the main goal of making a great portfolio. Giant Boy Detective posted:It's really dumb of me, but I didn't realize it was kosher to include mock ups or fake screenshots of things, especially if it isn't an actual game you have in development. Is that something that's okay to work on as just one big canvas, or would it be better to make the character, background, UI, etc. as separate files and then copy and paste them together? I don't see why it isn't. Just label it as a mock-up project. If you keep the current portfolio organization, you have that great little text box to explain "Cut The Birds is a fake game concept I wanted to take through all of the art stages, to improve my ability to take a concept through the whole game process, from concept to production to marketing." Pick these mock-up projects to demonstrate the skills and areas you want to focus on, ie, if you want to make lots of chibi cartoon characters, make "iMake Friends: The Friend Building Game" and not "iWaterboard2: Tactical Terror Surfing." So long as you do not misrepresent anything, it doesn't really matter what you do. I would avoid a portfolio of Angry Birds sprite edits, but mockups labeled as such are fine. Giant Boy Detective posted:You're right and I needed to think about what I specifically want to do. If I'm honest with myself, I think I would probably be happiest working on games with a cutesy aesthetic and a whimsical outlook, ideally something like Spiral Knights (though that's 3D). I should make more cartoony plainly rendered characters and items and backgrounds instead of just frustrating myself with my mediocre painting skills. (Not so)deep-down, I long to work on action rpgs that are lauded as grim-dark epics, but working on super-detailed realistically rendered things that take themselves too seriously would probably drive me insane in the long run. It's the combination of that irrational longing, the idea that cartoony poo poo is somehow lesser art, and the nagging belief that casual games aren't ~Real Games~ that are distracting me from what I should be focusing on: Bobble-headed animals. Why would you be happiest with mobile cartoon games, when you long to make The Final Sword: BloodOath? If your heart isn't in it, it will show in your work. If it's a matter of you like both, but feel your aptitude lies with one over the other, that's fine, but if you put a ton of time into something you loathe it will ultimately show and frustrate you. For what it's worth, after two games in the industry, working on my third, I've realized that A) I still love the gently caress out of science fiction and B) I also love wildly non-spacegun things, and that C) Projects I Want To Work On is a huge list, crossing many genres, styles, etc. But don't pursue something you're wildly unhappy of because you're trying to compromise yourself into what you think will get you a job. There are few jobs available for disinterested folks, and there is always a job available for The Truly Excellent. And to become The Truly Excellent you have to love what you do. Giant Boy Detective posted:Thanks for taking the time to help, Sigma-X. I like doing it a lot, no problem  If you or anyone else ever has a question I can help with, feel free to hit me on AIM at SigmaX01. I cannot stress how much I like answering questions and providing feedback. I mentor artists at work and try to participate online as much as possible too - I got to where I am by asking a lot of folks a lot of questions, and feel it's only fair to pay it back.Pfhreak posted:I'm working on a programming test for a games company! Yay! I'm not going to ask (or share) about particulars, but I did have a style question. In a question that suggests using minimal additional memory in manipulating a string am I being pedantic by using the XOR swap? /* Using XOR to save a single swap character, considered using other_method for code legibility but since this question is about memory efficiency I figured I'd aim for processing efficiency as well */
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Oct 11, 2011 04:22
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Sigma-X posted:Also if you have all the art put together and an idea of what the game is maybe you can make programmer friends and make it happen, but that's a side dream to "make a cool portfolio." As an aside, it's really important as an artist to make good looking art, rather than lovely looking games. Having games in your portfolio is good (definitely helped mine when I was looking for work for the first time) but you don't want your abilities to be held back by deadlines and practicalities. That's why I'm saying keep the "I could turn this mock game into a real game" as an aside to the main goal of making a great portfolio. This is good advice, although I want to point out an "in-between" option -- take a few of those static screenshot mockups, bring them into Flash or After Effects and do an animated mockup of simulated gameplay (such as http://vimeo.com/8612404). While it won't be quite as valuable as an actual game, it can still be a lot more powerful than screenshots, and it goes almost as far to proving a lot of the same abilities. And it might only take a week or two to get a really solid minute of sweet fake gameplay action drawn up and animated, compared to upwards of a few months to iterate on a full iphone/whatever game.
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Oct 11, 2011 05:14
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I just updated my avatar, quote, and user picture. The table of contents for my first book has not been officially released; however, my user picture shows a mostly final list of interviews in my profile. That list is currently not available anywhere else, primarily because several chapters are still in development. We're targeting a Holiday release. You can preorder the book (print only) now from Amazon and receive 34% off the cover price, or get the book later at $29.95. And, yes, the book will be available in all major digital formats.
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Oct 11, 2011 06:44
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Sigma-X posted:Someone like Aligigne should really show up and talk about their mobile job I hear ya I'm at work right now though so I'll do a write up afterwards :p EDIT: And still people get my SA username wrong >:U
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Oct 11, 2011 09:24
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Sigma-X posted:you want to be the person everyone thinks of as the "X"-Girl. Personally, this is something that I actively try to avoid.
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Oct 11, 2011 14:27
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mutata posted:Personally, this is something that I actively try to avoid. Studios generally aren't looking for "an artist." They're hiring for a specific req - animator, rigids artist, organic artist, UI artist, whatever. First and foremost, they need that crackerjack "X." Now once you're on, having other skills is absolutely desired, and makes you a valuable employee... but you were still brought on as and remain the "X"-girl, you've just got other supporting skills. The only difference with smaller studios is that the "X" needs to be slightly more general (animator, 3D rigids, 3D organics, maybe 2D - they're not looking for a nose artist or anything), and will have you wearing more hats post-hire. They're still looking for a specialist in that X, though. (and I say artist, but this also applies to programmers - designers, I think, are generally less specialized, and really only fall into tech designer or not buckets)
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Oct 11, 2011 15:19
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Understood, but I think people get TOO specialized. "I'm a DRAGON artist!" is just as bad in my mind as the art students I hear that talk about how "I only draw anime." Obviously you have to specialize in building models or texturing or rigging, but focusing on the fundamentals of art and design so you can bring that expertise to any task they need you to do is more valuable, in my opinion.
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Oct 11, 2011 15:38
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mutata posted:Understood, but I think people get TOO specialized. "I'm a DRAGON artist!" is just as bad in my mind as the art students I hear that talk about how "I only draw anime." Obviously you have to specialize in building models or texturing or rigging, but focusing on the fundamentals of art and design so you can bring that expertise to any task they need you to do is more valuable, in my opinion. It's not an exclusive X, you want to be the best person for X, not the person who only does X. Developing a personal style will go a long way towards that.
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Oct 11, 2011 16:04
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Sigma-X posted:It's not an exclusive X, you want to be the best person for X, not the person who only does X. That makes more sense, especially starting out. It's definitely counter-productive to try to get good at a dozen things all at once as opposed to honing in on something specific and "mastering" that before integrating something else. I wasn't suggesting that, merely stating that I'm wary of pigeon holing myself. My ultimate goal is still to be the type of person who can be a person to go to for x, y, and z. I mean, there will be things I gravitate towards, for sure, but my ultimate goal is versatility. Maybe this is dumb, but personally, I've thought a lot about it and it feels right to me.
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Oct 11, 2011 16:24
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