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Aliginge posted:I'm still stuck on my personal £30 Wacom Bamboo One because we're still a tiny dev, Do any of your snotty art friends use 12" Cintiqs? Because those only have 1024 pressure levels as well. I doubt any of us are taking advantage of 2048 levels anyway. As you said, good artists make good art, tools be damned.
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Mar 29, 2012 22:25
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I still keep my Graphire 3 around, it still works just as good. I upgraded into an Intuos4 a few years ago though.
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Mar 29, 2012 22:50
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I love my I Intuous 3 a4 and wouldn't change it for the world. At home it doubles up as an expensive luxury table mat so it has versatility on its side. I think using a tiny bamboo is hard work when using it professionally, so top marks there, but I think if you were to get an a4+ of anything you'd see your workflow skyrocket.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:27
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Aliginge posted:I'm still stuck on my personal £30 Wacom Bamboo One because we're still a tiny dev, Is that the most basic bamboo? I used to have a really big Wacom tablet but it was useless because it didn't fit on my desk easily. I want to get a new small one, but I wasn't sure if I should just get a cheap bamboo or the small Intuos. I'm not an artist professionally. Any thoughts on how sufficient the bamboo would be as a content creation tool? They seem to be marketed to picture manipulation and whiteboard stuff on the wacom website...
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Mar 29, 2012 23:37
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Yop, I used to have an ancient serial-port A2 Intuos 1. It was fuckin great but exhausting to use, actually drawing being able to use your arm is a world apart from a tiny A6 where you wiggle your fingers a bit. I'd love an A4 or A3 tablet, I should probably put aside the airsoft purchases for a month or two and buy one for personal use  Resource posted:Is that the most basic bamboo? I used to have a really big Wacom tablet but it was useless because it didn't fit on my desk easily. I want to get a new small one, but I wasn't sure if I should just get a cheap bamboo or the small Intuos. I'm not an artist professionally. Any thoughts on how sufficient the bamboo would be as a content creation tool? They seem to be marketed to picture manipulation and whiteboard stuff on the wacom website... Some art and design industry types seem to have this stick up their rear end that working on a cheaper Bamboo is literally impossible, which isn't true, just that those same people likely have to fight the bean counters and the suits in order to get nicer tablets, so they end up taking that attitude elsewhere. The Bamboo works perfectly well as a cheap entry level tablet. The difference between having a cheap tablet and being forced to use a mouse is massively wider than the difference between a basic tablet and a good, larger tablet with more bells and whistles. if you are drawing and painting professionally with one you will greatly benefit from an Intuos, but if not it does basically everything an Intuos does (save for Rotational sensitivity and Tilt, which again, I personally would rarely find a use for) The basic bamboo is far from ideal, but it works, it's sturdy and it allows you access to pressure control, the single biggest and most important control a tablet can offer you in a package like photoshop. It'll also let you find out for yourself if you need a bigger tablet eventually without you dropping a shitload of cash beforehand. 
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Mar 29, 2012 23:38
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ShinAli posted:So, during GDC I've got in some situation with one of my favorite studios where blah blah blah Just wanted to touch back on this! I've sent an email to the programmers and studio director, which amounted to "hey thanks also I was doing this thing HERE'S SEVERAL PARAGRAPHS OF BRAIN DUMP" and they've actually called me back and offered me an opportunity to do something for them that I think is pretty crazy. I said "abso-loving-lutely" but they have to go check on how to make it happen. Nothing concrete at all but I've got most of my leg in the door, at least. This happened last week on Friday so I'm just waiting and getting more and more anxious than I did before the call. I've been feeling extraordinarily lucky and just hope I can do this project for them and finish it fast so I can talk a bit about it.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:59
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The main tablet question though: Mouse or screenspace input?? Mouse is so much better.... much better input res. Anything else is just hatin'
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Mar 30, 2012 00:36
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ShinAli posted:Just wanted to touch back on this! Sounds awesome dude! Hope it goes smoothly.
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Mar 30, 2012 00:52
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Thanks for the info about the tablets, I ordered one of the bamboo tablets and I think it'll be sufficient for my hobby design stuff.
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Mar 30, 2012 01:35
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well today sucked at Vigil. edit: sorry for the low content post. we're all kinda dealing with the poo poo-tastic day that was March 29th. Luckily it seems a lot of us are going to be able to rebound relatively okay...had a couple dozen recruiters apparently call HR by 3pm
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Mar 30, 2012 05:54
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That sucks, at least it doesn't seem all doom and gloom. As for tablets, I really didn't notice a difference between the pressure of 1024 and 2048 actually. Maybe I haven't really gone serious about using all the tools that an wacom gives me but my old tablet does the job just fine. Only problem is having to replace the nib, and by that I mean replace the whole pen. :/ Hopefully with some of the one day jobs I've been getting I'll at least get a replacement intous pen. And yeah it does piss me off when people get snobby about tablet sizes and what you use. My professor said it best, you don't know need all that fancy mancy big rear end tablets, a small one will do fine. The only reason you get a bigger one is to show you can afford the overprice piece of poo poo. And I say that works fine, I"ve done alot of art that took long to do but hell they still look drat good. Too bad I don't have enough for a portfolio. Gonna have to sell the hell out of that with not having a college degree.
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Mar 30, 2012 07:11
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I have to say, the games industry is really weird right now. I'm constantly seeing Facebook posts from people in "traditional" games development getting hit with layoffs, companies getting shut down. On the other hand, I'm seeing people at Zynga, Crowdstar, and other social/freemium places constantly posting about how much they are hiring and need more people. You've got some people claiming doom and gloom, end of the industry, and other people calling it a vast golden age of untapped riches.
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Mar 30, 2012 07:16
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treeboy posted:well today sucked at Vigil. The 29th seems to be a black date this year - I really hope we can at least get one month where it's just another workday and nobody's busy closing poo poo down. January was THQ, February was the Blizzard 600, and now March is Vigil/Relic. Hope you land on your feet 
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Mar 30, 2012 07:20
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Chainclaw posted:I have to say, the games industry is really weird right now. I'm constantly seeing Facebook posts from people in "traditional" games development getting hit with layoffs, companies getting shut down. On the other hand, I'm seeing people at Zynga, Crowdstar, and other social/freemium places constantly posting about how much they are hiring and need more people. It's not weird; it's natural for an industry undergoing a transformation due to disruptive technology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation)
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Mar 30, 2012 07:28
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Carfax Report posted:It's not weird; it's natural for an industry undergoing a transformation due to disruptive technology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation) Yeah, it's absolutely understandable what's happening and why, but this is the first large shift in this industry since I started working in it. Hell, this is the first shift like this in the games industry in over 20 years, since the end of the arcade era, more than half of the lifespan of the video games industry. It's weird because many people I know who got into the industry because of how much they liked games as a child who want to recreate that experience are now totally alienated by what they love. It's also weird because I'm on the other side of the fence, and I really like the freemium business model, and I'm excited about the future of where we are going as an industry.
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Mar 30, 2012 07:44
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It's not really a shift, it's an expansion. Console games will continue to exist, as arcades still exist (in Japan), but they'll be a smaller part of the overall market. The shrinking of the console game market was sorely needed; long dev times and inflated budgets for a market that was increasing spending its time and money on other products. Now many of those great designers can move toward browser, mobile and cloud games and start to raise the bar. These expansions have happened a couple times in the last few decades. From arcade to console, from console to multimedia device (basically when the Playstation became a DVD player), from console to smartphone, and now from smartphone to browser and eventally server-side streaming. Each time the investment on the part of the consumer is reduced, the market expands greatly. In each case, the technology was more limited than the other at first, but eventually overcame it. There was a great article yesterday with Ben Cousins of Ngmoco Sweden talking about how we'll see a F2P equivalent of Skyrim in two years. The capability of the browser is going to be amazing, and the roadmaps for hardware in the next few years are just as impressive. As an example, if you have a decent computer and Chrome, head over to the Chrome Web Store and try out a console game like Mini Ninjas running in your browser. Ubisoft is bring From Dust over to it soon, too. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 08:20
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Chainclaw posted:I have to say, the games industry is really weird right now. I'm constantly seeing Facebook posts from people in "traditional" games development getting hit with layoffs, companies getting shut down. On the other hand, I'm seeing people at Zynga, Crowdstar, and other social/freemium places constantly posting about how much they are hiring and need more people. There's a certain slight snobbishness against mobile development as well, as if the games we make aren't "Proper Games" or something and that you aren't in "The Industry" (hating that term the more I see it btw) if you aren't pulling 80 hour work weeks and seeing three-year wage freezes.
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Mar 30, 2012 08:37
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March 29th did suck, I got let go after nearly 8 years with Relic, along with 38 others.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:06
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wodin posted:January was THQ, February was the Blizzard 600, and now March is Vigil/Relic. Vigil and Relic are both THQ as well. They're just basically having a really crappy last couple of years. They've closed what looks to be 7 studios since 2010 and are down to 5 including Vigil and Relic. Their stock also apparently dropped below a dollar. I think Saints Row 3 and Darksiders 2 are all they have left to rely on, basically.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:26
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Yeah, was just differentiating studios from corporate offices as the distinction feels important to me. I really really hope that Darksiders 2 is an awesome game - the original was tons of fun It's so incredibly depressing seeing this stuff happen to everyone, especially people who've been established and working at the same companies for a long time.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:39
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Aliginge posted:There's a certain slight snobbishness against mobile development as well, as if the games we make aren't "Proper Games" or something and that you aren't in "The Industry" (hating that term the more I see it btw) if you aren't pulling 80 hour work weeks and seeing three-year wage freezes. ... Facebook games, though, I don't know if the stigma will ever go away. Every time someone claims to have finally made a Facebook game aimed at core, it's still poo poo. I think it will take a disruption of Facebook by some other web game platform that allows for better discovery of niche titles, before we'll really see "good" games cropping up in the space. In any case, those of you with friends sad that they'll never get to make the games they enjoyed as kids? Or if that's you? Buck up. The console market shrinkage is honestly a very, very good thing for that. Right now, the console market is glutted with a billion quasi-casual gamers that were/are increasingly unwilling to bother with challenging, different sorts of games. When we say the market is shrinking, we don't really mean the core gamers, we mean those - the people that owned maybe a few games, and whose gaming habits are better suited to mobile / lower-investment gaming already. They were the primary driver behind the massive expansion in the console space, but they're also the easiest for other entertainment markets to scoop away. EDIT: Unless you're young enough to think of Mass Effect 2/3 and the like as the games you wanted to make. In that case... ok, yeah, sorry, those will still exist, but in fewer numbers Think of it less like the market shrinking, and more like the market winding back to be more like it was in previous years. Budgets will go down (on a whole), but that means risk tolerance will go up. The resultant market is more likely to cater to the core gamer, as the core gamer would be a larger percentage of what is left. ... also, change your mental image slightly such that your console is replaced by an iPad sitting next to your TV, next to an AppleTV, and you're holding an iCade-standard bluetooth'ed controller. You're playing Ninja Gaiden 6, the recent hard-core hit on the "Action" sub-market in the Apple store. Something like that is probable, and it isn't clear if single-purpose Xbox/Playstation-style consoles will last much past this next generation. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 15:12
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I think the games industry is overwrought with film analogies, but here's a good one. Mobile games are to TV as Core (Console/PC) Games are to Film. TV/video certainly changed the film market, but it didn't kill it. TV is frequently lower budget, quick to market, and has certain formulas that don't work well in Film, and vice-versa. People who enjoy watching TV shows also enjoy watching Films, etc. What I think is most interesting is when we start getting the equivalent of the HBO Original Miniseries - Movie Budget, but a TV distribution channel. Seeing Core Games adapted to the Mobile Chunks system is what I think is going to be the most interesting aspect. A Mass Effect-styled game where each planet is an episode but the entire series is planned out and made and then just distributed on a season schedule, rather than the current 'episodic' systems in place. It's not like Band of Brothers built all the sets and costumes but relied on Episode 1 to fund Episode 2.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:41
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Sigma-X posted:Mobile games are to TV as Core (Console/PC) Games are to Film. That's basically how I explain social/web/mobile games vs console, too. Development cycles are a lot shorter, and social games are able to produce almost episodic content. If something doesn't work, they have the ability to fix it in the next release. It's really interesting to chart the progress of a Facebook game from its launch to six months out - I often feel that some of these games are a completely different experience several months after being released. I've been playing Idle Worship a little bit on Facebook, and the production values and narrative really impressed me. I worked on console games when I was just starting out as an art intern, but now I'm working as an artist at a social games studio. The work environment is a lot different (faster paced, smaller teams... reminds me a lot of working on my college's paper) versus console development. I think mobile/social are two outlets with huge potential to take risks and innovate.. I'm sometimes worried that an increase in production values on these fronts will make the market more risk adverse. It's always bothered me (ironically, since I'm an artist.. and I work on facebook games) when a game's only distinguishing factor versus its competition was its marginally better graphics.
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Mar 30, 2012 16:31
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So I don't have a job in the games industry, but am currently studying computer engineering and want to start messing around with Unity and making things in the Game Jam thread just as fun exercises and means of building a portfolio to possibly so in the future. I've been thinking about getting an entry-level Wacom tablet, mostly because I tried one at a friend's house and thought it was really fun. I am not the strongest artist, but I found myself sort of liking the things I drew with it, which is rare. Anyway, having seen the tablet discussion on the previous page, I'm wondering if it would be something I could justify investing in as a means of making my programmer art less lovely. It it something you guys would recommend for making sprites and simple textures? Or is it not really worth the money for somebody who has very little art background?
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Mar 30, 2012 16:47
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Scuzzywuffit posted:So I don't have a job in the games industry, but am currently studying computer engineering and want to start messing around with Unity and making things in the Game Jam thread just as fun exercises and means of building a portfolio to possibly so in the future. I've been thinking about getting an entry-level Wacom tablet, mostly because I tried one at a friend's house and thought it was really fun. I am not the strongest artist, but I found myself sort of liking the things I drew with it, which is rare. When I was 11, my dad bought me a 4x5 Graphire tablet for $70. It was the best gift I've ever gotten. All I did with it was make pixel art to create portrait and avatar mods for some GMUD I was playing at the time. Now I'm working as a senior artist at a social games studio, largely because my dad was so supportive of my desire to create digital art from an early age. (I was on track to become a biologist, but decided I was more passionate about making art). I believe the price of an entry level tablet (Bamboo) is probably similar >$99, and there is seriously a poo poo ton you can do on even the most basic tablet. Even if you don't have a lot of art background, a basic tablet is an awesome investment. It seriously beats trying to draw with a mouse.
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Mar 30, 2012 17:10
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Scuzzywuffit posted:So I don't have a job in the games industry, but am currently studying computer engineering and want to start messing around with Unity and making things in the Game Jam thread just as fun exercises and means of building a portfolio to possibly so in the future. I've been thinking about getting an entry-level Wacom tablet, mostly because I tried one at a friend's house and thought it was really fun. I am not the strongest artist, but I found myself sort of liking the things I drew with it, which is rare. A cheap-rear end Bamboo is like $50USD. They're not Magic Art Machines but if you put some practice into it you can freehand things a lot cleaner than you would with the mouse. If you have enough fun making art on your PC a cheap Wacom Bamboo isn't going to burn any more cash than a new game, and you'll get more long-term use out of it. The features that push beyond the Bamboo set are pretty heavy power-user features that won't really affect anything you want to do - 2048 pressure levels vs 1024 isn't really useful in any meaningful sense because the colors only go 1-256 anyways.
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Mar 30, 2012 18:06
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treeboy posted:well today sucked at Vigil. Sucked at Relic as well. Too many friends and genuine talent were part of the cut. I hope all of the affected land back on their feet (even you Egon  )
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Mar 30, 2012 18:27
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Aliginge posted:There's a certain slight snobbishness against mobile development as well, as if the games we make aren't "Proper Games" or something and that you aren't in "The Industry" (hating that term the more I see it btw) if you aren't pulling 80 hour work weeks and seeing three-year wage freezes. This happened when I first got into game cinematics coming from film. I don't know why people give a gently caress about that egotistical stupid poo poo. All games platforms have kickass stuff while people who are puffing their chests out work on My Little Pony the movie or bragging about being an artist out of 100 in charge of rust textures. Just be happy doing the thing you love. I mean poo poo I'm way more excited about indie stuff like Journey or big upcoming titles like The Last of Us. Granted stuff that Blue Sky is doing looks amazing but their stories suck and garbage like Pixar's Cars 2 just keeps flowing. I just hope Brave is better than their sucktastic US trailer they just released. The Japanese one is shitloads better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cLhckSAAw
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Mar 30, 2012 18:41
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MustardFacial posted:Sucked at Relic as well. Too many friends and genuine talent were part of the cut. I hope all of the affected land back on their feet (even you Egon Relic brothers! I didn't mean to downplay the cuts on your end in Vancouver, all in all it was an awful morning (btw the WIPs we've been seeing on our end from you guys are all amazing) made even worse by the hodge podge randomness of so many of the cuts. Some of the people who were kept were just as confusing as those that are now gone. Even worse is the fact that, at least in Austin, none of the Leads had any idea what was coming and were just as confused, angry, and surprised as the rest of us.
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Mar 30, 2012 18:43
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Commander Hen posted:This happened when I first got into game cinematics coming from film. I don't know why people give a gently caress about that egotistical stupid poo poo. All games platforms have kickass stuff while people who are puffing their chests out work on My Little Pony the movie or bragging about being an artist out of 100 in charge of rust textures. Just be happy doing the thing you love. The 2nd trailer which is just 3 minutes or so of the movie is much better.
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Mar 30, 2012 18:50
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EgonSpengler posted:March 29th did suck, I got let go after nearly 8 years with Relic, along with 38 others. What kinda work did you do at Relic, we've got openings at Insomniac: http://www.insomniacgames.com/careers/job-openings/ - hit me up if you're interested and I'll see what I can do (if anything): misc AT 1217design DOT com.
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Mar 30, 2012 18:57
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treeboy posted:none of the Leads had any idea what was coming and were just as confused, angry, and surprised as the rest of us. Man this is just the worst possible thing for being able to manage your team's moral. If you have no idea something like this is coming how can you possibly deal with it effectively? Really sorry to hear about the rough day yesterday all-round. Hopefully everyone manages to land on their feet, as you say.
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Mar 30, 2012 19:03
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Frown Town posted:Sigma-X posted:All right, I think I'm probably going to buy one. I'm leaning toward the midlevel Bamboo at this point, since it's only ~$25 more than the smallest one for multitouch, wireless, and function keys. Thanks for the recommendations!
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Mar 30, 2012 19:18
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Shalinor posted:EDIT: Unless you're young enough to think of Mass Effect 2/3 and the like as the games you wanted to make. In that case... ok, yeah, sorry, those will still exist, but in fewer numbers Haha, I'm 27, the first major game I remember playing and wanting to work on was Sonic 1.  But I'm really hopeful for mobile games right now, as you say lower budget games are viable now in the face of trillion dollar Outsell Call of Duty Or We Shut You Down: Modern Warfare high-stakes development. It allows for more diverse games beyond the biggest selling genres and it allows individual members of a development team a greater say in the development of a game. That Working on exclusively small 2D games it really does feel like being back in the days of the 16-bit consoles and I love it for that. GeeCee fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 19:21
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Scuzzywuffit posted:All right, I think I'm probably going to buy one. I'm leaning toward the midlevel Bamboo at this point, since it's only ~$25 more than the smallest one for multitouch, wireless, and function keys. Thanks for the recommendations! Is it 6x8 or so? because that's an awesome size. Small enough to fit in a laptop bag.. big enough that you don't feel totally cramped.
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Mar 30, 2012 19:27
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Aliginge posted:Working on exclusively small 2D games it really does feel like being back in the days of the 16-bit consoles and I love it for that. Also: Licensing issueeessss 
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Mar 30, 2012 19:34
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Frown Town posted:Is it 6x8 or so? because that's an awesome size. I'm looking at the Bamboo Capture. It's 10.9" x 6.9", which I figured meant I could just slip it into my bag parallel to the laptop itself. It looks like the smallest one they're currently offering.
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Mar 30, 2012 19:37
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Akuma posted:Totally. I don't know about you but I'm pretty excited about the games we're making right now. quote:Also: Licensing issueeessss
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Mar 30, 2012 19:48
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Roil posted:What kinda work did you do at Relic, we've got openings at Insomniac: Argh. Carfax Report posted:It's not weird; it's natural for an industry undergoing a transformation due to disruptive technology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation) OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 19:57
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Shalinor posted:
How about NO. Apple can gently caress off.  Last thing I want is to buy their overpriced crap. (Sorry not a big fan of them at all)I slightly have a stigma against small games, but mostly from Facebook. I hate to sound ignorant but Facebook games feel like the same poo poo each and every last one of them. Developing for moblie shouldn't be something to scoff at. It's pretty hard to make a game when your controls are touch base and not trying to make a gimmick. *coughpspvitacough*
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Mar 30, 2012 20:09
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