Who am I Executive Art Director What do I do Oversee and maintain quality of art studiowide Manage production Artist career management R amp D new technology Relationship Management Pandemic ID: 684960
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Slide1
Outsourcing:
Studio Process
Slide2
Who am I?
Executive Art Director
What do I do?Oversee and maintain quality of art studio-wideManage productionArtist career managementR & D new technologyRelationship Management
Pandemic Studios
Outsourcing!!
Pandemic HistorySlide3
Outsourcing art for 7 years.
Star Wars: The Clone wars
Vehicles & charactersFull Spectrum Warrior (1 & 2)BuildingsMercenaries 2, Saboteur & Lord of the RingsVehicles, buildings and charactersAnimation
60-70%
Pandemic Studios
OP studiosSlide4
Outsourcing
Studios
Outsource CompaniesAMC Studio (Romania)
37 employees
XPEC (Taiwan, China)
437 employees
OP studiosSlide5
Animation Outsourcing
House of Moves
(Los Angeles)8 animatorsTechnicolor (Los Angeles)12+ animators
Outsourcing
Studios
ProcessSlide6
Outsourcing:
Production
FailuresSlide7
Lack of complete asset list
Unclear schedule commitment
Concept art delaySlow concept sheet productionIdle OPSlow revision requestsInaccurate task estimations > Increase cost to OPAsset complicationsMore complicated = more bugs= internal or reviseOP moraleWhere does our process fail?
And Crappy Art!
Production PhasesSlide8
Production:
Phases
PackageCreationRevision
ApprovalSlide9
What’s in a package?
Content Creation Guide (CCG)
Setup and methodInstruction SheetLists deliverablesConcept SheetDimensions and detailsCreation: PackageCCGSlide10
Content Creation Guide
Creation:
PackageInstr. SheetSlide11
Instruction Sheet
Creation:
PackageConceptSlide12
Focus on accuracy.
Be as simple and clear as possible.
Sometimes the word “reference” is another word for “option.”Creation: PackageWhat’s in a concept?
You want their art to reflect your decisions --not theirsSlide13Slide14Slide15Slide16Slide17
Sample Concept Art (good)
Sauron
Creation: PackageSlide18
RevisionsSlide19
Production:
Revision
Review methodsSlide20
Art Review Methods
Lead Asset Review
Depends on strong QA effort from OPPrioritized asset Team reviewLead chooses top 5 assets to reviewRest of team reviews rest of assetsRevision: ProcessCreation PhasesSlide21
Creation Phases
Asset Approval Phases
ModelTextureFinalAnimation Approval PhasesPoses (blocking)RoughFinal Revision: ProcessAsset revisionsSlide22
Asset Revisions
Work at least 1 revision per phase into contract
Strive for single-day turnaround on revisionsRevisions should NOT be never-endingAssume single revision phase (except for animation)Unless they do revisions incorrectly!Once approved- don’t disapprove it!Revision: RulesAnimation revisionsSlide23
Animation Revisions
3 revisions needed
Larger variables for completion than assetsDo animation in setsAllows for greater consistencyRevision: RulesGood enoughSlide24
Production Team Trip to OP
Review management processes.
Asset creation problems.“Good enough” policyRevision: ProcessSlide25Slide26Slide27Slide28Slide29Slide30Slide31
Revision proc
Vested InterestSlide32
Production:
Communication
FeedbackSlide33
Feedback
Provide clear and consistent feedback
All revision requests should sound like they came from one person. All language should be clear and uncomplicated.Use consistent subject definitions for each requestCommunication: FeedbackTimezonesSlide34
Pros/Cons
Local Timezone
Decrease cost savingsIncrease short-term iterationShorten delivery cyclesNon-local Increase cost savingsDecrease short-term iteration24hr schedulingCommunication: Time zones
CommunicationSlide35
Asset Tracking Methods
Asset Tracker!
Web Accessible Email status notificationsTracks artist revision requestsIncludes photos and/or animationsCharts and tracking metricsCommunication: TrackingScreenshotsSlide36Slide37Slide38Slide39
TroubleshootingSlide40
AP:
(panicked and angry) “I just got an email from Proklovich! What’s the !@#$?! He seems horribly mad and sounds like he’s going to stop production for us unless his ruthless demands are met!”ME: “Calm down, wait until your conference call and then check with him again. It’s probably just an email issue. Here, wipe your mouth with this tissue…”Troubleshooting!Email communication issuesSlide41
Lead Artist:
“I’ve asked them dozens of times to make their asset this way. Their incompetent! My monkey could do better!ME: “You have a monkey?”ME: “Let’s review your concept work to make sure you are clearly communicating what you need. Also, have you sent them sample assets for that type which clearly show how you want it made?”Troubleshooting!Concept ClaritySlide42
Lead Animator:
(after looking at first revision) “This totally sucks! Clearly they can’t animate. I’ll have to accept this one and fix it myself.”ME: “If you do that then you’ll always get that quality. You have to revise them to quality because that’s the only way to learn.”Troubleshooting!Good EnoughSum upSlide43
They are not an outsource partner
They are your team.
You know them You trained them They want your game to succeedUh…they also want free copies of the game when it ships. To Sum it all upThank youSlide44
Thank you
for your time!