Want to Get the Work You Like? Better Start Updating Your Portfolio.

A common issue that I have found in being a game developer is that when you are brought on to a new project you expect to be working on all sorts of new types of work that you are not used to but you would like to have a chance at creating. This is a problematic mindset, since most of the time when you are brought onto a project the game is pretty far along and the types of work is segmented and more specialized. This is why if you "typecast" yourself (a term used in the film industry for actors that cannot break out of the same style of character in every movie they appear in), make sure it is something that you enjoy.

For instance, when an artist with a lot of experience from San Diego moved here to WB Games in Kirkland, he already had a ton of work creating terrain and natural geographical elements. I remember talking to him when he was first hired and he commented: "this project is so big that I am excited to be able to work on a lot of different aspects of the game, not just terrain." At the time he was working on terrain and he figured he'd be able to transition into something more varied once that line of work was completed. Well, it has been more than a half of year now and guess what? He's still doing terrain! I hate to say that I saw that one coming the moment I was talking to him, but didn't want to kill the mood. He is just so proficient and knowledgeable in creating convincing and high quality looking terrains that it was obvious that the Lead Artist hired him to be able to make the terrain in the game to a better quality level.

A few years ago I was looking at the portfolio of some artists in the credit of the Alone in the Dark game (which was about the fourth or fifth in the series but used the same name as the original. Tomb Raider, anyone? Seriously, why do companies do this to confuse people?). I had noticed one portfolio in particular which was a character or technical artist who showcased some bruising and tearing skin models to show that they were well equipped with creating zombie-like creatures that had a bunch of torn flesh. Well, as you can imagine by now that it was a big factor in the game to have the monsters have real-time wounds based on the area of your attack. It was like they must have hired the guy just because he had something that they wanted and that they did not want to take the time to learn, so it was cheaper to pay for his salary than training someone or building new technology for it. This is the same as Hollywood: they would rather pay an actual ballerina and have them in dancing shots instead of taking the time to train the actress into how to dance Ballet. This is not the case in Black Swan, as Natalie Portmen actual did train herself. Most projects don't go through this much effort so they would rather pay a stunt driver that specializes in doing barrel rolls for a scene that would call for a barrel roll, instead of paying a professional skydiver who just happens to do some stunt driving on the side.

The lesson here is that once you are in a project and time is of the essence, you are not going to have a lot of time to learn new tricks and skills, so you will almost undoubtedly work on the same type of work that you have in your portfolio. Do you create a lot of sci fi spaceships? You will be most desirable to a sci fi space-themed project. Are you designs for fantasy MMORPG's? You probably won't have much luck applying to a studio that does first person shooters, even if you have a couple of designs for first person levels but it is not your focus or you are not the strongest in it.

So if you are tired of always working on the same thing on different projects then make sure to go back to the "lab" and create some impressive showpieces in your portfolio that are the type of work that you would like to transition to. You can even put them as the priority, at the top of your site, and eventually phase out your old work if you do enough new stuff.

Trust me, at least being able to work on the type of work you interest you at home, even if you don't immediately get hired at a studio for that work, will make you a happier employee all around. If you indeed land a new job then that's icing on the cake. So, instead of complaining at your current job and hoping for something better, take some action at home and control your own destiny instead of letting someone else control it for you.

-Ken

Act Now, Apologize Later

Recently, we have been getting closer to finishing a project and I have been noticing more and more that the Rockstars on the team are those that do what they want regardless of what their peers aka coworkers think. For instance, if you are constantly given tasks that feel under-rated and lower-profile then there is a likeliness that you will continue to be given those types of tasks unless you take initiative.

The best method of doing this is finding an area of the game that you feel you can specifically, significantly improve that is a major aspect of the game and also requires the type of skill that a more senior developer would have. You know yourself that you can handle this type of work but maybe you do not have much of it in your portfolio. This would be Zbrush/sculpting work for artists and more high-level scripting for level designers. These are usually seen as the "cool," "portfolio," and more respected jobs.Point out this to your lead or senior developer that you work with, and tell them that you would like to take on that task. They may be a little hesitant at first, but from this point on you should constantly have confidence and reassure them that it's going to get done and be good work. Take your time and make sure you do actually do a good job, and expect some naysayers /hating from other developers if they haven't been issued those types of tasks themselves.

This can be a risky maneuver, because if you under-perform then you will build an instant reputation of not being the most skilled and wasting production time. This is especially true if it is later on in the project, which is when most new developers like yourself will be being brought onto a project. So, make sure that it is something you can handle, first. It is like in the movie Three Ninjas, where the sensei says: "Never fight unless you know you can win." If you find yourself in over your head, do not give up but go home and cram the necessary information to be able to get you by, by searching online forums and tutorials. But, if you are able to achieve success then your reputation will be boosted and there is likelihood that you will be trusted with more high profile tasks in the future. It is a snowball effect.

Many studios will be testing you the moment you join a team, progressively giving you more advanced tasks and "capping" you at a level that they find that you are comfortable with. But, to be honest many studios are bringing in a slew of devs at the end of the project to get all of the tedious work finished and save the more juicy stuff for the senior and more established developers at the studio. So, if you want to break out of the grind you're going to have to try and pull off a tactic like this.

This method is known as "Act now, apologize later." If you know what you're doing is right and can get something accomplished, others may not be able to see the end result and may not have faith in you, so they will give you resistance at first and may even be annoyed with your aggressive and quick-moving style. But, if you prove them wrong and get the job done and do it well, you can "apologize" and at that point they will not care that you stepped outside of your bounds because they love your result so much. If you mess up then you will still be apologizing, but the apology will probably not be accepted.

-Ken