Victor van Schagen
The Artful Lion
Understanding the Role of the Game Artist part 2
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The Communicator
The third role is The Communicator. It covers all aspects of Information Transfer. A Game Artist must have excellent verbal communication skills and must be able to put complicated concepts into words, clearly and logically, and explain them to others. Proper communication also extends to the ability to create relevant documentation and, if needed, presentations. A Game Artist is able to create a proper Style Guide, write guidelines for an efficient production pipeline, and can give a presentation without too much worry.
Communication; information transfer.
It can't be stressed enough how absolutely essential good communication is for the success of a project. A lack of proper communication can cause serious friction, make small issues worse, create entirely new problems, and ultimately can cause an entire project to fail. A Game Artist will. . .
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Make sure to know what is expected, and will keep careful track of various requirements and progress;
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Get priorities straight, and won't get side-tracked on tasks that are superfluous, or can easily be postponed;
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Never assume anything. What might be obvious for an artist won't be for a PM or dev, and vice versa. Ask twice.
The Game Artist has to understand the needs of others on a project: to anticipate potential challenges, avoid mistakes and to reduce the amount of back-and-forth. This is related to the role of The Creator (technical expertise and skill), because the only way to communicate smoothly is to be familiar with the systems and terminology used by designers and developers. Secondly, the Game Artist might have to talk with non-artists on a regular basis, for example with Project Leads, Project Managers and Developers. Often, these people have little to no understanding about art and visual communication and might only have an idea of what they want, but are not too sure how to express it.
A Game Artist might have to share information by writing documentation, by giving presentations, or by mentoring junior artists. If the project requires working with an outsourcing studio, a Game Artist might have to communicate with people from different cultures, in different time zones, who might not be that proficient in your working language. All these aspects of communication require skill, diplomacy and patience!
The Problem Solver
This is the fourth role, which covers all aspects of the Production Process. Unlike the role of The Creator, which covers the tools used (and proficiency with those tools), The Problem Solver knows which tools to pick to provide the best results on a game project, how they can be combined and how well they work together, and how to fix it when things go wrong.
Please note that with 'tools' I do not just mean software or hardware. It also extends to things like project management and team dynamics. They're all essential ingredients of the production process.
The production process; how to get from idea to final asset.
A good understanding of how various tools can be used, and how they mesh together, greatly increases production speed and stability. It's not about finding one perfect production process and always sticking to that, but it's about being flexible; anticipating and adjusting to the needs of the project. It's about pinpointing (potential) problems and making sure everything meshes together. I have always felt that being a professional isn't just about being very good at doing a certain thing; it's about how quickly and gracefully you solve the problems when things break down. Things to think about are:
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Adjust the production process to the limits of the project.
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What is the biggest bottleneck or scarcest resource? Adjust the production process that puts least pressure on that, or circumvents it entirely. Choose the workflow that depends on the least amount of people.
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Low-risk and good is better than high-risk and great!
A great management tool that can help with avoiding problems during the production process is working S.M.A.R.T.:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
- A set of icons are needed for the in-game shop. Make sure to have detailed descriptions.
- The end result must be 6 sprites, each at 64x64 and 256x256 size.
- The artist is not blocked from working; no support or extra requirements are needed.
- It is an essential task. These icons are needed to push the project forward.
- One weekly sprint, with daily updates. Leave time for feedback and a buffer just in case.
Being consistent, dependable and precise is the best way to minimize the chance of problems occurring.
The Decision Maker
The final role of the Game Artist, The Decision Maker, is a bit different than the others, as it over-arches all of them. This role covers the embracing of responsibility, and how this relates to the entire project. It's all about knowing how to set the right priorities and making sure the right person does the right thing. To understand this we have to know what the ultimate goal is of the Game Artist (and every other member of a project):
To release a properly functioning, successful game, on time and within budget. And that's it. The Game Artist should always be aware of that.
Responsibility; making the right decisions to stay on course.
This doesn't just means working as fast and efficient as possible, or avoiding problems. Most of the time, it just means knowing when to say. . .
“Now, it's enough.”
Artists sometimes do not realize, or forget, that their job is not about creating the best, most beautiful art. It's about the delicate balance of creating assets that serve their purpose completely, but are made efficiently and aren't needlessly overworked. After all, what is the use of incredibly elaborate, perfectly polished and stunning work when it adds no value to the game for the Player? What is the use of such art when there are constant delays and missed milestones dragging production on? The only result of that will be a canceled project.
To avoid this, the Game Artist sets priorities and decides on the appropriate communication structure, technical requirements, and production process. Art tasks are judged by the minimal requirements for successful completion, that is, a finished asset that's good enough to put in the game to launch it. I'd like to share two tools that can be very helpful in making the right decisions.
The first one is what can be called the Quality Evaluation planning schedule. It is a table with 5 columns: 1) Initial sketch, 2) First pass (programmer art), 3) Acceptable, 4) Polished and 5) Overworked. The goal is for each art asset to end up in the game, as soon as possible, at an level that is acceptable for release. Anything beyond that is not essential.
Quality Evaluation planning schedule.
Usually, these columns are marked on a white-board. It's great to work with boards (or walls) because you have a quick overview, it is easy to move cards and see progress (or lack thereof). Not only that, they are also great gathering points for meetings. Art tasks are noted on little cards and are moved by the artists as progress is being made. As soon as an art task has reached the status of 'OK', when it gets approved, that's it. Task done! If there will be time to polish things, that's great, but if not, you know time hasn't been wasted!
The second tool is the Cost/Value graph. This graph is very helpful in situations when there is only a limited amount of time, and choices have to be made which tasks or features need priority: Should a new feature be added? Which one? Should there be a focus on polishing art? Should new animations or FX be added? What will, in this short time, add the greatest value for the Player?
Cost/Value graph.
Like before, this graph works best when used in physical space - a white-board, a wall, or a big table. All the possible suggestions of things to do are written down on cards which are then arranged on the graph, based on their estimated cost and value.
On the vertical axis is Cost, usually representing working hours and on the horizontal axis is Value, which usually means Player Value. As I wrote before, that's the goal. A big arrow is drawn outward from the axis origin, diagonally, splitting the graph in half. Anything that has a high cost but low value, and thus falls above the diagonal arrow, should be avoided. Any task that has a high value but low cost, has the highest priority. Tasks that have a low cost and limited value are so-called low-hanging fruit. They can be done when there is extra time to fill. The question mark shows a dangerous area on the graph: what ends up here are projects with a very high value and very high cost. The high value make them attractive, but the costs are high, and if they rise because of unexpected reasons, it might lead to disaster. It will be tempting to keep increasing costs to finish those tasks (the justification being it will be worth it), which then leads to the sunk-cost fallacy.
Conclusion
Now that I've shared some things about all of the different roles of the Game Artist, it is important to remember that, with a little bit of thought, all these elements are applicable, if not essential for all creative roles. After all. . .
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The more an artist understands about Visual Communication, the better the art will be.
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The greater the Technical Expertise and knowledge of Production Processes, the more efficient, and faster they will be able to work.
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The more an artist understand about Communication, the fewer mistakes will be made.
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For an artist, accepting Responsibility is essential to ensure making the right decisions; It means constant awareness and a pro-active attitude.
A Game Artist is superb at thinking creatively, highly skilled, communicative and confident with problem solving. In short, an invaluable asset at every stage of a game's development cycle. Their potential is something that all the people working within a game team, the artists themselves included, should be aware of. If ever confronted with the question: “Why do we need you as a Game Artist?”, a great answer would be:
“As a Game Artist I am perfectly suited to help you reach a larger audience, communicate better with the player, and improve overall usability of your game. My technical skills and experience will make your production process faster, more flexible and efficient. I can improve communication and documentation within the project, so there will be fewer problems, and I can help you make the right decisions to reduce costs and increase value for the players.”