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Published byJulian Ainslie Modified over 10 years ago
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Outsourcing: Studio Process
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Who am I? Executive Art Director What do I do? Oversee and maintain quality of art studio-wide Manage production Artist career management R & D new technology Relationship Management Pandemic Studios Outsourcing!! Pandemic History
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Outsourcing art for 7 years. Star Wars: The Clone wars Vehicles & characters Full Spectrum Warrior (1 & 2) Buildings Mercenaries 2, Saboteur & Lord of the Rings Vehicles, buildings and characters Animation 60-70% Pandemic Studios OP studios
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Outsourcing Studios Outsource Companies AMC Studio (Romania) 37 employees XPEC (Taiwan, China) 437 employees OP studios
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Animation Outsourcing House of Moves (Los Angeles) 8 animators Technicolor (Los Angeles) 12+ animators Outsourcing Studios Process
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Outsourcing: Production Failures
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Lack of complete asset list Unclear schedule commitment Concept art delay Slow concept sheet production Idle OP Slow revision requests Inaccurate task estimations > Increase cost to OP Asset complications More complicated = more bugs= internal or revise OP morale Where does our process fail? And Crappy Art! Production Phases
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Production: Phases Package Creation Revision Approval
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What’s in a package? Content Creation Guide (CCG) Setup and method Instruction Sheet Lists deliverables Concept Sheet Dimensions and details Creation: Package CCG
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Content Creation Guide Creation: Package Instr. Sheet
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Instruction Sheet Creation: Package Concept
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Focus on accuracy. Be as simple and clear as possible. Sometimes the word “reference” is another word for “option.” Creation: Package What’s in a concept? You want their art to reflect your decisions --not theirs
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Sample Concept Art (good) Sauron Creation: Package
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Revisions
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Production: Revision Review methods
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Art Review Methods Lead Asset Review Depends on strong QA effort from OP Prioritized asset Team review Lead chooses top 5 assets to review Rest of team reviews rest of assets Revision: Process Creation Phases
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Creation Phases Asset Approval Phases Model Texture Final Animation Approval Phases Poses (blocking) Rough Final Revision: Process Asset revisions
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Asset Revisions Work at least 1 revision per phase into contract Strive for single-day turnaround on revisions Revisions should NOT be never-ending Assume single revision phase (except for animation) Unless they do revisions incorrectly! Once approved- don’t disapprove it! Revision: Rules Animation revisions
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Animation Revisions 3 revisions needed Larger variables for completion than assets Do animation in sets Allows for greater consistency Revision: Rules Good enough
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Production Team Trip to OP Review management processes. Asset creation problems. “Good enough” policy Revision: Process
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Revision proc Vested Interest
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Production: Communication Feedback
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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 request Communication: Feedback Timezones
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Pros/Cons Local Timezone Decrease cost savings Increase short-term iteration Shorten delivery cycles Non-local Increase cost savings Decrease short-term iteration 24hr scheduling Communication: Time zones Communication
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Asset Tracking Methods Asset Tracker! Web Accessible Email status notifications Tracks artist revision requests Includes photos and/or animations Charts and tracking metrics Communication: Tracking Screenshots
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Troubleshooting
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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 issues
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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 Clarity
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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 Enough Sum up
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They are not an outsource partner They are your team. You know them You trained them They want your game to succeed Uh…they also want free copies of the game when it ships. To Sum it all up Thank you
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Thank you for your time!
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