Mike's GDC Notes

Post date: Mar 16, 2015 8:20:55 AM

GDC for the most part was a great experience. This was my first time in San Francisco and my first GDC. I didn't really know what to expect rather then what I had heard from various people and some online articles. Overall I can say that my experience was close to what I expected.

The biggest negative to me was the lack of larger studios in the career center. Everyone I talked to that had been to GDC claimed that the previous years had a larger presence of recruiters in the career center.

Before GDC I was on the fence of focusing more on Lighting. Now that I'm back I can say with 100% confidence that I want to shift my focus towards becoming a Lighting Artist.

Environment Art Portfolio: Story Story Story

    One reoccurring comment from most of the artists I talked to was that my environment shots could benefit from a bit more narrative. Overall the feedback on the visuals were great but they felt my environments lacked the "Mike Factor" or that little bit of me that made it unique. I agree and this is something I'm trying to be a bit more conscious about in the future.

Game Studios: Indie vs AAA

    Before GDC I really didn't know too much about the difference between the two types of studios in terms of job specialization. It turns out that if you are more into being a jack of all trades or having a hand in various roles at a time, Indie is for you. On the other hand, if you are looking to fit a more specialized role, AAA is probably the better route to take. Now I know there are exceptions to this but from the feedback I received this seems to be pretty standard.

Kit-bashing: To Scale Or Not To Scale

    This was an interesting piece of information to receive. Before GDC I had been under the impression that non uniform scaling in engine was generally a bad thing to do.

    We were standing in line to go to the EPIC party and in front of us happened to be a Art Lead from Gearbox Software. After conversing with him we found out that the Borderlands series wouldn't have been made if it wasn't for non uniform scaling and kitbashing. He told us that the programmers and other departments hated it because it broke collision and could cause issues. In the end the time they saved was worth it because non uniform scaling helped create their environments much quicker.

Various Notes:

    - Look into image based lighting and stop trying to fake lighting with lots of point lights and spot lights.

    - Add characters or other objects that help convey scale of the space.

    - There are ALOT of aspiring concept artists at GDC.

    - Alot of studios know of Ringling and the quality of their artists.