So for the past year and a bit I've been learning how to use 3ds Max, import into engine, texture, rig and at the same time retaining and enhancing my drawing skills with life drawing and concepting designs. How does this help me get a job in Industry however well....
At the moment there is a large mobile gaming market which has allowed many small gaming companies to start up. These companies only hire a small amount of staff and they often hire freelance artists and modelers during certain parts of development to make up for skill shortages in their staff. But staff for a mobile game company needs to have a diverse set of skills so staff have to be able to complete multiple tasks. This means that being able to model, texture, rig, animate and code the characters movements would be extremely useful for the company than someone who can just model characters extremely well. Coding however isn't something that we particularly get taught but could be a very useful skill to have when going into a small company as you could become very useful. Another good way to apply for a position in a small company is to have made a game yourself in your free time. It helps show that you can do multiple tasks and understand what you need to do for a mobile game.
Their is also a demand currently for UI (user interface) designers. This is because a lot of mobile games need an interface that is easy to navigate and isn't to clunky. A lot of consideration has to be put into account when designing the interface such as the size of the screen they would be using and how everything should be spaced out correctly. Even things such as the colour of certain buttons or text to make things clearer. Its a job not many people would consider specializing in but one that is currently very in demand.
However the opposite is often needed if your working for a large scale company. You would need to be proficient in one role, this could be concept art, modelling foliage, modelling character or buildings. This I believe is because it helps the larger companies manage there workers and each of there roles and tasks efficiently to reach there deadlines. For a role like concept artist or character designer, you must be extremely good at it and fast and efficient. This is because they only hire a small number of these people and only hire the best so if your starting out and expecting to become one of these roles, possibly re-think that decision as you will have to be one of the best starting out which is very unlikely.
More promising roles are that of environment artists as large scale games obviously have to make large numbers of assets and this means they will need to hire larger numbers of people to create them. In this way there are more positions available and you would be more likely to be employed. This is what I am considering trying to work towards as I have been enjoying environment work and creating assets for scenes.
At the moment there is a large mobile gaming market which has allowed many small gaming companies to start up. These companies only hire a small amount of staff and they often hire freelance artists and modelers during certain parts of development to make up for skill shortages in their staff. But staff for a mobile game company needs to have a diverse set of skills so staff have to be able to complete multiple tasks. This means that being able to model, texture, rig, animate and code the characters movements would be extremely useful for the company than someone who can just model characters extremely well. Coding however isn't something that we particularly get taught but could be a very useful skill to have when going into a small company as you could become very useful. Another good way to apply for a position in a small company is to have made a game yourself in your free time. It helps show that you can do multiple tasks and understand what you need to do for a mobile game.
Their is also a demand currently for UI (user interface) designers. This is because a lot of mobile games need an interface that is easy to navigate and isn't to clunky. A lot of consideration has to be put into account when designing the interface such as the size of the screen they would be using and how everything should be spaced out correctly. Even things such as the colour of certain buttons or text to make things clearer. Its a job not many people would consider specializing in but one that is currently very in demand.
However the opposite is often needed if your working for a large scale company. You would need to be proficient in one role, this could be concept art, modelling foliage, modelling character or buildings. This I believe is because it helps the larger companies manage there workers and each of there roles and tasks efficiently to reach there deadlines. For a role like concept artist or character designer, you must be extremely good at it and fast and efficient. This is because they only hire a small number of these people and only hire the best so if your starting out and expecting to become one of these roles, possibly re-think that decision as you will have to be one of the best starting out which is very unlikely.
More promising roles are that of environment artists as large scale games obviously have to make large numbers of assets and this means they will need to hire larger numbers of people to create them. In this way there are more positions available and you would be more likely to be employed. This is what I am considering trying to work towards as I have been enjoying environment work and creating assets for scenes.
There are of course also the programming people and even those that program the engines that the game runs in. Other roles even include special effects artists and lighting artists. If there is often something you enjoy doing and are good at you can find a role that will fit you well. You like making cars? How about vehicle designer. Like making trees? You could be assigned to create most of the trees for the game. There is quite a lot of flexibility in what you can do, but its having the necessary skills and abilities to be able to get the job you want.
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