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- B3 Is Key: Better Training,
Better Products, And
Better Returns
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- alphaZED studios (AZS) is a full service digital studio, owned
and operated by Duane Loose,
who has been hitting visual home runs for the greater entertainment
industry since 1978, and with whom I first crossed paths back at
FASA Interactive Technologies in Chicago in 1996. AZS provides
CG, animation, visual effects, and production design services, but
they are also working on modifying their infrastructure to create
and add a core teaching component to their already-in-depth studio
values and overall function. In this vein, they are
experimenting with a couple of ideas, one of which involves
operating, in-part, as a teaching studio. This preliminary
concept would have AZS sharing knowledge in several ways, as
described in detail on the AZS blog. The following is a
response.
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- October 23,
2008
- By Eric M. Scharf
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- Duane,
I was studying the alphaZED studios
blog recently, and I find your teaching studio concept and
high-level plan fabulous and, potentially, overwhelming all at once.
I will assume (accurately or not) that, like me, you are concerned,
on a certain level, for the annual-and-growing collection of
promising students and eager career-crossroads people who want very
much to be a part of the CG workforce at large and who also require
legitimate-and-robust training before entering the industry. Never
has there been a time when there have been enough acceptable quality
technical schools which are capable of providing the necessary
instruction and solid, long-term guidance to this huge new crop of
potential talent.
We see, every day, how many of the existing institutes, whether
affiliated with larger established schools (like Dallas, Texas-area
Guildhall is with Southern Methodist University) or not (the
relatively new Flash Point Academy in Chicago), are advertising how
"you will be trained by the best, the brightest, and the most
established that the film, broadcast television, and entertainment
software industries have to offer."
Even if these schools had the hard currency to attract the very best
(which, outside of accredited schools like Art Center, CalArts,
RISD, and a handful of other public, private, domestic, and
international establishments, they do not), "the best"
generally yawn at the possibility of sharing their trade secrets
with "newbies" considered to be instantly lacking in
appreciation of what great lessons they would learn. Furthermore,
many of the best have no patience for such a job, nor any natural
communication, nurturing, or teaching skills towards proper
articulation of their experiences to others (whether full-time
staff, part-time interns, or students).
The SMU Guildhall, as a brief aside, does belong on the "can
do" list, as they happen to employ one of the brightest technical
minds ever involved in game development, in one Wouter Van
Oortmerssen, formerly of Crytek and continuously of impressive
knowledge and capabilities.
Nonetheless, there are some, like yourself, who have immense,
long-established knowledge and talent, who have covered the gamut of
creative adventures, and who are brave enough to take on this task.
Even in carefully measured doses, however, this is not an easy feat
to accomplish, especially with the number of candidates (students
and teachers alike) you have suggested may be run through your
studio gauntlet.
I hope to eventually be able to pursue much the same entertainment
industry "enhancement and support path," as described for your
potential teaching studio. My focus, however, is on the very core
foundational methodologies and techniques almost completely missing
from the common practices of the games industry, where I have spent
the majority of my career.
People within the games industry, from
the top of the food chain down to the lowest impression on the totem
pole, must be encouraged and must find a way to conquer the
wide-spread fear of (1) high- and low-level planning, (2)
acknowledging true requirements of that plan, (3) pursuing proper
resources for that plan, (4) maintaining or scaling down that plan
based upon available resources (funding, time, and talent), and on
and on. For those working within one of the 800 pound
publisher-developers, the blessings of rightfully-greedy
shareholders, who appreciate the financial glory of great,
top-quality product(s) created by a well-oiled team (whether
in-house, outsource, or both),
certainly would not hurt, either. "B3" is key - Better
Training, Better Products, and Better Returns.
The next generation of creative and technically-creative minds, for
the sake of "a quality product," deserves superior foundational
support and solid, tested examples, initially from technical schools
and throughout their careers from the entertainment industry at
large. Contrary to popular belief, there are not that many
successful self-taught entertainment industry legends, and, in
the face of this fact, it remains to be seen whether or not the
educational and professional CG resources really do comprehend
their extremely important roles in encouraging and shaping the
enthusiasm and readiness of the next wave of creative troops.
Familiar production phrases such as "sense of ownership" and "being
on the same page" fail to live up to their age-old meanings when
your production team has an incomplete description of what they own
which prevents them from being on the same page with you, thus,
resulting in the personnel and product quality turmoil that occurs
all-too-often in the industry. The folks from the entertainment
industry awards committees do not hand out 'at-a-boys or trophies
every time someone is annually reminded "only 10% of all game
products in production make it to literal or virtual store shelves."
Again, the quality of the product should be the very top end-all
priority, and yet, you cannot ever count on delivering the very best
quality without a production team that is on an informed, unified
mission. A product is only as good as the team that created it, and
logic (which has proven to be an endangered species) dictates that
you must "respect the product by respecting your teammates."
Further muddying the water is the fact that so many new, fresh faces
enter the industry blatantly rolling over, almost desperately
accepting that "this is how it is done without question" and who are
willing to take a career-long set of lumps to go with that
acceptance . . . simply because of what one of several young,
sudden-success-story heroes may have irresponsibly stated in a
magazine or in an online interview.
As much as it pains me to admit it, however, you cannot expect a
relative new-comer to the industry, who slogged their way to
surprising first-time-success to suddenly turn around, with a great
sense of moral purpose and responsibility, and tell everyone
(through a much-anticipated interview), "Yes, I succeeded, but it
was far from ideal. In comparing notes with some of my more
established industry colleagues, I want to share some important tips
on a better approach to game development, as well as what trouble
areas to absolutely avoid."
Outside of technical schools becoming more pro-active in educating
the masses on core fundamentals and teamwork, more of these game
development success story heroes need to build up the nerve to speak
up and share their experiences, so that people, who would some day
be their teammates in the trenches, are much better prepared to help
them maintain and enhance that success . . . than they are now.
Sure, established industry veterans publish post mortems of their
projects at an ever-increasing rate on high-traffic game development
web sites, such as Gamasutra.com, but that is not enough. In fact,
the gospel, in this case, actually needs to come from the newer
folks, who have tasted early-and-sudden success through
not-the-best-of-plans, and who are willing to point out that, in
fact, game content (that you see on TV commercials and that
you play on Macs, PCs, consoles, and handhelds) may be super cool,
but game development can be incredibly hard work requiring
much preparation, on various levels that simply transcend knowing
how to replace real-time 3D art assets, update game play scripts,
and hack core engine code from a widely-used commercial game engine,
within an extremely popular first-person shooter game.
Besides,
while many people look to those who came before them for
inspiration, knowing how to accomplish these tasks without
piggy-backing someone else's hard work in a MOD is far more
rewarding and satisfying . . . for those who want to be known as true
originals.
Regarding commercial game engines
versus writing your own proprietary software – as a not-so-brief aside
– commercial game engines all begin as
proprietary software. Whether you have $100 dollars to license
Garage Games' Torque Engine or $750,000 dollars for Epic's Unreal
Engine 3, if you believe you have the chops for technological
wizardry that is equal to or greater than the available competition,
and you wish to be known for something original in the entertainment
industry, rather than relying on a robust off-the-shelf technology,
then, you will swallow hard, invest the personal time, perform
meticulous comparative research, generate a thorough construction
plan, dedicate a significant amount of programming energy into your
own game engine . . . and never be afraid to ask questions of more
experienced folks in order solve issues you had not considered.
You may hear three types of reactions to this decision.
1) The Pigeon Hole: the type of game you want to create
determines the type of engine you want to build.
2) Peer Outside
The Box: the more well-rounded an engine you want to
build, the more types of games you will be able to create without
having to perform a major overhaul too soon to that engine.
3)
Think Big Picture: while it will not be easy, you
should enjoy the
anxiety-and-excitement-filled experience of building your own game
engine, doing so with a measured plan to support highly-popular
elements from several different game genres . . . because you will learn
much about your own natural abilities, as well as your determination
to succeed in the face of similar software development challenges
faced daily within game studios that are following the very same
path. "You choose. You choose!" - Hogarth in Brad
Bird's "Iron Giant."
I have been successful in re-directing the thought processes of many
new creative, design, and technical folks, but the task of getting
these new talents to Think Big Picture (and think beyond the
status quo) is becoming an increasingly greater challenge the more
they succumb to the "ain't it cool" factor. The
kinds of conversations in which I get involved – with both junior and
established members of the game development community – tend to rival
the first (and, hopefully, only) discussion a parent might have with
a child regarding the reasons why you never want to get involved
with drugs.
It is my sincere hope that your teaching studio is able to establish
and / or enhance creative skill sets . . . as well as successfully debunk
certain status quo studio operational methods that should be no more
than a myth.
I wish you and your team all the best in everything you have in
store for the rest of us who eagerly await your next visual feast,
Duane.
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- This response was e-mailed directly
to Duane Loose and posted publicly on the AZS blog.
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