Over the years, the game industry has expanded in to a
goliath with in the entertainment scene, pushing its way almost to the top of
the mainstream. It has turned a hobby into a job, and what some imagined never
taking off into a multi-million dollar powerhouse of the entertainment world.
The game industry is now one of the largest in the world;
hiring thousands in the UK alone. Not all are full time roles or careers, but
many are. As a whole the industry looks for extremely skilled people with
special talents in specific areas. However, freelance artists are also sought
after as well as the lower cost of outsourcing studios. A company will look for
the best job at the cheapest rate. Outsource companies are usually contractors
working outside the EU or US which will work at a significantly lower cost.
This is very effective when trying to save money as a large company, especially
when they take on a large project.
Although, this could be a cost effective way to make a game,
it can also lead to confusion within a studio, and in the long run may cause
problems for the development of a game. One reason for this may be that the
managers have to wait for certain assets or that the layout of a level cannot
be fully understood. Also contact may be more difficult due to language
barriers and time differences, etc. Without personal one-to-one interaction
with other artists and mangers/directors, etc
it may also be hard to express the right critique and may cause a wild
goose chase of files and assets being sent back and forth between developer and
outsourcers with little progress. But sometime outsourcing is done between more
than one developer.
An example of a game that fell victim to outsourcing was Sega’s
Alien: Colonial Marines. The teasers they showed in early development were
stunning and many fans had hopes that this game would recreated the horror
franchise and it truly showed the beauty of dynamic lighting. Gearbox Software
had been working on this game for 4 years when they released the very
successful Borderlands in 2009. They
immediately began work on Borderlands 2
and so the Aliens project was outsourced to TimeGate. The project struggled
because of the lack of planning between companies and the conflict in ideas.
Developers like to find talent which specialises in certain
areas, but also knows how to work in many other areas of their field as well.
With a general overview of how to do most things and then to also be a
specialist in one of these departments can help in getting recognised and receiving
work. It also helps lower costs for a company. With an employee who can do most
things as an artist, they can use this person to work in different areas of a
game as well as them focusing on their key skills. Being this kind of worker
could also help the learning of skills in their “general” areas as well.
In Valve’s ‘Handbook for New Employees’ they talk about what
they call “T-shaped” people. This is their example of a generalist and
specialist. They look for people who are both generalists, being the arms
outstretched and a specialist, the “vertical leg of the body”. They also ask
questions such as: “Would I want this person to be my boss? And “Would I learn
a significant amount from him or her?” when hiring. As a developer they understand
that everyone learns throughout their career and that people within work learn
life-long skills from working with one another. That is why they want
generalists working together and learning one another’s specialist area as a
general one.
Looking at Valve’s vision, it is interesting to see that
they want people “higher up” in their business to learn from those who may
appear insignificant. They, as many companies look for generalists who
specialise, because they want to save money at the same time as having many of
the skills in one place with the specialism in required areas. This view is
understandable as it can avoid confusion between companies working with
outsourcers as well as freelance artists who specialise in one specific field.
http://kotaku.com/5986694/from-dream-to-disaster-the-story-of-aliens-colonial-marine
http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf
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