Need Advice

[buddikaman]

So im an inspiring artist, and as ive mostly been into low poly for some time, altough with the next gen engines like UE3 coming out soon, im thinking the best thing i can do right now is focus on that and start to move on from the low poly enviroment.

Also, ive just started working with this small indie team who honestly is to ambitous for there own good, by making multiple games at once with very very few people, and i dont think they really understand game design itself. They are working with the torque engine, and are currently making a RTS with very low poly from an engine they made thereself.

Im trying to figure out should i just jump ship before i make any real commitments, and just focus on newer technology, or should i stay on working with crap technology but getting slight hands on game development experience.....

Looking for opinions, thanks!

Edit- Also, ive been getting the impression that in the games industry, character artists are a dime a dozen, and that its much wiser to start out doing something like enviromental props, or level design, can someone comment on this? As much as i love character design, i also have interests in level design and other aspects of game dev, so i need to know what im up against.

-Buddikaman-

[aesir]

are you being paid?

[Snowfly]

Working with crap technology is alright, as long as you are with a group that actually finishes things. That way you get a bite-size overview of the game development process, and it's just as much an eye-opener as working on a full game is. That said, these guys are working on an RTS with higher end specs and nice tech with nice tools (kjAPI engine) and they are looking for team members...

http://www.mentalwarp.com/~fmp/forum/

And no, you will not get paid. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

About pursuing character art, honestly just go for it. It's not a business decision, but you've got to really excel at it. Poor character modelers are a dime a dozen. /images/graemlins/smile.gif You seem to be on the right track, based on what you've shown in P&P.

[stoofoo]

Character artists are not a dime a dozen, really. It's just that you will have 30000 people coming out of college every semester wanting to make gears of war characters. Haha. Do what you want--if you want to make characters, then by all means man, do characters. It's gotta make you happy after all, yeah?

[buddikaman]

Stoofoo- I think i know what you meant about the college kids, could you please clarify?

I guess the part that worrys me most is they seem a bit flakey, like starting new projects before finishing the other, i guess i probably could find a better project if i looked harder, thank you.

Do you guys think level design seems a bit more in demand these days?

Not getting paid, but dont expect to, just want the experience and knowledge of working on a indie project. I reckon i wont be getting paid for making games for some time, i have a good ways to go...

-Buddikaman-

[pliang]

My opinion is if you REALLY like it yes go for it but if you showed more promising works in say environments...gor for the one that will get you the johb first that's for sure, you can always dedicate more time to branch out.

From my experience, I worked with several groups way back then mostly for expereince and they nver seemd to plan so I left, its that if nobody's committed then you should consider pulling out the team.

[stoofoo]

I meant to say in college that doing character art is as a generality, everyones goal. It turns out there are a lot of possible positions in game art that are generally unturned when it comes to studies.

I genuinely disagree with pliang. Find the job you want, and make yourself work for it. There's nothing more frustrating than taking a job doing effects or environments when all you wanted to be doing was characters. It's worth your extra few months of work to polish up a character speciffic portfolio and not spend a year or two of your life sorta wishign you were doing it instead.=) Does that make sense?

If you want to do environments, push yourself to do environments. If you want to be an animator, push yourself to be an animator. It's ill-advised to "get your foot in the door" if the path it leads to is not the job you wanted. Some companies foster growth to other fields--some do not. /images/graemlins/wink.gif