Obstacles in path to game design career?

kinggambitben · Feb 2013

-Any tips on self-teaching? I really have no barometer on how to approach my learning process; it's just "watch tutorial -> apply to own work -> watch another tutorial -> apply again -> watch streamers -> repeat"
-How to break moments when you are stuck (out of ideas)?
-Good Exercises/Routines to discipline yourself with?

maximumsproductions · Feb 2013

kinggambitben wrote: »

-How to break moments when you are stuck (out of ideas)?

-What I do to come up with ideas is take a nice shower. No joke

. Also one of the developers who made Supermeatboy took shower baths to relieve depression/stress lol.

-When your taking a dump think about ideas and write em down

-When your taking a dump take an art book or such and reflect with your own ideas

-Wet your face with hot water in the sink

Now that I think about it, a lot of my creativity originates from the bathroom.

Aside from the bathroom for me is

-Walk around, jog, or such..This is easy for me because I walk home for an hour everyday from school and it's such a relieving experience if you think about...creativity, anything really.. and take some music with you.

-Waking up early in the morning before the sun is up and go outside for 5 minutes or so and just sit down.

-In general just go outside and get your blood circulating

-Also be sure you get a healthy amount of sleep whenever possible.

Aside from outside for me is

-Doodle around in photoshop or zbrush, something where you can draw with a tablet because during that time you can think of stuff, rough-draft technique, and in essence have some fun and not be serious.

-Go around the internet (or printscreen movie footage) looking up reference material you may want/need for future projects.

-If you have experience with music pull out the instrument or midi with a music sequencer and just play what you feel like - this can create some ideas based on mood.

Creativity blocks are something I suffer a lot partially because I'm not dedicated to projects as much as I should be (which I'm working on) and these are my methods. If I had to rate my best one, it would honestly be just sitting in the shower thinking.

Kwramm · Feb 2013

kinggambitben wrote: »

-For people who work in studios (or office environments), do you ever run into coworkers with odor issues? Introverts? Socially awkward people? If so, how do they fit into the development team? Is it much of a problem?

often;) Although I'm here in China. I think the other Chinese won't view their fellow countrymen as introvert/socially awkward. But when some of them interact with western people culture-clash is going to happen. Teamwork is also not a known concept since schooling is highly competitive and doesn't encourage teamwork.

I'm in a lead position though, so I have to work with those people, and even though some have bad odor (some are from very rural areas, hot water and heating are also not always present in some of the cheap apartments, deodorants are also not that common), and some seem socially awkward (language barrier/culture) you eventually get to value them for their skills and attitudes and see past those things. It can be a challenge sometimes, but I find it very rewarding, especially when the guys open up, but I also learn a lot about myself and how I treat people.

Even in western studios I encountered socially awkward people, but then again most of us artists are a bit strange in one way or the other (i.e. "the tattoo nut", "the RPG nerd", "the anime/hentai nerd", etc. who can be found in most studios). I think all this diversity creates quite open minded environments which are more open to tolerate certain personalities or personal views than e.g. more traditional jobs.

For success, make sure your work is in order, make sure you learn how to deal with criticism and how to take it professionally. You don't necessarily have to be friends with everyone, but you have to be able to work with them in a professional and friendly manner to get things done. Doing your work properly will eventually earn you respect and interest from other people, no matter how awkward you are, and that's a good thing

Avanthera · Feb 2013

On the note of getting better and practicing, I've heard many awesome artists mention most people don't practice correctly. As in, they just keep doing tutorials without any rhyme or reason, or they practice drawing anime eyes without ever thinking of real eyes and why some artist substituted these symbols for eyes and why it works.

I'd say to approach the whole thing like this:

Learn your tools:

You don't need to be an expert, but when you find yourself facing a problem (like approaching an organic model) Just learn the bloody tool/technique. Too many people keep asking "Should I learn zbrush? Should I learn how to make normal maps? Should I learn anatomy?" You may not use normal maps, zbrush, or anatomy in some jobs, but for every skill you lack, you are instantly worth less and less as a production artist.

Learn the basics:

Start off simple, with simple objects with simple shaders. It may sound obvious, but starting with a wooden bowl, or a book is a much better start than some creepy alien head. You need to learn why specularity works the way it does, how does a colored spec affect your final object? Why is the diffuse map so damn important? These things you'll learn when making an object you can compare against a real version of itself and see all of the problems and letdowns in your own work.

Attack your weaknesses!

If you ever notice you have a problem with a specific thing, attack it! Create a project that will focus on that one weakness the most. Attack it again and again until you solve the problem. These are the moments when I tend to suddenly have an epiphany that makes my art jump up a few levels at a time.

I'd say to also try and hit on those 2d skills whenever you are burnt out on 3d modeling. I missed out when I was teaching myself 3d, and now I work all day on 3d environments at my job, only to run home and paint all night in order to try and level up my 2d skills as fast as possible. Artists who can rock 2d pretty hard tend to have a much easier time painting textures, interpreting concept art, and adding their own bits of flair that makes it even better than what the concept artist had envisioned for it. (which also means working on your design skills rather than just painting from life.)

Good luck!

kinggambitben · Feb 2013

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm so pumped about jumping into modeling now!

Andreas · Feb 2013

kinggambitben wrote: »

2. A BIG obstacle for me; I've had social anxiety and, embarrassingly, bad breath which makes networking really difficult (hard to develop and maintain relationships in general). Currently, anxiety is less of an issue, but my odor issue still makes me cringe at talking to people in close quarters. I was wondering:
-For people who work in studios (or office environments), do you ever run into coworkers with odor issues? Introverts? Socially awkward people? If so, how do they fit into the development team? Is it much of a problem?

Has the cause been diagnosed? You should visit a dentist; could be caused by an infection that could cost you your gnashers eventually. See someone about it. :thumbup:

Kwramm wrote: »

often;) Although I'm here in China.

Aye. I'm in S.Korea, and they brush their teeth after they eat pretty much anything, but still a lot of people have super bad breath. Boggles my mind. It must be all the kimchi and ramen. :poly142:

Obstacles in path to game design career?

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