#game industry

[slitherpunk]

this can only funny to me to me at this point. oh who could have seen this coming. hundreds of layoffs and dozens of studio closures. what do you mean there's no video games

[ayeforscotland]

Remember that whole strike thing? What the fuck was that for again?

There’s no going back once you open that gate. This is fucking depressing.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why the media CEOs will always learn the wrong lessons

Yesterday a friend and I talked about how the entire (AAA) game industrie looked at BG3 being as popular as it is and going: "Oh, we need to produce 100+ hour games, I guess! Those sell!" Which... obviously is not why it is popular. The game is not popular because it has 100+ hours of gameplay, but because it has engaging characters, that are well-acted and that work as good hooks for the players. Like, let's face it: The reason why I so far have sunken 160 hours into this game is, because I wanna spend time with these characters - and because I wanna give them their happy endings.

But the same has happened too, just a bit earlier this year, right? When Barbie broke the 1 billion and every Hollywood CEO went: "Oh, so the people want movies based on toy franchises! Got it!" To which the internet at large replied: "... How is that the lesson you learned from this?"

Well, let me explain to you, why this is the lesson they learn: It is because the CEOs and the boards of directors at large are not artists or even engaged with the medium they produce. They mostly are economists. And their dry little hearts do not understand stuff more complex than numbers and spread sheets.

That sounds evil, I know, but... It is sadly the truth. When they look at a successful movie/series/game/book/comic, they look at it as a product, not a piece of art or narrative. It is just a product that has very clear metrics.

To them Barbie is not a movie with interesting stylistic choices that stand out from the majority of high budget action blockbusters. It is a toy movie with mildly feminist themes.

Or Oppenheimer is not a movie to them with a strong visual language and good acting direction. No, it is a historical blockbuster.

And this is true for basically every form of media. I mean, books are actually a fairly good example. In my life I do remember the big book fads that happened. When Harry Potter was a success, there was at least a dozen other "magical school" book series being released. When Twilight was a big success there was suddenly an endless number of "teen girl falls in love with bad boy, who is [magical creature]" YA. When the Hunger Games was a success, there were hundreds of "YA dystopia" books. Meanwhile in adult reading, we had the big "next Game of Throne" fad.

Of course, the irony is, that within each of those fads there might have been one or two somewhat successful series - but never even one that came even close to whatever started the fad.

Or with movies, we have seen it, too. When Avengers broke the 1 billion (which up to this point only few movies did) the studios went: "Ooooooh, so we need shared universe film series" - and then all went to try and fail to create their own cinematic universe.

Because the people, who call the shots, are just immensely desinterested in the thing they are selling. They do not really care about the content. All they care about is having a supposedly easy avenue of selling it. Just as they do not care about the consumer. All they care about is that the consumer buys it. Why he buys it... Well, they do not care. They could not care less, in fact.

So, yeah, get ready for a 20 overproduced games with a bloated 100+ hours of empty gameplay, but without the engaging characters. And for like at least 15 more moves based on some toy franchise, that nobody actually cares about.

And then get ready for all the CEOs to do the surprised Pikachu face, when all of that ends up not financially successful.

Really, I read some interviews yesterday from some AAA-studio CEOs and their blatant shock and missing understanding on why BG3 works for so many people.

Because, yeah... capitalism does not appreciate art. Capitalism does not understand art. It only understands spread sheets.

[nentuaby]

I do think we need to acknowledge that an important part of the reason Indie games seem to be taking over is that the AAA bar has been raised so hard that "Indie" now covers teams that would have been considered full blown studios not all that long ago. Like. Fucking Supergiant is a small indie team of just... *counts* 26 people. Like in the 2d days people made commercial releases for major publishers in teams consisting of An Artist, A Programmer, A Composer, and maybe A Writer. Now literal thousands of people get worked into burnout and then laid off for every Battleduty game.

These goalposts have shifted to the moon.

[madame-helen]

[non-boo-nary]

Hey!

I think the success of Silksong proves that games with accessible prices, and good premises, and that take time to make ARE POSSIBLE

So please, remember that indie devs are trying (and succeeding) to keep the game industry alive and they can take every bit of support they need!

All of this to say: hug your local game dev today

[pinkplasticfangs]

So I noticed you have a BFA and I'm thinking of pursuing an art degree and possibly getting a BFA myself once I graduate high school. I'm currently a junior, and doing stuff like AP classes/college classes, attempting to build a portfolio to get a possible scholarship, and stuff like that! I want to know if it's worth it, and I'm specifically planning to go somewhere leaning more towards the animation industry. Stuff like character design, storyboard artist, and ideally an animator. I know its kinda weird asking literally a stranger on tumblr, and I understand animation isnt your expertise, but your art has been a big inspiration and I've used it to help and improve my own art skills!

DAWWW I'm honored you're coming to me for advice!! I'll try to do my best and give you for full run down:

WHAT YOU'LL WANT TO DO PRE-COLLEGE:

I try to tell this to anyone who is thinking about going into college - if you have the sneaking suspicion you have any form of mental/physical illness, PLEASE try to get it diagnosed and treat it now. College acts like a sort of stress-test to your body with all of the new changes it's introducing. If you have anything underlying, it WILL exasperate it. For example, after my first year of art school, I had a bad mental breakdown and couldn't draw for the entire summer because of how burnt out I was. I wasn't medicated for ADHD yet, so I spent sooo many nights doing all nighters and sleeping mid-day bc I couldn't start tasks that I lost the ability to do an all nighter again. So many of my classmates dropped out/failed bc their bodies couldn't cope and they didn't know how to course-correct and treat their issues. PLEASE, go get medicated before it really starts to matter!

Regarding your AP classes and college credit - excellent! It's good that you're starting now, because it will save you so much money lol. In my case, I had the options to either a) cover the class entirely and take the next class in the sequence, or b) have it cover the cost of said class, but still take it. I chose the latter bc I was told it was good to learn what your school considered it's fundamentals, and I don't entirely regret it lol. Something REALLY important to do now, though, is look at the schools your applying to's websites and check what college credits they'll accept. Art schools, since they're private, are infamous for not accepting a lot of college credit lol. Most likely, your AP art credits will cover your first 1-2 intro art classes, your AP Lit/Lang credits will cover a few of your required writing classes, AP Math (ex. Calculus AB) MIGHT cover a required math class, and anything else will filter into your misc. credits. So please, check their websites, and if they don't have it, email the school directly. Pester the right people until you have a solution! As an exercise, check out CalArts' transfer credit policy and see where it takes you. This is also an important time to look at their course sequence, aka what classes you have to take to get a specific degree/major/etc. This is what ppl on tiktok always yell about when discussing their career advisors not telling them they're missing a credit. While some blame is on them, that is mostly YOUR responsibility to take care of - career advisors wade through hundreds, sometimes thousands of students: they're GOING to miss you if you did not specifically request their help. Again, CalArts course sequence exercise for y'all. (As a cheat, go to page 107 for art course requirements. Here's another easier to read page as well, though most of the time you'll be scanning pdfs lol)

Regarding your portfolio - also excellent! It's both good for scholarships, and as a requirement for many art schools. If/When you submit a portfolio for either a scholarship or a school, my biggest advice is this - go onto the school/program's website and check their specific portfolio requirements if you haven't already. The biggest reason students get their portfolio rejected is because they didn't follow the directions and thought it was a "suggestion" lol. For example, my school had you include very specific drawings, like "draw a realistic shoe in perspective" or "include at least one page of figure drawings from observation". As an exercise for those of you out there, try reading through CalArts' portfolio requirements. If you have the stomach anon, try attending a portfolio night at your school, in the community, online, or with a professional artist you trust. You'll get some good feedback if you're worried about the quality of your work.

Regarding scholarships - awesome!!! Keep applying to a bunch of them, even ones you don't think you'll get, because it'll save you so much money!! Also keep in mind that there are all sorts of ways and paths you can take to save money and do college your way. For example, my old high school college art program professor took a bunch of community college classes to cover credits (since it was cheaper to take them elsewhere than the art college), and took a job as a firefighter for a few years before going in. Another example, my bff decided to spread their credits across 5 years so the course load wouldn't be as heavy, and they could work a little more during the week/weekend. Just know - if you need a gap year of need to take a less usual route to better save money and preserve your sanity, do it! And start thinking about it now, so you and your parents can come up with a plan to best financially support you. My tuition must've risen by like, $1000 every year due to inflation and bullshit, so plan for some financial pitfalls and emergencies.

COLLEGE:

Make the most out of your college experience by attending classes, getting to know your professors/communicating when things go wrong, get along with your classmates, and go to guest talks/career/industry events. Obviously don't burn yourself out, but between building your portfolio and grades, NETWORK!! Oh my god, network, be in the room with people you want to work with, talk with industry professionals, meet new people, get your name out there, NETWORK! It is one of the MAIN ways you will get a job in these industries. People always talk about how art is a career/industry for asocial people when that is the BIGGEST LIE in the world! Build your social skills, learn how to talk to people, it MATTERS A LOT!

CAREER BREAKDOWN + WORTH:

Considering worth, it really depends on what specifically you want to do. To be completely honest with you - TV/Movie animation and Game is very competitive, and the industry (specifically tv) is in a rough spot post-covid, and may stay like that since we're probably heading into (if we aren't already in) a recession. If you don't know what a recession is, research the dot-com boom/bubble burst, and the 2008 economic crisis. The AI boom is looking strikingly similar, so do keep in mind that you wanna make some smart financial decisions whilst pursuing your dream.

If you're looking into character design/storyboard artist/animator routes, here's what I remember from college:

Character Design: SUPER competitive. You'll often need to know both good illustration practices, and 3D modeling. Need to be good at iterating a lot of different ideas in a short amount of time, and be able to listen well/understand your art director's design rules.

Storyboard Artist: Also VERY competitive and fast paced. You'll want to study anatomy and figure drawing, and get really, really good at perspective and understanding the camera/good composition. You need to be good at drawing fast, and drawing well. Positions in the US is small compared to Canada/Europe, and the pace tends to churn through people within a few years. If you love it, go for it, but have a backup plan for if/when you burn out. Pay is really good, but at something of a tradeoff - you'll get paid a very good salary, but you'll need to sustain off of it for a few months in-between contracts. VERY central to California and Canada, so be prepared to move.

Animator: Depends. If you're a 2D animator, that doesn't really exist anymore in the US outside of small niche projects - that's become your storyboarding position. You'll need to move to Canada or Europe to find 2D work, and you can bet they're probably going to prefer citizens over immigrants for the position, unless you're being sent over by contract from a company. The only real 2D cases I can think of that I see listing for near me are like, motion graphics. If you're a 3D animator though, you're in luck! TV/Movies/Game/Marketing are always going to need a good 3D animator, especially if you have a niche or 2 your competition doesn't have. This can look like Character Animation, Creature Animation, VFX systems, Cloth/Simulated Animation, Tech Art, etc etc.

I know this looks... grim, but that's the current state of the industry, whether we like it or not. And, from my experience, your interests may shift around the more you explore in college. I went in wanting to be a character designer and animator, absolutely hating painting, to becoming a concept artist/visual developer, and having some interests/strengths in art direction and character rigging. If you do go to an art school, try to keep an open mind. Don't pursue something just because it'll make you a lot of money, either - your dream matters. Just know it might take a while to get there, and/or it may not entirely be what you expect.

If you wanna go indie instead and do your own projects/sustain off of commissions and the like: A few years ago, I did an experiment at a big convention - I went up to every independent comic artist and illustrator I could talk to, and asked how they sustained themselves, and I got roughly the same answer: I have a main money-making job, and I do my passion project (comic/illustration/animation) on the side, usually because it doesn't make as much money. To a young person it sounds bad, but as someone who's in this position now, it's not inherently bad. It may not be my perfect job, but I don't have to stay like this forever. I can apply to anything or change my path, go corporate, etc etc. Point is, you don't have to pick one thing to do forever and stay like that forever. Keep an open mind, and explore.

Ultimately, go do what you love!! You may have to work harder to get into specific paths, but with enough skill and networking, you'll be okay! For now, keep doing what you're currently doing, get those scholarships, build your portfolio, and apply!