Contrary to general belief, production challenges in a game art studio can get out of hand pretty quick.
Art created in a game art outsourcing studio differs in theme and genre since clients show up with projects different in nature and context. Managing several projects simultaneously, interacting with artists and clients, and sticking to the deadlines altogether are not without difficulties.
A little failure in the middle of the process can result in loads of problems, from falling behind deadlines and finding suitable substitutes to dealing with irate clients who will almost certainly receive their artworks somewhere past their deadlines.
However, it is not just limited to these. To maintain the correct criteria, a producer must keep a comprehensive open eye on measures before the unexpected occurs. You may predict and name a few of the production’s roadblocks, but to know it all, you must first be able to view it production-wise. Apart from these challenges, working with an outsourcing game art studio has its own pros.
What are the production challenges in game art studion
Matching the project to the right artist
Artists and their areas of expertise come in many forms. But to ensure the quality of the outcome, the producer needs to drag “the right guy” into the project. You cannot assign a 3D prop artist to design hard surfaces if they are not familiar with hard surface designs. As a producer, you must know the team’s strong aspects. You should know who is the best with retopos and the best with the anatomy. Time is everything, so matching the task to the right artist can save a lot of headaches and buy some time in case things go wrong.
Managing multiple projects simultaneously
Art house schedules can become pretty hectic if not observed and well-planned, specifically for large art houses with over 20 employees. A well-defined production plan will maintain a consistent workflow. A producer must remain ahead of other teams in order to establish sprints, milestones and calculate burndowns to keep the efficiency and ensure on-time delivery by doing the necessary actions at the right time. Daily meetings with active teams and constant communication would help a great deal in quickly resolving any problems and handling multiple projects simultaneously.
Keeping the Quality Consistent in All Projects
Yes, but no. Of course, consistency in quality is essential in artwork; this is how you keep your business going and profitable. The issue, however, is in achieving the quality that corresponds to the project’s aesthetics. It simply means avoiding overqualification and under qualification. Overqualification wastes time and resources, whereas under qualification may result in termination of a collaboration, loss of a precious client, and eventually, the worst-case scenario: A bad reputation. The art director and producer work hand-in-hand to keep the quality within the project’s standards. Committing to polygon limits, and choosing artists based on the level of quality standards are key elements to a neat production.
Communication with artists and picky clients
It’s not an easy task. It appears like a simple QC or a discussion about details with the client. But trust me, it’s only until you discover you have a client that has no idea what’s going on in their head. Communication skills and an eye for details are required to comprehend their requirements and prevent your team from falling into the tedious cycle of “testing everything out” to gain the client’s approval. Also, communication with artists is another issue since many of them live in different time zones. But with a firm and strong management, missing chances will stay quite low.
Tough and unrealistic deadlines in a game art studio
Let’s face the fact that at the moment of reading this article, our industry suffers greatly from worktime overload, which we call “crunch.” Unfortunately, it is unavoidable sometimes. Publishers and big studios has no other choice to force that upon artists and their outsourcing studios, and on-time delivery compels the studios to go through that. The producer needs to practice this threshold of exhaustion for their team to maintain a balanced working hours to get the required result. A way to achieve that is to expand the team as much as budget allows, divide the workload equally, and cover the extra hours needed to complete the project.
Here in Polydin Game art Studio, we gather veterans to develop battle-tested and budget-friendly methods and utilize them to create AAA artworks. We have in-house art direction as we believe it is a necessity for the quality of the outcome. Our experts aim for a scope of the client’s needs, and they have ears to comprehend your projects entirely. You can consult with our professionals about your next project and start your long term business relation with us today.
