Learning In Progress #7: Changing naming conventions
Here’s a simple lesson I’ve learned: If you’re going to change the file naming conventions on your game, start doing it right immediately and make no exceptions. Sounds simple, but we have a lot of legacy assets we inherited that have naming conventions we’ve chosen to change. We also have some assets we made ourselves [...]
Learning In Progress #6: Contractor Kits
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and a fair amount of work lately building perfect modular kits for my contractors so they can get started quicker and have to ask fewer questions. The idea is that I’d like to have one single ZIP file that contains everything a new contractor needs to get started [...]
What Would A Game Developer Do?
I just found a great post by Gianfranco over at GBGames that’s called What Would A Game Developer Do? Gianfranco starts out detailing focus problems we all relate to, then drops some knowledge in the form of solid tips on surrounding yourself with things that motivate you. Then he breathlessly goes straight into conditioning your [...]
Learning In Progress #5: Instant overview of contractor and budget information!
Here’s a fun one: How do you keep track of a team of external artists? First, define what needs to be tracked: Who’s working for me? What do they do? Are they active? How much are they being paid? What contracts are they working on? What date was that contract started? Has the contract been [...]
4 Tips on Making More Money as a Contractor
Want to know how to make more money as a contractor? Here are some tips. Be fast. Show me you can produce good work quickly. Don’t drag your heels and always make sure to underpromise and overdeliver. If you think it’ll take a day, tell me two and get it to me sooner than that. [...]
Outsourcing a lot of tiny stuff made easier
I have a handy tip for building a contract made up of lots of very small quick-to-make items with a fast turnaround, like icons. I only do this with long-term contractors that I’ve built a trusting relationship with. Let’s say you want to outsource small icon art. Say $50 per icon for 75 icons. That [...]
4 Time Estimate Tips for Contractors
Here’s something for the smArtists out there! These will hopefully give you an insight into how an employer thinks and how to be a better and smArter contractor. :) Never overpromise. So you have a habit of being inappropriately optimistic with time estimates and are constantly slipping. Recognize the pattern. Realize that when you say [...]
Link: Art for Games, not Games for Art
I just checked out Rick Stirling’s excellent blog and found an article for young artists that I wholeheartedly agree with… it’s called Art for games, not games for art. Basically he posits that one of the chief considerations of art for games is putting the needs of the game above your own art and your [...]
101 Hidden Tips and Secrets for Photoshop
Found a cool article this morning: 101 Hidden Tips and Secrets for Photoshop Some useful information in here I didn’t know. A few repeats, but here were some of the highlights I found most useful: 5. Sick of the default gray background around your image? Select paint bucket, hold shift and click on the gray [...]
7 tips for dealing with contractors
Here are a few valuable things I’ve learned about dealing with contractors. If it takes more than ten words to describe it, take a picture. This applies most to me when I have lists of changes for my contractors to make. I find that if it takes more than ten words to point out the [...]
On contracting animators
I just made a forum post responding to someone that was asking about basic rates for animation. I mentioned that more details needed to be provided, and I listed a few that may be helpful for if you’re considering outsourcing animation. How will you be paying? (Paid per day, per hour, or per sequence?) If [...]