Here’s the introduction of a new series of little thoughts that won’t really fill out a full post.

Everyone likes to get involved.

If you have people in your pipeline that have to approve your work, at any level, they’ll probably want to get involved with your work. To make their mark. To make a difference. To take some form of action to justify the fact that they’re “doing their job.” Even if your work is absolutely perfect, they’ll have something to say about it.

This is often a pain in the ass, and it’s inevitable. More often than not, they’ll pick out something that’s a nightmare to change.

But hey, what can you do?

I’ll tell you. :)

What I suggest to you — whether you’re a manager looking at your boss, an artist looking at your AD, or an AD managing an artist — is find ways to leave your work looking about 95% complete. Make the final 5% it needs obvious.

People WILL meddle and want to have a hand in whatever you’re doing. Position your work in such a way that the final 5% that needs doing just immediately jumps out at them. They’ll point it out and suggest a change. You’ll say “Oh, shit! You’re right! I’ll do that!” then go in and fix it, show it to them again, get their approval now that they feel they’ve done their job, and the asset is done.

Everyone, everyone, everyone wants to feel involved. To have their say. To feel like they made their mark. Anticipate this! Simply define the boundaries in which people can be involved freely without severely affecting what you’re doing.

This requires a soft touch. Doing stupid, insulting, obvious shit like leaving a head off of a character or forgetting to color a concept is a slap in the face. It will make you look stupid and prove you don’t follow directions. Be subtle, be smart, and be respectful of peoples’ need to participate, and you’ll go far.

Here’s to thinking out loud!

I’ve decided that I need to have a clean and clear concept art repository. As it is, everything is really spread out and too dependent on me remembering where random crap is instead of actually being intuitive. My motto: If it only exists inside your head, it’s worthless.

So where do I begin? (more…)

I’m dealing with contractors that are rigging models now, and I was thinking, what would be the best way to illustrate the problems I find?

“Just look at the shoulders” is too vague. Saying “the knee looks funny when it’s bent” is a little better but not much. It seems like it’d be most useful to create simple markers to show when, where and how the rig is broken. How can I do that?

What I ended up deciding to do was create a test animation (if one didn’t already exist) and scrub through it to spot issues. Whenever I spot an issue, I do the following:

1. Take a screenshot.
2. Note the frame number.
3. In Photoshop, circle the problem area.
4. Next to the problem area, write down the frame number.
5. Below the problem area, write a brief description of the issue. (if needed)

From there, I send the contractor the separate screenshots I take as well as the MAX file with the test animation. That way they can open up the MAX file, scrub to the correct frame, look at the screenshot, find the problem and quickly fix it. It minimizes the amount of written communication by being direct, visual and simple. Saves me time, saves them time.

This is the best I’ve got so far. Anyone else have any ideas? :)

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 that have naming conventions that eventually proved to be a bit crap. Finally, we decided on a naming convention, but now we have the really old stuff we inherited, the older stuff we did ourselves, and the new assets we’re making now. That’s three different conflicting conventions. Cool.

I would go back and rename everything, but those are extremely deep and interconnected changes that touch hundreds of files. If any one of those is inconsistent, everything will come crashing down. All I can do is patch the problem.

So, if I’m doing any kind of modification on older assets, which naming convention do I stick to?

There were two things I could do:

1. Stick to the old naming convention for that particular asset, so it’ll still make sense in context with itself.
2. Use the new naming convention, even though it makes the new \ modified asset stand out and make less sense.

Ultimately, I decided that the smartest and best thing to do would be to stick to the NEW naming convention. Start doing it right IMMEDIATELY.

Fine, it’ll stand out and it won’t make sense in the context of the old named asset, but every NEW asset I make will bring things closer to a unified whole. Every little bit I can do matters, and the earlier I be decisive the fewer the problems I’ll have to deal with later. Less to rename later, right? It’ll be harder to deal with now but this decision will pay off later.

I’m surprised I waffled on that earlier considering how simple this decision seems to be, but everything is always different when you’re actually inside the situation and have a clear view of what’s going on. :)

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 on his asset type.

So that leads to the question — what does a contractor need to be able to do his job? That’s a big list, so let’s give an example. If I were to hire a new animator, this is the type of data I would put in a contractor kit for him:

• Technical specifications. For each asset type in my game, there is a guidelines document with detailed technical specifications. For animators, I made another post called On Contracting Animators that has a good list.
• List of animations. There’s a complete list of animations for characters, creatures and other animatable objects that I store in another, separate document. I break down each type of asset into characters, creatures, animated objects, and miscellaneous. From there, I break each down into structured lists divided by their role in the game. For example, creatures are either Melee (hand-to-hand combat), Ranged (attack with guns or bows), and Caster (magic user). Each role has a unique animation set, so I list all the animations in each set. This is especially useful for when I want to create a new creature, before I even outsource it I can say “Okay, Fat Ogre 3 is going to use the Melee and Ranged Animation Sets.” I don’t have to decide which animations it has one by one every time I want a new creature, because I already figured it out beforehand. Then when I send the list of animations to the animator, I can simply copy and paste those pre-made animation lists. Time savings ahoy!
• The exporter. I include a copy of our proprietary 3DSMAX exporter plugin, along with simple installation and usage instructions.
• The tool. I include a copy of our proprietary Model Editor, along with simple usage instructions so the animator can create usable assets for our engine. Why should I have to?
• Animation samples. I have directories set aside that offer example animations of every sequence for each type of creature and animatable object. There’s a directory for the Melee Animation Set that has sample animations for every sequence in that set, and so on for everything else that needs an example. I *never* leave gaps in reference for things like this.
• Style guides. I include the style guides relevant to the race of creature he’ll be animating, so he can see the other members of that race, their size in relation to each other, and get a sense of their attitude.
• Scale guide. I have a MAX file demonstrating the scale of the object in the world so the animator can get a better sense of scale and how to animate what it is I’m giving him.
• FAQ. I’ve assembled a brief FAQ full of common questions I’ve been asked by my contractors. One very important note I’d like to make about the FAQ: It was a huge breakthrough to me to realize that every time I talk to one of my contractors to explain something or answer a question, I’m generating documentation. Everything I say is usable. So I just remember to write it down in one document, organize it, give it a coat of spit-shine, and my project is better-documented. :) Documentation doesn’t have to be a big ugly mess that I have to sit down for hours and do… it can be incremental. (why answer the same question more than once?)

I have all these files set aside in a special ‘contractor kits’ directory under another subdirectory specific to them. For example in C:\work\contractor_kits\ you would find \Character_Art_Production_Kit\, \Animation_Production_Kit\, \Environment_Art_Production_Kit\, etc. Zipped copies exist in each of these directories so any time I have a new hire, I simply copy and paste the ZIP and that’s everything they’ll need to know, in detail.

This is an awful lot of preparation and organizational work, but considering my circumstances (straddling art director\art manager\producer\artist roles simultaneously) it saves me a LOT of time. Or, it will, once I finish putting all of them together. :)

To the contract smArtists out there — what kind of information and resources do you wish YOU had from your clients?

Here’s a fun one: How do you keep track of a team of external artists?

First, define what needs to be tracked:

1. Who’s working for me?
2. What do they do?
3. Are they active?
4. How much are they being paid?
5. What contracts are they working on?
6. What date was that contract started?
7. Has the contract been signed?
8. Have they finished the work?
9. Have they invoiced for the work?
10. Have they been paid for the work?
11. How much money am I spending?

This is a dizzying amount of information to keep track of, on top of simply managing everything they do at a low level. So what do I do? Click the jump to read more! (more…)

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 makes $3750. It’s perfectly logical to break it down into the exact number of icons you need and pay them for each one, right? Of course. It makes even more sense to build this directly into the terms of the contract itself, doesn’t it? Naturally!

But what happens if, in the middle of the contract, you decide you only need 71 icons? Or 77? You have to quickly cobble something together for them to do, amend the contract, or add something onto the next contract, or create a new contract just for the overage. You can waste a huge amount of time trying to fix it in any one of these ways.

But I have a simple way around it — roll it into one bulk price. It’s a very simple three-step process:

1. Itemize it. Figure out exactly to the number how many assets you need: 75 icons.
2. Price it. Negotiate a fair rate for each asset: $50 per icon.
3. Bulk it. Multiply the number by the price, come up with a total, and make that price one flat, flexible unit: $3,750 for approximately 75 icons.

You MUST specify carefully how much above or below that number ‘approximately’ is so no one takes advantage of the other. In this case, I think a cap of plus two or minus four icons is acceptable. Be ethical. This is supposed to save time renegotiating and amending contracts for you and your contractor, and is NOT to give you a tool to get more for your money. First and foremost, be a decent human and respect your people so they’ll want to keep working for you.

This has been a useful tool for me to save time with my contractors when I’m outsourcing really simple, small stuff whose numbers change constantly. Whenever I can, I make sure to keep the absorption even on both sides. “Whoops, I only need 72 instead of 75. That cool?” and “Crap, I need 76 instead of 75. That cool?” And never let it get too one-sided. You’re people, you’ve been working together for a while and you trust each other. “Hey dude, yeah, sure, I’ll get this one. It’s cool.”

If you abuse this to take advantage of a contractor, you are an asshole. This will bite you in the ass, and please stop reading my site. :)

Here are a few valuable things I’ve learned about dealing with contractors.

1. 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 particular area to work on, or describe what exactly to do with it, it’s ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS easier to simply take a screenshot of it and paint over it. In this manner, I can boil thirty big words down to one big red arrow. :) It saves time on your end, it’s easier to understand on their end, and everybody wins.




2. Issue shorter contracts. This varies wildly from company to company, but in my experience in working with individual contractors, shorter contracts equals being paid more frequently. I always renew contracts unless I state as far in advance as possible that my needs are ending. I find it tends to motivate the contractors more if they have smaller, more easily digestible chunks of work that come in at a steady clip rather than big fat contracts that take forever to finish. They ALWAYS slow down on big contracts, so I give them short ones so the end is always within reach. It’s never failed me. :)




3. If you doubt their ability, find someone else. Several times I’ve fallen into a trap where I’m not entirely sure someone can do the job I need to do, but I hire them to do it anyway. I’ve always regretted it. I’m a firm believer in giving someone ONE solid, firm, impossible to misunderstand chance to turn themselves around. If they can’t keep it together then, tell them why and cut them loose. If they were up to the task, they would have done it right the first time. If it took the threat of dismissal to make them perform, what good are they? You can’t rely on always holding them out over a fire to motivate them. Use the time you’d have spent ‘motivating’ them on finding people that function properly.




4. Write everything down. There are many reasons for this, the simplest being you forgetting something you said that you needed to remember, and the more serious of which being contractual disputes. I ran into a nasty one of the latter recently where one of my artists was claiming I asked him to do work that I didn’t put in the contract, and naturally he wanted to be paid for it. Fortunately, I managed to set the record straight by finding an email I’d sent him asking him to do the work and telling him I’d pay him more for it, and the followup email of him agreeing to the higher pay.




5. Never badmouth a contractor. I’ve never done this and I never intend to. No matter how bad someone may be or act, these are still real people with real lives, just like you. It never pays to burn bridges, even ones that there seems to be no risk in burning. If you run off at the mouth about someone you don’t like and affect their job, that could affect their own ability to put food in their kids’ mouths. Yes, that’s their responsibility and not yours, but why spread bad blood? It’s a bad strategy because it closes off options, no matter which way you cut it. Do unto others…




6. Be careful about promises. I’m a man of my word and I take what I say very seriously, and I want to be a good and reliable boss to my contractors. That being said, I have to be very careful about the things I promise them because development realities are constantly changing, and that’s out of my control. Our budget could be cut tomorrow, we could change an entire feature set, the project could be canned, or we could simply reallocate our other resources to handle needs as they come up. I call it Expectation Management. If you set clear, realistic, conservative expectations, and be damned careful about the promises you make, you’ll be perceived as a better boss than if you promised them the stars and could only give them the moon.




7. Always appreciate. Even if someone’s doing a bad job, find that cloud’s silver lining. Be positive and supportive. You won’t gain anything by tearing your people down. If you can find the good in what they do, and talk positively about ways to improve it (but being firm about your expectations) and you’ll get better results than if you rob them of their will to try.

Anyone else have any tips? What about from a contractor’s standpoint?

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 per sequence, are revisions included in the flat rate or are they priced differently? Is there a maximum number of iterations?
• What’s the animation framerate? (30?)
• What’s the style of animation? (realistic, cartoony, cartoony realism?)
• What type of sequences are there? (Run, walk, jump, attack, pain)
• What’s the average length of each sequence? (2 secs, 5 secs, 10 secs)
• Is the animator creating the skeleton himself?
• Is rigging involved?
• How much initial direction is there? (i.e., everything is predefined animation length, ideas set in stone and clearly communicated, OR leave it up to the animator to figure out)
• Who’s on implementation? (Are you going to handle all the game’s implementation inhouse or will he? Depending on how important accurate and perfect animation is to the game, it may be easier to set up your animator or animators with a copy of the game and the ability to export to the game and test)
• Remote or on-site?


• How fast do you want it?

Thanks to Scott for the last two!

Might I have left anything else out? (discounting the obvious like which animation package, or the highly variable like if it’s a biped or a quadruped, etc)

I hope this’ll be helpful to people. If so, let me know!

MIT’s Sloan School of Management Open Courseware

MIT recently released most (if not all) of their courses online for free. I discovered today that that includes their famous school of management. I’m all for education, especially if it’s free, and wanted to get this link out there to people that want to learn like me. :)

One of the biggest production bottlenecks on my project is my ability to implement art into the game. I’m essentially serving as art director (jointly with our lead designer), art manager, lead artist, and I have other producery and technical artisty responsibilities as well. There isn’t enough time in the day to do everything I need to do, and when you have a team of artists that need constant feedback on their work, it’s exceedingly difficult to make time for some things.

In this case, the production aspect that gets crunched is the implementation phase, which is difficult, complex and time-consuming. Since I can’t very well commission art that I never put in the game, I needed to start making time to put the art in the game. I’ve tried that before but I constantly get distracted by minor emergencies and end up never getting anything done.

I always wished I could have a day away from everyone to just sit down and crank away on art and get it in the game without any outside distractions. But unfortunately, I’m in a position of great responsibility and I really can’t afford to take that kind of time away from other things. I mean, lots of people depend on me, and art, as a whole, does NOT happen unless I’m doing it. I’m always just so crushed for time that I can’t divert myself even for a moment.

Or can I?

I thought about it and realized that, no matter how much time I set aside to work, be it 9 hours a day or 18 hours, I always get about the same amount of work done. Every time. I found that interesting: No matter how much time I have, I always use it all getting something done.

Naturally, at the extreme ends of the scale (2 hours a day vs 22 hours a day) I’d see significant differences in my output, but it got me to thinking that four days a week (plus the time I spend working from home) can neatly accomodate all my other responsibilities without the world ending.

So, emboldened by this realization, I decided I’m taking Wednesdays off from everyone. I call them “Fuck Everybody Wednesdays.” I shut off my IM, I shut off my email, I don’t answer my phone and I do NOTHING but start putting art in the game. I tell all my artists and coworkers in advance that, from now on, I’m having nothing to do with them on Wednesdays, and any issues can wait until Thursday, no matter what they are.

So far it’s been working out extremely well. :) I’m steadily cranking out new art in the game, and the freedom from distraction has enabled me to come up with a lot of new ideas for making the process easier, and even automating it in some cases. What a difference that self-discipline and focus can make!

Never say you don’t have enough time, because you’re probably wrong. Just make time. Everything will sort itself out. :)

I’ve noticed in the past that when I send back a list of requested changes to my contractors, if there’s more than one change, sometimes they’ll forget one or two. It’s a simple mistake, because I’m often trying to transmit a lot of information, and some of it can just slip their mind.

I quickly stopped writing entire paragraphs containing several changes, and boiled them down to individual bullet points. But still, sometimes a bullet point would be forgotten, and the problem still wasn’t entirely solved. So to combat the changes falling through the cracks, I’ve discovered a useful tip that seems to work best: Numbered Bullet Points.

Bullet points themselves are a useful way of dividing large ideas into several smaller ones that are easier to communicate and understand. But bullet points alone aren’t enough. By using numbered bullet points, you assign a VALUE to each bullet point, and it reads more like a step-by-step list with concepts that can be quickly referred to by their number value.

“I see you completed changes 1 and 3, but not 2?”

More than half of my job is learning how to organize and distill information into small, easily understandable, meaningful bites that create their own context. Numbered bullet points are one of the many tools in my arsenal. You’ll notice I often even use them in my writing… :)