SPECKING OUT AAA ART DEVELOPMENT Know the Hell you’re getting into!

STEFAN BAIER Pipeline Architect / Co-Founder of Streamline Studios Focus on IPs Client Communication Production Management Introduction RENIER BANNINGA Studio Art Director /Co-Founder of Streamline Studios Focus on Art Direction Research and Development for new Art application

Streamline Studios is a world leading production studio and provider of creative content for the video game industry. 8 years as an established global player over 40 projects for top-tier clients went through our fully vetted integrated content development pipeline Introduction

But sometimes….

It’s easy…

To lose sight…

Of the Big Picture

WHAT IS THE AAA DEVELOPMENT STANDARD?

Different Methods evolve, challenges remain the same

BETTER PRE PRODUCTION?

REUSING CONTENT?

HOPEFULLY BETTER SCHEDULING?

NEXT GEN GAMES

Rising Costs, Rising Challenges, Rising Team Size … Can’t Afford Mistakes Quicker Turnaround Times Managerial Skills/Strategy skills growing in importance Investments into tools and Infrastructure crucial NEXT GEN GAMES

PLANNING - Art Technology & Strategy

 A Clear Technology Standpoint  Identify Key Features and Production Tools  Red Flags / Prioritize – Missing / Must Haves PLANNING - Art Technology & Strategy

PLANNING - Tools

 Ready-Made tools or dedicated staff internally  Streaming data crucial to success in future tech  Debugging and Hardware Resources PLANNING - Tools

PLANNING – Team Setup

 Understand Development needs (Timeline)  Code-Design-Art loop centralized and track-able!  Identify Production Teams/Categories  Establish solid QA Specifications  Confirm External Internal Partner Resources  Specialized teams with different support roles PLANNING – Team Setup TEAM SETUP - PRODUCTION

CodeDesignArt Research, Orientation, Planning Research, Orientation, Planning Fidelity vs. Performance Fidelity vs. Performance Content Usecase Visual and Audio Style Visual and Audio Style Creation Execution Key Assets Gameplay, Blockouts, Iteration PLANNING – Team Setup

TEAM SETUP - ART  Art types defined – Character, Environment, etc.  How to best manage art groups  How to avoid idle time during productions  Ref Gathered and briefs  Hardware/Supporting Systems (Renderfarm/Devkits) PLANNING – Team Setup

PLANNING – Consistency and Quality Standards

 Standards for Everything – Quality and Detail  Imagine beyond intended usage of Assets  Define Quality Types – Heroic/Basic/etc PLANNING – Consistency and Quality Standards

PLANNING - Blockouts

 Blockouts Created Early for everything.  Careful with cutting corners PLANNING - Blockouts

INFRASTRUCTURE

MANAGERIAL STRUCTURES TO BE SET UP  Consider the other Departments Clients  Work Order Forms from Clients  Approval Stages worked out and roles clarified  Phased Content Creation overview  Codified Database Synchronized Names across all structures INFRASTRUCTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE – Meta Data

Meta Data and Asset Categorizations  Make things logical and consistent to find  High Level Layers for environments ( foundation pieces, deco, background, interactive, lighting)  Categorize Filters for vehicles/weapons/etc  Naming conventions for Archetypes INFRASTRUCTURE – Meta Data

REALTIME ASSESSMENT/REPORTING TOOLS  QA Checklist for Artwork  Realtime Review and Approval workflows automated!  Reporting Structures set up  Build team and reporting structure for Scale. ( Small units, large groups) INFRASTRUCTURE – Meta Data

INFRASTRUCTURE – Efficiency and Reuse

EFFICIENCY AND REUSE  Constantly optimize art pipes with heaviest load  What planning do you have for your art?  Reuse Strategy – Similar Assets that can benefit each other  How to avoid repeating artwork uselessly INFRASTRUCTURE – Efficiency and Reuse

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Revisions based on Information Gathering  Approval/Review/Iterations add up – readjusting  Ensure Final Hardware Testing  IT and Art Manager Dedicated to Art content Management

Educational Metrics and Assessments  Sharing of Art production methods  Encourage artists to author tools/tutorials  Wiki good base for artist based information INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

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