Outsourcing: Studio Process

Who am I? Executive Art Director

What do I do? Oversee and maintain

quality of art studio-wide Manage production Artist career

management R & D new technology Relationship

Management

Pandemic Studios

Outsourcing!!

Pandemic History

Outsourcing art for 7 years. Star Wars: The Clone wars

Vehicles & characters Full Spectrum Warrior (1 & 2)

Buildings Mercenaries 2, Saboteur & Lord of

the Rings Vehicles, buildings and characters Animation 60-70%

Pandemic Studios

OP studios

Outsourcing Studios

Outsource Companies AMC Studio (Romania) 37 employees

XPEC (Taiwan, China) 437 employees

OP studios

Animation Outsourcing House of Moves (Los Angeles) 8 animators

Technicolor (Los Angeles) 12+ animators

Outsourcing Studios

Process

Outsourcing: Production

Failures

Lack of complete asset list Unclear schedule commitment Concept art delay

Slow concept sheet production Idle OP

Slow revision requests Inaccurate task estimations > Increase cost to

OP Asset complications

More complicated = more bugs= internal or revise

OP morale

Where does our process fail?

And Crappy Art!Production Phases

Production: Phases

Package

Creation

Revision

Approval

What’s in a package? Content Creation Guide

(CCG) Setup and method

Instruction Sheet Lists deliverables

Concept Sheet Dimensions and details

Creation: Package

CCG

Content Creation Guide

Creation: Package

Instr. Sheet

Instruction Sheet

Creation: Package

Concept

Focus on accuracy. Be as simple and clear as

possible. Sometimes the word

“reference” is another word for “option.”

Creation: Package

What’s in a concept?

You want their art to reflect your decisions --not theirs

Sample Concept Art (good)

Sauron

Creation: Package

Revisions

Production: Revision

Review methods

Art Review Methods Lead Asset Review

Depends on strong QA effort from OP Prioritized asset Team review

Lead chooses top 5 assets to review Rest of team reviews rest of assets

Revision: Process

Creation Phases

Creation Phases Asset Approval Phases

Model Texture Final

Animation Approval Phases Poses (blocking) Rough Final

Revision: Process

Asset revisions

Asset Revisions Work at least 1 revision per phase into

contract Strive for single-day turnaround on

revisions Revisions should NOT be never-ending

Assume single revision phase (except for animation) Unless they do revisions incorrectly!

Once approved- don’t disapprove it!

Revision: Rules

Animation revisions

Animation Revisions 3 revisions needed

Larger variables for completion than assets Do animation in sets

Allows for greater consistency

Revision: Rules

Good enough

Production Team Trip to OP Review management processes. Asset creation problems. “Good enough” policy

Revision: Process

Revision proc

Vested Interest

Production: Communication

Feedback

Feedback Provide clear and consistent

feedback All revision requests should sound like they

came from one person. All language should be clear and

uncomplicated. Use consistent subject definitions for each

request

Communication: Feedback

Timezones

Pros/Cons Local Timezone

Decrease cost savings Increase short-term iteration Shorten delivery cycles

Non-local Increase cost savings Decrease short-term

iteration 24hr scheduling

Communication: Time zones

Communication

Asset Tracking Methods Asset Tracker!

Web Accessible Email status notificationsTracks artist revision requests

Includes photos and/or animationsCharts and tracking metrics

Communication: Tracking

Screenshots

Troubleshooting

AP: (panicked and angry) “I just got an email from Proklovich! What’s the !@#$?! He seems horribly mad and sounds like he’s going to stop production for us unless his ruthless demands are met!”

ME: “Calm down, wait until your conference call and then check with him again. It’s probably just an email issue. Here, wipe your mouth with this tissue…”

Troubleshooting!Email communication

issues

Lead Artist: “I’ve asked them dozens of times to make their asset this way. Their incompetent! My monkey could do better!

ME: “You have a monkey?” ME: “Let’s review your concept work to make sure

you are clearly communicating what you need. Also, have you sent them sample assets for that type which clearly show how you want it made?”

Troubleshooting!

Concept Clarity

Lead Animator: (after looking at first revision) “This totally sucks! Clearly they can’t animate. I’ll have to accept this one and fix it myself.”

ME: “If you do that then you’ll always get that quality. You have to revise them to quality because that’s the only way to learn.”

Troubleshooting!

Good Enough

Sum up

They are not an outsource partner They are your team.

You know them You trained them They want your game to succeed

Uh…they also want free copies of the game when it ships.

To Sum it all up

Thank you

Thank you for your time!