UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
SHOW NO TELL
This video that was directed by myself (and produced with the efforts of a number of key people on the team), and served as a proof of concept for a major milestone/exec review.
The key differentiator was an instance that would dynamically scale its content and difficulty based on the number of players in your raid group.
We utilized picture in picture to illustrate the differences between 1 player and 3 player groups within the same instance. By differentiating the time of day, spawned monsters, combat triggers, and spawn locations, we were able to offer a dramatic alternative to the look and feel while maximizing the same environmental and core assets.
UNNANNOUNCED MMO
Role: Art Director | Tencent | 2012
​
When I had joined Tencent they were already well underway in the development of an ambitious MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title. The primary challenge for the studio was being a split development team between Boston, USA and Shanghai, China (a 12 hour time difference).
There were communication challenges that stemmed from a split org and having very little overlapping times for leadership to align on vision, aesthetics, and key gameplay features.
In addition to my duties as the Art Director/Art Manager, I was asked to take on the role of a Product Owner (aka Producer), and create a vertical slice proof of concept with a team of dedicated artists, designers, and engineers.
SHOW NO TELL
This video that was directed by myself (and produced with the efforts of a number of key people on the team), and served as a proof of concept for a major milestone/exec review.
The key differentiator was an instance that would dynamically scale its content and difficulty based on the number of players in your raid group.
We utilized picture in picture to illustrate the differences between 1 player and 3 player groups within the same instance. By differentiating the time of day, spawned monsters, combat triggers, and spawn locations, we were able to offer a dramatic alternative to the look and feel while maximizing the same environmental and core assets.
MY PROCESS
I often get asked what an Art Director does on a daily basis, and what methods I use when directing others. During my time at EA Sports I decided to take a crack at answering that question, at least for my process to art directing. Please note that every team is different and this was written specific to my time at EA. I plan to update this page to be a bit more general for a wider application in the near future.
THE SHORT ANWSER:
Create a clear and consistent vision that you effectively communicate though visual targets and well articulated direction.
THE LESS THAN SHORT ANSWER:
There are many different tools of the trade that I use to convey my vision to those on and off my team. Depending on whom I am addressing, and the state of development of the project, some methods become more effective than others. Here is a breakdown of some of the most common steps that I take on any given project.
1. GET TO KNOW YOUR EP (Executive Producer)
As an Art Director, it’s essential to make your EP your best friend. You need to know what their vision for the project is so that you can support that visually. Not all art is for art’s sake, and the best spent resources are on features that support the bigger picture and impacts the consumer on multiple levels. Knowing what is going on in your EP's head is where this all starts.
2. GET TO KNOW YOUR TEAM
Ok, so this tip kinda falls into the "duh" category, but it is absolutely essential. By investing your time in the team (particularly your discipline leads), you provide opportunities to align the vision. The more you invest up front, the better it is for everyone during production when you need to rely on your team to execute on that common vision (so you can put out the spot fires that are all too common in a fast paced industry such as video game development).
3. CREATE A CLEAR AND ACHIEVABLE VISION
One of the most important stages for any AD is pre-production. Nothing has yet been defined, and it’s up to you and your leads to create visual targets to articulate the production goals and visual pillars of the game. You are creating a point of reference for all members to rally around and make the visual goals clear to everyone (artist and non-artist alike)
This is an early visual target example. Before any artists spend any time revising the assets, I look quickly at identified areas requiring improvement. This doesn't have to be pretty, but does have to be clear and concise.
Leveraging assets and/or tech from other teams can help make an otherwise costly improvement an affordable and easy win.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then good reference speaks volumes.
Here shows some early pre-production tests of modeling/texturing improvements on player likeness and uniform color/detail.
If one image can't encapsulate your vision, break it up into pieces that are easily understood and executed upon.
In addition to visual targets, you can also create feature targets. These are visuals that help illustrate features in other areas such as game controls. The sooner people on the team can understand something as complex as new controller mechanics and why this is better, the easier it is to achieve it. It also helps to start a dialog and identify potential issues earlier and with less revision.
4. LEARN HOW TO SELL
I have often joked around that an AD is a Producer that can draw. That is an oversimplification, but a large part of the role is the ability to sell your producer and those on your team, the features you deem worthy that cycle. There is a finite amount of resources, and you will need to find ways to secure your slice or risk losing key features to lack of support.
For me this often means making presentation decks that help sum up the features we want to tackle that cycle, and specifying how they support the game or take a quantifiable leap forward in quality (such as A vs B comparisons).
Here is an A:B comparison that simply sells itself. The qualitative leap forward is obvious and helps build support in some of the other areas.
This A:B example came later in production and highlights the improvement to skin and uniform quality and detail. Replacing old comparisons with new examples help keep them current and fresh in peoples minds.
5. KEEP QUALITY CONSISTENT
When production begins, the job shifts from defining what we will make, to doing the work and maintaining consistency and quality. Games are made by teams of talented individuals, and not all of them will understand the big picture at all times. Each feature is like a puzzle, and many on the team will only see their singular piece. It is up to you to ensure that all the pieces not only come together, but they make a consistent image.
This image is a collection of examples that make up a "visual Hit List" of bugs that would need to be addressed. Keeping these going out means nothing gets forgotten.
This requires a lot of personal interaction with your team, and for you to find ways to share wins along the way with the whole team. Continually grounding them with the progress of current updates is one effective way to keep everyone on a common path and connected.
6. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS KEY
Ambiguous direction such as “I don’t like that but I don’t know why” or “can you just make it different” simply doesn't cut it. Being very clear and providing visual examples to reinforce your feedback is key to achieving your goals with minimal revision. The less ambiguous you can make your comments; the more likely you will get what you intended.
This example highlights the issues in the game's boot movie that was being developed by an external contractor, and managed by a different department within EA. It was required to highlight specific moments within the piece to point out areas requiring improvement before AD approval could be met. Photo reference was then provided along with a detailed email identifying the issues, possible solutions, and expectations for the next round of iterations.
The above is an excerpt from an email I sent to a vendor who was producing the intro cinematic to the game. I have always found the key is to be clear, concise, visual, and make good use of red lining to highlight areas of improvement.
7. UNDERSTAND THAT ALL PEOPLE ARE NOT THE SAME
Some artists will just get inside your head and require very little direction. Others will require more investment. Understand the communication styles of those on your team and placate as much as you can so that you can be more effective. It’s not about having everyone adjust to you.
8. TRUST IN YOUR TEAM
This should go without saying but a key part of Art Direction is directing others. Many AD’s get their start as a production artist on a team, and are more than capable of rolling up their sleeves and leveraging that skill base by doing the work themselves. For me, that seems counter intuitive. There are some incredibly talented people on our gameteams, and effectively leveraging those skills though proper direction is what I consider to be key to the role. Trusting in your leads and artists to execute your vision so as to allow you vested time in other areas is core to the role.
9. SUPPORT YOUR TEAM & CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESSES
When the project reaches its final stages of development I often take the opportunity to put together presentation decks to show off the successes of the year to the team and others within the studio. Earning kudos from your peers is not only good for the morale of the team, it's essential in a studio such as EA where teams need to leverage from each other to advance their franchise with less effort.
This cover slide is a peer review, of which I have many examples on this site. Please feel free to review any of the EA Sports projects to see more details.
Promotional pieces such as posters or other visuals that can be hung up in common areas is another way to show to those on your team and visitors to the development area. You will be surprised how many people will review these visuals throughout the year, so keep them updated as goals change.
This purpose of this poster was to get people to appreciate the significant changes that NBA 11 (now branded NBA Elite) would have to 10. Its a play on being as different as "black vs. white" or "apples vs. oranges". Can also say 10 will be "green" with envy. A non-traditional approach can often capture interest longer than imagery seen cycle after cycle.
This poster for NCAA Basketball 09 was created to celebrate the effort of the artists in our central group that pushed the visuals well beyond what the feature was intended to be and transcended into something more.
10. THE OTHER STUFF...
There are many other aspects to the job that are worth mentioning. Team meetings, leadership meetings, risk assessment, cultural development, career growth of your direct reports, and countless other feat all come into play. I could go on and on, but the elements of what I consider to be core is captured above.