Highly stylized, high profile role playing game.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Do many 2D games get made now that aren't XBLA/Steam/PSN titles?

 

Also, is highly stylized just a marketing buzzword or are we to expect a really cartoony art style?

 

I don't see the logic behind the jump from "highly stylized" to "cartoony", to be honest.

 

From what we can gather, it just means that the game will be, no **** Sherlock, stylized. Whether the title will look like a Saturday morning cartoon, a Frank Miller's work or an impressionist painting is to anyone's guess.

 

EDIT: Just to clarify, I don't want to sound smug. I just don't understand where the assumption came from. Is it because of World of Warcraft? The new wave of similar-looking action-RPG like Torchlight and Crimson Alliance?

Edited June 30, 2011 by WorstUsernameEver

[Flouride]

They do use 2D even on AAA games. Can't check right now, but I'm fairly certain I saw few 2D artists on DS3 credits.

[Sannom]

They do use 2D even on AAA games. Can't check right now, but I'm fairly certain I saw few 2D artists on DS3 credits.

Yeah, mostly for UI and perhaps the spell effects, I think. This really looks like a game made entirely in 2D.

[ShadowScythe]

Do many 2D games get made now that aren't XBLA/Steam/PSN titles?

 

Also, is highly stylized just a marketing buzzword or are we to expect a really cartoony art style?

 

I don't see the logic behind the jump from "highly stylized" to "cartoony", to be honest.

 

From what we can gather, it just means that the game will be, no **** Sherlock, stylized. Whether the title will look like a Saturday morning cartoon, a Frank Miller's work or an impressionist painting is to anyone's guess.

 

EDIT: Just to clarify, I don't want to sound smug. I just don't understand where the assumption came from. Is it because of World of Warcraft? The new wave of similar-looking action-RPG like Torchlight and Crimson Alliance?

 

Uh yeah, I was thinking more DA2 where they said they were going for a stylized look and were trying to make the game look more like the concept art (which looked pretty cartoony compared to the DA: Origins concept art)- so I was a little bit curious as to whether that's what people mean when they say stylized in Games industry language.

[funcroc]

Sawyer's formspring

Not sure if you're allowed to answer this, but are you still working on New Vegas (tuning, DLC, etc.), or are you working on other things, or do you hang out around Obsidian, helping out on random projects (like the hth in Alpha Protocol)?

 

I'm doing a small amount of work on the DLCs, mostly helping with tuning, but otherwise I'm focused on developing new projects.

 

EDIT: Polina Hristova's resume updated

Edited July 2, 2011 by funcroc

[funcroc]

OEI programmer Anthony Davis' LI profile

Since 2004 I've been a gameplay programmer at Obsidian Entertainment.

I'm now currently working on a secret project.

 

Previously, I've worked on these games at Obsidian:

 

Programming Credits:

Dungeon Siege 3 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC (2011)

Alpha Protocol for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC (2010)

Aliens RPG for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC (Canceled 2009)

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir for PC (2008)

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer for PC (2007)

Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC (2006)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords for Xbox and PC (2004)

[Gorth]

I'm sure he used to post on these forums every now and then in the past >_

[Alvin Nelson]

He's just been busy.

[funcroc]

OT: Jean-Eric Khalife on reddit

large influx of new visitors to /r/gamedev: say hello, how you got here and what you're working on!

 

I'm a technical artist working at Obsidian Entertainment. Just finished up Dungeon Siege 3 and not allowed to talk about what I'm working on next...

 

...There are many different types of tech artists. I'm primarily a technical environment artist, so I focus mostly on that pipeline. In a nutshell: early on I focus on pipelines and systems (How we get art into our game). During the middle of a game I focus on dynamic art (dangle chains, interactive props, destructible objects) and at the end of the project I focus on memory management and performance optimizations.

 

The philosophy behind my position is this: I make sure artists are able to get their work into our engine as quickly and smoothly as possible by writing tools for them, or designing larger systems that our awesome programmers implement. I'm kind of a link between programming and art. I have a Computer Science degree and I've worked as an artist for 6 years, so I'm very knowledgeable in both fields and can help both sides communicate and understand each other.

 

Obsidian isn't a huge company, so we don't have massive budgets for game and we're also on very tight deadlines, so we have to make sure it's as easy as possible for artists to make art. We can't just throw bodies at a problem to make it go away. We try and work smart by developing tools and pipelines that are simple and intuitive. This leads to more polish and less bugs (Something Obsidian has been known for and something we've definitely made a top priority now that we're working on our own engine) It's been an awesome 2 years working on Dungeon Siege 3 and I'm so excited for everyone to get their hands on it.

Edited July 23, 2011 by funcroc

[Gizmo]

He's just been busy.

I'm a technical artist working at Obsidian Entertainment.

What is a "Technical Artist" @Obsidian ?

 

Is that simply an Artist that can work within technical restraints (limitations/guidelines: like file sizes, pallets, and non-diffuse textures)? Or is there more to it?

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

He's just been busy.

I'm a technical artist working at Obsidian Entertainment.

What is a "Technical Artist" @Obsidian ?

 

Is that simply an Artist that can work within technical restraints (limitations/guidelines: like file sizes, pallets, and non-diffuse textures)? Or is there more to it?

 

Not even my reddit account is safe from funcroc

 

A technical artist is someone who assists artists with the technical restraints and issues that games have now. As games become more technologically complicated it becomes harder for artists to sort through everything. e.g. An artist may be able to sculpt an awesome model in z-brush and paint beautiful textures, but figuring out why an area is crashing or why our cascaded shadow maps are looking funny isn't really their area of expertise. So I help them figure that stuff and make sure they're attacking problems efficiently instead of randomly deleting stuff when something goes wrong.

 

So I'm not only an artist that can work within technical restraints, but I show other artists what to watch out for and I develop tools and scripts that make it so artists don't even have to worry about technical restraints because the tools catch the issues early or fix them automatically.

 

For those interested in becoming tech artists or learning more about the position I would definitely recommend checking out this website and the GDC 2011 talks on being a tech artist: http://tech-artists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1500

 

Hopefully that helps describe it, let me know if you have more questions.

[Nightshape]

*snip*

Edited July 29, 2011 by Nightshape

[funcroc]

- John Lewis' LinkedIn profile

Designing, lighting and cluttering levels as well as creating props are all areas in which I have worked in a professional capacity.

 

I started my career in games right after college as a technical support manager, then as a tester, and now as an artist. I came on board at Obsidian Entertainment last year to help with the creation of the Fallout: New Vegas DLC's including: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. I am now working as an artist on an unannounced project.

 

Specialties

In order of proficiency:

Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Gamebryo Engine (for Fallout), Adobe Illustrator, Softimage XSI, XNormal, Unreal Development Kit, Pixologic ZBrush.

 

Also, a strong background in traditional drawing and color theory.

 

- It looks like George Ziets is working on an unannounced project too.

 

 

- UI artist Jason Sereno left Obsidian

Jason Sereno

 

Current

Creative Director at Aomei Education International (澳美教育国际连锁机构)

 

Past

User-Interface Artist at Obsidian Entertainment

Lead User-Interface Artist / Designer at Flagship Studios

Lead UI Designer / Artist at Electronic Arts

 

I have been working in the videogames and entertainment software industry since 1993, as an artist and animator, and - in my nearly 18 years in this field - I have lent my skills to over 23 released titles on Mac, PC, and every major games platform from the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo to the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3.

 

In 1997 I decided to focus my skills in the [then-largely-overlooked] area of User-Interface Design. Since then my work has been almost exclusively related to the user experience, from aesthetic look-and-feel in a variety of styles to interface usability and functionality.

 

This work has also allowed me to stretch my skills in graphic design, motion graphics, and illustration. Outside of the usual UI world of front-end menus and in-game HUDs I have also been tasked to design various logos, websites, and promotional materials.

 

My past freelance graphic design work has included CD covers, concert posters, nightclub motion graphics, and company branding.

 

Outside of games, I also taught a computer graphics course (Photoshop, After Effects, and 3D Studio Max), and a Visual FX course for 3 semesters at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

 

My most recent work has been user-interface art and animation for "Dungeon Siege III" at Obsidian Entertainment, which was released by Square-Enix in June 2011.

 

[And as far as my continuing videogame work is concerned: I've decided to remove that information from LinkedIn at this time, but if you have any questions regarding this work, feel free to contact me.]

 

In the meantime, I am living in Hangzhou, China and working as Creative Director for an early childhood educational franchise. Here I am leading a team of artists and graphic designers who are creating materials for promotional events, advertising, curriculum, interior design, and merchandise.

[Zack Fair]

Dammit Obsidian, announce your next project already! In the last few years we always knew what are you working on. But now, there are just rumors. I'm getting more and more excited.

[Gizmo]

A technical artist is someone who assists artists with the technical restraints and issues that games have now. As games become more technologically complicated it becomes harder for artists to sort through everything. e.g. An artist may be able to sculpt an awesome model in z-brush and paint beautiful textures, but figuring out why an area is crashing or why our cascaded shadow maps are looking funny isn't really their area of expertise. So I help them figure that stuff and make sure they're attacking problems efficiently instead of randomly deleting stuff when something goes wrong.

 

So I'm not only an artist that can work within technical restraints, but I show other artists what to watch out for and I develop tools and scripts that make it so artists don't even have to worry about technical restraints because the tools catch the issues early or fix them automatically.

 

For those interested in becoming tech artists or learning more about the position I would definitely recommend checking out this website and the GDC 2011 talks on being a tech artist: http://tech-artists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1500

 

Hopefully that helps describe it, let me know if you have more questions.

Thank you very much for that

(and thank you for the great link)

[Morgoth]

I think somebody who makes something in ZBrush/Maya should also know how to export it cleanly into the engine in a functioning manner.

 

Can't be that much of a requirement for an artists working on vidya games.

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

I think somebody who makes something in ZBrush/Maya should also know how to export it cleanly into the engine in a functioning manner.

 

Can't be that much of a requirement for an artists working on vidya games.

 

If it was always that easy I wouldn't have a job

[funcroc]

OT: new storyboard artist/animator hired (his portfolio)

[funcroc]

OT - Blog post of ex-Obsidian senior programmer Erik Novales (NWN2, Aliens, DS3): Memory Card Bugs (and a note about static analysis)

[funcroc]

OT: Sawyer's twitter (don't know if his profile picture has anything to do with his current project. The name of the pic is "blast from the past.".)

[WorstUsernameEver]

It's a Bozar. You know, Fallout 2.

[funcroc]

Ah, Thanks.

[Giantevilhead]

I'm hoping for a $20 downloadable isometric turn based Fallout game, maybe using the Onyx engine. There's no reason why Bethesda has to only make AAA Fallout games.

Edited August 14, 2011 by Giantevilhead

[funcroc]

OT: New Programmer Joins Obsidian. He was one of the core engineers on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II at LucasArts.

Edited August 15, 2011 by funcroc

[Alvin Nelson]

You're good at this, funcroc.