Task 3: Skills/Progression plan.

January 12, 2018 — Leave a comment

To start on my five year plan of how I hope to one day be recognised within the industry, I’ll be looking into education, personal training, work and life style. Everything is taken into consideration. This is because if one area lacks, the other areas suffer. Balance is key within this plan. In all honesty I’m already well into my first year of my plan. Although some contingency planning was required to kick start it.

The original plan was to earn my way into the games and interactive design course in 2017. I used my own initiative to meet with Ekow Essiful to speak to him and present my previous work and qualifications. Upon doing so he was concerned with my literacy skills as my qualifications were acquired some time ago. He set me a task to write an assignment as evidence that I would be able to keep up with the course. The indie game influence[480].

After confirming a placement on the course for me we later learned that my UCAS application had some discrepancy’s. This is because my UCAS points weren’t enough for me to get onto the course. After learning this I said to Ekow that I would find a way to get onto the course. Earning more points somewhere. He then told me about the Level 3 games course with South Devon College. Within four hours I was enrolled, funded (Student Finance) and prepared to start college the following Monday.

The plan from this point is to use this time to increase my skills and confidence with the tools used within the media industry. All while working towards a qualification that will (Hopefully) ensure my enrolment into university. Working on the Compton Castle project will be extremely beneficial to this too. Giving me experience when working with people to produce and present original content at an event. This also leads into the experience I want to acquire between courses as I aim to intern somewhere relevant for the summer. I have high expectations that the work that will be asked of me will be more than I am capable at this time. Thus I feel the need to do everything in my ability to progress. After seeing what some students are capable of online. I know I need to improve. Here are the details of my five year plan.

Year 1.

To start the plan off I need enough points to enrol on FdA Games and Interactive design. Passing at distinction level will acquire eighty four points on top of my twenty four. Giving me a total of one hundred and eight points to enrol onto FdA games and design, requiring  forty eight UCAS points. This seems more than achievable with my current feedback, leading me to believe a distinction level pass is achievable. Once the first year is over and I enrol onto the games course I intend to keep working on my skills in the summer to keep improving my skills with the relevant software listed.

  • All Adobe Software.
  • Cinema 4D
  • Maya and 3DSmax. (It’s noted that considerable amount of game designers are required to know this.)
  • z-brush
  • Blender
  • 3D-coat
  • Houdini (Used for cinematic CGI)

The list could go on forever. Not to mention the inevitable software that doesn’t exist yet.

Year 2.

Once getting onto the course I understand that keeping my work quality up will be key to succeeding. It’s said that in the first year of games and interactive design, I’ll be working on these topics.

  • Digital culture
  • Digital skills
  • Developing research and practice
  • UX design
  • Designing and pitching concepts
  • Games or interactive development

This helps me do preemptive research into what I’m getting myself into. Developing skills (Including research skills) and understanding of digital culture is almost a passive ability at this point. With more practice I will improve. Though work in other areas will be needed. Funding for this course will be through Student Finance. Much like the course before.

Year 3.

Continuing into my second year of FdA games and interactive design. I will be learning about these subjects.

  • Interactive narratives
  • Client based brief
  • Professional practice
  • Sound production
  • Negotiated research
  • Advanced digital skills

I’m more familiar with these as I’ve attended South Devon College. The biggest changes here may be “Client based brief” and “Negotiated research.”

Advanced digital skills are something I hope to achieve early. Coinciding with Professional practice, sound production and interactive narratives. It’s also at this point I need to start thinking about a specialisation. It’s hard to know how I will feel at such point but in the mean time I lean towards character design and animation. I understand this might change but I intend to keep working at it as a end goal. A contingency to this may mean a different third year placement, university and job goal. For the sake of this plan I’ll keep to the original plan.

Year 4.

Once successfully completing my second year, it’s known to me that a position in Plymouth university is available to achieve a BA Digital Arts and Technology degree. Due to a possibility of not finding a vacancy here, other choices may be.

  1. Kent
  2. Brunel
  3. Greenwich
  4. Surrey

These are only a few of the choices I can use for my final UCAS application. Having five choices I may look into these more as time moves on. My first choice for now is Plymouth. Again this may change. The reason for the uncertainty is down to lack of experience. Experience I intend to gain as the plan moves forward. As previously stated earlier. The plan has already had some changes compared to the original.

Year 5.

Otherwise known as employment. This will be the toughest prediction in the list. Regardless I have three examples of how I might go about this. Using one as an example in task four.

Character artist – Blizzard.

Requirements.

  • 2+ years of experience in game development concept, modelling, and texturing of characters – (This is something I will have earned through the entirety of the plan previous.)
  • Solid background in traditional arts included but not limited to painting, illustration, design or traditional media – (
  • An exceptional understanding of anatomy – (Something I feel will be necessity to character design. Achieved with practice.)
  • Eye for light, shade, colour, and detail in creating painted texture maps – (Another trait I’ll pick up with more practise.)
  • Self-motivation, good communications skills, and a great team-player attitude – (Something I feel I already have though I will learn more as I work on more group projects.)
  • Knowledge and understanding of the World of Warcraft art style and universe – (I’m a big fan.)

Ultimately I’ll need to build a suitable portfolio to get my foot in the door on this one. A suitable portfolio will be acquired over time as I attend college / University and work on group projects.

Character artist – ID Software. 

Requirements.

  • 2+ years of industry experience as a Character Artist – (Something I may struggle with if required to be payed work.)
  • Significant contributions to a AAA game – (Impossible for a first job. Though something to aspire to.)
  • Examples of work demonstrating an understanding of form, silhouette, shape, texture, colour, and lighting – (Something I can demonstraite with portfolio.)
  • Ability to create a low-poly model within poly budget and efficiently unwrap the UV’s for texturing – (A skill I feel I’m already learning.)
  • Strong and relevant 3D and 2D tool sets – (This is my most recent skill build up. Practising every day.)
  • Self-motivated but able to accept feedback and direction – (I like to think I already have this trait. Time will tell.)
  • Team player with a strong work ethic and a collaborative attitude – (Check.)
  • Good time management skills and efficient development processes – (My development processes are key here as I’m still a novice with a majority of the tools I feel. This is overcome by sticking to the plan.)

This is a better example of what I may be doing after the five year plan. The good side to this is I know I can work towards this as a goal realistically by sticking to the plan.

Character artist – CD Projekt Red.

Requirements.

  • Solid experience as a Character Artist. – (By the fifth year I expect to achieve this.)
  • Proven success in creating outstanding characters in AAA game. – (Possible depending on time frame.)
  • Strong modelling and texturing skills in a diverse visual range of characters and creatures. – (I expect to earn this in my time at college.)
  • Strong understanding of human form and anatomy. – (See Blizzard job requirements.)
  • Software: Zbrush, Maya, Photoshop, Substance Painter (or similar programs). – (Exactly the software I’ve been practising with and intend to master before year 3.)
  • Excellent communication skills and ability to work efficiently within a team. -(Check.)
  • Ability to easily communicate in English. – (Check.)
  • Traditional sculpture, drawing or painting skills are a plus. – (Something I work on constantly.)
  • Skinning rigging and animating skills are a plus. – ( Achieved hopefully in year 2 or 3.)

It seems that a majority of the barriers I’ll face are the requirement to have worked on a AAA game prior to application. The strongest choice is to go with an employer like blizzard to achieve this and work my way up.

As you may notice, qualifications are absent from these lists, this is because the highest qualification required is a BA in arts and media. This is the biggest reason for proceeding with this plan.

I intend to keep working, learning and developing as I stick to this plan. It’s going to be tough but if succeeded, the biggest requirement for many and most job roles in this industry will have been met. There is more to this plan than you see at the moment, though the word count is already over the limit. Please keep track of my blog posts to see continued development. I intend to keep updating it with all of my latest work.

 

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