I’ve spent years learning/practicing art and game design but I still have nothing I’m willing to call good or complete. So I decided to give myself a deadline, if I don’t come up with something show that I can do whatever it is that I want to do with this art stuff, then I will officially see it as just a hobby, instead of the potential way of life I always hope it to become. Given my lack of a portfolio, forget about being hired for anything to actually “make” it a way of life anytime soon.
I recently left from a college (incomplete) but I can confidently say I didn’t learn much of anything I didn’t already know or could have learned on my own (if I wanted), from the school, and the many things I did learn there, were learned on my own time. However the one thing I did get from those classes that I just don’t have on my own, are concise instructions of what they wanted me to do.
On my own I think like “I want this big environment that leads to several other environments and a lot of details with textures and a bunch of people doing different things with like some kind of interesting backstory to at least several of those people” and etc. When I try to tone it all down, I don’t know where to begin or end, and it doesn’t help that I’m a big procrastinator that switches focus very soon and stop caring about the old stuff.
So I’m looking for someone that knows what they want and will guide me through making it. I also need them to not hang on any prior experience I may have in whatever.
I’m into game design, particularly 3D with Unity or UE4. I “can” draw but only well enough to get the point across quickly (more but it’s not my strong suit). I can do character/level/item/etc and animation, though not very experienced with particles. I’m not really sure how much to say that I “can do” and just leave it at I’m a generalist.
This tells me everything I need to know to safely say you are not passionate about game design. If you truly were; you would learn everything and absorb literally everything like a dry sponge in a puddle. I did not even bother reading past this sentence.
Well then you’re a waste of my time -_-
edit: After rereading that first section, I never even said what I went to college for, for all you know I went for Gen.Ed. or accounting, all I said about it was that I already knew what they were teaching (and I left). Either way, I don’t care whatever you think about anything related to that, unless you can bother to read the entire thing to find out what I’m even asking for, your words on this matter is worthless to me (including any response to this)
It would be easier to asses your skills if you had something to show us. Doesn’t matter how small or stupid looking, just something that proves you’re able to get something done.
What skills do you currently have in which you are confident?
I am currently working on a little project in UE4. It’s a small game that parodies Disney and Kingdom Hearts with references to drugs, violent crime and greed. Here’s a screenshot of some gameplay:
I’m doing this alone in my free time, so progress is really slow.
Due to the nature of the project, the chance to get money out of it is very small. I can only offer a chance to hone your skills, build a portfolio and the satisfaction of having created something neat.
I’m sort of picky on the style I want for the game and good adaptive artists are expensive, so I’ll have to do most of the models, animations and other art myself. But I could use some help in the gamedesign. This includes a wide array of tasks:
Designing game mechanics
Programming AI
Level design
Story development
Optimization (Thinking about LOD, loading, resource mangement etc…)
You don’t need to know all of these things, help in any of the subjects would be fantastic.
Do you know C++ and more importantly do you know how the use it in UE4?
The coding is currently done entirely with blueprints which I admit can get a bit messy on my part. I know UE4 has systems for behavior trees but don’t know how to use them yet. It would really be a great asset to have someone who is familiar with this stuff or can figure it out for me to save me time to do the other stuff.
I greatly value the exchange of ideas and also value negative criticism when it’s for the benefit of improvement.
But, small warning: I would keep the final say on creative decisions.
Sounds to me like all you need is discipline and organization, but to improve that you don’t need someone to tell you what to do. Read and study about project and time management, and take any personal project as if was something for a client, the only difference is that the client is you.
Since you want to see if you have what it takes to turn this into a career instead of a hobby, the best advice I can give you is this: Your first client would be a potential employer, so put yourself into this scenario.
Imagine the company you want to work for, take a look at the work they do, and set a goal to create the best possible game demo you can do for them. Hopefully to get a job
With that goal in mind (and also VISIBLE somewhere, like a post-it or a huge note on your desktop), create a list with a breakdown of the whole process, from gathering reference images to final export. Everything you would have to do for that game/demo must be included on the list. Instead of just writing Characters, split the process into several items on the list: Character design, character modeling, character texturing… etc. Try to think of everything here, no matter how trivial you think it is.
Set a deadline. This can’t be some random day, you have to use that checklist and think (honestly) of how much time each individual task would take to finish. Then, add a little bit more time to each task, so if modeling would take you 4 days, leave 8 days for it.
Now, create a spreadsheet with that checklist, the time it takes to finish each of them and a column to see which are completed, in progress or pending.
Start to work. And never jump between tasks. Ideally you would start something new ONLY if the the previous task is already finished. If you’re a procrastinator, a good way to fight the urge to stop and do something else, is by procrastinate doing something else that is also related to the project. You’re having problems with a model? Stop that and work on the game logo, instead of going into a neverending session of web browsing.
The most difficult part of this is to develop the habit of checking the project progress on a daily basis, instead of starting random projects that never get to see the light. That checklist is your roadmap, anything that’s not on the list shouldn’t be a priority. That’s why that step is so important. Is very hard at the beginning but is worth the effort.
This is also a great way to study, since you’ll probably have to learn some things on the process, but only when is necessary.
I’ve had a lot of problems with that before too, and believe me, setting every project like this is a great help. There’s also quite a few tools online to help you. So instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do, start working on it by yourself.
Yeah, I’m asking for a service, what’s the difference between that and volunteer work? (or paid work if any money was involved)
Is it that those sections are ONLY for asking others to do Blender/art work and not offering to do it unless you’re replying to a thread?
Fine, unless @Nacconotnacho has something for me to do, I suppose that’ll be my only option since my deadline is very near and I’m still practically nowhere on it. I really appreciate the time you took writing all that (even though I was too lazy to go through all of it earlier). I will go through more documentation later and see how that works for me (yes, kinda procrastinating here).
For the past few years I’ve been working on a web-based game (Available at www.simplesix.sdfgeoff.space). I enjoy the programming, but not particularly the level making.
The existing levels took me about two or three hours each, as they are small 1v1 multiplayer maps.
If you are interested, send me an email (see link in my signature)
