[gameprogrammer] Re: AGD Educational Panel Discussion

On Fri, 2005-08-19 at 09:24 -0700, Kevin Jenkins wrote:
> 
> Bob Pendleton wrote:
> > On Thu, 2005-08-18 at 17:43 -0700, Kevin Jenkins wrote:
> > 
> >>Thanks for the link.  I don't understand this quote though:
> >>
> >>QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE: What is the ideal portfolio?
> >>
> >>GORDON: Too across the board freaks me out, unless they are going for 
> >>Producer. A programmer showing art freaks me out.
> >>
> >>I'd much sooner hire a programmer that could also do art.
> > 
> > 
> > It is just the way Gordon thinks, his personal opinion. It is very
> > common to find programmers that are also artists so I too find his
> > attitude a little odd. On the other hand, if someone is applying for a
> > programming job, but has spent a lot of time working as a production
> > artist, you have to wonder about how dedicated he is to being a
> > programmer.
> > 
> >             Bob Pendleton
> 
> A person with dual skills like this would be very valuable to me.  In a 
> small company they could help out with either art or programming and 
> would feel highly valued and able to contribute more meaning to the 
> game.  In a large company they could switch gears if needed.  If not, 
> they have a much better understanding of the tools the artists use. 
> This is extremely useful for programmers that interact closely with 
> artists, such as importing or exporting animations.  To me, how 
> dedicated they are to programming isn't an issue in relation to how 
> dedicated they are to the company.  Programmers quit quite frequently as 
> it is anyway.
> 
> If I knew of someone like this I'd hire them in a second for my own 
> little company right now.  A huge problem I'm facing right now is I'm 
> unable to make any real art.

Yeah, for a small company what you say makes sense. The truly
independent developer needs to be able to do some art work and needs to
be able to evaluate art work. They also need to be able to do that with
sound and music. The independent is really a producer who happens to do
most of his own programming.

But, it doesn't work that way in larger companies where you have a staff
of artists and a staff of programmers. There is a lot of difference
between knowing the tools well enough to tell the artists what to export
and to be able to write code needed to import it and having the skills
needed to create production quality art. As far as I can tell they
aren't even related. Then there is the difference in salaries.
Historically programmers make much more than artists. Few companies are
willing to pay a programmers salary for someone who is spending their
time doing art. 

Like I said earlier: It is rare to find a good programmer who is not
also an artist or musician. But, programmers rarely spend the time
needed to become great artists or musicians. If they wanted to be great
artists and musicians they wouldn't spend their time programming.

OTOH, I have never met anyone who called them selves and artist or
musician who also happened to do some programming on the side. Odd how
that works out.

                Bob Pendleton


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