Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

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Building Game Worlds 280
U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
responsibility for identifying the strengths of the artists they work with, and helping
to maintain some kind of training program for their artists to help keep their skills
competitive.
As we’ve discussed many times before, artists have a wide area of contribution to
building game assets. Some are dedicated only to modeling, texturing, conceptual
drawings, or animation. Other artists do a little bit of everything (or a whole lot of everything!).
A lead artist is commonly a senior artist who has both direct art responsibilities
on a game (building models and textures, for instance) and managerial
responsibilities in helping less-experienced artists make meaningful, game-ready art
assets. In the best cases, lead artists are a point of reference and a valuable resource
for other artists on the team.
An artist builds low-polygon models, textures, interface elements, storyboards,
cinematics, and so forth.
An animator focuses on defining motion for objects and characters. An animator
can treat any game element that requires sophisticated motion of any type. Some animators
are model builders and texture artists too, but increasingly, as digital animation
capabilities get more and more sophisticated, animators are focusing on
animation alone. Actually, in many of the art roles discussed, specialization is increasing.
A technical director works to set up models for animation by animators. This includes
rigging up characters with inverse kinematics (IK) and forward kinematics
(FK) control handles for use in animation. Also, depending on the animation techniques
required, a technical director might set up slider-based animation systems that give
animators control over vertex groups.
The design director is the senior game designer on staff. Many companies operate
without any specific design director, but this role is starting to become more common
as larger teams of designers are assembled for game productions.
A lead designer is the design detail manager chiefly concerned with building in the
best possible game play for players. All design-related issues, obstacles, problems,
challenges, and work-arounds are shared between a design lead and their fellow team
members.
A game designer works to flesh out or define any and all game design and game
play details associated with a given game title. How will every single element present
in a game work and relate to one another in excruciating and precise detail? Are the
results of that detail fun to play? If not, several passes of adjustment and reworking
may be required.
A level designer wraps up various game assets into levels, commonly using a specific
tool created just for level assembly. Level designers have input into overall game
structure, but are primarily focused on level-to-level play details and construction.