Erica Keller

I made a post a few weeks ago on Hell Blade and Elden ring being near time frame for competition. Now that Elden Ring Erd Tree is out I can of course see what is the most succesful out of the two. ER was second on the steam charts for player actually playing it. YouTube everyone is playing and streaming it, even people who are not game content creators such as artists like Adam Duff are streaming it. It is yet again a phenomena! Again maybe not great or fair to compare the two games, but this is not what this post is about really. Art direction wise imo ER is beyond hellblade of course my opinion. Music of course phenomenal! But in the end it is all about the gameplay for games, and I feel some studios who have done highly succesful prior games are losing sight of this and going with full on stories as the forefront. Video game players like a great story, many examples of game companies that have done this successfully, yet make sure gameplay is compelling at least. Games will always need compelling gameplay that works with the narrative needs. Last of Us, Spiderman, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Plague Tales 1 and 2 which is closest in comparison to Hell Blade. All these are great examples of AAA style games with famatisric stories with great gameplay that fits it. This also brings up the graphics conversation again and while ER graphics can be called ugly if you look at single asset vs the full view… the grander scale makes for a beautiful game. A single asset being of the highest quality does not matter here. This is a team that understands what matters. I am 6hrs in ER Erd Tree the full length of hellblade which I did not bother finishing was left at the 2hr mark because it was dragging on and while the story is not bad and I consider it achievement it was not fun. Erd Tree will likely have 20+hrs more of content and I’ll play all of it. People do not care of the length it can be short like limbo or Brothers : a tale of two sons which can be done in single play session. The stories and gameplay are great and I highly recommend those two shorter titles. Even games like What Remains of Edith Finch which is mostly puzzle gameplay that ties in with the story so well. I am not looking for action gameplay just good gameplay that meshes with the the story. Hellblade felt like it is fighting it self to be one or the other never one thing entirely. Erd Tree is just a DLC while hellblade is a full game. Facts is that Erd Tree should not be called a DLC expansion it should be called a full game! While hellblade should be called an unreal demo. Erd Tree was 2 years (maybe actually 1.5 years) of production while hellblade was like 4 years of production. With maybe a year or two of tech dev. Not sure how to end this post just with a sigh. We need to remember our roots of gaming and make games for gamers that have better harmony with gamomay first and narrative tied in well. /// did some edits to post clarify points.

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UX in video games can make or break the title. When it's great, everything is greater. When it's not so great, the whole experience gets taken down. This is an important role with a major remit. https://lnkd.in/gRNwyVgH #hiring

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Want to stand out above a crowded job market? I just put together a custom Unreal 5.4 project that has fully working multiplayer with quality that is approaching AAA. This project will serve as the foundation for Monthly Challenges where professionals from ALL disciplines can choose challenges to tackle and learn the ins and outs of Unreal while creating portfolio pieces with tangible experience. I did end up dropping a few hundred 💸💸💸, which was not the original plan, but I quickly found out how hard it was to find AAA quality content. I'm still going to offer these challenges for FREE to all, because it felt right. 🎉 To uphold Epic's licensing terms with content you must work on this project under one condition: You are part of the GameDevSG Team, working on a game (for portfolio purposes only and cannot be distributed outside of the GameDevSG Discord). Assuming we can handle that, I feel strongly that this exercise will help a lot of people! ❤️ On a side note, since we are working on a "game", what name should we give it? Thanks all, and stay tuned! #gamedev #gameindustry #gamejobs #portfolio #monthlychallenge

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Using the job description of the role you want to be employed as can act as an effective checklist for how to structure your work and breakdown shots when entering the Games Industry.

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Animating with Cascadeur: Physics-based animation software is pretty wild. That’s 8 keyframes there. The one on the right is my first rough animation “Keyframe prompt” and the green dude on the left is the interpretation.

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 Begin with the end in mind.* ➡ When you drive to work do you just turn left or right based on how you feel that day? 😅 (I hope you left extra early that day) ➡ When you gather data for a project, do you grab monthly active users, popular breakfast items and breeds of dog? 🤐 (This report might be fun but your boss will not be happy) ➡ When you schedule a doctor appointment, do you call random numbers in the phone book? 🙃 The same applies to...well...applying for jobs. ❔ Do you look at the minimum requirements for a job or do you click easy apply on cool titles? (Although, I might as well shoot my shot for Game Director) ❔ Do you update your resume with your most relevant experience when you apply? What is your desired outcome? Work backwards and you'll see at least some of the steps in a path to get there. This is not easy to do, because there is no perfect way to be the best fit for a job. Everyone's journey is different. What steps have you taken to get to your goal or how have you been successful in your journey? *One possible end goal pictured #Letsgetyouhired #RecruiterAdvice

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Mini Gear Grinder... not a crazy one, just a mini one... Candidates: when replying to Posts that have jobs listed, multiple companies / Games Studios, etc. within them. A comment of "I am interested" does not do you much good. A comment of "I am interested in the following role at XYZ company" is however helpful. Seeing so many of these & I love that you're interested in the roles posted, but which ones? Help the Recruiter or the people out that are putting the resources in front of you & let them know what you're interested in. ⚙ The job? Which one, we have 5+ listed. ⚙ The company? Which one, as some of these posts list 5+ organizations. ⚙ The person posting? Let's keep it PC / PG here people, I'm not advocating for weirdness 😝 I'm referring to a conversation or asking for help where you need it potentially. Don't be creepy, please do not be creepy! ⚙ The products they make? Etc., etc. Identify a bit deeper... Help them help you! 😁 Keep fighting the good fight everyone! Enjoy the weekend & wishing you best out there! #'s for the #'s #TheMattBarney #OneLove #TheMeatballs #GearGrinder #VideoGames #PirateRecruitersUniteUnderOneBanner

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 📅 It's July. We made it through the first half of 2024. Are you looking at your resume/skills/experience for the second half of the year and 2025? Are you bookmarking your favorite career sites in case the perfect job opens up and you're ready to apply? *cough* https://lnkd.in/gmapUg36 *cough* What skills are needed in your line of work for your next role? Are you taking any classes/courses or applying to tangentially related roles (i.e. not the dream job yet) to build those skills? In your last interview, was there a skill could you not explain to the best of your ability or are you unsure of that you could learn more about? Your dream job won't always come tomorrow, but are you preparing in case it opens in a week? A month? January 2025? Any questions? Put them in the comment section and we'll see what we can do to help. #startpreparingnow #Letsgetyouhired

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Maya Attribute Options tool.! Newest addition to my personal tool set. Took me a few days to write it on and off. This tool helps me to re-order attributes without having to re-do the incoming/outgoing connections. Some options are still a work in progress... #reorder #attributes #mel #maya #tools #rigging

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3D/2D Artists - when you're applying to art roles at videogame studios and you are focused on a specific IP, you have to have work in your portfolio that looks like it could live in that world. If you're hoping to work on a stylized painterly game, it is important to have stylized painterly-looking assets on your portfolio. If you want to work on a realistic game, it is important to have assets that look more realistic in quality. 3D Modelers, if you're coming from film and want to transition into video games it is VERY important that you have assets on your portfolio that are game-ready. Meaning they are optimized for the game engine. If you don’t understand what that means or the best way to go about that, do some research and learn more. YouTube has a wealth of resources! You need to have an understanding of game engine and the pipeline that you want to transition into. It's an extremely competitive market and there are highly talented artists on the market, if your portfolio doesn't match in some way, there are others that do match and those will shift to the top. As a hiring team it is our job to find the most qualified candidate for the role, having an art style that matches the style of the game or can slot very quickly into the art style of the game is a huge advantage. WoW Dragonflight: https://lnkd.in/gARkdUg8 Diablo IV: https://lnkd.in/g6cUTGK6 Overwatch: https://lnkd.in/gT24seuz Lots of other styles: https://lnkd.in/gDbXMXWw #portfolioadvice #3dmodeler #3dartist #newgraduate #careertransition

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Adam Duff LucidPixul makes a Souls Game analogy on working on your craft as an artist in this video cast, and it is great because it is true! Life is like souls games you gota keep at it and at some point, you get that reward in life. Great analogy! Also, if you have not sub go subscribed to Adam Duff, all artists need to hear what he says in his casts. Same with casts like Bobby Chiu you need these expert artists in your life who bring positivity in frustrating times. The last few posts I talked about reaching some goals or going for some goals in life while also having challenges prior. That is part of life and something I have zero regret doing. I talked on crunch and some to a great majority was self-imposed because if you know me personally, I am a workaholic. It has only been recently (3-4years) where I am allowing myself to enjoy more life and take time on more personal things. But, without that grind I know I would not be where I am. I have always been the type of artist who does art even after work and studies at a constant, and I still do this. :) This comes mainly because I always feel that the industry as at a constant shift from technology to art trends, but I also enjoy learning all this, so it is not a problem. Beyond of course the constant work it takes. It is not easy it never was for newer artists or even experienced artists. I hear like Adam many newer artists that it is "harder" now and while to some degree that is true. The fact remains it was never easy to enter and stay in this industry for extended period of time. The devotion it takes is truly extreme. Sometimes I put it akin to a calling this is as my calling in a non-religious way of saying it of course. I cannot imagine myself doing anything else in life. That is perhaps the biggest reason some newer artists who have that fire but cannot get into the industry hurt so much. If I could express to artists is that many of these hardships that seem impossible to accomplish are not. A mountain of goals is only a mountain of goals in your mind if that is how you view it. Instead of mountains think of them as smaller hills that once you reach to top of those it gives you more experience to reach the next higher hill and so on. This post is getting a bit long for sure, but we do live in a world of instant satisfaction and nothing in life that is worth it, is instant. From the concept of trying your best to be the best person you can be to meeting and marrying your partner and staying in a long relationship it is not easy, and you must work at it day and day out. I am lucky to have found a person on this life who appreciates what I do daily, because we are both artists Sharlene Lin my soul mate. We have both gone through a life event prior that make many life issues trivial. We all have our crucibles. #lucidpixul #adamduff #artist #craft #life #gamedev #digitalartist #artistlife https://lnkd.in/grZt7N_Q

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Why do we need to keep accepting this. My stay and Microsoft was one of the most negative I have experienced in my career. I am still unsure if it was the studio I worked with or the Microsoft problems that went into these studios. I would like to think it was a mix of both… But either way I have massive mistrust to how Microsoft has done things. My wife was at Blizzard and we thought the acquisition might be good for Activision. We all know how that went. I use to like Phil, but idk anymore. What Microsoft is doing to these studios is immensely damaging not just to the people within these studios, but all other support studios around them like co devs that now have zero to work on. At this point I would not sign a deal with Microsoft because it could be a death of your company moment. We cannot be in this state of being that every game has to be insanely successful where if it is not like Fortnite, Minecraft, or any other insanely successful title it is not deemed successful and thus needs to be shuttered. Like Larain Studios said and I have always believed you need to build teams not products. If you build good teams you can trust, good products will come. If I was under Microsoft shadow I would be very scared for my long term well-being especially if you are part of the newer studios that were bought. This is just not the way. Do not put blame on these studios own up to it and say we have royally messed up. People will be more receptive if high ranking people just take the blame directly and yes maybe not give them bonuses for a couple years. Affect them in the wallet for a bit. Make them understand the worth of money again. #layoffs #microsoft #bethesda #blizzard

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Game ready asset. Tri count: 7.2k Modeled and rendered in blender, baked in marmoset and textured in substance painter.

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Nikki, an acrobat and sorceress, for the ImagineFX magazine challenge! This month the theme was redesigning characters from old-school games and Pandemonium was one of my favorite games as a kid ✨ I hope to work on Nikki a bit more before adding it all to Artstation, but you can sneak a peek!😉 #IFXCharacterRedesign

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⚔️ Making a Sword [Slowly learning Blender!] https://lnkd.in/gUWCNTU8 In today's blog post: ❧ reflecting on this tutorial ❧ personal update, striving not to burn out & more!

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It is actually 2 seconds per candidate.

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Learn how to create road Splines in UE5 with this episode of Brushify: Bootcamp.

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