Your "X" factor!

Be yourself! While it's a great study to mimic influencers, leaders and thought provoking individuals in the industry, understand that no one can create, think and problem solve like you! 

While there may be more "successful" designers, artists or engineers out there, understand that skill sets alone don't truly define a person or bring that unique X factor to the table. How those traits and experiences are "applied" including how they bring others around, is the true definition of  your unique qualities, problem solving abilities & interpersonal skill sets you have that others may not (or have thought about).

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde

Knowing who you are and what you bring competitively to the industry is the first "revelation" in the process towards your success and winning people over in feeling secure & appreciating who you are (not only as a professional but someone they can work with)! In a world where so many are allowing others (or their environment) to define them, knowing who you are, where you're going and what qualities (creative or technical) you have, are important for your story & branding!

How are you different? What motivates you? Why do you do what you do? What separates you from the legions of other qualified creators? Tough questions I know but they are absolutely necessary to answer as you WILL be asked. 

People not only want to hire the most competent, but they also want to hire the most confident as well! How do you problem solve? How do you integrate or involve others in your process? Do you play well with others? Great, how? Can you think on your feet or are you a processor? What is your greatest strength and what do you "feel" is your greatest weakness? (that's a tough one which may require some thought and a humble answer)!

So getting a grip on who you are is absolutely key in bringing you around towards confidence and a type of connectivity for others to grab hold of. Understand that people aren't always looking for the route or typical answer. Remember, we're talking about your "X" factor. The chance for you to be YOU! Like any good story, people want something new, fresh and original (seasoned with just enough typical to provide some familiarity & context).

So in conclusion, know who you are. Appreciate that you are unique and have an X factor that makes you truly intertesring, even if your trying to create work that looks, feels or performs just as good or better then the influencers out there. Don't feel apologetic because you may do things a bit differently or unorthodox. The industry is actively searching for the unique, original and fresh. So finding out what that is in you and bringing that to the industry with shoulders back and head held high is your personal & professional mission!

Making Social Networks work for you!

3 Steps to Social Networking for building your brand, aka "YOU!" The key is to try & direct people back to your website which houses your online portfolio, resume, game demo, bio, code examples, etc.
It's about taking one piece of content i.e. (blog posting, images, site hyperlinks, news article, etc.) and making it work for ALL your social sites.
The "key" is to bring people back to your site. If you have the option to place your blog account/app (Blogger, Tumblr, etc.) inside your website (WordPress, Wix, etc.) that is key. The point is to NOT have people jump all over the web in order to find key pieces of information about you! If it's all housed in one location (website), it's a one stop shop for everyone!
Here is a simple 3 step process I use daily: 1) Write your blogs, musings, articles, tutorials, etc. something that pertains to your specific discipline, talents, industry, experience. Something that tells people about your expertise, passion, insights, exposure or related musings. Again, re-enforcing your brand "you!" 2) Summarize those thoughts in a paragraph to post on your Facebook "Status Update" (including a hyperlink back to the full blog/article/image, etc. on your website). 3) Take your short FB paragraph and simplify it down even further to post on Twitter & LinkedIn (again with a hyperlink attached back to your website).
That's it! You've now just taken 1 post and blasted it to 3 major social networks, ALL of them leading people back to your site to not only consume the information but get exposure to who you are as well!
This is just one of many techniques in how to use social networks to help get you out there in a non-obtrusive and very accessible way!
If you have any other questions let me know ;)

                

"Indie Team best practices!"

Indie teams; "Lean & Like minded!"

Below represent a few talking points I will be giving in my presentation lecture for IGDA meetings next month.

Wikipedia describes Indies as: "Small non publisher funded teams." I've found that in building my last 4 Indie productions these 6 Start-Up practices to consider: 1) Keep your team small & lean. Large teams aren't necessarily the most efficient and require more overhead & management. 2) Bring on like-minded individuals. Ownership and multiple "hat wearing" is paramount. 3) Acquire engine and/or tech/tools that will "allow" for your designs/features/mechanics with minimal overhead. 4) "Fast & Cheap" (yes, I said it)! This methodology usually affords keeping things simple & lean. Allowing you greater freedom to move quickly through a pipeline, realizing quicker wins & understanding (allowing "trial and error" to be learned & remedied with minimal risk, burnout and time)! 5) Early research of the best potential funding & distribution channels. 6) get to run time aka vertical slice quickly to start iterating/testing core features, mechanics & pacing.

Now while there may be some debate on these best practices/priorities, I'm curious as to what has successfully worked for you? 

"Understanding who you are is the first step!"

Now I understand that everyone has a little insecurity when it comes to their talents and creative gifts (especially when they compare it to the competition out there in the professional game dev arena). But before you let that spiral you into a deep well of self doubt, understand that you are an individual. There is no one else on this planet like you! Appreciate the fact that while you can always gain more experience, techniques and competencies NO one can be, think or create like you! This is what makes creativity, innovation and style so rich and exciting! It's from this wonderful uniqueness that power and influence comes from an individual (or a collective of individuals pooling their "individual" gift together).
So before you let intimidation and insecurity overwhelm your confidence and your "strike ahead" resolve, appreciate who you are, what you have internally waiting to be expressed externally to many who wish to see your creative uniqueness and individuality. 

Game production is like a Roller Coaster:

"Game production is like a Roller Coaster"

Think of the Game Design Document (GDD) as the shoulder harness, the Technical Design Document (TDD) the wheel clamps, your Team as the colorful car and the steel track as the intimidating Production pipeline!
The first two will keep you fastened in when things start rolling! The third will be around you to support and the last will pitch, yaw and loop you all over the place! 
Game Development can be quite scary and intimidating but like any good roller coaster, its still an exciting and wild ride! 
It's why we always run to get back in line again! 

"Animators, get outta the chair!"

"Animators, get outta the chair!"

Having professionally taught 3d animation as well as directing game animators and motion capture sessions over the years, I still find character animators trying to create complex (or even subtle) movements while "sitting down."
Effective animations come from "feeling" your way through it in order to appreciate (as well as replicate) the right types of weighting, inflections and subtleties.
Blocking/acting out your movements in front of a mirror as well as having access to a video camera (or phone) to record your actions to review and reinforce your understanding (once back at the computer) is highly effective and seriously recommended.
Try and never let yourself become to complacent, familiar or even lazy to the most simplest of motions... Act it out!
The important thing is to not only hit the extreme movements first but to go back and implement the anticipation and secondary movements into your animations as well. There are numerous subtle yet very apparent inflections that will sell a character's movement and story that can't truly be appreciated if you don't take the time to move about and feel it.

Mo-cap obviously has the ability to capture these subtleties but so does your "eye" if you continually train yourself to look for these little gems.
So get out of the chair, feel your way through poses, weight shifting, anticipation and secondary. You may feel horribly silly but it will definitely help your animations not too!