Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - tandemar
Pages: [1]

1
Job offers / Re: Employment Section Rules!
« on: December 15, 2018, 05:58:14 pm »
Has anyone noticed the job section is now just a constant stream of Viagra adverts?
Is this the norm now?
Will Pixelation simply fade away due to neglect?

2
Job offers / Re: [PAID] Looking for Male "Hero" spritesheet.
« on: February 24, 2018, 09:51:00 pm »
"please include how long you think it would take for you to create this character!"

At what size?
A single image? Multiple frames? If there are multiple frames, what are they?
You haven't specified what you want.
You've posted a style you like, but not told us exactly what you want drawing.

3
Job offers / Re: I need someone to animate my character.
« on: July 27, 2017, 08:09:20 pm »
Hey do you have any more details you could give us? Like what size is the art, what animations will we be doing, is this paid, ect. Thanks
I think the clue might be in the original post:
"The character is 202x383,I need a idle, jumping, running, taking damage and death animation"
The only information missing is whether the job is paid, rev/share or purely for experience.

4
Hi,

While A: your hero is one of the cutest I have seen in a LONG time and B: the game does look exceptionally endearing due to the whole retro style there is one major problem.

Your price range is way too low.

This may be a hobby project or it might even be a full-scale professional title destined for Steam, I don't know. But either way these prices will only attract first time pixel-pushers.
You might strike lucky and find someone new to the industry who is a genius and prepared to work for this scale, but I seriously doubt it.
I am only saying this to try and help.
This is not a criticism, it is an observation.

I have been a 2D artist in the games industry since 1983 and as a freelance artist I know what prices people will accept or should offer.

You need to revise your pay scale.

5
Job offers / Re: 2d Top-Down Tileset in NEED!
« on: October 14, 2016, 05:02:17 pm »
Be prepared for unprofessional behaviour from the outset.

I contacted Nicox on October 4th regarding the topdown tileset and other graphics related to this project, Avalonia.

Initially everything seemed very positive, we discussed a wide variety of topics related to the project and the the industry in general.
(I have worked in the games industry since 1983 so I do know one or two things about game development.)

We discussed tile sizes, customisation etc and everything did seem to be heading in a good direction.

We finally agreed a daily rate, which while much lower than usual industry standard was acceptable to us both for a trial period.

We agreed what would need to be done for an initial batch of graphics and agreed to speak again the next day.

The following day  I started work on the graphics we had discussed.

I had a few minor queries I wished to clarify and tried to contact Nicox via skype, the method we had used to agree upon our collaboration.

No reply.
I left a message saying that I had one or two questions and would be available throughout the weekend.

Again, nothing.

In the next seven days I tried to contact him seven more times, twice even making a direct skype call that was subsequently cut off very rapidly.

I asked for a reply, saying I wished to discuss matters and even stated my concerns regarding the lack of communication.

I realise any number of things could have prevented in depth conversation regarding the project, but a simple text or skype message stating "unavoidably detained, will be in touch" or some similar message might have alleviated any upset or aggravation.

Perhaps I am wrong, perhaps something has happened to prevent such professional behavior or maybe my expectations of decency and common courtesy are out of line?

All I can say is that if you do get involved, then be aware that the lines of communication seem to go only one way.
You may find yourself working on something that goes nowhere and is a waste of time and totally unprofitable.

Be warned.

I have subsequently been notified that Nicox was on vacation and did not know he needed to inform me.
If somebody is potentially working for you, they need to know when you are available or unavailable for discussion otherwise confusion arises.
"On vacation" was obviously too difficult a message to send.

I offered to remove this post and try to start again without further problems.
Our "working" relationship is now terminated.

6
This should actually be posted in PORTFOLIOS.
You have  posted in Jobs Offers.
Unless you are offering to employ someone, your posting is incorrect.
ok?

7
General Discussion / Re: Goodbye (For Fool, if he still visits here.)
« on: March 15, 2010, 06:01:00 pm »
As a fellow pixeller and a father of four children I can only send my deepest and most sincere feelings to you and your family.
I cannot begin to understand the loss of a child.
My thoughts are with you.

8
General Discussion / Re: Introductions
« on: August 03, 2007, 07:29:05 am »
Probably the oldest guy here; I'm 50 and I've been working in the games industry for 24 years now. The last six months is the only period I've not been continually working with 2D graphics as I am currently employed in Hamburg, Germany as a game designer.
I've had a few small freelance pixel jobs and hopefully some more will come along soon because I like to keep at it.

I've worked on lots of stuff over the years and I'm aiming to reach at least 300 titles on my cv before I hang up my mouse; I've recently reached the 270 mark. I enjoy pixelling otherwise I wouldn't keep doing it, apart from the fact that I have no intention to move into 3D; too old and not interested.

It does get a bit repetitive, clients asking for the same old things time and time again, but that's the games industry for you. You just try to enjoy each job as much as the last and try to put something of yourself into everything you do and have fun. If it's not fun, don't do it.

 

9
General Discussion / Re: Goblins Of The Game Industry
« on: January 03, 2007, 10:12:00 pm »
I'm baffled.

The industry is finished for start-up teams now. It's a fact.

I've been doing this for 23 years and I've seen the once great UK games scene turn into a ghost town. Pixels aren't going to go away, but making a really good living out of them is proving to be increasingly difficult.

I've freelanced for most of my professional career and the handheld development scene in the UK and Europe is pretty much a thing of the past. I had some great years with GBC and GBA and can actually remember it going POP!
The year is a bit vague now but I'll never forget it was a September and all my clients just disappeared.
The industry drew it's horns in and decided to try something else.

Too many people jumped on the handheld bandwagon thinking that it was fast and easy money. None of that "let's take 3 years to develop a ps2 title that might not even sell if it's finished" bollocks. No, these guys saw development times drop from years to months and imagined the revenue they could generate by turning out 3 titles a year instead of one every 3 years.
Acres of crap was produced, I worked on some of it; I'm not ashamed, when someone offers you money you don't say "no thanks. I don't want to pay my mortgage this month. I would rather keep my integrity intact."
It would be nice to be able to do that, but this is reality and anyone who actually DOES that is either rich already or clinically insane.

Working on titles you like, or titles that you are proud of is a rarity, for the above reasons. Freelancers and in-house artists have little or no input in what titles they work on or indeed the design of the title itself. Unless you are working for a small company and you are part of the start-up team that is.
But most people want to work for established companies, with years of experience and shed-loads of cash behind them.
These companies are machines. They seldom care about the true quality of their titles. If they did they wouldn't fill them with hours of pointless FMV and waste countless hundreds of thousands of pounds / dollars on said FMV. They would spend it on the best designers, the best artists and take the japanese on at their own game and make quality titles.
But let's be honest (cynical, yes, but honest as well.)

Most games today are a clone of some earlier and more successful title.
Bully/Dog eat Dog call it what you will is GTA with kids. It's the Sims with violence. Who in their right mind would want to sit building Sims year after year?
Wooo...they have different hairstyles in this version!!!
Hoo-bloody-ray!

If you come into the games industry you must realise that what was once fun becomes the way to pay the bills, pure and simple. And if Microprose offer you a quarter of a million to develop Strawberry Shortcake or Muppet babies. You snatch it out of their hand so fast their heads spin. And hopefully you can try to do the best Strawberry Shortcake or Muppet babies title ever.

But that's debatable, because EA and THQ and Microsoft and all the other behemoths now have the industry in a stranglehold.
Having a demo for one of the consoles is very unlikely, Dev Kits cost a small fortune.

Even the mobile scene, while still paying my bills in a semi-erratic manner is lost and confused. It tries to take on the consoles and shouldn't.

It's a new beast and should act like one, but it too has it's own inherent problems. Try designing a game for a mobile sometime. It's a nightmare. The control system is a pig.

Mobile companies open and close at an alarming rate, but not for much longer.Again the behemoths are coming along and buying up the teams who have been around for a few years and have one or two titles under their belt.

Starting afresh these days is, while not impossible, at least terrifyingly difficult and I wouldn't encourage anyone.

The handhelds are on something of a hiatus. Most titles are developed in the States, not many of them let's be honest. And the Stateside dev scene is almost sewn up by the likes of Vicarious Visions etc.

We'd all love to work on a clone of our favourite game, but as I mentioned in a ost that got people really annoyed with me many years ago on the old Pixelation site, "Why develop a Castlevania clone when people can buy Castlevania?"

Licenses sell.

Painful but true. Your small team of empassioned mates may have created this entire fantasy world and drawn some beautiful sprites and backgrounds. Your coder might have written some of the best code ever. But if it's not a movie or tv license, it's almost guaranteed that no-one will touch it with a bargepole. Or if they DO actually buy it then it will sit on the bottom shelf while the kids run out and buy the latest Naruto title or Harvest Moon 7.

All of the points the guys mentioned above about following the rules are all very well and good. But the bottom line is this.
Do you enjoy what you do?
Do you want to get paid for it?
Are you prepared to relocate? (the chances of finding a local company are astronomical)

If all of the above apply then you are going to be working for an established company. Most BIG companies have designers seperate from artists, so they won't want to hear your ideas. they pay a designer for that.
And if you DO get a job with a BIG established comany, you will have NO say in what type of games you develop graphics for. The Suits at the very top decide that and they won't even know you exist. They seldom if ever come down from their ivory towers to meet the workers, and even if they do they have more pressing things to fill their time with than remembering the name of someone they most likely will only ever see from a distance at the company Christmas party.

You must learn to balance what you do with WHY you do it.

You got into pixels because you love it. The job you do from 9 to 5 will pay for your house, your bills and your family. (I know that mst of you are probably too young to even have left home yet, but go with me on this.)

The Job you do from 9 to 5 will be filled with a lot of crap you don't want to do. But do the best possible. Bite the bullet. If you kick up a stink and complain, there's loads more kids out ther who will jump at the chance to sit at your desk.

If you want to do games for fun, do them at night. Freelance every now and then. Small jobs.
Draw your brains out. Draw amazing things.
These will NEVER make you rich anywhere except inside.


Pages: [1]