A fascinating read.

I come from the other side of the fence. I work for one of the bigger videogame publishers, in marketing. I see a lot of development, and am even lucky enough to spend time in one of the development studios we own. The guys who work there are now friends of mine and I have a huge admiration for what they do. There's a lot of very wise advise in this thread. If you're looking at working in the games industry heed it. Even Tandemar's thread--(I hope you don't mind me saying so...) though jaded--has lots of truth in it. And that is there will be many occasions that development teams are called on to grind on titles that are often uninspiring or license-driven (can be both a good and a bad thing). The key--as in any job--is to simply do your best. The threads on this site prove that even with a license or a year-on title, you can still produce brilliant work. The trick is realising that you may be working on the same thing for 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, even longer. And if it's a bad movie or TV show, that gets panned by critics, then there's a good chance that your great work will tank too, both commercially and by the critics. On the flipside are those rare gems. Hopefully, if you can prove that you can do a great job on the ordinary, then you'll earn a shot at an original IP or idea. I've seen it happen. Recently. And I've also seen a small "indie" developer team up with a publisher such as ourselves and suddenly have a world wide hit on their hands. Anybody here heard of the DS game Drawn to Life? Or the developers, 5th Cell? On the Australian charts the game just went number three on the "All consoles" chart, almost beating Phantom Hourglass for the number 2 spot (and number 1 spot on the DS charts) in Zelda's launch week. It currently sits... 1: Halo 3, 2: Zelda Phantom Hourglass, 3: Drawn to Life. Awesome company to be in for a game that has a completely original concept, isn't produced by a first party, has no licensed franchise and isn't a sequel.

The games industry is as tough and as wonderful as any other entertainment industry. Be realistic in your expectations. Love what you do. Live a balanced life (seriously!). And know that, rarely, anything goes completely to plan in PD! It's all about flexibility and a commitment to doing your best and attempting to create a great end product. And that's the same for all of us, no matter what our role is or which part of the cycle we're in.

Cheers,

Never heard of Scott Pilgrim until this thread, but those chars and anims are brilliant. I had to go and check the SP site, I was that impressed. You've totally smashed the style. Well done. 

Oh, and I agree about the 1-2-3 vs 4 punch by Bengoshia. The slow-down in the later version, while giving impact to the uppercut, kills the pacing somewhat. Love B.O.B.s little hair movements, too.

Defintiely keep working on this!!

Hey Kaczor...

Any particular design reason as to why you covered his face with the sword/arm?

Hey Monsoon & Rynen,

Saw your entries on the IGN site. Thought they were awesome; and a great study. Nice work.

Cheers,