how multi talented are you?

hey, I'm new around here.

I was just curious about the talents a game dev has; like, do you guys make the music and art for your games along with the actual coding and whatnot?
Is it hard to maintain multiple talents when working on games? For example, I've studied art and music simultaneously, and found it extremely difficult to keep up a productive lifestyle and still make progress .

 

I'm personally only a coder and software designer. Most people I know are string in one area only and have limited or no skill in other areas, though I do know a couple "Jack of All Trades" kind of people who do really cool stuff on their own (but aren't experts in each area).

Based on that, I don't think that the "secondary" skills necessarily need to be hard to maintain. If your speciality is being able to do a bit of everything then you don't need to be world class in each area. So having the basics down and sticking to them is probably good enough, and if your project needs more than that it's probably time to get a specialist on board.

 

thanks for the response.
I'm glad to hear it's doable; I'm rather fond of Jack of all Trades.
I must say, your project looks pretty cool; is your group comprised entirely of specialists?

 

I'm pretty much only a coder. Instant gratification for me.

While I can do basic, low-poly modelling very simple animations, I'm hopeless at adding detail and UV unwrapping. I can also make semi-decent hard-surface textures. Now, audio? forget it.

 

I started off as someone who does music, but then slowly developed a liking towards other types of art such modelling and now even programming if that is considered one. So I guess I'm a jack of all trades

 

Very difficult. I have made a firm commitment to creating my game, and that means what free time I have goes into game dev; opportunity cost and all that. I am stopping my viola classes, and weekends I no longer go out unless it is necessary in order to stay in to do dev.

In addition, while I can draw somewhat, and know how to make music, it is fact that the time I've put in can not rival what the professionals can do; hence areas that I am weak in, I will look for help from freelance contractors.

- the wolf

 

Haha, thanks. Pretty much, though the core group was only 3 people. We outsourced the stuff that our specialties didn't cover - so we bought stuff online to get us ~80% and then farmed out modifications as needed to other specialists we know.

The exception to that is the environment tileset. I made placeholders myself (just dragging out boxes of the appropriate sizes) and then got a 3D modeller to make nicer looking ones for us (which mostly meant just re-creating my boxes and adding UVs and textures).

 

Paid my way through art school by working as an engineer. Much of my early career bounced back and forth between art/design and engineering. So I am both an artist and engineer, professionally and senior level at both. For me, I like to do both and be able to do anything I need in building a game. Personally I tend to see game development as a single skill with many facets.

My role is usually some combination of UI/Tech Art/frontend, but varies a lot depending on the project. Being bilingual (art/code), I often work a lot with building pipelines and working as a interpreter between art and eng. Knowing both is a great benefit in problem solving. It also gives me the opportunity to build a lot of prototypes, which where I work... involves some pretty freaking awesome stuff.

Music is a complete mystery to me. I don't touch the stuff.

 

The games in my profile. I programmed them entirely from the ground up (no starter kits or plugins), made all visuals, all sound effects and all the music (only psi.kart has music).

For me its really just the result of years of hardcore ADD. I will literally sit there with my keyboard out hooked up to a synthesizer, Unity open, and Zbrush open. I will then type some code into Unity, my mind will drift and I will start pressing keys on my synthesizer, my mind will drift again, I'll make something zbrush or do a few strokes in it. Round and round and round. I've set it up so I just get distracted by another productive activity.

I find forcing yourself to get good at multiple things have cross-effects to other things. All skills are sort of intermixed in some way. It's like if you want to be an animator, it'd also do you good to get good at dancing so you have a sense of rhythm and timing, and finesse to body movement, which development of those instincts through dancing will translate into better instincts as an animator. That relation is fairly obvious, some things it gets more abstract but I think everything has some relation like that, at some level. Like it's really weird that learning to play the synthesizer I feel made me a better programmer because it taught me how to better focus my mind on a single thing and keep a rhythm with it, like when I get going hard on programming I will actually unconsciously press my keys in a rhythm and kind of get into a groove with it that same way as if I were playing a synthesizer. I find there is some weird relation like that where any skill can be beneficial to another skill in some weird unexpected way.

 

Replace the music bit with Illustrator, and you live in same world I do.

In straight up software, and even in graphic design/illustration this trait is more of a challenge than benefit. The beauty of game dev is that ADHD/ADD is a wonderful benefit. I can get fully distracted on a totally different path in the same project. It seems like this trait is pretty common in the industry (diagnosed or undiagnosed). Often it feels like producers are there largely to keep a roomful of ADHD game geeks on track.

 

I'm a coder and game designer, I leave the rest of the art/music/sound effects etc to specialists who know what they are doing.
I firmly believe in the old adage "Jack of all trades, master of none", and it rings very true in game development.

Although now and again some people are pretty good at many things, but it also comes down to the amount of time you have on your hands.

 

For me, I do everything myself (Aside from the strictly financial business and occassionally menu graphics, that goes to my brother for the most part, and besides my latest game which has been all me). I've spent 12-13 Years total in both Music, Graphic Design (2D and 3D), and Programming. All started at seperate times. I was 9 when I started learning about programming old age Basic on a Tandy 1000. When I was 13, I started graphic design. 16 I started playing music, eventually began self producing everything, and a couple other peoples tracks. I had semi hiatus's with each of them, but eventually I came back after getting good at each, and decided to start using what I know, to make whole games on my own.

 

Jack of all trades except music for me. Beginning coder (slowly working on that), developer, all of the art. The 2d platformer I'm trying to do is ridiculously art-intensive so if my soldering quest tomorrow goes well I can finally move forward tomorrow!

 

I'd say I'm a jack of all trades.. almost. I started off as a Leveldesigner for the goldsource way back in early 1999. Did some mods for it and over the years I became really skilled in 3D Environment art. After switching to 3dsmax I picked up modeling other 3d objects as well. That naturally forced me to get good with 2D art and textures as well. I DJ since 1997 and still occasionally do so sound/music production is covered, too (though I'm not really that good at production). I'm a trained wholesale and export clerk and due to working on mods for many years I got good at managing projects and teams over the years and learned how to handle financial matters and to some extend legal matters. For a living I do webdevelopment/programming and package design in an ad agency so I'm not a total noob when it comes to code either.

IMHO being a jack of all trades type of guy is kind of a necessity when you want to start a project on your own. I may not be the best programmer ever but thats the fun of it all for me; learning new things to better myself.
And when you really need something done you can't do by yourself, you can always ask some friends who are experts in this field - or find/hire people to help you out. Or learn how to do it

The only thing I really suck at is animating... its the one thing I really hate to do because I suck so badly at it.
And Shaders.. they confuse me and I never wrote a single line of shader code so far since I got specialist friends for that

I also enjoy painting and fiddling with electronics but thats not really related to unity. Though it fits into the overall "be creative" theme

 

I am a software dev, and my passion is sound. So, coding, music and sound effects.
I would also share my ideas on the game design and the story if I feel I have something to add. I'm not willing to throw my time at anything else though, I'd rather polish what I'm already doing.

 

Coding is my thing, and I'm not very good at anything else. However, I've been working to become better at art stuff, and I think it's paying off. It'll be a while before I'm retail-ready with my art, but it's a *lot* better than a few years ago.

 

I seem to be an apprentice Jack-of-all-Trades, in that I have a basic understanding of how to do most things. The only things I can't do myself at all are:
1) make Shaders, mainly because I haven't tried to.
2) compose music.

 

I'm only a programmer, but I find it helps to know a little bit about each area of games even if it isn't much. I can do basic 2D(mostly UI), very mediocre 3D hardsurface and I have limited knowledge of making sounds/music. I'm also at a competitive level in a FPS game which I'd say is my only "true" talent, although I'm finding myself with less time to train so I can't continue with that for much longer.

I wouldn't say I have a talent for programming, networking maybe but the only reason I'd say that is because I focus on it.

 

ha, yeah; coding seems great for making fun things super fast.
google some music stuff; it doesn't take long to make something simple that sounds nice.

that sounds like what I did, it's fun

A fellow viola player! I know what you mean; I had to quit my viola lessons as well when I started getting into this stuff.

is it expensive to outsource?
I'm guessing that it's pretty common.

engineer...and art? isn't that counter intuitive? hah. I always thought engineers were the most boring people ever, but you sound pretty interesting.

that's pretty cool, I wish I was ADD; for me, if I get bored, I'll go waste a couple hours on 9gag or something.
yeah, I've noticed how being somewhat talented in two areas helps in one.
and, I never thought about how dancing might help with animation, that's a neat thoughtline.

yeah, the master of none part is kind of annoying, but do you ever find it difficult not being able to understand, say , the artistic parts of a game?

heh, I started with music and ended with programming. But, 12 years! that's a lot of experience! How many games have you made? What's the most complex that you've tried?


Thanks for all the replies! it's really interesting seeing what other things you guys do.
I wanted to reply to everyone, but I'm in a hurry at the moment , sorry.

 

I'm an artist and have trained myself over the years to specialise in programming. Truth be told I don't consider myself anything special although others are quick to say I am talented. Because I think ultimately people can all raise their game and push their work to the next level with the required amount of backbone and willpower.

 

I can do programming, 3d modelling, textures, shaders and maybe some ambient sounds. I prefer to be self sufficient to some degree but I do leave the obvious specialist jobs for specialists (or just buy the asset). Needless to say this was much more difficult before Unity came along.

 

@Mizizizi ha, nice! I love the deep voice of the viola, the C string goes on forever :3 TBH I'd prefer a cello really, but the cost/transportation issues made me go for the viola instead. I still have my viola in my living room, need to sell it asap and put the moola into the game art

Have you ever read the concept of Scanners vs Deep Divers?
http://www.think-differently.org/2007/06/are-you-scanner-or-deep-diver/

 

Nice ! Well, only one fully released game. Lots of stuff growing up I never completed. I've worked freelancing art and music for others games though. The one I'm working on now(in my signature) which is a Tactical RPG, has proven to be the toughest. It's more tough, mainly due to the coding though. Art and music weren't difficult to do. Since I used a similar art style to how i'd polished some previous concept art.

This is truly only my third year back in gaming since I stopped focusing mainly on music. Helped learning all this, because now I feel I can truly work on everything as a whole without much outside help. Which is how I like it. I like being in control of every asset I use. Make it unique.

 

I would describe myself generally as a programmer but beneath that I am an artist and I use programming more as a kind of tool to create visual arts. I haven't done much in the way of creating visual arts in other mediums such as pixel art or 3d modelling etc.. but have created some music. In terms of Unity projects I've mostly focussed on programming with an eye towards generating visuals. Now that I've been making a bit of income from the asset store it's becoming much more appealing to pay for useful assets/editor tools to save time and effort, so I'm shifting away from programming somewhat. If I had my way there'd be an instant manifestation of what I visualize in the form of a finished product (lol)... I can see the end product at the beginning of the project usually but then implementing that vision is the hard part.

 

I'm a logician and my clients ask for something (processes, algorithms, implementations) complex / obfuscate to be simplified / optimized / divided in smaller and manageable chunks.

 

I can't make music.

 

I'm a character TD professionally, so I rig, code and animate in my day job. I started as an artist many years ago, so I can draw and model as well. This translates very well to unity and working by myself. The only thing I can't do is music.

It's nice to be able to make a game all by myself, but time is the big problem I run into, especially as I'm working on a RPG which should really have a team of people.

 

You should keep your viola classes going on...

I'm a programmer but I've done art and music in school, just a tad, but then haven't we all? I try to avoid feature creep, which is very common in IT and in high school year books, where your resume becomes a long list of tech and talent acronyms because you've had to learn the tech just enough to do the job at hand and then move on.

 

I personally can code pretty well, and do the art side of things pretty well too. I'm also a musician. So yeah, I can multitask a lot on a project or adapt to things, providing there's some motivation or incentive .

 

I usually tend to do everything (including games websites etc) except music and more complex 3D modeling/texturing, but it can be tiring *_*

An important advice is to know your skills. If for example you suck at 3D, you better recognize it. You can still do 3D stuff to improve yourself, which is always good, but if you're dealing with a professional project you better put those parts in expert hands.

 

I'm extremely multi-talented. It's just a part of who I am. If something can be done, I can probably pull it off.

The drawback to being this multi-talented is that you never really get to be the best at anything. While I can appreciate the level that some people bring their craft to, I can never really match up. I simply don't have the time or attention to devote to any one discipline. At some point you just have to accept that you will never reach the top of any one craft.

The benefit to being multi-talented is that you get to be interested and excited about almost everything. My curiosity is boundless, and any number of subjects fascinate me. I may never get to be the best, but I also never have to worry about getting bored. There's always something new for me to do, or try or discover. For me the world is full of possibilities, all of them worth a go.

 

I do everything in my company.
I'm not to good but I'm getting better every day!

 

I am painfully a do everything kind of guy. I started as a photographer, then as a film editor, and then as a game cinematics director for EA and Squaresoft.
I also have experience in post audio and mixing of music and dialogue. I now try to bring all of those skills into my game ideas. I made the mistake of counting how many game ideas I have in development and it is around 10...
The very hardest nut to crack is programming...I am learning playmaker to try to take some of the pain away...

 

I will try to make it short and simple

I do 3d graphics :

I compose my own music (and play in local metal band)

i do motion graphics (AE) :

I'm also 2 weeks away from releasing my first ios app i made with c# and unity (i will showcase it when its ready!)

I'm currently studying medicine, which is probably the worst decision I've ever made...DON'T EVER GO TO MED SCHOOL

 

Excellent work MHD. Look forward to whatever it is you may reveal. We can bank on it at least looking great!

Medicine though, I'd rather punch my face a zillion times. Haha

 

Well look at this way, the medical gig will pay for you to build a killer studio.
And with your skills it wont be hard or take to long...
Very nice work.

I think the original bioware guys were doctors then crossed over into games....and the rest is history.
Impressive.

 

I just program and make music; I'm currently working on a sonata based off Pisano periods for a current project.

I even wrote a script for generating the sequence.

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. //Javascript
3. var Fib = function Fibonacci (x)
4. {
5.     if (x<=1) {
6.         return 1;
7.     }
8.     return Fib(x-1)+Fib(x-2);
9. }
10.  
11. var Pisano = function PisanoPeriod(base, permutations) // Number base, executions
12. {  
13.         for(i=0;i<permutations;i++)
14.         {            
15.             print(Fib(i)%base);
16.         }
17. }
18.  
19. Pisano(12,22); //Generate a chromatic piece to the first interval.
20.  

I can draw but not at the level to put out game ready turn-arounds for a project and I can only model inorganics. My topology skills aren't at the level where I'm comfortable doing Bipeds/Quadrupeds.

 

I feel the same way! I actually looked into getting some electronic stuff to make my viola sound like a cello; never actually bought the stuff though.

that's a pretty interesting article. I would say I'm a Scanner

that sounds like a lot of fun

dang! that's pretty impressive models there!
ha, yeah I know a lot of med school people; they're not happy people

woah! Is that randomly generated music? that sounds like a really cool concept.

for everyone; I'm going to put a poll up so I can keep track
Edit: if I can figure out how....

 

+1

 

Well, myself, I am a self taught artist with a strong love for games... my background before I started doing games, I spent a few years improving my skills in CG. And I've been wanting to extend that into gaming...

I handle modeling of characters and level assets, texturing, lighting, animation, environments... and I am trying to extend my skills into programming. Feel free to check out my current project.

 

This, definitely.

As an aside, perhaps what makes people call you "talented" is ultimately that you're a part of a minority with the required backbone and willpower? Most people can learn most things if they put the time and effort into doing so, but very few people choose to apply themselves in that way.

 

I have no talents.

More or less I just get by. When I need to get something done I read about it, I preproduce others' works and methods and I repeat until I'm somewhat content. Not a hardworking type but I can sometimes be stupidly stubborn and single-minded about things I care.

Music is my arch nemesis. I have yet to find a good final solution for this music problem I have. My next big adventure is probably Fruity Loops. But luckily I have a sibling who is a professional sound and music producer.

 

I can do programming (I'm focusing on it mostly) and art (graphics - 3D and 2D, sound and music - I'm specializing in chiptunes and have channel on YT specially for them called Ch1p M45t3r, for graphics I don't do animations unless it's 3D one).

 

I've been a self taught 3D artist for a bit more than a decade (time goes by fast... damn) although I haven't been doing it professionally until more recent years.
And while I'm not a "real" programmer you could say I'm a unity scripter to certain degree (I have been sporadically learning unity for almost 4 years now).

But enough about me

Perhaps one of the best talents, which I admire on many folks here in these forums, is the ability to be organized enough to set a feasible goal, commit to it, and finish a game.

I guess it takes that certain something that successful people have, maybe it's a bit of knowing how to pick your battles, but mainly be self-possessed and committed to a project enough see it gets done.

 

No, it's not random. It's defined by a rigid formula.

 

I'm a bit of a Jack of all Trades, though I specialize in Unity.

I have used software such as: Maya, Max, Blender, Lightwave, Wings3D, Sketchup, Gimp, Photoshop, Illustrator, UDK, and of course Unity.

I've never done much audio/music before, but I recently got a used Casio keyboard, and I'm hoping maybe I can make some of my own soundtracks eventually.

I've also studied many programming languages including: Python, JavaScript, HTML, and Unity JavaScript and C#.

 

It seems most people commenting are Jack-of-all-trades, and so am I, although I have significant gaps. Music and making good textures digitally are probably the biggest of those.

I started just doing level design, learnt scripting, modelling (low poly, and recently, high-poly and character), animation, shader programming, a bit of audio, etc. When it comes to textures, so far I have been playing to my strengths with traditional media, and I've been hand drawing them in charcoal or pencil, before scanning them in and (sometimes) colouring them. Gives quite a unique style too. I use Unity, Blender, Gimp, Inkscape, Sculptris, Audacity, the free stuff. We'll see if I'm any good when I eventually finish my game

In my "real life" I'm a molecular biologist, and I have quite a wide skill set in that field too.

 

Indeed. Talent is what people who don't have the drive/passion/interest in a particular field call hard work.

 

To deny talent exists might be taking it a bit far. I spent years working on music to become a passable musician. On the other hand I've met people who have been 'serious' about music for a year or so and can basically sing or play anything they hear.

As a teacher of programming its clear that some students with no previous exposure get it immediately and some don't.

Doesn't meant that hard work isn't important, but talent does play a role (maybe in some fields more than others).

As for skills:

Programming - Started programming on a CPC464 when I was around 10 and spent about 8 years of my 15 year IT career doing this.

Art - I'm okay at graphic design, I have a reasonable eye, but I can't draw freehand very well. Obstacle Alley was my first and only attempt at 3D modelling. I can handle simple games and UI but thats about my limit.

Music - As mentioned I spent a lot of time (mispent youth??) doing this, but have never applied it to games. I'm not very familiar with the tools for recording nor those for creating digital music, and I've been able to find so many awesome musicians who produce work at a great price that I haven't felt the need to do it.

 

Thanks for all the responses! It's really inspiring to see all the things you do.

and @hippocoder
that was very well put; Unity needs +1 option.


btw, anyone know how to edit a thread to include a poll?

well said.
I've been getting the impression from everything I've seen that this is the most important skill to have; actually being able to commit.
I think Cracked.com did a couple really good articles on that a while back, don't have a link readily available though... I'll see if I can find it.