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C/C++ C# professional Skills

Sounds fancy. Doesn't work so well with new members who may wonder what it means.
"Historical Accuracy" or something is fairly self-explanatory.

Anyway, I'm fine with whatever ribbons you decide to set up. :onya
 
History/Seamanship Adviser would fit the role perfectly, but there's a good chance it wouldn't fit on a ribbon with the size font we're presently using. I guess we could make it smaller. I don't think that we'll need teams for both.

I do like QC, though. It sounds pretty good. I could imagine a perceived problem with a Quality Control person saying that your work is wrong in some way. That could be taken to mean "not good enough."

I think a Christmas Green for that team would work well. What's life without unnecessary festivity? :D
 
I'm just thinking QC is a more universally recognised department of any development company, especially the games industry.
Plus I've had it drilled into me for years when studying Product Design at school/college. :rolleyes:

Actually, how about a QC Advisor, to be precise? That distinguishes people from potential QC Testers, and might not make it sound like their word is law.

We can (and should) explain the purpose of each team in the soon-to-be-made stickied thread, of course.
 
To be sure, to be sure. And people could also put any further explanation that they might feel helps in their forum signatures.
 
Fair enough. We aren't a typical development community, though. (In a good way, of course.) There is still the issue of the inexperienced modeler thinking the quality of his model isn't high enough for us, even with stickied explanations. I'd like to make that role as obvious as possible.
Anyway... You have more experience in the area than I do, so I'll leave it to you.
 
There is still the issue of the inexperienced modeler thinking the quality of his model isn't high enough for us, even with stickied explanations.
I realise that, yes. I suppose it's all down to how feedback is worded. In theory, such a situation could be avoided altogether, regardless of a commenter's position on the team.
A greater factor affecting how a modeller perceives feedback might be the opinion of other modellers, even.

Anyway, are we happy with the rest of the teams, as well? There's probably not a lot to add before starting a separate thread.
 
Besides the missing secret, unribboned Easter egg team, everything looks good.
 
Don't think so; I'd say we can go ahead and work from that. :doff

I vote for myself on the "Brainstorming and Creative Support Team". :dance
 
I've had a look into refining the team ideas a bit, and filling in some gaps. Added some basic descriptions too, which might need expanding.
Before I start a thread for it, how does this look (words in square brackets are ribbon names):

• Coordination and Management
- [Coordinator] - Members willing to take on a management role in the game's development, ensuring that all teams are working together efficiently, and compiling content when necessary.

• Creative Support and Brainstorming
- [Creative Support] - Members contributing in-depth ideas and concepts to the brainstorming threads.

• 3D Modelling and Animation
- [3D Artist] - Members with experience in Maya, 3DS Max or similar, who can create high-quality models for various parts of the game. Includes modellers who also produce their own textures and animations.
- [Animator] - Members who can work with modellers to help bring their creations to life in the game. Includes those who can work with the UDK Matinee interface to produce cinematic cut-scenes.

• 2D Texture Artists
- [2D Artist] - Members with experience in Photoshop, GIMP or similar, who can work with modellers to provide high-quality textures. Also includes those proficient with the UDK Material Editor, who can produce realistic shaders.

• Programming
- [Programmer] - Members with suitable programming knowledge, who can help to develop the game's behind-the-scenes code functions. Includes those with experience in the UDK Kismet interface.

• Flash Developers
- [Flash Developer] - Members with experience in creating flash content, who can create various User Interface elements for the game.

• Music and Sound Effects
- [Music and SFX] - Musicians, composers, sound effects artists and voice actors who can create appropriate sounds and tracks for the game.

• Quest Writers
- [Quest Writer] - Members with a creative flair who can come up with exciting storyline concepts, and work with the other content creation teams to make these ideas come to life.

• Quality Control
- [QC Advisor] - Members with extensive knowledge or expertise in particular subject areas, who can offer support and advice to the content creation teams.
- [QC Tester] - Members testing Alpha and Beta versions of the game, to help iron out bugs and ensure various features work as intended.
 
Where would people doing texture work for interfaces fit in?

Otherwise... Looks much better than my first attempt set-up! :onya
 
I could change 2D Artists to those "who can provide high-quality textures for models and user interfaces". Does that sound right?
 
Can do. Is there any need to distinguish between the two? Probably not, eh?
 
I don't think so. Some of the other teams have a dual purpose as well, so we don't end up with far too many different groups and ribbons.
Any other suggestions before I start working on it? :checklist
 
To be honest we're going to need to collapse a few of the 'standard' production environments due to the fact that we don't have a major team. I really like the list you've got so far.

How about I give you guys a break down of how our teams are organized at my Visual Effects Studio. Might give you some ideas as to roles that need to be filled as well.

People are split into three major groups and then further subdivided. I know i'm totally going to forget a department or two and have to edit it later.
  • Overhead staff
    • Management
    • Accounting
    • HR
    • Systems
    • Studio PA/Coordinator
    • DPA (they manage the render farm 24/7. it's kind of like the mailroom of the visual effects world. People become DPAs in the hopes to wiggle their way into a junior artist role on a show)
  • Artists (broken into departments, each department has a supervisor which oversees the overall quality of the work being produced, and a lead who acts as a rallying point, setting the standard for the work produced by the artists and generally a middle-leadership figure)
    • Modelling
    • Rigging
    • Animation
    • Texturing (at my studio this is broken into Matte Painters and 2D texture artists. But Matte painting requires Mari which is so expensive you have to contact a sales rep before they'll give you a price)
    • Layout
    • Lighting
    • Compositing
    • Rotoscoping
    • FX
  • Production Staff (follows a hierarchy. I'm not totally 100% of how this works myself, it's really complicated and shrouded in hollywood mystery.)
    • Producer
      • Digital Production Manager
        • Coordinator (one/two per artist department, they organize the artists, keep them on track, schedule them for dailies)​
          • PA (the lowest rung on the production tree. They order food for artists working late, run dailies sessions in the theater, handle scheduling of resources and generally all-around-runners)​
There's also tons of other little departments that fit in between the cracks of these major groups. We have a software team that develops studio-specific software, a R and D department that develops new techniques to achieve higher and higher goals of realism (i've been watching some people study STACKS of books on birds so they can model individual feathers for a movie i can't talk about yet) we HAD a web team (till it got laid off) training, etc.
Another major group that kind of fits in oddly (and is very, very important) is the pipeline team. This consists of TDs (Technical Directors) who are essentially glue between departments. They are programmers that ensure the output of one department flows smoothly into the input for another. They manage the asset database, write custom shaders, maya plugins and a BILLION other things I don't quite understand. For example, the pipeline team would set formats and metrics for modellers so when they put out the meshes the riggers can pick them up and start adding skeletons for animation. I have a huge amount of respect for TDs, they're coding GODS and allow me to not have to worry about stupid application errors.
Anyways, it's all really complicated. If you have any questions about this whole process let me know and i'll answer as best as i'm able. Hope this info helps. Keep in mind this structure is designed for feature films and the one described above contains over 200 people at the moment.
-B
 
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