My GDC 2012 TechArt Bootcamp Session

Recently edited it, I’m sure I’ll fix it up and change it some more:

The traditional role of Tech Art has been art support, integration, and tools. As the scope of pipelines have grown and matured, Tech Artists find themselves thrust into roles that require a large amount of programming and systems design- roles which their traditional skills have left them ill suited. To deal with today’s problems, every Tech Artist also must be able to “work like a programmer,” as it is the only way to build systems with the size and scope Tech Art now needs to.

We must first understand how Tech Art teams are generally composed and function. This is especially important because even though teams may perform at a fraction of their potential, they are perceived as productive. We will look at the real problems Tech Artists face and at models of solutions- namely, the composition and function of Programming teams.

Next we will explore how to apply those solutions to Tech Art teams. Strategies for controlling and formalizing support tasks, for introducing code guidelines and review, and continuous skills growth will be explained.

Finally, we will look at the pitfalls involved in taking this approach. We do not want to turn Tech Art teams into Programming teams, even if we model them after Programming teams. Just as importantly, and because each studio is different, we will explore how to preserve all of the good things about how a team works while reforming it so it can become more productive and take on vital tasks.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a roadmap to transform themselves and their teams into a cohesive programming unit that can successfully build the complex systems modern development requires.