outsourcing: best practices at pandemic studios [gdc 2008]
DESCRIPTION
https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=6525 Session Description This lecture will detail the Outsourcing process and pipeline as used by Pandemic Studios. This lecture represents over 2 years of an ongoing effort to perfect the process of art outsourcing at our studio and is based on the work done on MERCENARIES 2 and SABOTEUR. Attendees will learn how to plan and execute an effective outsourcing process for their projects. This lecture is designed to talk to multiple disciplines in order to define what roles they play in the process. The takeaway will be a complete plan of attack for outsourcing on your project. Additional information given will include where outsourcing has failed, major do's and don'ts, testing and evaluation of Outsource partners, communication methods as well as the process used during actual production.TRANSCRIPT
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Outsourcing: Best Practices for Artists, Designers and Management
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Who am I? Executive Art Director
What do I do? Oversee and maintain
quality of art studio-wide Manage production Artist career management R & D new technology Relationship Management
Pandemic Studios
Plus Outsourcing!!
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Outsourcing art for 6 years. Star Wars: The Clone wars
Vehicles & characters Full Spectrum Warrior (1 & 2)
Buildings Mercenaries 2 and Saboteur
Vehicles, buildings and characters Roughly 60% of art
Pandemic Studios
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Outsource Company for Mercs 2 & Saboteur AMC Studio (Romania) 37 employees
AMC Studio worked with Timegate Studios, Atari studios, Perpetual Entertainment, Digimation, Big Huge Games, Pandemic Studios and other game developers.
Pandemic Studios
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Pandemic Studios
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Pandemic Studios
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Outsourcing is…
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NOT a WMP (Weapon of Mass Production) – It’s a
tool. Must be planned ahead of time in schedule Should not be a last resort
A Front-loaded solution. Complete Asset List Concept Art Staff
Outsourcing is…
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Lack of complete asset list
Slow concept sheet production
Slow revision requests
Asset complications
Where has it failed before?
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Planning for outsourcing
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Phases
Planning
Evaluating
Production
Planning for outsourcing
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Multi-departmental Planning Producers, Designers and Artists all play a role in
an effective Outsource Plan.
Essential Personnel AP for Outsourcing:
Process management Primary conduit between the OP and
Pandemic Art Leads:
In disciplines that are outsourcing
Planning for outsourcing
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Producers Manage deliverables, schedule and milestones. Get a Full Asset List done as early as possible! Make sure your asset list fits your project
timeframe.. Create staffing plan that makes sense. If needed, starting outsource testing early
~ 3 – 4 months to fully test 3 art houses. You need concept art to test them!
Planning for outsourcing
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Designers Generate your Mission Specific Asset List as soon
as you can! All other assets can be defined by Art team Doesn’t mean your assets have to be made first. We
just need to know how many. That’s it!
Planning for outsourcing
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Artists
Planning for outsourcing
Define your pipeline
Plan your Outsource strategy
Define your complete asset list
Plan your concept phase
Manage the wave
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Pipeline Planning: Define your pipeline with an “awareness” towards
outsourcing. What assets can go to outsourcing vs. what
assets stay home? OP assets should be designed to have a clear pipeline
solution. OP asset pipelines should be resolved and tested as early as
possible.
More complicated/
More iterations
Clearest pipeline/ Less iterations
Internal OP
Planning for outsourcing
Designing assets specifically for OP creation:
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Choosing what to outsource What do you iterate on the most?
Everything else is fair game Other Outsourcing options to
consider: Other Service Bureaus: Motion Capture Asset Libraries should be considered as
an Outsourcing resource (Dosch, Turbo Squid, Digimation, etc)
3rd Party Technology should also be considered (Speedtree)
Asset Flow Chart (next page)
Planning for outsourcing
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More complicatedstructures
PhysicsImplementation
Main Characters/Cloth Physics
Internal StudioCreation
Terrain/World Building
Animationfront end, character and
particle
Speedtree(3rd party tech)
ModelLibraries
Props
OutsourcingPartner
Animationfront end, character and
particle
MotionCapture
Terrain/World Building
FoliageBuildings Vehicles Characters
Internal StudioCreation
OutsourcingCandidates
3rd PartyCandidates
InternalCandidates
Asset Chart for outsourcing
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Focus on accuracy. Minimize options. Be as simple and clear
as possible. Sometimes the word
“reference” is another word for “option.”
Planning for outsourcing
What’s in a concept?
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Sample Concept Art (good)
Planning for outsourcing
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Managing the bandwidth Rely on your AP to feed assets to your Lead team
Provide clear and consistent feedback All revision requests should sound like they came
from one person. All language should be clear and uncomplicated. Use consistent subject definitions for each request
Provide a definition sheet for their benefit.
Planning for outsourcing
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Sample Definitions (Mercs 2) Administrative Change Specular Map Change Normal Map Change Hierarchy Change Modeling Change General Change Texture Change
Planning for outsourcing
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Evaluating Outsource Partners
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What are we looking for?
Evaluating Outsource Partners
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What are we really looking
for? Size
We are only looking at 30+ artist staffed OPs. Anything smaller is not worth our time.
Larger staff implies infrastructure and security
Larger OP staff to internal staff = savings
Communication capabilities Network and ftp structure Language barriers
Evaluating Outsource Partners
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What do we do after we find them? Send Outsourcing Questionnaire Review their prior work Free Initial Art Test
Benchmark test for ranking Not associated with an actual project Using the same test allows for comparative
analysis Once OP passes benchmark test, we pass
them to a team for paid testing.
Evaluating Outsource Partners
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Testing process breakdown
Step 1Initial Ranking Test (free)
Evalutate
Step 2Project-based
Single Asset Test (paid)
Evalutate
Step 3Project-based
Volume Test (paid)
Evalutate
Evaluating Outsource Partners
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Meeting expectations Key Metrics (How long should it take?)
Vehicles15-20 man/days
Characters15-20 man/days
Buildings4-16 man/days
Animation1-3 man/days
Evaluating Outsource Partners
We generally calculate costs based on 20 day man-months at “X” man-day rate
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Key Metrics (actuals) Based on AMC $186 man/day
rate
Vz m3516 man/days; $2976
Pirate boss15 man/days; $2790
Caracas firestation7 man/days; $1302
Evaluating Outsource Partners
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Production Phase
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Initial Production Contract ~ 3
Rounds. Short enough to allow us to review and
course correct Long enough to make it worth their while
Why not 1 Round? Because it makes them nervous. They might be inclined to find additional
work Meaning: you might lose your OP staff to
another company!
Production Phase
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Art Leads approve or resubmit with
revisions via Asset Tracker
Pandemic ProducerPulls submissions from ftp and
distributes to Art for review
Outsource PartnerBegins and submits work via
FTP and Asset Tracker
Production Process
Outsource PartnerCompletes revision requests
and resubmits assets
Contract Signing
Approved EstimatesSubmitted to Finance
Negotiation Phase
Outsource PartnerSubmits Bid
Pandemic ProducerSubmit contract proposal
Asset Round Completed!
Production Phase
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Quick Timeline Overview
Pandemicsigns-off on
Round 2,issue check
OP flies leads toPandemicTesting
Complete
Pandemicdelivers
initial package
OP givesPandemic bid
Pandemicapproves bid. Work Begins
Round 1Assets
Delivered
Pandemicsigns-off on
Round 1,issue check
Pandemic fliesleads and Producer
to work onsite
Round 2Assets
Delivered
Round 3Assets
Delivered
1 2 3 4 5 6Negotiation
Phase
Pandemicsigns-off on
Round 3,issue check
Production Phase
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Sequence of Events leading up to Production Day
1. 4 months from start: Communicate with OP re:start
date 1 month from start: Submit asset list for first
contract 2 weeks from start: Submit concept package for
Round 1 3 weeks into Round 1: Send Lead team to OP for
management integration 2 weeks from Round 2: Submit concept package for
Round 2 Etc, etc.
Production Phase
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Production Team Trip to OP Review management processes. Asset creation problems. “Good enough” policy
Production Phase
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Do timezones matter? Local Timezone (America,
South America) Non-local (everywhere
else) Pros and Cons
Production Phase
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Communication
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Communication Maintain communication well before project starting
date. When closer, define the scope of their involvement in
months Provide accurate and effective Documentation
Typical communication methods Email or instant messenger Asset Tracker Telephone Face-to-face
Communication
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What’s in a package? Instruction Sheet
Lists deliverables Content Creation Guide (CCG)
Setup and method Concept Sheet
Dimensions and details
Communication
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Asset Tracker! Web interface Email Status
Notification Displays concept
and in-game images Organize and
coordinate detailed information
Bug database
Communication
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Project Status Master Lists Reporting
Time remaining Current Progress
Communication
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Additional Best Practices Conference calls: At least once per
week Maintain up-to-date and accurate data
in Asset Tracker OP visit to Pandemic.
Communication
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#1: Don’t assume they are mad if they sound mad.
#2: Do blame yourself first if they don’t do something right.
#3: Do, above all, be diplomatic.
#4: Do foresee the future.
Do’s and don’ts
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Thank you for your time!