Rhys Shepard is a Technical Artist with over 8 years of experience in the Industry. He shared his journey through the gaming industry, focusing on his unique role as a Technical Artist and the various opportunities this role presents.

Initially joining the course as a concept artist, Rhys found a passion in the technical aspects of the course, learning Unity and developing a strong interest in the specialisations within the engine.

After graduation, Rhys began applying for roles that he believed would suit him and his interests; however, with the highly competitive junior applicant pool, he instead turned to applying for any available position. Here, he was offered a Junior role at 22cans after initially applying for a senior position. This role helped him establish a foothold in the industry and allowed him to expand his portfolio sufficiently to secure other positions at a similar level.

Rhys’ talk highlighted the differences between working on larger games and smaller indie games, as well as the benefits and negatives of both. However, as has been mentioned, a lot of Rhys’ talk centred on the Tech Artist role that Rhys holds.

Being a Tech Artist requires a solid foundation in nearly every aspect of game development. While specialisations are beneficial, understanding the game development process as a whole enables a Tech Artist to support game development wherever needed. Some specific roles a Tech Artist can fill include: Audio design, UI/UX design, Tool design and VFX design. These roles all include a good mix of art and technical skills; however, nearly all the work is in the engine.

Speaking to Rhys after the talk highlighted some other aspects of the industry I hadn’t really opened msyelf up to and I plan on revising and relearning some key tools for the industry which I don’t have much current experience in.

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• Able to pivot game engines
• from a small dev team into a larger team
• Apply everywhere
  • can open closed doors
• Don’t be scared to get turned away
  • First cancelled game
    • need to get permission to show certain assets of work per interview
• Portfolio matters less once you have the industry experience
• Fall guys
  • Acquired by Epic
• Fortnite

• Studios use a variety of software
  • There can be a lot of overlap in software
  • differs from studio to studio

• 2D and 3D games develop very differently
• optimisation works very differently
• literally changing the dimensions of the game

Interviews

• What’s the most crucial aspect in designing a game?
• Give me an example of a hard problem you had to solve and overcome
• How would you do this differently?
• If you get stuck on a task, what’s the next step you would take?
• Tech tasks for coding

Tech art

• Using technology to create art in the game
  • Audio tech
  • VFX tech
  • UI/UX tech
• The implementation of the technology enhances the player experience
• Technology can also support lower power systems running the game
  • LOD
• Tech artists work best when they know a little bit of everything