{"id":962,"date":"2025-11-06T15:48:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/?p=962"},"modified":"2025-12-07T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:36:36","slug":"rhys-shepard-speaker-notes-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/2025\/11\/06\/rhys-shepard-speaker-notes-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys Shepard &#8211; Speaker notes\/Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-5fb07882 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some key highlights of Rhys&#8217; include working on Fall Guys with Mediatonic Games and collaborating on Fortnite at Epic Games, following Mediatonic&#8217;s acquisition by Epic Games. This role began as a Junior position and has since evolved into a Senior role within the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.unrealengine.com\/fgss04-keyart-offerimagelandscape-2560x1440-2560x1440-89c8edd4ffe307f5d760f286a28c3404-2560x1440-e9d811eebce7.jpg\" alt=\"Fall Guys | Download &amp; Play Fall Guys on PC for Free \u2013 Epic Games Store\" style=\"width:381px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rhys&#8217; 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&#8217; talk centred on the Tech Artist role that Rhys holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to Rhys after the talk highlighted some other aspects of the industry I hadn&#8217;t really opened msyelf up to and I plan on revising and relearning some key tools for the industry which I don&#8217;t have much current experience in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Able to pivot game engines<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>from a small dev team into a larger team<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apply everywhere\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>can open closed doors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t be scared to get turned away\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First cancelled game\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>need to get permission to show certain assets of work per interview<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Portfolio matters less once you have the industry experience<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fall guys\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Acquired by Epic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fortnite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Studios use a variety of software\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There can be a lot of overlap in software<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>differs from studio to studio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2D and 3D games develop very differently<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>optimisation works very differently<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>literally changing the dimensions of the game<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interviews<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What&#8217;s the most crucial aspect in designing a game?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Give me an example of a hard problem you had to solve and overcome<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How would you do this differently?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you get stuck on a task, what&#8217;s the next step you would take?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tech tasks for coding<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tech art<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Using technology to create art in the game\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Audio tech<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>VFX tech<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UI\/UX tech<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The implementation of the technology enhances the player experience<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Technology can also support lower power systems running the game\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>LOD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tech artists work best when they know a little bit of everything<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year-3-25-26","category-year-3-speaker-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1031,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/1031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}