Artist’s Weapon: Skills and Tools To Master
The gaming industry, a continually evolving creative field, provides many opportunities for artists to follow their passion and build successful careers. Since the gaming industry is constantly expanding, artists need to keep up with the rapidly evolving skills and tools used in the industry. What Skill Does An Artist Needs? An artist is responsible for a visual aesthetic that includes color, composition, value, shape, textures, anatomy, and perspective. With the variety of elements that Artists need to create, what are the essential skills required for an Artist? LeadershipAn artist is responsible for completing a project, which may be multiple, one at a time, with numerous people in a team. Leadership skills must bring out the finest qualities in team members and inspire them to collaborate to accomplish a common goal. CommunicationAs communication goes both ways, an artist must be able to speak their mind and listen. Artists must translate their vision into words and communicate it, not just visuals. TeamworkTeamwork skills are needed because, in game development, an artist will work closely with the team to achieve the goals set at the beginning. Problem-solvingArtists will encounter various obstacles during their work. It will only worsen if the issue is not handled by the deadline. That’s why an artist needs to be a problem solver. CreativityParticularly in game development, an artist must be a creative individual capable of producing innovative ideas for their artwork. Time managementArtists need to use time wisely and productively. They also need to manage their time to focus and control the time to complete their tasks. Good time management can increase work productivity. Attention to detailArtists must be able to carry out and finish a task while demonstrating thoughtful thought for all aspects concerned, no matter how minor. This entails efficiently managing time and resources while monitoring and verifying work or information. What Tools Do Artists Utilize? Raster Illustration (Adobe Photoshop)Rasterization is a technique with a pixel-by-pixel system. It allows the creation of complex shapes and color blendings, such as creating concept art or 3D texturing. (Vector Illustration) Adobe IllustratorVector is an illustration technique with a data calculation system that is unaffected by the number of pixels, such as creating UI assets. UI/UX (Figma and Adobe XD)These tools are used to design User Interfaces in the game, such as buttons, pages, head-up displays, and the outcome when it is run by the player/user. 3D Modelling (Zbrush and Blender)3D Modelling involves creating three-dimensional points or vertices by vertex objects in 3D space. Zbrush and Blender are famous for making 3D objects because they are easy to use and have a broad scope for making games and cinematic assets. Rigging (Blender)Rigging is like giving a “bone” to an object/character so it is ready to transform as animation. 3D Animation (Blender, Rokoko Studio)Animation is the phase where the rigged object is moved and posed keyframe by keyframe into a sequence that matches the desired movement in the game. Such as idle, walk, run, jump, attack, etc. Texturing (Blender, Adobe Photoshop, Substance Painter, Substance Designer Texturing)Texturing gives color to 3D objects; the basic principle is similar to raster illustrations. Game Engine (Unity Engine, Unreal Engine)The final phase is to transfer the finished asset into the game engine to develop the game itself. Again, a specialist game artist must master the game engine’s features and tools to set every visual asset properly. If you think you can utilize these tools to your advantage and more, head down below and show us what you’ve got! Vacancy ON ART DEPARTMENT Position Department Division Contract Type 3D Artist Art Gamification Contract Type : Temporary Details 2D Artist Art Gamification Contract Type : Temporary Details Technical Artist Art Art Service Contract Type : Temporary Details Load More
Agate Art Club: Smaugust
In Agate, we provide our crews with a way to express their ideas. Instead of just meddling with their work, we give them space to express their creativity through various activities, media, and clubs. Just like a game that is supposed to be fun and exciting, we want to create the same atmosphere working behind the desk as game developers. One of the activities is Agate Art Club. Agate Art Department creates appealing activities for game artists to fine-tune their skills. One of the activities is a monthly event where game artists, or any interested crew, draw a specific creature or thing. Last month’s Agate Art Club theme is Smaugust, inspired by Smaug, the dragon from The Lord of the Rings series. Here are the arts they submitted. Our special thanks to our artists: Abiyyu Prishdian Vivekananda | Rookie Game Artist Ar Cahyadi Indra | Head of Art Department Kelvin Adriel Setiawan | Rookie Game Artist Nelson Setiadi | UI/UX Artist William Joelian | Associate Lead Artist And also to our crew from another department: Payoma Kusuma | Game Producer Which Smaugust is your favorite? or do you wish to join Agate Art Club? We currently open roles for artists. Take a look at our opening here: Artist roles. Vacancy on Art Departement Position Department Contract Type 3D Environment Artist Art Contract Type : Full-time Details Art Director Art Contract Type : Full-time Details [Mythic Protocol] Senior 3D Character Artist Art Contract Type : Full-time Details [Mythic Protocol] Creature 3D Artist Art Contract Type : Full-time Details Load More
Recruitment Tips and Tricks: Career Types in the Game Industry
The rapid growth of the game industry in the past years proves that gaming is one of the promising industries in the future. Undoubtedly, many professions have emerged in the game industry today. Thus, making a career in the gaming industry sounds quite tempting. Are you curious about the career types in the game industry? As Indonesia’s leading game company, Agate has several types and categories of career types that our crews undertake. These several career types aim to meet the demand for a diverse workforce in the video game industry. Our Recruiter, Hanifah Oktarina Arief, and our HR Generalist Kemas Rahmat Mubarrak will give you other recruitment tips and tricks, specifically about career types in Agate. Hopefully, these recruitment tips and tricks will provide you with an understanding of the path you want to pursue. Are you ready to join the game industry? Agate is hiring! Take a look at our open job roles here: Agate is hiring!
Career Transition From Project Manager To Game Producer
If you have a career transition from Project Manager to Game Producer, what do you have in mind? While working as a Producer might confuse you in many related fields from movies, music, television, and even games, there’s something you might also associate with this role in the technology field. You also might be familiar with the other “Jack of all trades” in the area. Can you guess? Yes, it’s the Project Manager. Between Project Manager and Game Producer, what do they have in common? A Project Manager and a Game Producer share the same goal. They both work to ensure the project (whether it’s an app or a game) is delivered as scheduled, on budget, and within the expected scope. We call this a project management triangle. So, we can say that both have similar duties in team building, breakdown tasks, and distributing each assignment to the team member. They also acquire people, budgeting, time management, and communication skills. Then, what is the difference? Both roles are different regarding the additional skills dan knowledge. Game Producers are more specified in the creative industry, which involves 2D-3D art and music component production. In comparison, Project Managers are more on the general side of expertise, such as focusing on accountability, progress monitoring, and resource management. More specifically, a Game Producer needs knowledge and hands-on experience in game development, including live ops. In addition, compared to the Project Manager’s ability to fulfill its app features and usability, Game Producer Producers must succeed in building a core loop in a game that is fun to play. If you are a Project Manager, have you ever wondered about transitioning to Game Producer? Opportunities for a Project Manager to be a Game Producer are wide open. If you are interested in mastering the game development process, then it’s your chance. You don’t need to specialize in a particular aspect as a Game Producer. Instead, you can learn much expertise such as illustration, UI assets, game design, etc. The working culture will be the most exciting if you have a passion for the creative industry (we’re talking about games!). As a Game Producer that wants to deliver joy to its users, we work in a fun working environment to maintain creative culture throughout the company. Game Producers also work to test in-game mechanics and often find unexpected things that are unique and funny. Working to explore a game that you develop is a pleasure in itself. As Project Manager and Game Producer have overlapping similarities, both role has the same skills that are required for their job, which is: Progress Monitoring Resource Management Accountability Detail Oriented Team Building Task Breakdown Task Distribution Timeline Projection Budgeting Project Delivery Even though they share a certain amount of differences, in Agate, Project Managers and Game Producers are both considered to be Game Producers in their entirety. If you are interested to have a career transition from Project Manager to a Game Producer in Agate, head to Game Producer role. Vacancy On Production Departement Position Department Division Contract Type Public Relations Marketing, Sales and Operations Support Contract Type : Temporary Details Lead 3D Artist Art Art Service Contract Type : Temporary Details Load More
Go Deeper As a Game Producer: Skills and Tools You Needed
In the past few articles (see our Recruitment Tips: Excel Your Game Producer Application or Being a Game Producer: Perks and Challenges), we’ve talked about Game Producers and the importance of this role. To ensure that our games are released on time, we need someone to manage the team and keep track of the development process—and that’s where Game Producers came in! Game Producers, the all-seeing eye of development, are responsible for overseeing everything in the course of action. They manage production schedules and plans for the team and ensure those are followed and adhered to. In addition, producers let everyone on the team know about the upcoming steps and goals they’re trying to reach. From the development and production stages, Game Producers must also guide their teams to maintain a shared design, artistic, and technical vision. Game Producers are strategic thinkers. With a deep understanding of the process, they can devise long-term and backup plans if something doesn’t work out—making sure no team loses direction. With their pragmatic and tactical leadership, they manage the team to be successfully released the games for gamers all over the world. From knowing the what, when, and who and coming up with solutions, Game Producers made it happen. What are essential skills for a Game Producer? Leadership Skill A Game Producer needs to act as a team player that will lead a team of talented programmers, artists, designers, and QA to reach a common goal. So, leadership skill is the essential skill a game producer should have. Project Management Skill To be involved in game development from end to end, a Game Producer could keep track of everything in the project: the schedules, the stakeholders, the objectives, and so on. A Game Producer should be familiar with project management methods and tools. Communication Skill Being an expert communicator is a must skill that Game Producers should have. A Game Producer must be great at listening, giving feedback, and preventing ambiguity within the team’s scope and external stakeholders. Problem Solving Skill Things never go 100% as planned. Therefore, problem-solving plays a massive part in the game producer’s role. A Game Producer must be able to identify, plan, strategize, and develop creative and effective solutions for every situation encountered. Game Design, Art, and Programming Knowledge A game Producer is not practically involved in the game design process from scratch or the game programming and artwork. Even so, a Game Producer needs to be knowledgeable about the game design and development pipeline. So with a little bit of understanding of everything, Game Producers need to understand the game design and development pipeline to support and direct their team. What Tools Do Game Producers Utilize? Game Producers need tools to help them plan and monitor their team activities to support their day-to-day work. They use three main tools: Notion, Office Tools, and Trello. Most routine management and database tasks will be more swiftly and efficiently with the help of these tools. In addition, you can use different features on the app simultaneously to support each other. If you think you have what it takes, head up to our vacant Game Producers role and shoot your shot! Vacancy On Production Departement Position Department Division Contract Type Public Relations Marketing, Sales and Operations Support Contract Type : Temporary Details Lead 3D Artist Art Art Service Contract Type : Temporary Details Load More
Recruitment Tips: Excel Your Game Producer Application
Is this your first time applying as a Game Producer? Or are you already a Game Producer ready to step up your game? Here’s an insider leak on recruitment tips for how to excel in your application as a Game Producer in Indonesia’s leading game company – in a simple brief! First and foremost, you should know how the recruitment process works in a game company, especially in Agate. Our recruitment consists of several steps, including portfolio screening, technical tests, and interviews. As our candidate for Game Producer, you’ll need to go through all of these stages. Game Producers are the ones who make sure development is on track and on time. Therefore, they need a wide range of technical and managerial knowledge—and they also need to know how to showcase that knowledge to a recruiter and users. In this article, we highlight several things to do when applying as a Game Producer: Portfolio A portfolio is the first thing you might not realize has a significant value as a game producer. It would help if you built an impressive portfolio whether you are a starter, associate, or senior-level producer. A portfolio can help you to explain your previous project, such as how long you led the project and how big you handled the team. In addition, you can describe what scope you are doing in the past project. Other things you can highlight in your portfolio are the problem you encountered in your previous projects and how you overcame the challenges. You can also share your last postmortem project (if any), so you can give a short preview of the result of your work in previous projects. Technical Test The technical test process is one of the steps you must go through as a part of the recruitment process. While a portfolio is needed as a part of the screening process, this stage aims to assess your mastery of specific skills needed as a Game Producer. In addition, in this stage, you must show how extensive your knowledge is because game producers must understand the end-to-end game development process. The technical test you need to work on might differ on the expertise required for the company. But one thing is for sure, recruiters and users value highly how broad your knowledge is. So show your knowledge and skills in the technical test given. In addition, during the technical test, you need to provide a strong impression and reason why you are the right person to be a game producer. Interview The interview stage is the most crucial stage you need to excel in the recruitment process. You can look at our previous Recruitment Tips and Tricks: Do’s and Don’ts in An Interview to give you a simple guide to stand out in your interview. But how do you outshine other candidates as a game producer in the interview process? In game producer interview, you’ll be asked about your knowledge, skill, and expertise in game development. You also need to highlight your experience in a field that might be related, such as project management and managerial experience. Another thing our user addresses in the interview is that a game producer needs to be straightforward about what they do and don’t understand game development. We value producers’ honesty, even when you don’t know a certain aspect of game development. We’re hiring! Are you ready to follow our recruitment tips for your game producer application? Head to Game Producer Role to start your application process.
Being a Game Producer: Perks and Challenges
Programmers, artists, and designers make up most of the team behind all the games we know and love. There are several distinct roles in game development: a programmer writes code; an artist produces artwork; a designer designs game concepts; and others precise positions. They all collaborate to build magnificent settings, detailed gaming mechanics, and the characters you love. However, while the work of a game programmer or artist is evident, it is more difficult to understand what a game producer does. When it comes to Producers, you might associate this role just as in the fields of movies, music, television, and even games. But, how far do you know about the role of a Game producer? Game producer involved in the end-to-end game development process. As the “Jack of all trades,” game producers work to plan, manage, and make sure that games can be released as expected. In addition, producers ensure that game development and production teams meet deadlines, collaborate, and maintain a shared design, artistic, and technical vision. As a game producer, you will learn about the overview and how things work without requiring formal background or specialization in game development (such as programming, art, or design). However, game producers also need to keep up with the newest trends and technologies in the industry because you will work closely with artists, programmers, designers, other specialists roles, various client requests, and user behaviors. So, what are the Perks and Challenges of a Game Producer? Perks Jack of All Trades Instead of having a deep knowledge of one or two things, game producers have a well-rounded understanding of the game development process. They will also have the opportunity to learn about the newest tools and technology in the industry. The game producers do not need to be technical experts; they must understand how the end-to-end game development process works. Therefore, they always keep up with their tools or technology and how things work. Improvement Learning and growing are a part of being a Game Producer. Game Producers will improve their leadership, problem-solving, communication, team building, and budgeting skills with every project through hands-on experience. Game producers always focus on enhancing their skills. In addition, their experience in the development process will make them better decision-makers, leaders, and managers. Highly Sought-after Every game needs game producers, from the most straightforward puzzle to the most expansive MMORPG. With the rapidly expanding game industry, new games are also released daily. Therefore, experienced game producers will be in demand to keep up with the ever-growing and ever-changing industry. Looking at the trends in the game industry, they are changing so fast, and it’s challenging to keep up with them all. That’s why producers will face plenty of new challenges in this industry. Challenges Deadline A game producer is responsible for delivering projects on time with the level of quality that is agreed upon and within the client’s budget. Therefore, game producers must have outstanding time and people management skills because failure to meet the deadline or to stay within the budget will be their responsibility. There’s no doubt that a game producer will be responsible that the game development process is going according to plan. So, it’s very crucial for a game producer to have people and time management skills. Unpredictability Game Producers will deal with a lot of unpredictable factors in working. To overcome it, they need to be flexible, resourceful, and proactively find different approaches to problem-solving. The game producer will face many unpredictable things while we are involved in some client projects. The key is that a game producer must proactively seek other ways to approach things and tackle the problems. Communication The game producer will work and interact with various specialists, technical roles, and clients. Therefore, game producers need to understand the context and different perspectives and use them to communicate effectively. A game producer is a communicator who understands the context from multiple perspectives. Are you ready to take the challenge as a Game Producer? Agate is hiring! You can see the detailed qualifications and requirements here: Game Producer Role Outside the game industry, do you know that Game Producer also has similarities with Project Managers? What is the similarity? Discover it in our upcoming article! Vacancy On Production Departement Position Department Contract Type Production Support Production Contract Type : Internship Details Game Producer Production Contract Type : Regular Crew Details Quality Assurance (QA) Production Contract Type : Regular Crew Details Load More
Designer’s Weapon: Essentials Tools and Skills Game Designers Use
It takes a game designer with qualified skills who are able to channel their ideas and communicate them in a way that users can enjoy. Game designer also requires precision in their craft and not to mention effectiveness in the delivery of their work. To do so, they depend upon the exact tools to work on their masterpiece. A tool is the extension of one’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. As the user, you have to pick the right tool for the point you’re trying to make. In this day and age, we are provided with a bountiful of tools in today’s technology. Yet, each tool may vary depending on its function, and many are similar. How can someone choose the appropriate one to get the job done effectively? In Agate, our designers get the chance to learn and experts in various tools and skills. Supported by various talent development programs, our designers learn not just from their experiences but also keep leveling up their skills to match the rapid needs and updates in the game industry. Here are essential tools and skills game designers utilize in their work field. What Tools Do Game Designers Utilize? Game Engine UnityThis game engine might have been the most popular game engine for most game development that popular for making a game, but it is also one of the essential tools that will help the game designer build an early prototype. Also, this tool could cover both 2D and 3D games easily. But you need some programming skills or a programmer to use this tool. UnrealThis tool has powerful visual scripting, which is easy to understand for designers. Its level design tools are more convenient since we can edit the mesh directly in-engine by default. Plus, it has blueprints, better than Unity prefabs, with their parent-and-child system. Managing data for game designers and narrative designers alike is also helped by Unreal’s user-friendly data tables instead of filling data in a JSON (for example). Game Design & Balancing Machinations.ioWhat are a few things more difficult for a designer than balancing their game when seeing all the numbers they put in without knowing how they will go at the end? Machination can do much more. It will show you the estimation and the probability of the balance, but you could also track and simulate every number of the game from the start to the end and find the result within seconds. Design & Creativity Adobe Inc. (XD, PS, etc.)Some people might think that most Adobe products are for artists and people who deal with the visuals of the product. However, Adobe products help a designer give a visual for our idea to everybody in the team and give us more leeway to express our minds and ideas. The versatility of the Adobe product gives us more flexibility to show others the visuals of prototypes, wireframe making, and early design for UX/UI worth the subscription price. Data Analysis MS ExcelMS Excel stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness as a spreadsheet tool. It offers designers an accessible database and analysis tool that can be used for a lot of things and create estimations and calculations, even complex ones. In addition, a spreadsheet can be easily accessed from any browser anytime and anywhere. This tool is also an excellent tool for team projects. Brainstorming & Documentation NotionNotion is a great working and documentation app with multiple tools and features that are already built into it. With these tools, most basic management and database work related can be done quickly and easily. Additionally, a multi-layer page within the notion could make documentation more manageable and easy to find. MiroCreate a collaborated and centralized communication with pre-built templates or start from a clean slate. Miro provides design tools for brainstorming, diagram creation, or project management. It is easy to edit, has a vast working space for ideation and collaboration work, and puts all our ideas into something we can read. As a bonus, you could present your work in a slide show for better presentation. What Skill Does A Designer Needs? A designer is responsible for coherent & effective product design (particularly on mechanics, features, and levels). They must have relevant knowledge of the design process to ensure it fits the user’s desired aesthetics and is technically feasible. What are the skills needed for a designer to achieve those goals? Effective CollaboratorAs a game designer, you work towards a desirable goal. By collaboration, designers can work effectively to produce the best game design. Excellent Communication Skills and TeamworkGame designers work as part of a team. Communication is essential for designers to deliver their ideas to all team members. Highly Versatile in Problem-Solving SkillsDesigners meet problems daily. Hence, to deliver the best experience to the user, a designer needs to be versatile so they can tackle those problems. Proficient with Game Design, UX/UI, and User/Audience ResearchA game designer must be proficient in a broad aspect of game development, such as game design, user experience, user interface, and also with their users. Planning and Documentation SkillsTo keep track of what designers do, documentation is an essential skill designers need to have. Designers also need to be able to manage and plan two to three steps further. Ready to be the next game designer with us? Check out our Designers role that is currently available down below! Vacancy On Design & Writing Departement All DepartmentsTalentQualityFinance, Corporate and LegalDesign and WritingArt All DivisionsSupportGamificationFull DevelopmentArt Service All ContractsTemporaryRegular Search Position Department Division Contract Type Game Designer Design and Writing Full Development Contract Type : Temporary Details Load More
Welcome Back to Agate’s Office
After over two years of working from home, Agate will enforce the Work From Office (WFO)/Hybrid policy for the entire Agate Crews starting from August 2022. We’re excited to welcome all of our Crews back at Level Up Building in Summarecon Bandung. To prepare all the needs for WFO/Hybrid working arrangements at our office, what is our Office Manager, Putri Afifah Maulida, up to? “I’m thrilled to meet all of Agate’s Crews to be back at the office. I’m a typical person who loves to meet people, and working closely with all the Crews after WFO/Hybrid will make coordination faster at work and a delightful experience for me to have friends to laugh and joke with.“ Agate’s WFO/Hybrid preparations have been planned since last year by doing a lot of renovations at our office to ensure that we can provide a comfortable workplace for all of our Crews. Still, the implementation of the policy can only be realized this year. To support all operational activities, the WFO/Hybrid policy has been prepared for almost three months, starting from May. Meanwhile, we intensified all the preparations from service to procurement in the last month. Looking back at our preparations, the biggest obstacle for WFO/Hybrid preparation is the short time to prepare all WFO needs and the changing needs of our company. For example, to compare the number of Crews since our last WFO in early 2020, we have nearly doubled the number of Crews at our company. With that in mind, we also need to prepare all the arrangements at our office for our new Crews. Looking back at our preparations, the biggest obstacle for WFO/Hybrid preparation is the short time to prepare all WFO needs and the changing needs of our company. For example, to compare the number of Crews since our last WFO in early 2020, we have nearly doubled the number of Crews at our company. With that in mind, we also need to prepare all the arrangements at our office for our new Crews. During this WFO/Hybrid, our Crews can enjoy various facilities for work, accommodation, entertainment, and even hobbies. Now Agate provides: Gym room. Sleeping spaces. A canteen. Crew shuttles. Vending machines. Entertainment room. Changes that will differ from WFH are not only the atmosphere of discussions and meetings that now will be done face to face but recurring company events such as Agate Alliance Gathering, Town Hall Meeting, and company events will also be carried out offline. Agate also has several exciting benefits that can be obtained for our Crews at the office. We provide a wide range of benefits from complimentary breakfast, free lunch, free flow of coffee, a health facility, and a shuttle to go around the city. Are you interested in joining us at our office? We welcome you. Please take a look at our job openings on our Careers page.
Recruitment Tips and Tricks: Do’s and Don’ts In An Interview
An interview might seems nerve-wracking whether you are a fresh graduate or a senior-level employee. However, as part of the Agate recruitment process, interviews play a significant role in assessing our candidates. To support the process, our Talent team will give you some insight on how to ace the interview process! In this video, our HR Generalist, Kemas Rahmat Mubarrak, will give tips on what to do (and not to do) to smooth your interview process. We hope that knowing how our Talent team assesses candidates will help you better present yourself! So, are you ready to embark on an exciting journey in Agate? Take a look at our job openings on our Careers page.
