Game art outsourcing

Dec 29, 2014SHORE Blog

Game design and development is being outsourced more and more to offshore providers because of the broad popularity of gaming. One of the important components in the game design cycle is art work, therefore, gaming companies have been looking all over the world to hire the best talents in animation and game design resulting to an increasing trend in game art outsourcing.

Art outsourcing comes in many forms firstly because games are played on different channels and platforms: from consoles to social media networks to PC games to mobile video games and apps played on various handheld devices to web-based games.

Then too, game art outsourcing could be digital art production through modeling, rendering and graphic design on two dimensions (2D) or three dimensions (3D), and could also be animation, motion graphics and visual effects, as well as combinations and variations of the preceding.

It cannot be overemphasized how important art is to a video game. Gamers are very picky about their virtual world experience, and the success of the game is partly attributable to how compelling its art is.

2D art outsourcing could cover concept art, illustration (of characters, creatures, environments, backgrounds, vistas, story elements), asset design, flash animation and website/forum design.

3D art outsourcing is naturally more complex than 2D art outsourcing. It could cover character or inorganic matter modelling and texturing, full character and frames per second (FPS) animation and rigging, vector art, in-game animations such as loopable and blend animations, and many more.

Both 2D and 3D art outsourcing can be done in the style that clients require, to suit their brands, be the style realistic, fantasy, sci-fi, cartoon, abstract or stylized.

Companies resort to game art outsourcing to offshore companies because other countries offer a wide talent pool of creative artists with technical expertise and the required infrastructure. Operating costs are also lower with art outsourcing. The artists do not only focus on the creative process, but are mindful as well of quality assurance. It is important to choose an art outsourcing partner who can understand the companies’ culture and needs.