Games are bigger than ever and can have larger-scale productions compared to even just a few years ago. With this in mind, outsourcing is quickly becoming a necessity for many game development studios. At Magic Media, we provide outsourcing game art services and, as such, believe that developers should know how to prepare for it. 

Knowing What You Need

When Magic Media agrees to create game art for a client, we’re generally given an expected delivery date for the project, but there can be more to the process than just that.

Deciding at the beginning of the outsourcing process how you would like your art delivered, what style it should be in, and what needs to be included in the art can be more efficient both time-wise and financially. Making these decisions early on means a smoother workflow for us, and a project that will finish on time for our clients.

If any requirements for a project change, the sooner this is communicated the better. This will allow us to adjust our workflow and give more precise estimates on delivery dates. When in doubt, it’s always better to reach out and ask any questions needed too!

An Informative Brief

While it’s good to communicate requirements, it’s even better to have them included as part of a thorough brief. A well-prepared brief can help reduce perhaps unnecessary back-and-forth communication about a project and answer any questions either side might have.

At Magic Media, we love seeing every requirement listed and explained in a brief, both technical and creative. What can help immeasurably is seeing what stylistic direction a client wants to go in, rather than it being explained using text. Reference images can help us initially understand the direction we should go in, and are extremely helpful throughout the production to help us keep the style consistent.

A detailed brief helps us understand the client’s project quicker, meaning that we can get to work quicker! This can save time and money and lead to a faster turnaround time.

Clear and Concise Information

We need to understand the essential information for creating game art for your project to help us provide accurate delivery estimates.

Visual references, as mentioned previously, are some of the most useful details we can get. While information about the game’s events, world, and lore can be interesting, it’s not the most useful information for creating art and could lead to your outsource partner getting bogged down with unnecessary details.

Perhaps the most important aspect is to lay out all the important information clearly for your outsourcing partner. Clear information helps us understand it as best as possible, meaning we can get started on your game art as soon as possible and have it completed most efficiently. Clarity of information is the most cost-effective and efficient way to kick off a project, and if anything is ever unclear, our lines of communication are always open!

Understanding your requirements and an informative brief presented as clearly as possible will help us here at Magic Media work on your project quickly and efficiently. Check out the Switchback game, which is one of our previous game art projects that we worked on!

At Magic Media we are veterans of the gaming, tech and entertainment industries, offering comprehensive services including game development, VFX, animation and full art services! Our main goal is to provide a one-stop solution for any project. If you’d like to utilize our expertize and experience in creating, game art and more, drop us a line and let’s create magic!