I have an opportunity to send off some questions to John Passfield (co-owner of Krome), so if any of you have any interesting questions that you're dying to know, post them here and I'll add them to my list [:)] I'm gonna be sending it off on Friday, so go nuts!!
How about:
1) Would you guys (Krome) be more likely to hire an Australian, or some other foreigner if everything else is equal between them?
2) Is there a limit to the number of figurines that a programmer is allwoed to have on their desktop (and monitor etc)?
3) How important / good (can't think of a better word atm) is the AGDC with respect to making contacts and hiring of staff to you?
4) What are your usual hours working, I know some developers stay from about 2pm till 4am, some stay business hours, some a bit longer, so what are your usual hours working at Krome?
5) Do you guys get Mountain Dew imported from the States, where there's actually caffine in it?
Erm, I think that's about it for now... Although you don't have to ask him every question here :)
No offence Daemin, but I think that's getting a bit ahead of things...:)
It's like starting in golf and then asking Tiger Woods what's the best airline to use for travelling between tournaments, y'know?
And to hell with Mountain Dew, it's Coke that's important ;)
(Though I do think the number of toys you can have is pretty important...I cant go anywhere without my Ape Escape monkeys) :)
From what I remember from my visits to Krome most artists have their area pretty much covered with doodads and whatsits. Yay!
What I would ask...
What are Krome looking for from their artists? Do they value technical skills over artistic flair (ie: knowledge of how to rig a model in max versus being able to make it look pretty)?
What makes a showreel stand out from the crowd?
What type of people are Krome looking for? What are character traits that are a benefit? (ie: not needing sleep or sunlight)
Are there any particular styles that aspiring Kromers should focus on? (ie: cartoony style of Ty, or the Manga look of Blade Kitten...or reaslitic look of Surf Boarding...)
What is the one thing that you wish potential artists would stop putting in their showreel? (ie: exploding teapots...heheh)
2D skills - essential, totally essential or Oh My God You Wouldnt Believe How Essential?
And finally...
What do I have to do for you to hire my fat ass and save me from this journalistic hell?! :)
Hey Gazunta, these are just questions of the top of my head at the time, and I was kinda trying to ask humorous / importatn questions too. Maybe the Question about the toys could be for all people, not just programmers. But yeah...
And the deal with mountain dew is that here in Australia it doesn't contain any caffine in it, that's why it sucks, and in the states it contains a heck of a lot of caffine that's why it rules over there. Coke is good too but only because its got caffine everywhere.
Plus I think Souri will ask all the important questions anyways, I'm just putting in some humourous questions that I think are appropriate. Still if you feel that way...
Ok, the interview answers are up, so if you have any thoughts and responses about it, write about it here [:)]
One thing I have to say is *wow*.. The art for Flight of the Amazon Queen was done by *1* person! Backgrounds, AND animation - everything! That's quite an unbelievable amount of work there (I'll post a follow up letter to John to ask how many screens of backgrounds that that game had, but I'm sure it's well over 40.. I can remember walking in a jungle in the beginning of that game, and there were so many screens..).. Just to put this in perspective, think of a game like Street Fighter 2.. that had about 12 backgrounds, and 12 animated characters, and required a team of a dozen artists..
Massive respect to Steve Stamatiadis. [:)]
If I remember right there was about 120 backgrounds in the final game with another 10 or so that got dumped. There were 40 or so characters and I don't know how many frames of animation but I never want to do that again. Don't forget to double the amount for the 2 versions.
Young + insane = graphic adventure.
Or you could just rock up at Krome Studios and pretend to work there, then you could see for yourself. Hey, with a 50+ number of staff, who'd find out? [:)] .. That reminds me of an article on Slashdot on how someone just went into some company's office, sat down in a cubicle and pretended to work.. I can't remember exactly, but he may have managed a few weeks/month(s).. [:)]
Steve, 120 backgrounds + 40 character animations - that's just plain nutty. I would've went nuts [:)].. I'm guessing you did all those in Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, and in those days you had to do all your anti-aliasing, and dithering by hand (unless an eclipse/box gradiant fill would suffice).. very time consuming stuff.. I remember I did a hi-res picture (which was like 640x512) of Robert Smith of The Cure with Deluxe Paint, and that took me a total of 21 hours..
Ahhh, DPaint. Let me count the ways... wish I never sold my copy of it.
Faboo interview by the by. And here's hoping Steve drops by regularly (Hi Steve! @:-)
Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/
quote:Originally posted by Souri
Or you could just rock up at Krome Studios and pretend to work there, then you could see for yourself. Hey, with a 50+ number of staff, who'd find out? [:)] .. That reminds me of an article on Slashdot on how someone just went into some company's office, sat down in a cubicle and pretended to work.. I can't remember exactly, but he may have managed a few weeks/month(s).. [:)]
Steve, 120 backgrounds + 40 character animations - that's just plain nutty. I would've went nuts [:)].. I'm guessing you did all those in Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, and in those days you had to do all your anti-aliasing, and dithering by hand (unless an eclipse/box gradiant fill would suffice).. very time consuming stuff.. I remember I did a hi-res picture (which was like 640x512) of Robert Smith of The Cure with Deluxe Paint, and that took me a total of 21 hours..
lol like what I did, rock up to Krome have the Lead artist love my work and then finding out I forgot my CV [xx(], hehehe I'm just happy I got past the secretary![:)]
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
quote:
lol like what I did, rock up to Krome have the Lead artist love my work and then finding out I forgot my CV [xx(], hehehe I'm just happy I got past the secretary![:)]
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
How long ago was this? You musta been pissed (off).
I'm thinking of testing the waters by sending an email to PR depts at Aussie game companies and sending my profile link. Only to see what they're after and then show a proper portfolio in a couple of months.
Is this a good idea? I don't really want to type a cv up yet.
quote:Originally posted by Souri
Bouncy, was that with Steve Stamatiadis, btw ?
It could have been. He wrote his name down for me on a piece of paper and told me to get ready for a proper interview and mention that this dude had liked and seen my folio, It was while Jason Dalton was on holiday when I went in. I should have gone back but I got nervous, which is pretty silly. [:I]
Sorry not sure of his name, I think I was overwhelmed by the secretary wanting to shoot me for barging in hehehe that was funny, you should see their place it's like home away from home! and the majority of people were down stairs playing ps2 it was cool just to be in there [:D]
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
[/quote]
How long ago was this? You musta been pissed (off).
I'm thinking of testing the waters by sending an email to PR depts at Aussie game companies and sending my profile link. Only to see what they're after and then show a proper portfolio in a couple of months.
Is this a good idea? I don't really want to type a cv up yet.
[/quote]
From my experience so far, it seems that it's better to go in person. Some companies don't like resumes sent through email, I guess It's too impersonal. Although what you could do is send an email of the link and a resume through and the day after you could rock up to the company and put the folio under their nose so they can smell the scent. [;)] But It's probably a good idea to type up a cv for back-up, most places will want cvs. But eitherway I guess :)
Good Luck for whatever you're going for my friend! [;)] Hope you rock their socks off!
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
quote:
From my experience so far, it seems that it's better to go in person. Some companies don't like resumes sent through email, I guess It's too impersonal. Although what you could do is send an email of the link and a resume through and the day after you could rock up to the company and put the folio under their nose so they can smell the scent. [;)] But It's probably a good idea to type up a cv for back-up, most places will want cvs. But eitherway I guess :)
Good Luck for whatever you're going for my friend! [;)] Hope you rock their socks off!
The main problem with that is that I'm in NZ at the moment. So it's a fair walk not to mention a fair swim. I've only got NSW in my profile because there is no NZ option :)
[/quote]
The main problem with that is that I'm in NZ at the moment. So it's a fair walk not to mention a fair swim. I've only got NSW in my profile because there is no NZ option :)
[/quote]
you could always send your folio through email to them and then ring them the next day to make sure they got it okay, then perhaps you might want to give them some more information about yourself over a phone interview, but be prepared for the phone bill hehe :) Try sending it to them through email and see how that goes, wish you the best and hope it works out for you! remember persistence is the key [;)]
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
quote:
you could always send your folio through email to them and then ring them the next day to make sure they got it okay, then perhaps you might want to give them some more information about yourself over a phone interview, but be prepared for the phone bill hehe :) Try sending it to them through email and see how that goes, wish you the best and hope it works out for you! remember persistence is the key [;)]
Cool, thanks for that. I'm gonna wait til I have a few more finished pieces in there and some better stuff. This is mainly because if you were to click on my profile now, you'd see the Elephant, Monkey and Boy sketches and it won't make the best first impression. I don't think anyone can be bothered sifting through the dross to find the diamonds.
Nope it wasn't me. But one of my Art leads did mention something along those lines. If you want to show stuff to Krome I recommend sending in a showreel. If the art leads like it I'll call you in for a chat. If I like you, you may get a job. We don't go in for big corporate crap, that's why the place works so well.
quote:Originally posted by spacecaptsteve
Nope it wasn't me. But one of my Art leads did mention something along those lines. If you want to show stuff to Krome I recommend sending in a showreel. If the art leads like it I'll call you in for a chat. If I like you, you may get a job. We don't go in for big corporate crap, that's why the place works so well.
Hey Steve! I'd love to work at places like Krome, these next few weeks are allocated to lots of coffee and cramming for exams at uni, but I'm also tutoring a lecturer and some students in max at the moment which is pretty fun because I really love getting into 3dmax stuff, I think I'm obsessed with the program! every assignment I get I try to somehow incorporate writing about 3D or even talking about it heheh. In about two weeks time I'm going to start hunting for some work in the industry again, I hope I didn't make an arse of myself when I met one of the lead artists, I'm a down to earth kind of person so I'll pretty much say what's on my mind especially if I'm nervous. [:I] I should do some more sketches of lifedrawing in my folio.. there is only old drawings so I'd have to put some new ones in. :)~
Sorry I blabbed on a bit ! I'll send in some stuff to Krome soon, I'll also hunt around everywhere else as well. Best of luck to you in your current and future developments at Krome! hmm i should sleep now, I just finished and gave a flash presentation for marketing oral tonight, I did EBGAMES and made a flash animation to go with popcorn music, of course nobody opened their eyes to see what was behind the animated piece, I had a robotical T4 Virus opening and closing it's claws whilst injecting dna squares on screen, I was trying to go for the idea of gameplay being an infectious addiction. first of i had a weird intro then i had all this other cool stuff along with an animation of a conveyor belt being built on screen and then rolling out all EB products etc. I think I blinded everyone in the hall because the lights where off and I used a red simple background it was effective visually and physically for waking them up before the oral!
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
quote:Originally posted by Crystalmesh
/me pokes head in....Did someone mention my name? [8)]
Sure did!, I emailed you ages ago asking how I'd go about getting into the industry and whilst you were on Holidays I rocked up to Krome to have a go, but then realised I'd forgotten to bring my CV , lol [:I] *grin* rwoar a classic kirsten flaw
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
yeah? well here one. do you want to give me a job. sample of my best work here http://www.websamba.com/davidcoen/best.htm
:)