Interview: Koen Van Mierlo (Lead Artist Larian Studios)

[doylle]

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[Talon]

Cool stuff.

Good to see they use a similar level design workflow to our own, I really miss it when I'm working on stuff that isn't able to incorporate it.

[NeoShroomish]

I'd love to be able to draw like that :O

[CopticMike]

Hey He mentions "outsource Studio", whats that mean?

[Talon]

I'm guessing companies like Liquid Development or Asorson Studios. They're games development companies that take outsourced work rather than develop their own game.

Essentially, you hand the workload over to an outside contractor who completes it and hands it back as opposed to developing the entire game in-house.

[requiem2d]

Cool interview, thanks bud

[CopticMike]

Oh I see, wow thats pretty cool, and probably these outsourced companies hire freelance artists even if they are not in office, but remote.

[andrei313]

Yep, very interesting articles.
It's interesting to hear your point of view about the competition between the western and eastern Europe and Asia... as you call them (high cost - low cost), I've heard many people complaining that they will be soon out of a job because of this. Why pay someone from USA for example 4-6k/month to do what someone from a low cost countrie can do the same thing for half or even less. It might not be the case now... but the future is always unpredictable. I don't think it's a competition between companies, but between artists.

[requiem2d]

Yes indeed, the consquences of more efficient communication tools, higher access to self-teaching (from tutorials to sites like GA.net even) and last but not least the increased proficiency of English in developing countries makes them a serious contender. I am happy for those countries as it makes jobs available to them which would otherwise not be able to perform, possibly even jobs not available in their home country. For the west, or the majority of visitors on this site, it's reality kicking back, just make sure you make art lead quick enough

[Peris]

As important as outsourcing is, it makes it very hard to create a truly unique looking game, you will be limited to the quality outsource companies are able to make for you. It's incredibly hard to communicate a unique art style for your game through outsourcing companies, and thats my beef with games that rely on outsourcing their assets. They all look similar, same with what I have seen of larians new game (eventhough I havnt seen much yet ).

awesome art though!