Game graphics are the game assets that play an important role in shaping the game with graphics like environment, objects, props, characters, concept art, and so on. Many companies have started moving toward outsourcing their game graphics work for different reasons such as short timelines, limited resources, and for reducing overhead costs. That being said, many developers want to know how to outsource game graphics to the game development companies that ensure a smooth process and desired results.
In this blog, we will look briefly at the ways to outsource your game graphics that ensure a smooth onboarding experience with the desired results.
How Does Game Outsourcing Work?
The game outsourcing may vary for different companies depending upon the requirements and process of hiring an outsourcing company. However, here is a general overview of outsourcing game graphics to a company that offers game art services.
Prepare Game Art Requirements
For outsourcing your work related to game development, it is essential to know your project requirements. Precisely, you should know the scope of your work for developing game art so that you can clearly communicate your expectations, deliverables, and desired results regarding the project. Here are some of the factors that you can should consider for game art outsourcing:
- Game purpose
- Graphic quality
- Game style
- Target audience
- Monetization strategy
- Features of the game
- Game platform
- Complexity (2D, 3D games or AAA games, VR, etc.)
- Your budget
It helps in clear and smooth communication that you can deliver to the resources and project manager. You can discuss your requirements with your team that is working on other parts of project development.
Search for a Game Outsourcing Company
Once you have completed your project requirements, start searching for the game outsourcing company. You can look up at different game development companies through platforms like Behance, ArtStation, and LinkedIn to know their profiles and their core services.
While choosing a company to outsource your project, you can also choose the states for a more narrowed-down search. Moreover, you can also check their working time zones and if they are compatible with your working time zone.
Once you have completed your search for the companies, the next step is to check their portfolio, reviews, and client testimonials. Let’s see why these three factors are important for shortlisting companies for your project.
Look for their Portfolio and Testimonials
In order to look for the past experience of the company, it is essential to look at the portfolio and testimonials. You can look for different game development and game art projects to assess their way of working and on the types of projects they have worked on.
Testimonials and review sites are a great way to know about a company in the most spontaneous way. Furthermore, well-known review sites with their strict criteria of approving clients’ reviews would help you in analyzing other factors such as project management, delivery, quality, and communication.
After researching and reviewing all the factors, you can shortlist the companies and reach out to them for project discussion. Let’s look at important aspects of project discussion with outsourcing companies.
Reach out to Discuss Your Project
For outsourcing your game art to the shortlisted companies, choose the best medium to discuss your project requirements. While you discuss your project with the game art outsourcing company, you can request for their portfolio, know their resources such as game developers and artists, and have an overview about the company.
It is important to ensure that your project expectations whether it is results, quality, or delivery are properly communicated. It would help in avoiding unprecedented problems and delays. Take proper time to assess the company, developers, and finalize the project.
Before you finalize the project, make sure that you consider the few important points mentioned in the next section.
Finalize the Project
Once you have communicated all the requirements and completed all the requirements, you can move on to finalizing your project. While finalizing the project, you can decide the progress report times, sprints, and project deliverables for the feedback and revisions. You can also discuss NDA and other project confidentiality requirements while finalizing the details. Once all the factors have been finalized, the project will move to the production stage.
Production
In this stage, the resources and outsourcing company starts working on your project whether it is for game art, environment, props, or other game assets. You can set the weekly sprints and ask for progress for providing feedback. It would help in pacing your game project quickly and make changes timely.
Project Delivery
As soon as the project completes, the project will be delivered to you. It has all game assets, art, or components that have been organized, optimized, and are ready for use. It’s an important milestone since you now have access to the project’s tangible results. Ensure that all files are well-documented during this phase, and that any relevant instructions or requirements are supplied, allowing for a smooth transition to the next part of your project.
Conclusion
Outsourcing game graphics is an important factor to improve game development quality and efficiency. You may employ external resources to bring your game’s visual aspects to life by selecting the correct outsourcing partner, having clear expectations, and keeping open communication. It not only saves time and money, but it also allows you to concentrate on other important parts of game development, ultimately adding to the overall success of your project.
