James Revill

Following up on my previous post about using Modular Rig for simple environment animation, but this time focusing on a mechanical prop. This prop uses slightly more complex module than the previous one, and the results were honestly a bit surprising (in a good way). ➤ What worked well ✅ Moving beyond single-joint motion is doable, as long as the prop parts are spitted with animation in mind. ✅ Building a skeleton and painting skin weights directly in Unreal works well for this prop, which has a moderate complexity. ✅ Mechanical modules like Hinge and Piston are already well supported out of the box and easy to reason about. ➤ Where friction shows up ⚠️ This still isn’t a full DCC replacement. The quality of the result depends heavily on how well the asset is designed and segmented upfront. ➤ Bigger takeaway For me, this reinforced that Modular Rig lowers the barrier to keeping work entirely in-engine and expands what environment art and level design can include, especially for smaller projects where DCC round-trips aren’t available or are too costly. On top of that, it could potentially enable iteration to happen directly in the level. Still exploring, but I’m curious how others are thinking about where this kind of workflow fits into their pipelines. 🤔 #UnrealEngine #UE5 #TechnicalAnimation #GameDev #TechnicalArt #LevelDesign #ControlRig #AnimationPipeline

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We’re right in the middle of interviews for our next cohort—and it’s been incredibly busy in the best possible way. Applications have been hugely positive this year, with real growth in interest. What’s especially encouraging is that, while much of our outreach has focused on the North and North West, we’re also seeing strong engagement from the South of England. Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen exceptional work, genuine drive, and exciting talent. Even more valuable have been the conversations about games—and making games—that continue to fuel my own commitment to delivering what we set out to achieve at TGA. From the beginning, I made a simple decision: everyone who applies deserves the opportunity for an interview. Where possible, this is in person; when travel is a barrier, we meet remotely. For many applicants, this is their first formal step toward a career in the games industry, and they deserve time to ask questions, share ambitions, and explore whether this path is right for them. When people are being asked to invest significant money—and take on years of student debt—decisions should be informed, personal, and rooted in real conversation, not just paperwork. Portfolios are central to this process. They allow applicants to demonstrate skill, passion, and potential, and the discussions around them often reveal far more than what’s initially submitted. Just as importantly, the interview ensures that the decision is mutual. Even when TGA isn’t the right pathway, no one should leave without feedback, guidance, and a clearer sense of direction. There are many routes into the games industry, and different journeys can still lead to the same goal. What matters most to us is simple: every applicant deserves time, respect, and a genuine conversation before making such an important decision about their future. That belief sits at the heart of how we interview, how we review portfolios, and how we support people—whether they join TGA or take a different path into the industry. Because meaningful education—and lasting careers in games—begin with being seen, heard, and understood. #GamesEducation #HigherEducation #StudentSuccess #FutureTalent #EarlyCareers

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The policy team at Ukie (or more properly IES) has released its #manifesto in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections. It's a great piece of work, very strong and focused on growing understanding and recognition of the games sector, introducing funding and a new focus on education and skills. Sound familiar? It's entirely aligned with the five key recommendations of our own #LevelUp: Scotland's Games Action Plan, which we published in January. However, LevelUp is already with the Business & Employment minister, with a pledge to attend the next cross-party group meeting at the Scottish Parliment for a line-by-line review. That date is awaiting final confirmation. Find the manifesto and read more here: (And if you've not yet read, or left a statement of support for #LevelUp, there's still time. Full details on the SGN website).

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Here at the Sumo Digital Academy, we’ve spent 5 years honing how we train the next generation of developers inside a real studio environment. We’ve created post-graduate apprenticeships in Game Programming and Technical Art that deliver meaningful skills, real projects, and genuine career pathways. We’ve received awards from government and been rated Outstanding across the board by Ofsted (https://lnkd.in/dERhWA5S). Now we want to explore whether we can deliver the same apprenticeship experience for studios outside of the Sumo Group.   Sumo’s apprentices don’t just learn—they ship products. The Academy has released multiple products and is currently leading development on the funded indie title NUTMEG! (https://lnkd.in/ekaGNVb5). These are not new hires that need extensive handholding, but industry ready developers primed to work on real games.   We know the industry is facing challenges, but those pressures make it more important than ever to invest in new talent. Without a strong pipeline, studios risk losing the skills and new ideas that they need to thrive. I strongly believe that we have trained future industry leaders—the very people who will go on to help ensure that we all have an industry to work in for years to come.   If you’d like to know more then drop me a PM and I’ll happily share more information and discuss how it could work for you. PS: Wishlist NUTMEG! now! https://lnkd.in/ekaGNVb5 😉

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In the UK during GDC week, with a nice clear diary. So we have, for a while, reached the episode of “LinkedIn is Facebook” where people who check it every day/multiple times a day, only post about how uncool it is to use it. It’s late-stage social platforming and it’s not just LinkedIn (in fact, in truth it’s not just social platforms, Steam-first marketing is harder to see results from). Fatigue and fragmentation push people toward trusted sources and direct relationships. Teams that invest in owned and earned media, communities, and partnerships weather platform volatility far better than those that rely on single or limited silver bullet channels. We have good case studies on how you can use smart cross-channel strategies to drive wishlists and sales. Get in touch if you want to hear more, this is the perfect week for a conversation.

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We do our External Studio/Outsource Managers & External Producers dirty. We often saddle them in with partners, with little more than a Slack channel, a contract, and hope. On the production side, it's easy to assume that external management and production work the same as internal - just with a group that's inconveniently located. It's production, right? Just get them to "do the thing". There are similarities in the role and the purpose, but in my experience, ExDev has way way WAY different execution strategies and approaches. Managing inter-team dynamics is hard enough when the team is internal and you're a direct member of it - it's exceedingly more difficult when they're "outside". Influence, direction, communication, and leadership operate differently. We (especially here in the West) are leaning more and more into co-development as a key component of our development. However, according to the most recent XDS data, the majority of external development teams at publisher studios have 0–2 years of experience in this specific discipline. We take our talent and toss them right into the deep end. Meaning most of the people managing these relationships are figuring it out in real time - on games in active development, with hard dates, fewer resources, and smaller budgets. That's… Not great. The talent is there, you've got great producers in place - co-dev engagements rarely fall apart just on the talent. It's infrastructure. It's vague briefs that made complete sense to everyone who already knew the context. It's spinning up a co-dev partner without clarity on the need and requirements. It's jamming your foot on the development accelerator without first checking if you're even headed in the right direction. None of that's in a job description. It's just stuff you learn by watching something expensive go sideways. I spent a long time learning it that way. Now I help studios not have to. For the External Dev Managers & Outsource Producers out there: What's the thing nobody warned you about when you stepped into an ExDev role? Genuinely curious.

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As a Producer you have the control of cost and time and are managing that balance to get a team and a product over the goal line, in that work it’s essential that creatives and developers understand how valued skills like communication and being open to change is, if you are a junior dev in any discipline. Ask questions, give suggestions, ask why, and remember communication is a cornerstone i game development. All voices has a value. In many cases when I recommend people for hire or hire myself soft skills like communication, problem solving, teamwork and empathy are at least 50% of my assessment. My take: always try to understand how you can be a better teammate.

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Coming Together with Alexander Rehm to Support You Folks, given the scale of what’s happening across our industry this week, Alex and I wanted to share a joint message in solidarity. We are both working, publicly and behind the scenes, to support you in every way we can. In this message, we’re each highlighting the key resources we offer, so you can see the full picture of what’s available to help you right now. Alex’s Suite of Support: https://lnkd.in/e8wtcP4R Alex offers free, categorized games job resources across 9 areas (Art, Engineering, QA, Production, Marketing, Audio, Studio Support, IT, and Game Design), plus dedicated tabs for remote jobs, entry-level roles, latest job posts, actively hiring studios, and studio support posts. All links are available on Tab 2 of his workbook, his LinkedIn, and on amirsatvat.com. ----------------------------------- Amir Satvat's Games Community Resources: amirsatvat.com (14 free resources) discord.gg/amirsatvat (13,000+ member support community) You can also follow both of us here on LinkedIn for the latest updates. I’ll share a follow-up post later today with detailed instructions on how to get the most out of everything we offer. For now, here’s a short summary of the resources at amirsatvat.com: Category 1 - Jobs List Access Add your name to our hiring list viewed by tens of thousands of industry professionals. Category 2 - Coaching & Networking Use our lists to directly connect with mentors, reviewers, and peers. Just pick someone and reach out - that’s it. Category 3 - Job Workbooks Access the largest set of games job listings in the world, including our flagship combined workbook and curated partner workbooks. Category 4 - Layoff Support Posts If your games org has had a programmatic layoff (3+ people), your talent team can partner with us to prepare a support post - we’ve done this 125+ times. Category 5 - Career & Life Resources Resources for career planning, templates, mental health, startup guidance, and more. Category 6 - Free Perks & Creator Network Get free LinkedIn Premium, free tickets to game events, and access to our career creator network across five areas. Our Discord: Join instantly - we offer live coaching for CV and portfolio reviews, and dedicated channels for job functions, support, and discussion. You are not alone. We’re in this with you. "We Help Gamers Get Hired. Zero Profit, Infinite Caring."

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As a freelance rigger, I need to make sure my builds have a lot of flexibility. So I've recently reworked my lid modules to add variable joint counts. By utilizing a curve-based output I can changed the amount of joints used based on the needs of the project. Higher joint counts for fidelity and control, lower counts for simplicity and optimization. Or I can test and iterate to find a happy middle ground. So animators using my rigs on film or game projects can enjoy the same features, such as: - Automated lid follow with eye movement - Main controls to position the lids through translation and sculpt the curvature with rotation/scale  - Secondary controls for finer detail (If there are enough joints to support it) - Manual or automated blinking. Animate controls, or activate the automated meet point between your posed lids for a perfect seal I've been using iterations of this system over my last few projects, both commercials and games. The core elements of this system have been floating around in my head since 2018, so it's been great to finally put it to the test. 

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I'm excited to officially open spaces for a new consultancy service focused on something many game devs struggle with: Game Feel, Player Feedback, and Communication. https://lnkd.in/ehB7Pdmu Over the years I've seen developers struggling to create the experiences they picture in their head. From student projects, through indie games, and even impacting large studio releases: Otherwise amazing games held back by missing feedback, mismatched UX design, or gameplay that just doesn't convey the experience the developer intended. My aim is to tackle these issues and help every dev create the greatest experiences they can. I've built a set of consulting tiers aimed at helping developers at every stage, tailored to your scope and budget: Tier 1: Student Polish Session Identify missing feedback and clarity that will instantly make your project feel more alive and readable. Tier 2: Indie Quality Review A focused breakdown of where your feedback systems are conveying mixed messages, where your UX is holding you back, and evaluate your projects pacing. Tier 3: Systems & Emotion Deep Dive A full evaluation of how your systems align with game feel, and how you can more impactfully produce the emotional responses you want out of your players. Tier 4: Full Experience Alignment Audit A comprehensive, external audit of player experience, clarity, UX flow, and emotional impact. All consultations involve a vetting step. Before any booking, developers submit a quick form with project details and what they are looking for out of the session. This ensures no money is spent before I know I can be of help to you, and gives me time to prepare the session with the most high-impact changes you can make. If you're building a game and something just doesn't feel right, or you want clearer, more impactful player feedback, this is exactly the service for you. Check out the tiers and how it works at https://lnkd.in/ehB7Pdmu and book your slot now! Let's make your game FEEL great.

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Hello! I just wanted to take some time to share something I've been working on with my small indie team at Isle Games Studio. I don't want to give too much away but whilst learning more about Unreal Engine we've worked on foundational systems to implement across our levels, including: - Pickups - Door variations/sequences - Puzzles that persist across levels (Pull lever in Level A, Opens door in Level B) - Inventory - In-world inventory - Saving/Loading - In world inspect objects - Crafting - Diary (read past notes) and more Here is a little video to look at what we've been working on over the past 2 weeks. I'll be dripping more videos in to my LinkedIn to show progress as we move forward with our designs. There is more to show, but that is for another time! Thanks all!

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Game Subtitles - what to do if your text is just too long? I've created a tool to make displaying subtitles for dialogue easier - paginating and hyphenating where it needs to, in a wide variety of languages. In the vain hope that maybe I won't have to worry about it ever again! Solutions for Unreal, Unity, or Javascript You can find it here: https://lnkd.in/dzgfAHZ3

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Hugely excited for our announcement tomorrow at GDC Festival of Gaming! The debate about AI in games has become ever more polarised - with people either violently rejecting it, or blindly succumbing to our new big tech overlords. At Meaning Machine we've always tried to hold a position of nuance. Everything bad you say about AI? We're almost certainly agree with it. But equally we also believe that generative technology has the potential to be truly transformative for interactive entertainment - if only the human author can seize control of its power. Our talk at GDC, in partnership with University of Bristol's Richard Cole, will provide nuance by putting the player at the heart of the debate. It delivers some of the very first insight into what players ACTUALLY feel about AI in a game - when they experience it firsthand. Going beyond marketing surveys, culture wars, and hype bubbles. Can't wait to share the findings with the world!

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I think the most asked question that keep coming to me is: “How do I become a Technical Artist?” and while its a very simple one and super direct but its not easy to answer because the truth there’s no single door into Tech Art. Most of us arrived here by curiosity, frustration, and problem-solving. But I think if you pay attention for some points you could find yourself there Here’s what actually matters. 🧠 1. Start as an Artist (Seriously) Before tools and code, understand the craft: Modeling, environments, FX, lighting, or animation Be very carious about Why the artists struggle and Where is the time is wasted always notice What been breaks under pressure The main point Great Technical Artists are artists who got tired of repeating the same problems. 🔧 2. Learn One DCC Deeply Pick one tool and go deep: Houdini, Unreal Engine, Maya / Blender Know it beyond the UI: Data flow Attributes Evaluation order Performance costs Depth > breadth at the beginning. that is how you will see the task from the software POV not just as an artist 🧩 3. Think in Systems, Not Assets Stop asking: “How do I place this object?” Start asking: “What rules place any object?” I believe its fare to say Procedural thinking is the core of Tech Art. 🧮 4. Learn the Math That Matters You don’t need advanced calculus — but you do need good understanding for: Vectors & dot product Sine / cosine Noise Interpolation Distance & falloff Math is what makes art predictable and controllable. 🧠 5. Learn to Script (That will come slowly and you will find yourself talking to the software) You don’t need to be a software engineer. Start with: Python (pipelines, tools, automation) VEX (Houdini logic) Blueprint / nodes Write bad scripts. Break things. Fix them. dont worry that’s the path and we all came throw. 🛠 6. Build Tools for Others The moment you build something another artist actually uses, you’re already a Technical Artist. Small scripts Simple HDAs Batch tools Debug helpers Impact > complexity. 📦 7. Understand Pipelines Learn how things move: Assets → shots DCC → engine SOPs → USD → render Keep in your mind Tech Artists connect departments, not just nodes. 🎯 8. Communicate Like a Human This skill is very underrated: Listen before solving Explain simply Document clearly Don’t show off The best Tech Artists are bridges, not bottlenecks. 🔥 Final Torch of Truth Tech Art is not about code, It’s about enabling creativity at scale. If you: Love solving problems Enjoy mixing art and logic Care about other artists’ workflows …you’re already on the path. now this is question for the TechArtist who crossed the gates: What was the moment you realized you were moving toward Tech Art? #TechnicalArtist #TechArt #Houdini #UnrealEngine #Proceduralism #PipelineTD #VFX #GameDev #3DArt #CareerAdvice #CreativeTech #OpenToWork

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Most studios post a job advert and hope the right person sees it. That is luck, not strategy. A data-informed hiring strategy is the only way to truly understand the talent landscape. When we work with partners, we do not just look for candidates; we look for concentrations of talent. For example, if you are looking for a specific engine specialist, do you know if the supply is higher in Montreal or Helsinki? Our data shows specific talent pools in major hubs like Tokyo, Warsaw, and Madrid. We provide our clients with a market scan within 48 hours. This identifies exactly where the ideal profiles are located, allowing you to target your search efficiently rather than waiting for inbound applicants. Stop guessing. Use market intelligence to turn your recruitment into a precision operation. #DataDriven #RecruitmentStrategy #MarketIntelligence

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This is a real imposter syndrome moment. What we have here are two absolute procedural geniuses and one extrovert, delivering an introduction to the Apparance Runtime Procedural Generation System. In all seriousness, this is going to be an amazing workshop where we can cater for all skill levels, from absolute beginners who I can help get up to speed, to the artists looking to push their technical boundaries which Oliver Lawson will show the way through to the absolute wizard and creator of Apparance, Sam Swain to help the more experienced get the most out of the session.

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Seeing lots of talk about Sweet Anita doing the rounds following her recent appearance on stage. A while back I discussed the challenges of her Tourette's, and various impacts on her life, besides the positive effect of video games, along with Games Developer Claire Morley. This was part of a series of podcasts looking at various aspects of the industry from business to mental health. This video is a small sample, but you can listen to all of the various podcasts including this one in full for free via the apple links here: https://lnkd.in/et6mjy83

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