Star Wars Galaxies: Interview with Art Director, Jake Rodgers!

1. What exactly does an art director for a video game do (what's your average day at work like)?
JR: My job changes depending on what stage of production the game is currently in. Star Wars Galaxies has been a different experience from any other for me- in scope, and in all the challenges we have faced as a team.

At the beginning, or pre-production stages, I spent the majority of my time hiring artists, and working with our concept artist to come up with a look that will work for our game. These were pretty broad strokes at first. We were looking to nail down how realistic or stylistic we wanted to take the look and we had to figure out what it means to be true to the Star Wars license. Luckily we were working with a great team of people at LucasArts, mainly Haden Blackman, who made it almost effortless.

In the main phase of art production, which has been over the last two years, little by little we started to have some of the technology we needed to be able to see and interact with our artwork in the game. One of my most important responsibilities at this stage is to make sure the art comes together as one living world, instead of a series of pieces of art made by twenty or so different artists. This is where I relied heavily on John Roy and Joe Shoopack, the Art Leads for world and character art.

They manage most of the day-to-day production issues, and I try to keep an eye one the whole picture. During this phase of production, I also stay as current as possible with the design and programming teams. As things change, and they always do, I have to keep up with what is happening so the artists have to do as little rework as possible.

After the huge effort this team has put forward, we are starting to see the rewards. We are mostly doing polish and bug-fixing at this point. These days I'm meeting with Joe and John, and we're making long lists of final tweaks to the artwork to give the game a more cohesive and solid feel. We have quite a number of assets, so this takes several days to do. Now we are looking for ways to optimize and enhance what we have, and new art production has slowed almost to a stop.

2. What kind qualifications do you look for in your artists?

We require that they are talented, driven people who can solve problems by themselves. My ideal team member is someone who I can give a problem to, forget about it, and know that it will be solved. Some of the artists on our team went to art school, some didn't- the main thing is their reel. Experience is wonderful, but I also think the perfect team consists of a good balance of veterans and fresh talent.
Deciding on whether to hire an artist is much simpler than a programmer - you have tangible examples of their work. Once we see someone with a strong reel, we fly them out and see if they are a personality match.

3. You said you've worked on Wing Commander II and other games, but how does that compare to being in charge of the look for a well-known franchise like Star Wars?

Working on a well-known franchise is a sizeable responsibility. The fans have a very clear picture of what they want to see. I think they've been even pickier about fiction and visuals from the movie than the continuity people at Skywalker Ranch. We try our best to make sure they aren't disappointed. I've recently posted on our beta forum asking for feedback, and I was surprised to find so many avid fans and how detail oriented they are. We've reworked several of our assets based on their feedback.

4. Is it easier or more difficult to form an artistic vision of a game on pre-established visual concepts (given the tons of Star Wars artwork already out there in the films and books) - is it a guide or roadblock?

We have to follow the lead of the established look of Star Wars, but fortunately the look of Star Wars is really cool! We also have had the opportunity to create so many new things that have become a part of the Star Wars, for example we've created over a hundred new creatures that will now be part of the canon.

5. Bothans were a good example of the range of choices a Star Wars art director has to deal with - you had bothans in prior Star Wars books that looked sort of feline, and then you had the "Joe Camel" variety. When it comes to continuity issues like that, is it easy to make a choice or is it difficult? What's the decision process like?

We went back and forth about this decision with LucasArts, and LucasArts went back and forth with The Ranch. The Bothans were probably the hardest to nail down, mainly because they were prevalent in fiction but rarely seen, and they are an important species. I'm happy with what we ended up with- they are the elegant species of the bunch.

6. Zabrak - until Star Wars Galaxies we just had Darth Maul. But you guys are getting a rare opportunity in a Star Wars game - you're fleshing out an entire species and Star Wars Galaxies will be a core source of "canon" when it comes to the Zabrak. How much does the art department affect that creative process - for Zabrak as well as other new flora and fauna?

Eeth Koth (Jedi Council) captured my imagination for the Zabrak look even more than Darth Maul. I really liked the more subtle treatment of tattoos and more sloped vestigial horns. The species are overall very intelligent, reasonable people- not bloodthirsty sith thugs.

Since there really wasn't much established for Zabraks, Haden gave us a few guidelines and we worked within them. Since visually they are just humans with horns, we are creating many tattoo patterns with differing colors, some variety in skin colors, and different horn arrangements to separate them from the humans.

7. Lots of young artists out there want to break into the business. Any suggestions?

If you're an aspiring artist, you have to have something more on your demo than a walk cycle and a mediocre lip sync cartoon character. When you submit your reel, you're showing what you are capable of. Telling someone that you only took an hour to make a character you aren't very proud of isn't going to help you.

What we (and probably other teams) want to see is that you couldn't sleep until the reflection on the eye of that frog in the background was just right, or that your girlfriend laughs at you because you act out an animation in the mirror while working on it. We know about that.
Good art comes from lack of sleep, immaturity, and recklessness as often as it comes from a meticulous process, but either way it usually comes from pain. Don't stop until your art is so beautiful and inspired that it makes you cry, then put it on a cd and send it to everyone you can think of. You will get a job.

8. Biggest challenge thus far in this project?

A few things, but probably the most difficult is managing the sheer number of assets we are creating. We have thousands and thousands of pieces that need to fit together. Once they are in the game, they have to look good, and even more importantly the game has to run! The balance between quality, quantity, and speed (frame rate) is basically impossible to get 100% right- you have to pick two. We keep trying to pick all three, then we keep landing soundly back in reality. The struggle to find this balance for all the art assets is probably the biggest, and most persistent challenge.

9. Most fun thing your department has worked on thus far?

Probably some of the fiction characters like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Jabba, and the rest. The animators had a lot of fun (sometimes too much fun) with the creature animations. I know Arnie had a blast coming up with some of those creature concepts.

The artists would tell you it was more exciting then when we were actually creating new assets, as opposed to making LODs or touching up the art like we're doing now, but we know that is part of production, and it is well worth it to be this close to the end.

10. Favorite Star Wars movie (and why)?

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, no question. It was the most epic, it had the very essence of what I think of as Star Wars, the struggle, the magic, and of course the battle of Hoth.

11. So, Imperial, rebel, or neutral?

Neutral, at least until I'm finished adventuring around all the planets. That will take a VERY long time. I might pick up a mission here and there for a particular faction, but I'm not going to reveal too much about my dark side...

12. Potpourri - anything else you'd like to add?

I love the team of talented artists I work with-
Don Alexander, Dan Borth, Andrew Collins, Brad Constantine, Rob Cuenca, Bill Daly, Jeff Dobson, Chris Douglas, Jeff Jonas, Arnie Jorgensen, Will Kier, Minoh Kim, Bernie LaCarte, Devin Lafontaine, Jason Minor, Alan Pickett, John Roy, Joe Shoopack, Kris Taylor, Damon Waldrip, Tim Webb, and Nick Zuccarello.
They make the days and very late nights worthwhile.