作者：Ricky Baba

这些内容是受到一个理念的启发，即我们很难（或者近乎不可能？）为一款游戏创造艺术。我们所迎接的挑战是在面临截止期限，分歧以及创造性递减的情况下保持团队始终具有灵感。

致力于一个愿景：如果你拥有许多时间，那就在其他成员加入该项目前创造一个风格指南。这将推动着你去思考自己在做些什么并尝试着认真完成它。保持风格，形 状，规格，线条，颜色，视角以及架构的一致性和清晰性。基于游戏的完全形态和虚构内容去推广你的团队和自己。听起来很吓人吧？这里有一些技巧能够帮助你缓 解压力；如果你仍然想要做好这一切，那就将其添加到自己的日程表中。花一周时间在每天的最后一个小时中详细说明自己的工作并鉴定决心。如此你将带着一份有 效的风格指南而开始。

Art Direction(from shijue.me)

传达愿景：确保每一位成员都能够理解游戏的发展方向。分发风格指南并开设一个论坛去讨论你们所选择的视觉方向以及原因。组织会议以获取团队成员有关项目整体外观和感觉的实时反馈。当你在询问团队成员关于艺术决策的反馈时，你将从他们那里获得一些非常棒的理念。记得传达愿景是一个活跃的过程。它将包含许多看法并且可能是永远都不会被实现的内容。你应该提供给成员们一个视觉和精神兼并的起点，而不是让他们在一张吓人的白纸上进行创作。

发挥优势：面对一份排的满满的制作日程表，成员们可能会觉得没有灵感，你就应该让他们做些自己所擅长的东西，如此才能有效地提高他们对于该项目和团队的热情。如果一名成员擅长于绘制草图，那你就该让他能够发挥自己的这项技能。如果他们对其它艺术领域感兴趣，如绘画，那就制定一份战术计划让他们能够培养这方面的技能。例如，让成员们能够将90%时间致力于自己所擅长的工作，并给予他们10%的时间去发展技能。始终保持你的团队的强大性和灵活性。

专注于成员对于每一部分的贡献：比起让成员们每天完成一些单独的任务，你应该考虑的是他们在每一份工作上对于团队的贡献。以每位成员所创造的重要结果为目标。让他们知道自己的工作是如何推动整体发展并造福这一项目。让成员们真正去负责整体项目的每一部分也将在日常工作中激励他们前进。

继续前进：比起错误的决策，优柔寡断将造成更大的损失。以快速迭代为目标。避免被暂时的美好景象蒙蔽了双眼。在你觉得不错的时候，继续致力于那些需要投入更多关注的内容。

庆祝重要事件：呈现截止期限的重要性。成功交付是一件值得庆祝的事。也就是在一次会议或控制面板上呈现出团队完成了所有工作的结果。让他们退后一步去看看所有的一切是怎么组合在一起并去欣赏这一成果。为此鼓掌。

一切都是为了游戏：提醒你自己和其他人，你们所做的一切都是为了游戏。如果陷进一个背离项目整体方向的孤立理念将会非常危险。频繁与设计团队和产品团队人员接触将能够确保你们始终走在正确的道路上。

玩游戏！每位成员都应该尝试他们正在创造的游戏。如果游戏架构还未成形，那么艺术总监也必须足够了解游戏，从而才能向团队清楚地描述它。美术师也应该清楚他们创造图像的背景。通过一些包含项目灵魂内容的书面的概要和参考图像去激励他们。每天都保持与游戏设计和制作团队的互动也能够提供给他们一定的灵感。确保你的团队能够始终牢记项目的主题。不应该让他们凭空进行创造。

显然并不是上述的每一点都适用于所有团队和所有成员，并且这也不是一份完整的综合列表。但你必须记住的是为自己创造一份像这样的路线图，并包含所有适合你自己和团队的内容。如果你能够提前进行计划，并按照这份计划前行，你将能够成功到达目的地。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Art Direction in Video Games – A roadmap for finishing your projects

by Ricky Baba

These notes were inspired by the idea that it’s difficult (near impossible?) to complete art for a game. The challenge is keeping the team inspired while working against deadlines, disagreements & lulls of creativity.

Commit to a vision: If you have the luxury of time on your hands, create a style guide before other artists join the project. This forces you to actually think about what it is that you are doing and trying to accomplish, visually. Strive for consistency and clarity in style, shape, size, line, color, perspective and anatomy. Sell the team and yourself on the gestalt and the fiction of the game. Sounds daunting? Here’s a trick to take the pressure off; If you’re still trying to figure things out, schedule it in to your daily routine. Dedicate an hour at the end of each day for a week to reflect, curate, itemize and resolve your work. You will be left with the beginnings of an elegantly compiled style guide.

Alignment in vision: Aim for each artist to have a clear understanding of what the game should look like. Distribute the style guide and have an open forum to discuss the visual direction that has been chosen and why. Hold art “town hall” meetings to get realtime feedback from the team about the overall look and feel of the project. Great ideas tend to be presented by team members when asked for feedback on artistic decisions that have already been made. Remember that alignment in vision is a living process. It involves many opinions and may never be fully realized. Aspire to give artists a visual and mental starting point rather than having them start with an intimidating blank canvas.

Play to strengths: Amidst a hectic production schedule, where artists may feel less inspired, enabling them to do what they do best can significantly increase engagement. If an artist excels at sketching, then allow them to focus on that skill. If they show an interest in other artistic areas, such as painting, work out a tactical plan to exercise that skill. For example, dedicate 90% of their time towards what they do best, and allow 10% for skill development. Keep your team strong and flexible.

Chunks, not bites: Rather than having artists complete daily isolated tasks, think of their contribution to the team in terms of chunks of work. Aim for significant outcomes from each artist. Let them know how their work fits in to the big picture and benefit’s the project. Taking ownership of a large portion of work is empowering and acts as motivation through the daily grind.

Keep things moving: More is lost through indecision than wrong decision. Aim for rapid iteration. Avoid getting caught up in the beauty of just one image. When it feels right, move on to what needs more attention.

Celebrate the milestones: Show that deadlines matter. Successful delivery is something to celebrate. This could take the form of a presentation of all the work done by the team in a meeting or on a visual board. Let them take a step back, see how it all came together and appreciate it. A round of applause goes a long way.

Work is for the game: Remind yourself and others that the work you are doing is for the game. It is dangerous to fall in love with an isolated idea only to have it be misaligned with the overall direction of the project. Check-in with the Design and Product teams frequently to make sure you’re staying on track.

Play the game! Each artist should be playing the game that they are building. If it is too early on and a build is unavailable, the Art Lead/Director should understand enough about the game to describe it in detail to the team. The artists should know the context for which they are creating art. Inspire them with a written synopsis and reference images that capture the spirit of the project. Daily interactions with the Game Design & Product team also provides a healthy dose of inspiration. Immerse your team in the theme of the project. Artwork should not be done in a vacuum.

Obviously not every single point will apply to all teams and all artists, nor is this list entirely comprehensive. The important thing is to create a roadmap like this one for yourself, with what’s best for you and your team. If you’re planning ahead and doing what you set out to, you’ll be just fine.(source:gamasutra)