roles.md

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• TA Roles

  • Role, identity are fluid

  • depends on personalities and project needs:

    • ex 1 : Doug and I : 1 % tech and 99% tech
    • ex 2 : Paul: The keeper of secret knowledge
    • ex 3 : Graham, Wes G: commander of the Kamikaze airforce
    • ex 4 : Jamie M: lone genius, off in the ether doing stuff.

  • diplomat

    • Get engineers, artists talking
      • translate requests into actionable items

  • pioneer

    • Figure out how an idea can be achieved
    • prototypes and proofs-of-concepts
    • Often very involved in planning, less so in late stage

  • troubleshooter

    • content debugging
    • tools debugging
    • now we need to fix these 900 files, who’s with me?

  • manager

    • Keeping other TAs working
    • usual schedule / manager stuff
      • interesting because TA work is very fragmented
      • “interrupt driven”

  • planner:

    • how do we make this?
    • how do we make this efficiently
    • What’s going to bite us in the ass?

  • Tools dev:

    • fight for more creativity and less bs
    • fight for focusing on important stuff
      • saving button clicks is useful
      • saving wasted days is critical

  • Nanny

    • Explaining the mysteries
    • reassuring nervous artists
    • Engineers are right - its often user error
      • but if they make a system where errors are easy its their fault, not the artists’

  • Butler

    • Be there when called
    • biggest difference between engineers and tas!

Getting the most out of your TAD:

• Wargaming
  • Going to engineers with requests gives them all the power to approve or disapprove
  • Going in with a plan lets you set the agenda
  • Get TAD in on the artistic side of the plan, pick technologies that support that
  • Then pad your request list a bit :)
  • There will still be pushback
  • but if you start with a plan, you’re negotiating, not begging. —
• Use your TAs to improve the process
  • constantly look for bullshit
    • what wastes time?
    • what wastes effort?
  • Be on the lookout for stockholm syndrome
    • Arena example
    • Bungie example
    • When artists are too beaten down they don’t even see the pain any more
  • Invest in fixing the process, not bandaids
    • Zipper polygon example
  • Invest in automation, not human wave attacks
    • State of Decay vs Halo
    • Wes anecdote
    • You’ll lose good people if you give them awful work to do
      • true for artists too!
    • There will still alway be situations that need human judgement and eyeballs
      • Like Normandy beach -sometimes you have to make a frontal assault
      • But if you do it every time you’ll be defeated
• Groom your tech-art department
  • TA’s can be insecure:
    • Renaissance man? Or just bad programmer — bad artist?
  • Help them by setting high standards
    • Expect:
      • Good process vision
      • Reliable tools
      • High quality service
  • Don't ghettoize
    • if you treat TA as a silo it's not able to do its job
  • look for people you can trust, then trust them
    • Don't use it as a dumping ground!
• Some companies don’t know what to do with TAs’
  • programmers don’t like people who know a little programming
  • Artists don’t like people with lesser art skills
  • If those prejudices lead to 343-style human wave tactics you’re in trouble.
    • Talented applicants will stay away
    • You’ll get more sad-sacks
    • self-fulfilling prophecy
  • You have a hand in building that group, and you should always be looking for quality
    • And keeping an eye on artists in house who would benefit from specializing
      • Scott story