#industry unicorns

[askagamedev]

Any thoughts on the "Fix Team Fortress 2" movement? Is there anything their fans can do differently to try and get some change to happen?

Valve is pretty notorious for being an industry unicorn doing their own thing. They're a privately held company, meaning they have no shareholders to answer to besides their own founders. They make money hand over fist because they own a major distribution platform that maintains a plurality of customers on PC, meaning that angry player feedback has significantly less effect on their bottom line. Valve is also notorious for allowing their developers to work on whatever they want to work on. In aggregate, these factors combine into a company whose devs can basically do whatever they want, without needing to be beholden to any external pressures to do this or that.

Many gamers mythologize this kind of "perfect game development environment" where the devs aren't beholden to shareholders or publishers or politics or whatever else. Well, this can also be a double-edged sword monkey's paw kind of situation as well. Such an environment also makes the devs not beholden to the players of their games either. They can choose whether they want to listen or not, and the TF2 players can choose to take their business elsewhere. The unfortunate truth is that Steam will continue to pay Valve's bills for the foreseeable future, which gives them license to ignore the TF2 players for as long as they want. Unless the players can somehow persuade enough of Valve's developers (and the right developers too - a character artist certainly isn't going to write bot detection code) to drop whatever they've chosen to work on and switch over to fixing TF2, it's probably not going to happen unless something major changes.

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[xiaq]

B and I both have twin daybed-to-king pullouts in our offices so we can convert them into guest rooms. We have family coming into town today and I think you can probably guess whose office will be hosting the adults and whose will be hosting the kids for the long weekend. 😂🌈💕 (+bonus Deacon)

[lushminda]

recent zombie unicorn design >:D

[elheavenlove]

Unicorn work in progress…

I’m working on updating my portfolio! I love fantasy illustration and mid-century medieval art. I’m trying to create more traditional art because I’ve mainly been doing digital recently.

I’m looking to get into book illustration. I’ve gotten feedback from a few indie authors and a friend of mine who is a publisher. I’m not expecting any work right away especially while I’m still finishing my portfolio. But I would appreciate any advice on how to break into the community!

Would love to connect with any other illustrators and authors!! <3

[sometimesanequine]

6.5.2024

[indigoworks]

Thelma the Unicorn is set to hit Netflix on May 17th!! 🦄✨

I had an amazing time working on this as a fix artist / tech animator with the most incredible team in Montréal!! The latest article with cast announcements and other details can be found: here.

[captain-crowfish]

Every The Birthday Massacre boy needs a Skinny Puppy girl

[dragonsdenstudiosofficial]

The Pizza Knight Saves The Princess is a fantasy-comedy choose-your-own-adventure-style visual novel being developed by Dragon's Den Studios. Set on the planet Comestibla, where everything & everyone is made of food, we play as the Pizza Knight as he tries to save his beloved Water Ice Princess from the castle of the evil Chocolate Count. You can download the demo for free HERE: https://dragons-den-studios.itch.io/the-pizza-knight-saves-the-princess

Over the course of this month I'll be posting some of the game's art to this blog!

This image depicts the Pizza Knight and the Water Ice Princess on their wedding day. Their clothing is white like napkins because they're made of napkins. It's tradition for spouses to give each other gifts; the knight gets a plushy and the princess gets a basil plant (a traditional wedding present among pizza-folk). Looking on are Horse D'Ouevres (left) and one of the WIP's marshmallow unicorns (right), which I based on prehistoric rhinoceratids.

[aowna]

Alas, I am young and stubborn

[rupertbbare]

[dragonwysper]

Saving this to discuss with my animation teacher later, because YEAH THIS IS A NOTICEABLE PROBLEM. And the worst part? A lot of companies/films that try to 'pander' to the group that wants original stuff and who wants more detailed animation and detailed physical effects and good rep and a grounded, logical perspective on anything at all don't get any kind of widespread recognition. Some of the most incredible films I've seen in terms of artistic skill, detail, and grounding have barely been cult classics. We gotta be really really loud about the kind of stuff we enjoy. We gotta share it with eachother and have big, public discussions about it. We can't let examples of the quality of work we're so desperate for fade into the background, because this is how we got here.

Like look at Into the Spiderverse. It's an incredible film in every way, shape, and form, and it was noticed for that. Granted, it can't be considered an original work, and it's made by a very well-known company, but fuck if it isn't a damn good film. And people saw it and noticed it. Very loudly, in fact. And now? We have Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which is a new film in very much the same position as Spiderverse. It's playing up nostalgia for a long dead horse, and is also blatantly trying to ride the success of a VERY successful artsy film. But people love it, because by god at least they're doing something different that what they've been doing for actual decades that feels rich and full of actual effort and color and art.

We got The Last Wish because we loved Spiderverse, and that is our lesson. You want something? Be LOUD about it. They're only stifling themselves because they want to make money and think everybody prefers old works to originals. If we show them that they'll get money from creative and daring films, then we can at least start to get some stuff that mimics love and art and effort.

So now, because I want to encourage everybody to discuss obscure stuff that is the epitome of quality in at least one designated area, I'm gonna give some short rambles about some of my favorite films of all time, beginning with a long rant about my favorite and then descending in no particular order.

MFKZ/Mutafukaz (2017) - fucking stellar animation. Like, beyond anything I've ever seen, coming just short of Spiderverse (and maybe Cartoon Saloon's stuff, though even then, only if you prefer their art style imo). It's so incredibly dynamic and fun, and as a bonus, features The Toxic Avenger and Guillaume Houzé in its soundtrack, which makes for a spunky, techno feel and enhances every bit of action. This instantly became my favorite movie upon watching it for the first time a few years ago. It absolutely has its problems (pacing is way too fast to catch even most of the story on your first watch-through, some portrayals are potentially problematic (though I can't comment on that), and it's a bit of a disaster in terms of the logic of the plot itself). But I don't think that detracts from the pure visual candy this film is.

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015) - similar style and quality of animation to MFKZ, but this time, the plot is much more parsable. It's very dark and nihilistic, but with undercurrents of hope that are oh so important to remember especially in this day and age.

I Lost My Body (2019) - beautiful animation and a wonderfully crafted dark atmosphere.

The Hallow (2015) - best practical effects I've seen in a long, long time.

The Ritual (2017) - a rare example of a book-to-movie adaptation that's better than the book (without the book being shit). Movie stays mostly true to the book, except it adds in complex metaphors for trauma. Also the sound and creature design are both top tier.

Lights Out (2016) - not the best executed horror film, but displays an absolutely terrifying concept.

Buried (2010) - much better executed with an arguably more terrifying concept, since this one is based in reality.

The Last Unicorn (1982) - this movie was my childhood. Stunning animation, and just, so so beautiful in just about every way. I have yet to read the book it was based on.

Annihilation (2018) - fascinating horror/scifi/fantasy film. Features an almost entirely female cast, and some incredible creature, environment, and sound design.

Upgrade (2018) - another horror/scifi movie! I love the soundtrack of this one so much. Plus, it has a really interesting premise!

fucking constant reboot remake reboot remake reboot remake reboot remake!!!!!!!!!! the tv has only been around for like a century you literally cannot be out of ideas already

[askagamedev]

In your answer about technical designers, you remarked that technical artists are "special unicorns" - what sorts of things give them that status, and what does it mean for a technical artist's career? Are there any other jobs in game dev you feel fall into the "special unicorn" category?

"Special unicorn" roles are generally similar in how difficult it is to find them combined with how useful they are to a dev team. Besides Technical Artist, there's also console architecture experts and Houdini VFX experts. While this list is by no means exhaustive, all three of these roles are in fields that are both difficult to master and extremely useful in most game dev teams.

Technical artists are the rare combination of being both technically minded and artistically minded at the same time. Somebody who is able to perform in both arenas at a professional level is rare, but the needs for people with those skills are enormous. Being able to build out and improve the tools and technology for other artists to create high quality visuals is in high demand because just about every team needs one.

A software engineer that specializes in game console architecture, for example, is incredibly useful to have on a team - every game on that platform will need optimization and having an expert direct those initiatives makes a big difference. However, game console architecture is both difficult to learn, lacks much public-facing documentation and material, and a constantly-moving target as firmware updates and such come. This also makes console architecture experts a "special unicorn" role.

Good-looking VFX are needed in most games. Doing really good VFX generally involves a good understanding of procedural generation and simulation. Many in the industry use Houdini to create the sort of VFX shots you see in TV, movies, and video games. However, Houdini is both incredibly powerful and difficult to master. Thus they also meet the criteria for "special unicorn".

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[calico-heart]

I know unicorns in modern media are kind of relegated to cutsie, MLP, rainbow plastic toys, or shitting rainbows, 'lets go to candy mountain' but man. I WISH more fantasy media would put them in unironically. There is so much symbolic and narrative potential in a creature that is, depending on your mythology:

A guardian of wild spaces, the embodiment of nature untouched by mankind's industry and greed. Fewer and farther between.

The ideal of "Purity" made manifest, elusive and powerful and hunted for fruitlessly by many a person. To kill. To actually kill. Living symbol of the oh-so-coveted Purity, not treated as a sacred thing to protect, or even predated for food to survive off, but a trophy for knights and lords to boast about.

So absolutely fierce and deadly that no one smart dared to fight it fairly. A gentle maiden had to betray it into resting in her lap so that a man could spear it while its guard was down.

Able to heal any wound no matter how severe - it promised miracles, if you could find one.

A creature who's magic vanished if it was captured or killed. In trying to take control of it, you destroyed it. Some things can only be given by free will, and no amount of personal desire or brute force can change that.

[apacnewsnetwork0]

GenAI in India: Tech Industry Partnerships Catalyze Adoption

The likes of IBM, Tech Mahindra, Google Cloud, Netapp, Deloitte, ServiceNow and the likes are all jumping into the GenAI bandwagon. APAC News Network explores the dynamics of some of these partnerships.

GenAI or Generative AI is fast gaining grounds in India, especially in terms of acceptance by different stakeholders. These include the different enterprises across different verticals using GenAI in different facets of their businesses. Another stakeholder has been the Indian GenAI-based SaaS startups whose numbers too are rapidly rising every year. Add to this the IT services giants and software giants who too are jumping into the GenAI bandwagon. Last but not the least, the government too is supporting the GenAI revolution with proactive policy formation and creating appropriate implementation environment in the country.

Worldwide there is an explosion in the number of Gen AI-native SaaS companies and a surge in investment capital, with over $12 billion funneled into 60+ emerging domains in FY23 alone. The Indian players, on the other hand, raised $590 million in funding during the same time period.  While globally there are 259 generative AI startups as of 2024, in India there are around 20+ pure-play generative AI startups.

Also Read More Here : https://apacnewsnetwork.com/2024/04/genai-in-india-tech-industry-partnerships-catalyze-adoption/

[countyfucker]

Hunger strike in Stewart Detention Center

[weirdenbyferret]

OH MY GODDDDDDDDD

Guys I’m in capybara hell