The Artist Synapse
By Josh White Gamasutra September 12, 1997 Vol. 1: Issue 2 Published in Game Developer Magazine, August, 1997 The Artist Synapse Back to Intro Example Artist Interaction:   Page 1     Page 2       Page 3         Page 4           Page 5             Page 6               Page 7 Degrees of Separation [View] Psychology [View] Suggestions [View] Features vs. Beauty [View]	Things are pretty rosy for us game developers -- a fairly healthy industry, super casual work environments, and creative, exciting new technologies to explore. But it's not all fun and profit: We've got problems, and there's plenty of room for improvement. Aborted projects are a major source of burnout, generally cutting into the fun and glory that game development should be. One of the hallmarks of failed projects is communication breakdown. Why? Because good communication is damned hard, and it's one of those mushy personal skills to boot. It's much easier to study tools than to learn to ask questions such as "how many textures can I use?" This article teaches both skills to artists. Once we identify the artist's coworkers, we'll examine the psychology of the artist/programmer relationship, pitfalls, handholds, and those inevitable nuggets of advice. A word of warning: I've sketched some big stereotypes in this article. They're not intended to be rude or to offend -- I wrote them to help identify common interaction problems. So grit your teeth and hold your fire if you're insulted by the idea of stereotyping, but do speak up if you disagree with my basic generalizations. I write from a wide and varied experience, but it's only one person's experience -- more is always better.
	Example Artist Interaction: Q&A for New RT3D Art Assignment