Games Academy graduates help deliver BAFTA-winning Atomfall

A slightly reduced team size moved on to work on Atomfall's first downloadable content (DLC), which is also when I became a junior and was trusted with implementing new VFX and optimising the game. The second DLC saw the team size shrink down again, which meant that the number of VFX artists on the project also decreased to two people splitting their time between projects, and myself as the only VFX artist fully on Atomfall! I was often trusted with entirely new features, as well as initiating communication between departments in meetings, and I'm immensely proud of what the team and I were able to accomplish in that time. Being trusted by the rest of my team to work so independently really helped grow my confidence, and that second DLC definitely shows off the work that I'm most proud of.

Looking back at your time on BA(Hons) Game Art at Falmouth, what parts of the course felt most relevant once you were working in a real studio?

 So many of the skills I learnt on the course were transferable. Whether it's using Photoshop to mock up textures and concepts to other departments or using my modelling skills to create supplementary elements for VFX, I still use my studies, including the areas I didn't specialise in. The most valuable parts of the course, however, had to be the modules that focused on developing soft skills.

Falmouth's joint game projects are absolutely brilliant at letting students develop their teamwork and communication skills, and my learned knowledge of Agile principles and project management through version control software has been indispensable, and is actually really similar to how game projects are planned in industry.

Some of Faith's work on the game can be found in the video below. More can be found on their Artstation.

What does your work on Atomfall involve, and what were some of the challenges of bringing that world to life?

When I was brought onto Atomfall, I was told I would be working on the Ferals. These are the infected individuals you can find in various locations in the game. Due to my past experience on Warhammer, I had some practice in animating weird ghoul-like characters.

The biggest challenge with these Ferals was their proportions. The Character Art team did an amazing job with them but finding the right movements for them was definitely hard, especially the running animations. We did have motion capture on them to start with, but I decided a hand-keyed approach was much better for them. It took a lot of work to make them feel giant, scary and lethal without making them look goofy like a Scooby-Doo character. I am really proud of what we accomplished in the end.

After the main game launched, I was then moved onto Wicked Isle, the first expansion, to work on the Aquatic Ferals. I felt like I had a much better understanding of the character at that point, so I went all in on giving them some really fun leaping attacks. After that I briefly worked on Red Strain, the second expansion, where I gave the Red Ferals some new idles, runs and attacks.

What skills or approaches from your time at Falmouth do you still draw on now you're working in a professional studio environment?

Communication between disciplines. Honestly, it's something that the Falmouth University environment does well and it really helps  in the workplace. Even though I have worked remotely for my whole career, I have worked hard on keeping lines of communication up with my colleagues via Slack, Teams or whatever software they use.

Falmouth's encouragement for us to communicate with the other disciplines on our team and across our course has helped me with collaboration throughout my whole career.

Some of Ross' work on the game can be found in the video below. More can be found on his Artstation.

My main focus on Atomfall as a part of the Technical Art Department was assisting with the optimisation of the game. Amongst other things, we do sweeps of levels and identify assets, materials or even complex lighting that could be simplified, edited or removed to make the game run smoother on our target consoles. A lot of the time, this kind of work only gets noticed if it's done poorly, as players can be frustrated to play a game that is lagging or stuttering due to heavy GPU usage, and rightly so. The great thing about Atomfall was that there were quite a few mentions from reviewers about how well the game ran across multiple platforms, so I think the Tech Art team was proud of that.

What did your BA(Hons) Game Development: Art course at Falmouth give you that helped you land and hold your own in a professional studio role?

I think the main things that the BA(Hons) Game Development: Art course gave me were teamwork opportunities and freedom. The course was structured in a way that really suited me. A lot of the modules and briefs that I did during my time at Falmouth were very open-ended. This was great as it allowed me the freedom to experiment with different techniques and workflows which helped me decide what sort of role I wanted in the industry. I never felt like I was funnelled down a single path, and instead I had the opportunity to build a range of different skills that I think really help me in my current role as a Technical Artist.

Technical Art is known as a 'T-Shaped role'. I'm often having to communicate with colleagues from many different departments, work with them to develop tools, solve problems and be able to translate complex technical issues into a more easily digestible format.

I think working on the team-based modules at Falmouth definitely laid the foundation for this and really sharpened my ability to communicate effectively.

The opportunity I had at university to work with people from different specialisms to create a student game was incredibly valuable, and I think it directly contributed to getting me to where I am today.

Unfortunately, much of my work on the game was 'invisible', but the trailer for Alien Deathstorm (below) contains work that all three of us were involved in. Please note that this video contains some blood and gore. 

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