Chris Sayers (he/him) Profile picture
Oct 25, 2022 17 tweets 10 min read Read on X
✨Hello! ✨

I've been given the all clear to post the art test that I did whilst applying for Blizzard, so thought I could use it as an opportunity to show how these things can go, what to expect, and how I approached it.

Here goes! 🧵

#gamedev #art #vfx #gameart #vfxartist
the brief was very simple and just asked me to make 'an explosion' that could fit in a Blizzard game world.

could have been anything really, so i started with researching WoW schools of magic for inspiration and settled on using "Arcane" and "Nature" as my guiding words. 🔮🌿
then i looked just lists of existing abilities in WoW to get an idea for their effects, and just randomly saw one called "Alter Time".

Without looking at what the effect actually did, I just used those words as a springboard to start concepting! 🎨
this was the first and only sketch i did haha. cutting it into the 4 beats I wanted the effect to have.

the idea being an Hourglass being used like a grenade to alter the sands of time.
- charge up ⏲
- go explodey 💥
- hold everything in stasis field ⏳
- drop to the ground 🎉 Image
the idea of the hourglass just came immediately and formed the basis of a lot of my decisions from there, as i really wanted something *physical* in the effect. so i modelled/uv'd/sculpted/baked/textured a prop.

this was very rough, but just to get the idea across! ⌛ ImageImageImageImage
now to the effect! so into Unity.

i immediately split it into 3 sections:
- Charge Up
- Explosion
- End

This part is a bit nebulous I just started by adding elements with rough timing, etc. and just a process of adding layer upon layer. Image
starting with trying to recreate the basic feel of the concept i'd made, and hitting the 4 beats.

this is very rough at this stage, and the textures can be as polished as you like. but i always go fast as hell until i start getting the feel i like. ImageImageImageImage
i wanted to set myself a challenge of only using 1 very simple noise texture as I wanted to try to prove interesting things without too much time on textures, so, trying to keep things simple and not overcomplicate it. so here is my Photoshop Render > Clouds in all its beauty. Image
for the rest, we have a wavy sand texture just to get the effect of ripples within sand dunes, a Rune circle to bring the Arcane magic tone in. a very simple lens-flare for all my flashes, and then a light-ray texture. ImageImageImageImage
now I'm just adding lots of elements, layering things things together and doing all of the timing in a Timeline animation.

there were so many layers I had to drag the window to my vertical monitor cus I couldn't see the frames any more and even then it was too big (picture 4)😂 ImageImageImageImage
i realised i was gonna need some small rocks/debris so then modelled 4 very simple rocks.

one of the rocks' normals was messed up to hell but i didnt care enough to fix it, so it was a spicy weird normal map 🤗 ImageImageImage
then thinking about demonstration, I wanted to show the effect off in multiple ways, to show that i was thinking about how it would work on multiple backgrounds, dark, light environments, then also on a more busy textured floor too, so to Substance Designer 🎉 ImageImage
at this point, its pulling everything together and just timing and retiming things for infinity until you get what you want and again testing it in context to make sure it looks how you want. 👁👁
as a bonus video, I also included another shot with
- different angle
- no textured floor
- no camera shake
just to demonstrate I wasnt trying to pull any trickery/smoke and mirrors and that it only worked because of these additional elements.
For me, I wanted to find as many opportunities to show different skills. Even if some of those skills aren't as strong, just to show willing and enthusiasm so I used:

Unity, Photoshop, Substance Designer/Painter, Maya, Procreate, Marmoset, Nomad Sculpt in total.
and that's it! 🎉

I spent around 18-20 hours (over 3 days) on this effect and had a lot of fun making it.

ultimately, I would of course make some changes now, but I hope this helps demonstrate the kind of thing you might be expected to make for a games VFX Art test! 💚
forgot to mention, the *reason* i wanted the physical hourglass, was so I could use it as part of the telegraph animation, and also for the sand rising/decreasing for an in-world way of communicating the duration of the ability too 😁

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More from @NotSoLittleC

Feb 8
so, enough time has passed now for me to talk about why i decided to leave Blizzard. a mixed year with great teammates, but a management that mistreated, lied to me, gaslit me, gave me a fake promotion, and HR that refused to help.

buckle up friendos. 💪
i wanna start by saying that all of the people I got to work with on Team 4 (Overwatch 2) were incredible. they were warm, welcoming, fun, friendly and just so goddamn talented. there were so many great people on my team championing for me and i am so grateful for their support
unfortunately however, i spent most of a year stressed out of my mind, working 4 peoples jobs at once, and having management make promises they had no intention of fulfilling and i ultimately felt like i had no choice but to leave for my own mental health.
Read 26 tweets
Oct 28, 2022
ive had a few people dm me asking how I got the job at blizzard, and i have some thoughts i wanted to jot down in case someone else finds them helpful!

gonna be talking portfolio, resume, socials, interviews, etc.
🚨first and foremost!!🚨 these are things I have always done for job applications/interviews and I find a lot of success but they are JUST ideas, not rules or facts. try to absorb as many different approaches from different types of people and find what works for you 💚
so Blizzard actually originally reached out to me, which brings onto the importance of having your portfolio up-to-date and accessible! all of my socials have the same picture, name, contact info, etc. and its all linked together too! to make contacting me crystal clear 🖼
Read 19 tweets
Jul 18, 2022
EXPOSED: game devs ARE LAZY!!!

Join me for a DEEP dive into the #truth behind game dev.

1) game devs use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. that's right. we don't even use the whole command, we just use the HOTKEY we are LYING to you.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

more #gamedev LIES in thread!!(1/999)
INDUSTRY SECRET: Call of Duty is actually just Sims 1, zoomed into first person, and the Toddler model was just swapped out with an AK-47.

why do you think the reload animation looks SO much like changing a diaper??? 🙄 (2/999)
There is no such thing as programming!!! The computer just... does that... Honestly kinda terrifying ngl??? Who programmed the computer???? (3/999)
Read 14 tweets
Feb 6, 2022
some people asked have me for a breakdown of this effect, so here goes! (1/6)

#VFX #UE4 #realtimeVFX #gamedev #Arcane
the lightning is a very simple hand drawn spritesheet (8 frames) that is then playing over a sphere for the volume and twisted UVs for extra movement. the same sheet and material is used for all the spark elements with all variation done within the Niagara systems.

(2/6)
the floor effect is very straightforward. sine wave with animated distortion texture. using a smoothstep on the values and lerping between two colours (which ended up being this blue/purple and black). then the same again for the bright edge. all on a flattened disk mesh.

(3/6)
Read 7 tweets

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