Rick Raymo

🔥 This is How I learned to use Grayscale Information in Substance Designer! "If you want to do something, do it the right way. If not failure will be the only result you will get." ❗ Many people say that doing something is better than doing nothing. I agree with that, but I feel that many people are doing things without even trying! 💖 With this piece, I hope you have learned the basics of how Designer treats this type of information if you want to learn more you can join my Discord Server for Material Artists here: https://lnkd.in/d9bKMM-f #3d #vfx #texturing #TextureArtist #3dtexturing #digitalartist #substance3ddesigner #3dartist #gameartist #gameart #adobe

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In the Aftermath of #SeptemberSurge 🎰 I am one of the final candidates for 2 roles now, with 3 of 9 active interviews sending regrets and the the other 4 quietly sitting out in the past few weeks. I also have started talking with 4 new studios, as I cannot afford to stop until there is an offer and my green #opentowork banner comes down. The final payment of government employment insurance benefits to support me and my family during unemployment was deposited in the past week, too. My total application count reached 17 in September, which also resulted in half of my active interviews during this month. Subtracting those 4 applications plus 3 additional immediate rejections, leaves me with applications for 10 studios that I have not heard from, yet, or have already booked me for initial screening appointments in October. 📞 Almost 60% of my September applications alone resulted in scheduling a first phone call. ✔ I completed 13 calls and panel interviews. I finished one design test quickly, and the other I had to <painfully> abandon; after 2.5 weeks of all my extra hours outside childcare and interviews went into it. ...but this is all a lot of work. I know you are working through similar struggles, too. ⚡ Once again I'm in awe of your powers if you've achieved 30+ recent applications or side-door convos with studios in the last 4-8 weeks! That's regardless of your success rate or other numbers. Always take breaks as needed, but I know you can get through this. So keep making the best decisions for you, even if that means you ignore the state of the #gamedev industry. One last reason to celebrate with me today. 👾 Earlier this week at UnrealFest, the playable arcade cabinet version of my game Broken Wing was on display for the public. I am grateful to Ed Bennett, Robert Percival, and Dan Johnson for troubleshooting many of the fellows' games so they would work on the machines... instead of spending that time enjoying the conference! And also for capturing some evidence of Broken Wing being played for my amusement.

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How we solve problems for clients as a voice production company. Game devs don't come to us because they need voices for their game. They come to us seeking solutions to problems. Usually problems they have faced on previous projects with other audio / voice production suppliers. 1. Lack of resources in house - The most common pain point we help solve for our clients is their lack of internal resources and time. They want to protect their team's focus and time so that they can work on the most meaningful and important tasks to them. — 2. Communication - Another common issue we hear from clients & prospects is that when they have worked with bigger agencies / studios / suppliers - it can often result in communication frustrations. It's not quick and easy for them to get a hold of the specific people they need. Often having to go through a few levels of Production Managers to get assets or answers. — 3. Diversity in talent casting - "We're hearing the same voices in a lot of games" "We want to make sure we're being more diverse with our casting this time" Two things I hear all the time from prospective clients. The problem: the traditional way of voice producing a game was to hire a studio in London or perhaps L.A and have that studio cast and record the actors. Trouble is - the studio is relaying on booking out that studio time to increase revenues which means they can only work with actors local to them. The solution: Focus on going to where the actors are. Multi Location Voice Production. — 4. Getting the best people - A real frustration for our prospects when working with bigger vendors / suppliers is the people they get assigned to their project. Our clients and prospects always want the A team. The vendor's best people. However, they often get the junior or temp Producer looking after them with the big suppliers. They want the best team with a personal touch. Alright that’s it. Hope it was useful :) #GameDialogue #VoiceCasting #VoiceProduction

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Yea... I know I haven't being consistent in posting my progress on the UE market place projects. 😫 This the semi final summary of the project on Unreal Engine Link to ful project: https://lnkd.in/eMX6W7jT

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Paradox Interactive announced today that Double Eleven, the developer behind Prison Architect 2, will be stepping away from the project after nine years with the Prison Architect franchise. Good news first, construction on Prison Architect 2 isn't being halted! Co-development studio Kokku, who's been working on the game since 2023 and previously collaborated with Double Eleven, will take the lead in bringing the sequel to completion. The news comes with a hint of complication. While Prison Architect 2 passed certification, negotiations between Paradox and Double Eleven for continued development reached an impasse. Technical hurdles, particularly with memory usage and minimum specifications, emerged during final testing. Paradox, likely wary of past performance issues (think Cities: Skylines 2), emphasizes their commitment to delivering a high-quality sequel that honors the Prison Architect legacy. Kokku, a Brazilian studio with a history of co-development and outsourcing on major titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, is now at the helm to ensure Prison Architect 2's smooth launch. The Prison Architect series, which began in 2015 with the original simulation/management game, is still on track for a 2024 release with Prison Architect 2. While the development team has shifted, fans can rest assured that work on this highly anticipated sequel continues. (source: https://lnkd.in/dWtBvDhN)

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SDL2 viewport in a Win32 app. I plan on using this as a base later on for a level editor! #cpp

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Another day, another job application, and another prewritten email saying they won’t be going forward with my application. It’s not nice out there in the audio world for games right now - lots of competition. That’s good though, it means I have to sharpen my pencil a bit more As I’ve said before, don’t take these emails as a knock, take them as feedback itself. Use these automated responses to look at your own work, your portfolio. Reflect and repair, learn and adapt. Don’t sulk and sink Ask friends, colleagues for help. Another set of eyes and ears can be helpful

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🎯 Strategies For Weapon Field Recording Success 🎯 https://lnkd.in/gNJxPJsi 🔫 Recording gun sound effects is a big undertaking. I know that 20 years ago when I was starting out it felt like an unapproachable goal. So when Mac Owens found a gun range near Austin for us to record at I jumped at the chance! If you know me at all then you know I love documentation, so I also decided to thoroughly document the entire process to help make this easier for other audio folks to go record their own weapon sessions! 📽 In this video, you'll find invaluable insights on Pre-Planning, 32 bit vs. 24 bit recording, setting recording levels for loud sources, running a large field recording session, and preparing a Reaper DAW session for the files. It's 40 minutes of material so I also broke it down into chapters for targeted learning 🎓 Please share with your audio contacts. I hope you find it helpful. Now, go record something cool! #FieldRecording #SoundDesign RECORDISTS: Chris Carroll, Ryan Stunkel, James Barker​, Mac Owens, Andrew Corbitt, Dietrich Dice, Aaron Brown​. SHOOTER: Karl Rehn.

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Bit late talking about this one but huge news coming from 343 Industries, both a re-brand to Halo Studios and confirmation that they are switching development to Unreal. 🗞️ This comes off the back of 343's struggles with development of Halo: Infinite. We've seen many other studios move away from their own engines to Unreal, notably CD Projekt Red! Are proprietary engines going out fashion? 🤔 For those who have worked on both proprietary engines and Unreal, what have you found to be the key advantages of working with Unreal? #gamedev #unreal #halo

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Working on a new demo reel to show some more skills. In the meantime, here’s my website! As per with everything, feedback is always appreciated. #voiceactor #videogame #indiedev #characteractor #narration #website #feedback

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Dave the Diver is getting a Godzilla DLC, and it is free!! This new DLC will see Dave come face-to-face with the might Godzilla himself, though in keeping with the true spirit of Godzilla you won’t be fighting the big lizard so much as helping it overcome one of its adversaries, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, from the 1966 live-action movie of the same name. Players will need to pilot the G-Force submarine to take Ebirah on, and work alongside Godzilla to protect the planet from the mighty crustacean’s threat. You can claim this DLC right now from the below digital console and PC storefronts, and you’ll need to do so before November 23rd, 2024, because it’s only available until then. After that point it will seemingly either become a paid DLC or completely unavailable, so make sure you scoop it up: 💾 PlayStation Store: https://lnkd.in/eHPjPi4C 💾 Steam: https://lnkd.in/eFGy6_Y5 💾 Nintendo Switch eShop: https://lnkd.in/ehr7r3zH

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In today's little bit of progress, we're working with a little bit of music and setting up some Enemy Animation Blueprints- just with patrolling and idling for the time being. These are called Agonized Hunters and probably for good reason. Lore is so fun to come up with, by the way. I suppose all the stories I started to write even as a kid should've been a grand sign towards my liking of storytelling, but I definitely know about it now. I thought it would be a nice touch for the light to turn red/add in some invincibility frames when the player comes in contact with them, as well as adding in a sliiiight distinction between the breakable platforms and the ones you can walk on regularly. On a semi-related note, something I only learned fairly recently: the Nav Mesh Bounds Volume in Unreal only registers traversable ground. That's why it's only the ground that turns green when you preview it and not the air that the volume may also be in contact with. If you're working with flying enemies you won't want to rely on those or the functions related to them (like GetRandomReachablePointInRadius and co.), since they will bring those flying guys right to the ground at best. You'll want to look into the Math function RandomPointInBoundingBox instead. ✨

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The talented and amazing Amanda Lynn C. address a major issue for JUNIOR (first-time) GAME WRITERS in this post👇 READ HER ORIGINAL POST AND BE SURE TO GIVE HER A FOLLOW FOR MORD INSIGHTS: Basically: Learning how to write within the constraints of gameplay: what is already designed, what the ability of the team can (not could) achieve, and not to mention the budget/time constraints of the overall project is one of the toughest things that new game writer’s have to learn. (That and “cuts” and “edits” for “no-apparent reason” - there’s always a reason, you’ve just not privy to that data, metrics, reasons). Senior writers/Narrative Designers eventually learn “work arounds” (with effects, in-game animation/camera angles, lighting, sound) to get about 80% of what you hoped to achieve.

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#freeleaguepublishing sent me a free copy of the #dragonbane #rulebook to #review for my #blog. I love Dragonbane, and having this pretty book is a welcomed addition to my collection! #ttrpg #tabletop #gaming #indie #rpg #fantasy

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More insights into what is going on inside the armory of Liquid Swords.

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Animation Producers Struggle with These 2 Things: 1. Finding the Right Voice Talent - Where do you even start? - Budget and scheduling headaches. - Union & Non-Union. Knowing where to find skilled voice actors is hard. How much should you set aside? How long will casting take? 2. Voice Direction - Making your vision clear - Efficient session management. - Handling challenging personalities. Where do you find the right voice director? Time is money and a seasoned director knows how to manage any personality. Casting and directing are critical, high-stakes parts of the animation production process. With us, you get: - Access to world-class talent and directors who understand your needs. - Efficient, transparent processes to save you time and money. - Peace of mind knowing your project is in expert hands. If you’re looking to simplify your next production, let’s talk. We’re here to help you bring your characters to life. #Animation #Producer #VoiceActor

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Definitely agree with Richard here--it echoes a sentiment by a mentor, who taught me that to be a good game developer, you need to learn how to have fun. Let's expand upon it. These are things that can weigh down a lot of folks in our industry, and plenty of other creators on this platform reiterate statistics I need not echo. To navigate the "depressing stuff," know that it is okay to take a breather. Practice self-care, please--job hunting is intense but blocking out twenty minutes for a walk or to watch a show can really change things for the better. A scenario many colleagues often find themselves in is following (the well-meaning) advise of networking and applying. It's something I found myself guilty of as well--and it wasn't until I noticed that my calendar had little to no time left for... well, fun. It was a period of time I also participated in game jams, and looking back on the projects I could tell that had I consumed more media (be it games, shows, movies) my work would have improved by a lot. Find the hope and positivity in creative endeavors--I may be biased, but every day I look forward to creating stories and experiences. It isn't always about work. Looking forward to the next meal, the next walk, the next hike, next networking event, next portfolio update--these are "little big" things that when compounded on have helped me navigate this industry. Hopefully, this little positivity train that Richard started can also help others. I'll end this by showcasing an example of what I meant by how consuming media can nurture the "narrative design" brain: this weekend, I finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury by Studio Sunrise through Crunchyroll. It was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend watching it--as the series progressed, it definitely inspired some ideas on combat systems, cinematic scripts and interactions that I would love to explore someday. Watch a show, have fun even if for thirty-minutes, and celebrate the achievement that is finishing a series--book, television, anime, whatever that may be! What's a show or movie that you all have seen recently? I'd love to hear how other game developers are inspired by other mediums! #gamedev #positivity #hope #narrativedesign #gundam #mecha

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I interviewed our Casting Director and this was the clear takeaway... Voice Actors often ask me "how can I break into video games work." I thought this advise was brilliant 👇 - Actors who are also active gamers seem to get cast in games a lot! - However, Casting Directors aren't specifically looking for this - These actors tend to have a great understanding of the material - They instinctively know how a line or an effort should be performed - They have an enthusiasm & passion for the work - They are often easier to direct and are familiar with the language I am by no means suggesting an actor has to be a gamer to be a voice actor in games! But, if this is an area of the industry an actor wants to get into... Consider getting into the industry via this area...

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How do you know I’m not ripping you off? (𝗢𝗿, 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴.) Voiceover pricing can be a bit of a minefield. You’ve got endless different categories of voiceover, from commercial to corporate to videogames and heaps in-between. Which are all priced in wildly different ways. Then you’ve got audio licences to pay for, to cover the usage of your voiceover in public, private, commercial, non-commercial, global, re-saleable, exclusive, non-exclusive, country-specific and countless other ways. Which totally changes your final total. And you’ve often got to know how long you want to licence the audio for. See what I mean? 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆. Budgeting for productions ahead of time is vital. 𝗦𝗼 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲: https://lnkd.in/eiXdX7Ea I’ve designed it to match the industry standard rate of pay. So you can budget for your upcoming voiceover usage. Even before reaching out to me. And if you’re after something specific? 𝗜’𝗺 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆. Always happy to crate bespoke quotes for highly specific usage. So throw your complicated usage requirements my way! I’ll be ready to show you exactly what you should be budgeting for. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. ……………………………………… Need a reliable voiceover? 🔴 DM, email or connect with me today. 🔴 Want to to chat face to face? Schedule a call here: https://lnkd.in/e5u8vNRz 🔴 My website: https://lnkd.in/eT3ejv3H #videoagency #ratesguide #videoproduction #commercial

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