From advertising and film to the world of gaming – meet Digital Asset Tailors!

The team started with the idea of ​​giving a hand to other major studios in the field of asset creation, but over time it developed into a full post-production facility primarily in the field of premium advertising, then film and – more recently – game cinematics.

The project this eight-member team worked on won an award for one of the cinematics they worked on. Read what that experience was like, what tools they use, and how the gaming industry looks to them so far.

SGA: SGA: Why did you decide to turn to work with clients from the gaming industry?

Ivan: Actually, our clients turned to work with clients from the gaming industry, so that immediately reflected on the additional type of projects we are working on. Of course, we are gravitating towards it ourselves and it is still an ongoing process for us.

The reason is a more positive experience compared to the traditional marketing approach on the advertising projects we work on. The more direct the connection between the gaming company and the 3D vendor, the easier and better the communication. There is direct communication between the problem presented by the gaming house and the solution to the problem offered by the 3D vendor, in this case, we. This is also the case in advertising, but in gaming, the deadlines are somehow more flexible, it doesn’t go on TV, and there is no term “set in stone” as much, which can often open up space for better quality content.

I would also add that gaming is already a 3D profession in itself, so a large amount of understanding is there from the start, which is great.

SGA: What was your first project in this field and what were the initial impressions from that collaboration?

Ivan: The first real project we were lucky enough to work on was Cricket Manager, through our friends at Woodblock who had a direct relationship with clients, so that was the first time we felt a direct client-studio relationship and I must say we loved the experience.

Right here we had a case where the owner of the company was actually a total 3D geek who understood the entire process. The comments coming from him were like VFX supervisor comments from someone at the studio, which is amazing. Much simpler to interpret and saves a ton of time in the process.

SGA: Now you have another interesting collaboration, which even ended with a prestigious award. First things first  – what game is it?

Ivan: It is NARAKA: BLADEPOINT – a multiplayer action/adventure game developed by 24 Entertainment and published by NetEase Montreal. A battle royale type of video game, where 60 players fight until only one is left.

SGA: Which studio did you work with on this?

Ivan: Our long-time client Sehsucht from Hamburg got the opportunity to work on a trailer for an international e-sports tournament. We were thrilled they turned out to us to help them with the asset work on the job.

SGA: Part of the DAT team was in charge of the trailer assets. Which specific roles were in charge of this part and what tools did they use?

Ivan: Our asset pool artist worked on this. In the studio, we always try to educate people so that they have multi-role knowledge, as opposed to a division based approach in larger studios into modeling, texturing, shading artists. With us, it’s one role, asset artist. Considering that we are a small studio, we think that this is important and we think it is also good for the development of an artist from junior to senior level. As for tools, we used Maya, Zbrush and Arnold render on this project.

SGA: It’s interesting that the trailer ended up at an award show. What award did the project receive?

Ivan: It’s the SHOTS awards, the bronze award for 3D animation for the Asia Pacific region. SHOTS Creative has been a renowned brand in the creative world for a long time, as an online magazine and as a competition for creative works in various fields, advertising, VFX, 3D animation and in three different regions: America, Asia-Pacific and Europe-Africa-Middle East .

SGA: There is more and more talk about blurring the lines between industries that use similar tools. Film, TV, advertising, gaming… Considering the complexity of projects and the increasing expectations of end users, how would you like to contribute to this?

Ivan: Yes, things are getting mixed up a lot these days, we witness it in various ways. I would like DAT to be someone who will not compromise quality for the sake of some other things, mass production of web3 application content or similar.

SGA: Where else are advertising and gaming complementary?

Ivan: If we’re talking from our content creation perspective, it’s the same, whether it’s an advertisement for a mobile phone, a car, laundry detergent (God forgive) or a trailer for a game. I see that now some new gaming-oriented agencies or productions are appearing, things no longer happen through traditional agencies as much and I would like my observation to be correct because there are a lot of shortcomings in traditional marketing and the way it works and sometimes grinds content creators. In gaming, it’s much better, at least that’s our experience.

SGA: And finally – what are your first impressions of the gaming industry here?

Ivan: GREAT! We have recently been to one SGA event (SGA Assemble) and I am positively surprised by the scene, the size of the community and the structural organization of SGA. You have interesting programs, Shift2Games especially caught my eye 🙂

I would like gaming creators to turn to local studios when they need content, launch trailers, and the like, and not to go to The Mill with the first million. 🙂