Industry Interviews: Lou Talamo, Senior Environment Artist (Bioware Austin)

Austin has a long-lived reputation as a music city, but it might not be long before it is also viewed as a major hub for the video game industry.

Austin developers like Origin Systems and Ion Storm defined PC gaming in the ‘90s, and now a new generation of Austin startups is redefining games for the 21st century. A modest-sized crowd gathered around Lou Talamo, senior environment artist at BioWare Austin, as he told a group of young hopefuls how to break into the industry at Gamerz Videogame Exchange in Lakeline Mall on a Saturday last Fall. This is the interview I did with him where he gives some incite into the state of Austin game developers, the rise of outsourcing within Bioware, and how to break into the industry.

You want to introduce yourself and what you do at Bioware?

My name is Lou Talamo. I'm the senior environment artists at Bioware Austin. We create the backgrounds, and we create the 3D assets and put them in the world.

Austin has become a center for gaming development over the last twenty years, why do you think that is?

I'm trying to figure that out myself. I think that its because they have the infrastructure for tech. You have Dell here and a lot of tech start-ups. Austin and Southern California are set up for that type of thing. For example, we are moving into a new building with T1 lines and all that kind of stuff...older cities just don't have that set up. It's also the cool factor of young developers starting up and attracting others to do the same.

It seems ever since NC Soft set up in 2001, all these MMO companies have been coming in and now Bioware Austin is MMO dedicated along with Sony Online Entertainment and THQ. Why is Austin so MMO focused?

Austin has been known for some reason to be known to do MMOs...I can't figure it out.

Talamo previously worked on Area 51 for Midway Austin, before the struggling developer shut down.

You've been working in Austin since 2001, have you noticed any changes in the industry here?

Yeah, we are doing a lot of outsourcing. It's a catch 22, its one of these things that makes are our jobs a little easier because these games are getting so big and complex. It's crazy. You just look at these huge worlds we are doing in Star Wars: The Old Republic and we are outsourcing a lot this stuff, while ten years ago we were doing all these things in-house. It gets our projects done quicker, but at the same time guys coming out of school who want to do art end up becoming virtual interior designers in a lot of cases. They put the assets other teams make into the world.

How many Austin locals are working at Bioware Austin?

Maybe 30%, but most the guys are from Canada. Our lead environment artist, Andrew Collins, he teaches at ACC so he tries to get some of his students to come in as interns. If someone is really good they have a chance of getting hired. Strong portfolio, it all comes down to that. You have to focus on what you want to do with your portfolio. A lot of people spread themselves thin with their portfolios. A guy will create a world, special effects, all this excessive stuff--and when your strength is animation and these other things aren't your strength-- when art directors are hiring they get confused and they don't know what this guy is going for so the best thing to do is to focus on what you want to do and go for that. I would never put in filler.

Say I want to become a Star Wars tester what would I have to do?

Testers are guys that know a lot about games. Testing in the past was just banging up against the walls and checking things like that. If I was a tester I would learn some basic programming, because good testers are analytical in their thought process and they can figure thigns out and report it as a bug. It's in their best interest to do things like that. Testing has become a lot more involved.

Do you think a lot of great games are coming out of Austin?

Yeah, I do. There are some start-ups doing some really good things. Red Fly Studios did that Mushroom Men game. There aren't high profile games but these companies are putting out some quality art work; they aren't your blockbusters, but I think down the road that can change.

Do you think indie developers still stand a chance in Austin or is it all about hoping to be bought out by a bigger company?

I think they are all trying to be bought out by bigger companies. Red Fly, for example, aren't necessarily looking to be bought out, they are guys who really have a lot of experience making quality content--its not what they are looking for. But a lot of studios I know, that is there intent. Austin has become a very strong gaming community and you see these indie developers and I don't know how they can even last today. You look back ten years ago and you can come up with a concept, get a bunch of guys together, and make a really good demo, sell that and go somewhere. Today that's not the case. It's tough, you need a lot of money backing you and the lead guys need to have a lot of experience, because these publishers are putting out a lot of money on these games.