Interesting topic!
The biggest personal change for me was starting a masters degree in software engineering. This is a real eye opener about how much we actually did not plan - even though we though we plan a lot, and how much care should be given to proper software design. Tech art always has been complex - e.g. marrying technical skills such as rigging, scripting, content management, etc. But I just see this becoming more complex. But I also see that tech artists coming from the art side of things struggle with this complexity when moving beyond small scale tools, into the realm of pipelines and integrated tool suites. But that’s where I see it all going in the long term.
I agree, tech art is more about communication, support and teaching. Although I felt for a long time that tech art is far more than that. For example take a pipeline. A pipeline is about process. Process is about workflows and communication, and making people understand it. The tools you program? They’re just tools to make it all easier, but the tools are not the pipeline. TA’s not only have to be rounded in art and tech, but also in communication and planning skills. You really better embrace being a Renaissance man, unless you have a very tight niche you can fill that gives you a steady stream of tasks.
One thing that I’m still waiting for is easier art tools. While certain aspects get extremely artist friendly, there are a whole new set of tools requiring people to adapt. Substance may possibly be the next big thing, but it can be really difficult the train artisty type of people to use it. There is a lot of resistance, not necessarily because it is difficult but because “it is technical, but I am an artist!” sort of attitude that’s especially common with juniors, who have yet to realize that a game is foremost a software product, and therefore a technical one. Marvelous Designer is another program that requires quite a change of workflow and I’ve seen even good people struggle with the concept behind it. Then there’s Houdini slowly entering the stage - another tool with quite a different workflows. Even for us TAs there’s a lot of change to digest. Physically based rendering made less of an impact - we’ve already seen this in past games, it’s just becoming more common place now.
And about firefighting - sit down and see what’s the source. One problem for us is the overlap between TA and IT skills, where TAs have to do IT work, therefore having less time for real TA work. Happens with other overlapping areas too. People really have to know to whom to turn, and there have to be processes in place for effectively delegating work to the right people. Also keep an eye our for abuse - some people are just lazy or insecure and prefer a TA doing “technical” work they could do themselves. i.e. teach people to help themselves and foster independence. It’s better for everyone!
