Team Changes

09 Feb Team Changes

Dom

In the past month we’ve said goodbye to two Hellblade team members. Stuart Adcock, Art Director and Claire Blustin, Senior Character Artist, have both departed to pursue careers outside of games. This left us with two key places in the team to fill.

It is a common occurrence for the composition of a development team to change throughout a game’s creation. As a game moves through the stages of production different requirements need to be met by differing groups of developers. In the case of Hellblade, the team was just a handful of artists in the concepting phase. Now in production it has grown to 13 people covering almost all discipline areas.

As well as adapting to production needs, a team can be forced into change when a member of the team leaves. This can have a big impact on a project and on a team, particularly a team as small as Hellblade’s. This impact is felt in number of ways. Firstly, people who have been at a studio for a long time often hold a lot of knowledge that needs to be transferred to those staying.

Secondly, when key people leave you lose the creative or technical vision that those people held. Thirdly, it is inevitable that the team’s confidence takes a knock. But with the loss of people also comes new opportunity, fresh ways of thinking and different ideas. Just as the loss of a team member can be a blow, finding an excellent replacement can be a boost.

In the case of art leadership, we have welcomed back returning Ninja Hugues Giboire. Hugues rejoins Ninja Theory after several years having previously been Art Director on Heavenly Sword. In the case of Character Art, our search for a new Character Artist continues.