In July, I visited the Dublin Games Summit, a new b2b gathering in Ireland, where the state of the Irish games industry was picked apart and analysed by nearly every speaker. A concerning point for many was the role of youth education in the future of games development, with Irish colleges not teaching the core programming language C++ in games development courses. The issue of funding was discussed at length, with the level of support from Enterprise Ireland toward the gaming industry being labelled ‘lacklustre’. The body still labels gaming as a technological project instead of art or entertainment and leaves potential indie developers to compete for funding with the likes of life-saving medical technology. With a lack of support for Irish youth interested in games development, the industry is inundated with eager students who are not being taught the skills big publishing companies are looking for, and weak funding options for Irish developers.  

So with all these obstacles in the way, how exactly does someone in this country successfully break into a gaming career right now?

James Brady turned out to have the answer to that question, or at least his personal solution to it. Brady is a freelance artist who also holds a position with UK-based company Flix Interactive, working with AAA studios on projects such as Crackdown 3. He’s worked in the past at Rockstar Games on titles like the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 and with Bluehole Studio on a little game called Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. Earlier this year, he spoke with TN2 about his journey and success toward the career of a games artist.

So, how did you get into this field? Did you enjoy art as a kid and continue from hobby to career?

So it was a weird one – as a kid, I never had much interest in art per say. I think it came down to the fact that my dad is an artist, and during my time at school, my art teacher always had the impression that I too would be good at art and would reference back to my dad, so it was kind of a put-off. Later down the line, my parents bought me Halo 2 for Christmas and there was a making of DVD that I would watch over and over. I was so blown away by the environment art in the game that I started to take a serious interest again in art creation and that got the gears turning for me wanting to work in this field. I later joined an Irish indie company called Eyesodic Games on their survival game Days Of Extinction, and that was pretty much my first opportunity in the industry.

I love that, you took something expected of you and made it your own, and what better game than Halo to bring you in. Did you go to art school? How much of your skill is self taught, would you say?

For sure! I grew up playing [Halo developer] Bungie’s games from the get go so I think it was a natural transition for me.

After I finished secondary school I did a one year diploma course in game design at Cavan Institute in Ireland. Sadly, it didn’t cover anything related to game development, so I spent the evenings teaching myself everything I needed to know an artist. Pretty much 100% self-taught.

That’s amazing. Would you say that the field has opened up a bit more for aspiring game artists in Ireland in terms of education opportunities?

That’s a tricky one. I don’t have a clear answer but what I can say is, there are colleges that offer the fundamentals for budding artists such as Belfast Met in Northern Ireland and BCFE in Dublin. I think if anything, education can provide a support network and an environment for an individual to focus on what they need to do in order to achieve their goals. Overall when it comes down to making art for video games, it’s 100% on the individual to get their skill-set and ability up to scratch. PC and consoles are always getting more powerful and this in turn allows for higher visual fidelity on screen. This also means that models and environments are more detailed, and in turn, requires the ability to create models and environments to this fidelity.

So, being an artist from Ireland and having taught yourself and taken a course here, have you ever considered leaving the country for jobs and/or education opportunities?

I actually moved to the UK a month ago. I currently reside in Birmingham, working for a small studio. Prior to this I’d moved to the UK to join Creative Assembly and Rockstar Games, before moving back to Ireland as a freelancer. I do have a valid visa for Canada too so who knows.

I think Ireland is a beautiful country and I would love to see a booming games industry back on home soil. I just don’t think there is the funding or a large enough talent pool to kick-start an industry. I do admire [game designers] John and Brenda Romero’s move to kickstart an industry in Ireland –  I was actually invited to the studio last August to meet them in Galway.

It seems like Ireland has all the makings for a good industry, just no support. Hopefully that will change soon. Was your move inspired by the opportunity to work with a specific studio or is Ireland a place of limited opportunities if you’re someone who wants to solely pursue your craft?

I totally agree. When I left Rockstar Games, I was working on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds [PUBG]. At this point, I felt inspired and hopeful that since Romero Games moved to Ireland and smaller indie projects being developed in Ireland had launched on Steam, that there would now be the potential opportunity of continuing my career back home. Thankfully in the yearly sprint of freelancing, I did contribute to a game called Rollercoaster Legends which was made by a company in Dublin called Warducks, among many more games such as Halo Infinite, Hitman 2, The Forest, the list goes on. My decision to move abroad again from Ireland was the traction to join Flix Interactive on a very exciting Microsoft title and also still having the opportunity to freelance. I felt it was such a win win situation that I couldn’t say no. I’m keeping my eyes peeled on the industry in Ireland too.

So, with experience in both industries in Ireland and abroad, where do you see the Irish games industry moving? Either from an arts perspective or  simply as someone who works in the industry? What would have to be here for you to have enough cause to come back?

I have hope that Ireland will become the next main hub for the games industry. Reason being is geographical positioning, a beautiful country and tax breaks for large companies. Due to the current political climate in North America, I feel this would allow companies easier access to talent they can’t acquire otherwise. I feel John and Brenda [of Romero Games] have kickstarted this progression.

I would love to see more funding opportunities becoming available, and the opportunity of working on video games not being as cliché as it is, being one of the very few to have got into the industry from Ireland. Hmm… that’s a tough one… maybe if PUBG Corp [PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds] opened an office in Ireland. I would love to see a Blizzard [Entertainment] production studio in Galway.

That would inspire a huge rush of local talent I’m sure. So PUBG! When were you brought onto the project?

Travis George, one of the original Riot Games founders has been in the process of kick-starting his studio in Dublin. I’ve had a bit of back and forth with helping on a freelance basis. I saw  that PUBG or ‘Bluehole’ were looking for an environment artist last May on a job posting forum and I decided to apply in 2017. Weirdly enough, at this time PUBG didn’t have the traction or fame it has now., Thankfully I was very blessed that the lead artist in Madison, Wisconsin Shawn Wiederhoeft reached out with interest of bringing me onsite in Madison. Sadly, due to immigration issues, we continued on a remote basis –  not having any idea how big PUBG was going to be.

I don’t think a single person realised what that was going to turn into! Can you describe what it was like when the popularity hit? Was it an overnight realisation or did it come in waves?

It was sooo f***ng weird … When I started, they were still in Alpha stage and with that naturally it gained traction, especially on the Twitch platform, with Dr. Disrespect being one of the few, to eventually many, streaming it. I remember Brendan [Greene] announced at E3 2017 that PUBG was coming to Xbox One and from that point things started to accelerate for the game gaining popularity. Honestly, once we finished working on the desert map ‘Miramar’ and it got released, it was a sudden boom! of everyone talking about PUBG, playing PUBG, referencing ‘Winner Winner Chicken Dinner’. It was very strange … in retrospective, Miramar made PUBG what it is today

When I think of PUBG that’s the landscape that I think of it’s almost that iconic desert scape you parachute into. So where is your art focused in the game? Being an environment artist, do you have a specialised area within that? Or just wherever you were needed?

I agree –  I think the team on PUBG are going to have a hard time (hopefully not) beating the sudden success and expectations Miramar had. Being an environment artist, I essentially just worked on Miramar on whatever was needed. I made, like, 30 assets for the map and I did a pass on the gas station. I also made the cemetery buildings along with the Spanish cemetery sign, among much much more around the map.

Was PUBG your first experience with such a huge positive public response?

To the scale of PUBG’s positive public response? Yep!  And it’s something I’m extremely proud of and hold dear to my heart to this day. I keep forgetting how massive PUBG is and this would result in me wearing my PUBG dev shirt out and about and people waving at me or saying hi. Always gets me off guard.

It’s like a badge of honour almost! I mean, you don’t even have to be in gaming to at least recognize the name, which is such a massive thing to have under your belt. So where do you go from there? You’ve had such a cool breakthrough already, what are your goals moving on in the industry?

That’s very true. I remember being late for a flight and the flight attendant letting me through the gate, which was closed, because I worked on PUBG, which was so weird!

So it’s weird for me right now. I’ve only been in the industry for 3.5 years and have had so much success and worked on so many games that now I’m not entirely sure. I’m quite cosy at Flix Interactive and excited for the projects I’m a part of, so will probably just stay put and freelance when any opportunities open up. I’m traveling back for Dublin Games Festival in November as a guest as well.  

It is an amazing journey, only 4 years and already such big titles. So what would you say is your favourite games you’ve worked on have been?

I’ve been truly lucky and in retrospect I’ve no idea how it happened. There is no clear path from how I started to how I got to where I am now. Weird. I’ll pick my top four favourites, first being PUBG, second being Red Dead Redemption 2, third being Halo Infinite and the fourth being The Forest.

I have to say that I feel I’m being incredibly patient for the Red Dead release.

To finish, for someone wanting to be a games artist in Ireland, is there any advice you would give them?

You’re in for a treat. The main advice I would give them is to understand your strengths, and what you naturally strive towards in the ‘art’ spectrum, and focus solely on that. I would also advise them to join sites such as Polycount, Mapcore or even Facebook art groups and connect with industry artists, we don’t bite. Be visible, work hard and don’t give up. They can and will make this dream come true