Ratio of artists to programmers

    i was reading some blog today (i actually didn't bookmark the page ) where some dev claimed that in current game production processes there is a ratio of 4:1 regarding artists:programmers. I actually can't believe that this is true. What are your opinions or experiences? does this ratio depend on the team size in total? are there situations when you think that either party has too many open positions? should there be a trend to get a 1:1 ratio?

    from my experience there was pretty much either a 1:1 ratio (~12 employees working on a single title) or 4:5 (almost 1:1 with 9 employees on a single title). speaking of my last company there was a need of more programmers since the graphics were all done and the implementation wasn't keeping up.

    from my general understanding it would make perfect sense to have fewer programmers than artists, since a game is more art/design related than an abstraction of mechanics (which is what programmers would usually work on).

    this leads me to the question: is a company with a 1:1 ratio a "bad" company?

    i come to this question because my very first company was bankrupt almost 1-2 years after i left. the recent one... well i wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't exist by 2010. both companies had the same "bad" ratio which could indicate some organisation/management wide lack of quality.

    discuss!

    I've always had 1:1 ratios, or even more programmers than artists, but keep in mind that I've also worked with Ubisoft engines mostly. The one game I made with Source, we had to create our own 360 engine as Valve was also making their own at the same time, so we didn't license that one...

    Maybe this guy is talking about games made with licensed engines.

    actually both companies i worked in had licensed game engines. i think i would break an NDA or something when saying which one they used, but both times i worked with the same engine and the engine has been used in a couple of AAA games on various platforms. so the programmers actually should have had a good base.

    There really aren't too many really heavily licensed engines...

    Would it really break an NDA to mention a game engine without mentioning a game name, company name, personal name, etc?

    Speaking of which, the only Ubisoft Source game I can think of is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

    Arkane Studios, the Dark Messiah dev (and awesome Arx Fatalis dev) are making another Source game called The Crossing. Wiki doesn't list a publisher for that, though. Might just be Steam.

    Back to the topic...

    Programmers:Artists depends on the project. If engine is ready and code-locked, it cuts requirement of a lot of programmers and only graphics artists and LD's have a lot of work...

    It also depends who is behind the term "artist" (concept art, 2d, 3d, level design?). That's a lot of people so if we choose only typical artists (3d, concept...) then there should be more programmers instead of artists.

    I think it really depends on the scope of the game.

    I think the bigger the games are, the more artists you need to create the vast world. But, in my experience, most programmers are a little lazy because they got the mentality that since they got a degree (most of them do), and because not many people are programmers; their job is secure. Artists dont feel that way and work their asses of because of it.

    I think your question got so many answers Hessi

    if your artists are not generating enough content to keep 1 programmer busy per artist than i think your company is doing something wrong ! at ioi i would guess it to be 2 artists per programmer not counting level designers

    Quote from Jetsetlemming

    Arkane Studios, the Dark Messiah dev (and awesome Arx Fatalis dev) are making another Source game called The Crossing. Wiki doesn't list a publisher for that, though. Might just be Steam.

    Arkane stoped the development of The Crossing last year because they couldn't negotiate the game with publishers as they wondered. That suck!

    I would assume it really depends on the kind of game. Something like Civilization certainly needs a higher percentage of programmers while your typical first person/third person shooter would need a higher percentage of artists.

    Quote from Seldoon182

    Arkane stoped the development of The Crossing last year because they couldn't negotiate the game with publishers as they wondered. That suck!

    Whaaat? I can't find news of this anywhere, the rare posts on their site and forums suggest they're at least still doing SOMETHING, there are still job postings and stuff D:

    Quote

    ":2omncuh5]Well, programmers do get more than artists, and last in the list come designers.

    I was under the impression that that list was reversed- there are more able programmers than talented artists, so the average pay for artists is higher.

    Fakedit: Just checked.

    http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features ... y_2007.php

    The average for programmers across all experience groups is $80k, $65k for artists and animators. Wow, that's way different than I thought. Last time I saw any sort of pay info it was lower 60's for programmers of all types (not just game dev).

    Maybe I should redouble my efforts to learn to code

    Rationale for programmers getting better wages is they studied longer and could easily make a lot more money working in finance or other fields so you need to give them some incentive. Incidentally artists and designers don't have that luxury.

    Quote

    ":3f5x4edd]Well, programmers do get more than artists, and last in the list come designers.

    I really trust that report recently, if you are It was my understanding that (in the UK) it's artists who get least! Here it seems to be exactly the same.

    Quote from Furyo

    Rationale for programmers getting better wages is they studied longer and could easily make a lot more money working in finance or other fields so you need to give them some incentive. Incidentally artists and designers don't have that luxury.

    i'm thinking this will change in time as computer design schools will be able to give out degrees. that being said, does anyone know how good an art director's salary is for instance? it would be interesting to see whether it affects the higher managing/directing positions as well, since those usually come at a certain degree of either industry experience or specialization at university. EDIT: i just checked the career guide, and it looks as though those roles are paid higher. the question is the how much they factor in degrees in those positions.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login