Using max for game development has been done time and time again. As an artist, using max is natural. As a programmer using max is powerful but hidden a lot of the time. Merging the artist and the programmer makes things simple and effective in game development. “The technical artist” is supposed to be the gap filler in this situation. In large game companies, multiple artists and multiple programmers bring a good turn around, but with the right tools the job gets easier, faster. Give an artist a functional tool and the programmer wont need to spend time a) explaining what code does, b) explaining why the tool cant perform certain tasks, and c) wasting time fixing small bugs over and over as the engine progresses. As a smaller company working together is vital. “The aspect of team comes in very handy”, is a thing of the past. The integration is crucial to making games games, and making games well. The artist, for example can flourish given the toolset he or she may require, leaving the programmer free to make the game play more game like. Keeping things tight as a team makes it fast and easy to update things. Keeping your head out of the clouds and keeping ahead of things can be difficult in the industry, but the first steps in the right direction give amazing amounts of progress, fast. This is where we have gotten to lately. An artist with a tool, that can be extended, should be given the tools he needs to make the game easier on everybody. Understanding that taking a few days to learn new things and taking a long time to figure things out comes naturally when programming, but the artist without the tool, can wait without the tool. The programmer taking 15 minutes out of the normal code to toy around with a new tool for the artists can greatly improve understanding on all levels. Once there is a familiriaty with the language, and or extension toolkits there can be massive improvements to everyones workflow . Below i outlined a couple of pointers for the two sides of the team, should it benefit you. Artist : 1) Be clear and concise. No programmer needs vague explanations and needs to figure out art jargon while programming. 2) Be reasonable. No programmer wants to spend 6 months making a tool for the game. Start small, and start simple. A toolkit is made up of many parts, massive toolkits are made from massive amounts of code. Start with automating repetive tasks. Things that will increase your workflow will slowly show you where you can grow. Show you where you can learn. 3) Be understanding. The programmer SHOULD dedicate time to you, and your workflow. In a small team this can make sense and can be easier, where as larger teams this requires perhaps dedicated technical artists but the concept remains. Give the programmer a clear, concise, simple tool addition description, and give the programmer time to work it out. Keeping in mind that the team is a team, you can do great things if you let them happen. 4) Be predictable. From the start keep things consistent. How you like things, make it clear. How you work through toolbars, make it clear. How you layout your shortcuts, make it clear. As you work further, there can be less interaction, and more working together. An understanding of who you are working with makes it easy to guess the next step. The next feature. “Working in the zone” makes it easy to program, knowing what can help and improve your artists workflow before asking, makes it faster to develop, faster to please the artist and easier to make games. Hope this helps, the next post regarding this subject will detail a few techniques in maxscript that will definately help in game development, as well as in making custom formats, or using existing formats to exploit the engine you are using. We are using torque in some cases and we use XNA for others, writing tools for Max, XSI, and other 3d apps doesnt take too long, and can make the game engine itself unbelievably easy to control content, to control art assets, to control scripting engines, to automate importing exporting, almost anything can be achieved in a short time.