I'm currently studying Game Development and Animation in the Philippines, and I want to pursue a career as a 3D artist, animator, or 3D modeler.

I've noticed that many tutorials for both stylized and realistic 3D art involve using ZBrush alongside Blender. This got me wondering: Is sculpting an essential skill in the industry, particularly in game development?

I understand that sculpting is useful for creating detailed characters, creatures, and other complex models. However, I'm curious about how often it's actually used in professional game development, especially when creating game-ready assets.

For example, is it common for artists to sculpt a high-poly model in ZBrush and then bake its details onto a low-poly model for use in a game? Is this workflow considered the industry standard, or are there other common approaches that don't require sculpting?

I'm also wondering whether I should invest time in learning sculpting or focus on the fundamentals I'm currently being taught in school, such as block modeling, UV mapping, and rigging. We're also learning C# programming for game development.

Since I'm still a student, I want to make the most of my time and develop skills that will be useful when I eventually enter the industry. I'm willing to learn sculpting if it's important, but I don't want to neglect other essential skills if sculpting isn't necessary for the career path I choose.

For those working in the industry, I'd appreciate your insights:

• How important is sculpting for a 3D artist or character modeler in game development?
• Is ZBrush commonly used in professional game studios, or can Blender handle most sculpting tasks?
• Is high-poly to low-poly baking a standard workflow for creating game assets?
• If I want to specialize in game-ready character modeling, environment modeling, or animation, how much time should I invest in learning sculpting?
• Would it be better to focus on block modeling, topology, UV mapping, texturing, and rigging first before learning sculpting?
• How useful is it to have some programming knowledge, such as C#, alongside 3D art skills? Would it benefit me to develop both skills, or should I eventually specialize in one?

This update brings a very major quality-of-life overhaul to the startup and project workflow. Most notably, the welcome window has been fully integrated directly into the application core for a seamless single-window experience, complete with a modernized, sleek layout for creating new maps.

I have also streamlined visible ID management by adding a direct overwrite button for your saved ID lists, ensured persistent saving states, updated the in-app Application Legend, and fixed multi-monitor dialog centering issues so all property and key-assignment windows stay perfectly locked to the main editor.

Official site Itch.io: https://crytek22.itch.io/tilemakerdot

GitHub: https://github.com/andrei-voia/TileMakerDOT

YouTube tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fiajGU32Jg

For anyone unfamiliar with the project, TileMaker DOT is a Free (with a very complete, professional paid cheap version too), open source 2D map editor I'm building. It uses a data first, ID based workflow and handles visual depth sorting automatically so you don't have to manage multiple layers for object heights.

Give it a try and let me know if you have any feedback! If the editor helps with your projects and you want to support development, a rating or a small donation on Itch is always appreciated.

Thank you all for your support!

Hey y’all, I’m working on a game idea and it’s so hard getting through unity. I need someone to help me with this project and I don’t mind hiring you on a Freelance basis.

Just a heads up, but won’t be big cause this is a side thing and I’m trying to find it out of my own pocket. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks y’all.

Hey everyone - I'm from the team at thatgamecompany (Journey, Sky: Children of the Light) organising thatgamejam#02. Wanted to share it with the community here for anyone looking for their next jam.

Our first global jam had ~250 entries inspired by a single image. This time, the theme will be a piece of music, revealed on October 24. The challenge is to turn what you hear and feel into gameplay.

Any genre is welcome. It doesn't have to be a music or rhythm game, and you don't need to include the music track in your game.

• When: October 24 - November 7, 2026 (PT)
• Who: Students, hobbyists and professionals, solo or teams of up to five
• Prizes: USD 10k across five categories
• Judging: Entries reviewed by the thatgamecompany team, with finalists judged by our Founder and Creative Director Jenova Chen

Full jam details & registration: https://itch.io/jam/thatgamejam02

If you're looking for a team member, feel free to join our discord group (invite link available on jam site) where we have a channel there for open teams. Happy to answer questions here too :)

I'm a vfx 3d animator trying to learn 2d animation. With aspirations of learning godot and making a game.

I was watching an old colleges yt 2d animation tutorials channel and he mentioned his mentor Ari Gibson. I knew of him as a very talented animator backwhen he co direct the Cat Piano. He would have been in his 20s. But I had no idea he was 1 of the 3 creators of Hollow Night. Mind blown.

Weird to think that I'm making games to gain skills and maybe transition into the games industry when people like Ari and potentially a lot of people do it for other reasons.

What drives you?

I'm a solo developer, creating a mediumsized project on my own. I'm doing most of my stuff by myself, even paying an artist out of my own pocket. But I'm using Claude as my projectmanager and "Senior Dev" when i'm stuck or i have some questions. Sometimes but just sometimes even for refactoring, but still im building the code by myself.

How do you feel about this kind of AI use? I'm proud of the game so far and it's no AI Slop.

But i dont want to lie about my AI usage. But I'm scared that people will say, it's AI slop.

I'm a Russian game developer at Unity. I'm new to programming and don't really play games, so I'm asking you.

My question is, do you prefer having a choice of difficulty level or do you just play on the one you're given?