LogInNext-Gen Dreams 3D's CEO Bryce Szandro discussed how NGD operates, spoke about the virtual production market in Australia, and shared the company's take on the future of game dev.
Introduction
My name is Bryce Szandro, I am the CEO and Founder of Next-Gen Dreams 3D. I started Next-Gen Dreams as a solo freelancer, I was self-taught from the age of 14 in 3D and had a lot of friends in the industry mentor me through getting good at 3D. I started working professionally at 18. I worked in Architecture for about a year but that wasn’t really where I wanted to be, so I was doing game work on the side.
Eventually, I started getting larger and larger contracts till I started to bring other artists in to help on projects. We’ve managed to grow the team to 30 members in counting and currently plan to hit 75 – 100 staff within the next year.
I look at Next-Gen as being a powerhouse of the industry working on big-name projects for prestigious clients like Take-Two, Microsoft, THQ Nordic, and many more. We’ve also started two separate divisions of the company, one in technology and RND and the other division being in IP Development.
Work Organization at Next-Gen Dreams 3D
In regards to how NGD operates, we act as an agency, we have multiple projects running at the same time with a multinational production team co-ordinating projects. In regards to projects, we’re proud of we’ve contributed to a lot of different projects, the ones we’re mainly proud of would have to be: Ready or Not, Jagged Alliance 3, and Age of Darkness: Final Stand. We also have a lot of projects we’re contributing to that we’re under NDA. I’m very excited about when we can showcase what we’ve contributed. Till then we have to stay tight-lipped on it.
Virtual Production Market in Australia
We don’t really do that much work in Australia, we’re headquartered in Melbourne, but the major part of the work we do and the majority of employees are from outside the country. We operate in a global economy and we've always been focused on operating around the world. In regards to the landscape of Australia, right now we’re entering a golden era. There are new studios opening up every week and a lot of interest from big players due to the government offering great tax benefits and subsidies for gaming businesses bringing work to the country.
First Step When Working With a New Client
The first step when working with a new client is making the Statement of Work (SOW) – a document that always establishes ground rules and basic terms of the engagement, has a clear schedule lined up for production meetings, and makes sure everyone is aligned and on the same page. Communication 101 if I’m being honest.
Next-Gen Dreams 3D's Services
In regards to what we do for our customers, we create highly senior specialized strike teams, you’re bringing us in to build your primary team for the term of the project and we coordinate with you and your other vendors to make the magic happen. So you need something specific we get it off the ground, in our area of the industry we call that co-development.
Working Culture at Next-Gen Dreams 3D
We only want to deal with people who show promise or have a decent amount of experience to back it up, we expect full-time hours and complete priority for us and our customers, we only want to work with the best. We see it as a give and take, the more you invest in us, the more we invest in you and we want to help our people hit their career goals where we can. We don’t believe in overtime, we stick to 8 hours a day maximum and have a results-based compensation structure.
Next-Gen Dreams 3D's Take on the Future of Game Dev
A number of game development teams that want to be real studios will use and leverage any avenue to save on development costs, ultimately whether that is outsourcing or AI tools, they will leverage that to save time and money, as the companies' only purpose is to build a product, go to market and maximize profits.
Advice for Artists
If you want to work with NGD, I'd say a strong portfolio is definitely the first thing you’ll need for consideration, a great resume and experience is a second, and lastly, amazing communication and interpersonal skills, your ability to work and collaborate with others is very important to us as we want to create an environment that grows and inspires people. We also want to work with ambitious individuals who consistently raise the bar.