Unveiling Thunder War 2023: A talent training playground at Thunder Cloud Studio, designed to inspire and elevate team’s creative and professional skills.
Thunder War 2023 represents the pinnacle of internal talent at Thunder Cloud Studio, with the goal of creating a playground and stimulating their members’ self-training by the very different new model – Internal Talent Combat Model. The purpose of this program is to train professional skill, unity in teamwork, effective project timing management, embracing the highly structured 3D character design service that Thunder Cloud implements for over a decade.
Compulsory fixed theme: Tokyo Neon Character Design
The key meaning of why the program only set a fixed theme is to train professionalism, the Thunder Cloud’s artists must follow exactly one theme and strict criteria as in a professional game art outsourcing company in real production context. This approach underscores the importance of adhering to client briefs in real external development context, aiming to exceed client expectations with passion and dedication. The studio’s artists as a whole work to fulfill all specified requirements and general criteria benchmarks.
Milestones 1: Concept stage
The Thunder War 2023 talent has not only provided a fair but also challenging competing field for all 8 teams. All must design a high-quality stylized 3D character.
However, the concept stage is only the starting point. To properly evaluate the outcome, the next phase needs to be carefully considered.
The high-poly stage marks a clear step forward, where initial ideas are translated into fully realized forms and production quality begins to take shape. It serves as the first concrete indicator of how well the concepts hold up in execution.
At this point, only five teams move forward to the next round, while others are filtered out based on their ability to meet the required standards.
Milestones 2: High-poly stage
Undeniably, the dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work of the participants shine through, as demonstrated by the persistence of these five teams into the final round, where they have surpassed expectations with their achievements. Their results are extremely perfect from character design that closely aligns with the initial concept to the technical execution. Furthermore, their presentations are comprehensive, featuring not just a single viewpoint but also animations, a variety of backgrounds, numerous showcase videos, and captivating backstories for each team that enhance the distinctiveness and design of their characters.
Milestones 3: Presentation stage
After several rounds, congratulations to the top 5 teams in this season with fantastic results!
Thunder War 2023 – The Winner!
Limited time: 3 months
Perhaps the most challenging aspect is that teams must leverage their free-time to complete their projects within a fixed 3 months, all while managing their regular, demanding workloads at the company without compromising ongoing customer projects. This stipulation mirrors the reality of production deadlines, compelling Thunder Cloud Studio to allot a fixed three-month period for participants to navigate their projects. The company’s mantra, “Fire proves gold, adversity proves men,” highlights the belief that only through rigorous challenges can the highest quality outcomes be forged.
Thunder War 2023 – The 2nd place!
Multi-submission Milestones based on production stages
When Thunder Cloud Studio works with a substantial workload in 3D Character design, the company regularly divides it into 3 key milestones throughout the production journey: (1) Concept, (2) High-poly and (3) Final delivery. Besides, during production process, there are multiple detailed stages in order to make customers tightly control of the final work. Regarding this playground, participants are given big challenges in 3 stages with strict deadline – 3 months. Additionally, in each stage, each team must not only give usual raw files/data, but also be required to present at it best and preview like how Thunder Cloud Studio delivery for clients at each stage. That said, competitions like this demonstrates how Thunder Cloud Studio foster the practical skills of internal artists to improve production quality.
Thunder War 2023 – The 2nd place!
Learn “How to work together”
In this playground, Thunder Cloud Studio even set such higher bar by not only asking artists to form their own teams from different departments, but also it’s compulsory to ensure a mix of skill levels from junior to senior. No team is allowed to consist solely of top-tier talent. The aim of this program is to foster holistic growth, encompassing professional, teamwork, and planning abilities, ultimately leading to a more effective and cohesive production process.
Thunder War 2023 – The 3rd place!
Reward
The company has no hesitation to invest in contests and awards to stimulate their personnel with alluring rewards.
Despite the rigorous criteria, the artists at Thunder Cloud Studio have delivered exceptional and impressive outcomes within a tight timeframe and a heavy workload. Initially, eight teams embarked on the concept phase, showcasing remarkable creativity. Moreover, they adeptly incorporated AI to enhance production efficiency.
Thunder War 2023 – The 3rd place!
The final results of Thunder War 2023 showcase the team of Thunder’s outstanding dedication and enthusiasm. Working in their free time, they’ve revealed exceptional dedication, not allowing their project to disrupt their core commitments to their clients. This speaks volumes about their ability to endure tremendous pressure as well as surpass all the company’s expectations. It is with this in mind that Thunder Cloud Studio proudly decides to maintain this arena for creativity and professional development in the future!
