From studio employee to Dota 2 creator
Losing a game industry job is tough. For Kyle Parsons, though, getting laid off by Kerberos Productions, a small development studio in Vancouver, Canada, became an opportunity to work on a game he loves.
“The game I was working on [at Kerberos] got cancelled, and I got laid off,” he explained via Skype. “That was a couple of months after I started working on Dota 2, so I was able to continue making Dota items after that.” It’s worked out well for the 3D artist who goes by the name Frump.
Parsons got into the Steam Workshop scene through a friend who makes items for popular free-to-play shooter Team Fortress 2. Although none of Parson’s Team Fortress creations ever made it into the game, it was enough to spark his interest in the idea of selling through Steam.
Valve invited Parson’s friend into the first round of Workshop item creation for Dota 2. He persuaded Parsons to work with him, and together they created a sword for Sven, the Rogue Knight hero, which made it into the game in June 2012. “That was a motivator to keep going,” said Parsons.
Above: A montage of Dota 2 creations by Kyle Parsons.
Now, Parsons works full-time on creating Dota 2 items. He starts by picking a hero and then gathers artistic reference points and inspiration from websites like DeviantArt. “I find elements that are cool, weapons that are cool,” he said. He’ll then sketch his ideas out on the computer before diving into 3D work.
The ability to work on a game he loves, on his own terms, clearly means a lot to Parsons. “I just love every aspect of the game,” he told me, including the “vast amount of characters” and “the awesome art direction.” When he’s not working on items or playing Dota 2, he’ll often stay up and spectate games. He describes Dota 2 as “the deepest, most fun action-RTS [real-time strategy game] out there.”
And, for Parsons, working on the game he loves is as financially rewarding as being employed at a game studio.
“I’d say I’m probably on the mid-level of earners,” he said, “and I make a pretty decent wage. Probably slightly better than I’d be making if I were working as a mid-level artist at a studio in the game industry.”
Perks and frustrations
The recent International Dota 2 Championships in Seattle also gave a number of Workshop artists a chance to show off their work and meet their followers, something they couldn’t possibly expect working at mid-level in a development studio. “Everybody had their own little booths where we could meet fans and sign autographs,” said Parsons. “That was pretty cool.”
The only frustration for Parsons comes from a lack of communication between the Workshop artists and Valve. Changes to the game aren’t communicated directly to the artists, and he says he usually gets detailed information on patches from sites like Reddit.
Above: The Embers of Endless set by Kyle Parsons.
“[Valve] sort of decide things on their own, and we find out about it after,” said Parsons.
“There’s not a whole lot of communication,” he said. “Throughout the years of going to the International, we’ve met a lot of the Valve employees and talked to them. We sort of know them, but we don’t communicate a lot when it comes to the Workshop stuff.”
Valve recently rolled out an alpha version of Workshop tools for Dota 2, which will enable user-generated maps and modes to appear in the game. Parsons expects big things from this, but he won’t be getting involved himself.
“I think it will definitely have a big impact on the game and the Workshop,” he said. “Personally, I’m not super interested in the map-modding end of things, but a lot of people out there definitely are, so we’ll be seeing a lot of that in the future.”
With 20 items already in the game and more to come, Parsons will just keep on designing for the game he loves.