What is the Dominance War? - An Interview with 38 Studios' Joe Mirabello

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Posted April 4th, 2008 by Cody Bye

Questions by Cody "Micajah" Bye, Managing Editor

Answers by Joe Mirabello, Publicity Manager for Dominance War / Environment Artist for 38 Studios

Have you ever wanted to pit your creative talents against another human being simply to see if you were the best? If you're a writer, vocalist, or artist, there's always that little bit of nagging doubt clawing at your brain and receiving a confirmation of your talents - or constructive critique to improve those talent - from your peers is a vitally important part of any artist's creative evolution.

So when several veteran video game artists found that there was little in the way of artistic contests or critiquing opportunities for budding video game talent, those same individuals began what is known as Dominance War, an annual video game art competition that's drawing some big attention from major development studios. Over the past week, I've been corresponding with Joe Mirabello, the publicity manager for the contest and an environment artist at 38 Studios, about the Dominance War contest and the part he plays in this immense event!

Andy Nisbet

Ten Ton Hammer: What is Dominance War? How does it work?

Joe Mirabello: To give you a quick idea of what the contest is; Dominance War is an annual video game art competition. Over the years a lot of online game art communities have sprouted up, and the Dominance War was created as a way to encourage friendly competition, and communication between them. It’s become an international competition, aimed at helping young artists grow, letting veterans show off their stuff, and sharing tips and techniques. It’s also become a sort of ‘Olympics of Game Art’, allowing skilled artists to really gain recognition within the global art community.

The theme for the contest is a little different every year, though it’s always been character-based. This is the first year that the theme has been more fantasy, and less sci-fi based. I’m not sure how many participants we have so far, but last year there were four forums and hundreds of completed entries. This year there’re nine forums—and the contest is being run in five languages simultaneously, so I imagine we’ll have a whole lot of artists reaching the finish line.

Chris Moffit

Ten Ton Hammer: How long have you been involved with the contest?

Joe: I've been involved in some fashion since day one! The contest is three years old, and grew out the now now-defunct cgchat.com. Fred Hultqvist was moderating a semi-monthly game art competition there, which was much smaller in scope, and he decided it would be interesting to have a cross-forum contest with rival forum, Polycount.com. That was how Dominance War began. I never finished my entry that year, but shortly after I took over Fred's role with cgchat.com's monthly contests while he started up Dominancewar.com. Fred reprised his role as Dominance War master-of-ceremonies the following winter and the contest grew to include 3dTotal and Cgtalk as well. I took on the role 'General' for cgchat's side; keeping everyone active, posting critiques and encouraging and managing cgchat's involvement. I also started helping out with getting the contest's name "out there", which led to my role today as publicity manager. Hopefully the contest will continue to grow to become something the gamers and artists everywhere look to to see who's who in game art.

Mark Morgan

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you looking for only top tier artists? Or is anyone allowed to enter?

Joe: ANYONE is encouraged to enter, and entering is free! Not only that, but this year it's aimed at 2D artists as well as 3D...so even if someone doesn't know how to model in 3d it still doesn't stop them from getting involved. All an artist needs to do is decide which 'forum' of the nine they'd like to align themselves to for the contest and then sign up through www.dominancewar.com. Everyone from seasoned game artist veterans to budding students are welcome! One of the goals of Dominance War is to get new people excited about game art and get them involved with the forums.

Ten Ton Hammer: Aside from 38 Studios, do you know of any other MMORPG artists in the contest?

Joe: Well, 38 Studios is involved as a sponsor--it's the individuals who enter. Speaking as an employee of 38 Studios now, a sponsorship means we offer support and prizes and are watching the contest pretty close. Curt (Schilling) seemed as excited about the contest as the art team was, and he's encouraged all of us to enter and kick butt. As for participating artists from other MMO studios...well, it would be a pretty big task to go track them all down. I've come across artists from EA Mythic, CCP, Turbine, Slipgate Ironworks, but I haven't gone and checked thoroughly. I'm sure people from Blizzard, NCsoft, ArenaNet, and SOE are either involved or at least watching the competition.

Paul Greveson

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you know of any success stories emerging from Dominance War?

Joe: Yep! People get jobs through these sorts of contests all the time. I myself got my first industry gig from a game art competition on cgchat.com, and I can name quite a few others who could say similar. Usually with Dominance War it's been the case that the top winners have already got jobs they're quite happy with, but they've been asked to conduct interviews, had articles printed about them, and really gotten their names on the 'map'. But someone doesn't have to be a grand prize winner to get noticed; just getting involved, finishing, and doing well will get an artist loads of exposure. Oftentimes it's producers, art directors and lead artists who judge the contest--and they'll be flipping through every single finalist. Companies have begun to look at Dominance War and the participating forums like 'training camps' and they'll be scouting for someone who is skilled, professional, and amiable. If you're fresh out of school and struggling to find contacts in the industry--this is where you make them!

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