What do I mean by that exactly? Artists are credited as developers and we have our own press in the computer graphics community, but you would be hard-pressed to find an active artist amongst all those famous and outspoken personalities in the game development world. We help provide the most immediate means for which most games are interpreted, but the subjective nature of art makes the value of our contributions difficult to fully appreciate both by the end user and the people in charge.
The production of modern game art takes more people more time than in the past which means the value of a single artist within development teams is diminishing. Because our work can technically be done in isolation of other development efforts, artists are sometimes not even worth keeping a full staff of on hand in a growing number of studios. Not only that, but many studios would rather settle for art that is "good enough," than spend more for quality or spend time honing artwork that is actually appropriate for the game. Even among game developers, art can be more of a commodity than a peer department.
This isn't an argument for art dictating design as games should always prioritize production towards making the best game experience, but art is often only loosely attached as window dressing on games. How can there be a synergy of effort in creating the best game experience when artists themselves rarely have a full grasp of what the game is about and what purpose their work is supposed to serve?
Game development is a business and, like all businesses, game developers must do what is cost effective, but it is the notion that artists have little to contribute to the development of a game, other than making what we're told, that is frustrating. Of course there is also a lot of blame to be put on artists and how we view our own contributions to game development, but that is a blog post for another time.
Artists with the proper skills will always be in demand so I don't fear for the future of this field. Competition for better visuals has raised the bar in graphics across the board, and it goes without saying that a good looking game has a far better chance in the marketplace than an ugly one. But for video game artists who grew up wanting to help make better games, it can be disheartening to watch your discipline become more detached from the game development process.
