How to Write a Game Art Outsourcing Brief

A strong outsourcing brief does more than describe an asset. It gives an external team enough context to estimate accurately, identify risk, and produce work that your art lead can review against objective requirements.

Start With the Production Context

State the target platform, engine, camera distance, visual style, current production stage, and reason for outsourcing. A hero prop for a first-person game has different priorities from background dressing in an isometric title.

Define the Asset List and Quality Bar

• Asset name, quantity, and gameplay purpose
• Approved visual references and representative in-game assets
• Expected high-poly, low-poly, UV, bake, and texture outputs
• Elements that must remain consistent across the full batch
• Items explicitly excluded from the scope

Document Technical Requirements

Include dimensions, scale, polygon targets, LOD expectations, collision rules, texture resolution, channel packing, texel density, naming conventions, pivots, file formats, and engine-version requirements. Mark each item as mandatory or preferred.

Assign Review Owners and Milestones

Name the person authorized to approve work and define review points before production begins. Blockout, high-poly or game mesh, textured work in progress, and final technical validation are common checkpoints, but the exact sequence should match the asset.

Specify Delivery and Commercial Constraints

• Required source and final files
• Folder structure and naming
• Schedule dependencies and hard dates
• Revision assumptions and change-order process
• NDA, ownership, and portfolio restrictions

Use a Representative Paid Test

For a new vendor relationship, choose a paid test that represents the real production challenge. Avoid an unusually easy asset or the most critical hero asset. The goal is to evaluate interpretation, communication, review response, and technical delivery before scaling.