Manifesto
Our craft. Our conviction.
Real-time VFX sits where art, gameplay and technology meet. These principles guide how we make decisions, review the work and put our name on what ships.
This is the standard behind the work.
Six principles
What the work must hold.
01We protect
Clarity carries the moment.
An effect must communicate at gameplay speed. Telegraph, impact and persistent state each need a clear job. If spectacle hides the decision the player must make, the effect is not finished.
02We design
Believability with purpose.
The effect belongs to a world, a mechanic and an emotional beat. Shape, material, timing and motion must support that context rather than chase spectacle on their own.
03We engineer
Performance is part of the art.
Overdraw, memory, tick cost and platform budgets influence the design from the beginning. Optimisation is not where ambition goes to die; it is how the effect survives in the game.
04We build
Tools should remove repetition.
When artists repeat the same setup, export or validation task, we look for a reusable system. The goal is more time spent on judgment and less on avoidable plumbing.
05We share
Knowledge should outlive the session.
Reviews, naming, templates and performance targets are documented so the next artist can build on the decision instead of rediscovering it.
06We own
Artists remain responsible for the frame.
The person shaping an effect must be able to explain its intent, timing, silhouette and technical choices. Authorship is not a prompt or a tool; it is responsibility for the result.
Our position on AI
Non-negotiableAI may support the pipeline.
Artists own the work.
SGZ uses automation and AI where they can remove repetitive work, improve access to internal knowledge or accelerate technical exploration. The purpose is to give artists more time for judgment, iteration and craft.
We do not deliver VFX generated wholesale by AI as a substitute for an artist's authorship. The intent, timing, silhouette, integration and final call remain the responsibility of people who can explain and defend the choices.
Where AI may help
Pipeline and tooling
Supporting code, documentation, repetitive setup and validation under human review.
Internal knowledge
Making approved documentation easier for the team to find and apply.
Technical exploration
Comparing approaches or pressure-testing ideas before an artist makes the production decision.
Where SGZ draws the line
No hidden authorship
AI involvement that materially affects a deliverable must follow the client's policy and be disclosed when required.
No artist replacement disguised as efficiency
The final VFX work remains shaped, integrated and approved by accountable artists.
No unreviewed tools in production
Models and services must be reviewed for client policy, confidentiality, licensing and production risk before use.
AI can accelerate the pipeline. It does not inherit responsibility for the art.
The heart of it
We make the moments players remember.
The impossible odds, the clutch victory and the quiet detail almost nobody notices - every effect exists to make the game clearer, heavier or more alive. That is the standard behind every delivery.
SGZ clients and partners