Archive: Author: loshalia.zheng@gmail.com

Prrgrammers: Zhengyu Xu, Jaruwit Wannissorn

Artists: Shelley Huang, Ziyu Zheng

Round 2

Platform: Oculus + Lid Motion

Programmers: Zhengyu Xu, Jaruwit Wannissorn

Artists: Shelley Huang, Ziyu Zheng

Difficulty: different understanding on producer and designer

Gameplay: You are in a mine cart, and you can use your hands to collect coins, avoid TNT, and cave animals.

In the interim, everything worked perfectly, and our instructors were satisfied with our amazing progress. However, in the final week, things could not work as well as the interim. Because the producer could not stop throwing new ideas until the last day, this caused the team having internal misunderstanding.

Because the game was experiencing so many lags, programmers wanted to use the last week to optimize the game. However, in the producer’s eyes, his team did not want to work hard anymore, and the lags were just an excuse.

The team was stuck at that moment. As a 3D artist, I felt more embarrassed, because the producer kept asking me making more models, and two programmers refused to add any models in the game. So I talked to the producer, I realized he used to work in the theatrical entertainment industry, which required the producer to be more creative than time managing. His role was to keep adding new ideas to make the show more exciting and entertaining. However, the game industry was different. What he kept doing was a game designer’s job rather than a game producer.

After realizing where the misunderstanding occurred, I talked to the programmers immediately. Suddenly, everything became so clear. We decided to add me as the co-producer in the final week. When the producer had some time-consuming ideas, I could stand out and stop him. As a result, the programmers could keep optimizing the game; two artists could only make the models that would be used in game; and the producer understood the industries’ differences.

The first reason that I want to work on games is that I really love games. Not only am I pretty good at playing it, I am also good at making them. I really enjoyed the time at Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), Carnegie Mellon University, because I could keep making games with a bunch of talented artists and programmers. Although making games at ETC is super fast pace, the chance of working with a team of excellent people is rare, and I did cherish it.After five rounds of making VR games at ETC, I found the importance of communication. I do love talking with people and solve problems by communication. It is more difficult than people usually expected that making sure every team member would be on the same page. There was round that programmers and artists saw the game totally different, and it turned out to be two games in the interim. In fact, these programmers and artists just were blocked by one desk. At that time, I realized that I have to make everyone understand what was the priority to start with and what was truly important to our game. Once programmers and artists understood the objectives and reached the same goal, the game worked out pretty well in the final.

After five rounds of making VR games at ETC, I found the importance of communication. I do love talking with people and solve problems by communication. It is more difficult than people usually expected that making sure every team member would be on the same page. There was round that programmers and artists saw the game totally different, and it turned out to be two games in the interim. In fact, these programmers and artists just were blocked by one desk. At that time, I realized that I have to make everyone understand what was the priority to start with and what was truly important to our game. Once programmers and artists understood the objectives and reached the same goal, the game worked out pretty well in the final.I love games, and I enjoy making them. What’s more, I incredibly love working with people from different background. Working with talented people around the world will let me learn more knowledge and culture that I had never experienced before.

I love games, and I enjoy making them. What’s more, I incredibly love working with people from different background. Working with talented people around the world will let me learn more knowledge and culture that I had never experienced before. Working with people from different background, I definitely will use some different ways to communicate with them. For example, programmers are more likely to say no, because of the technical issues. Programmers are thinking more practically. However, artists always keep throwing new ideas even in the final weeks. Artists tend to be more creative, but more idealism. As a producer, making them working together happily and efficiently is the most satisfying thing for me.