For every developer, it must be a very valuable experience to design a game with their own creative ideas, to bring those ideas into a playable game, and to get feedbacks from the users. RisingWings, one of KRAFTON’s independent studios that focuses on quality mobile games globally, provides its developers with an opportunity to have that precious experience through an in-house event it calls the “Game Jam.”
Game Jam is a kind of “Hackathon” where the developers organize teams by themselves and produce their own games within the given time. Once the given time is over, all the games are subject to a demo session before all the members of the company to get votes from them. The aim of this event is to encourage the developers to come up with diverse creative ideas and, in a long-term perspective, to foster leading developers for the future. Unlike ordinary Hackathons where developers are asked to gather in a certain place and embody their ideas in a short period of time, those who participate in the Game Jam given more freedom in working with their teammates in a relatively longer time, while they continue to work on their own business.
RisingWings has designed this event based on its “Bottom-up” game development culture, which means that all projects start from the working-level developers.
Saereumi Jang (Lead of HR Team / RisingWings) – “RisingWings is aware that the top-down production style will clearly show its limit in the long term. So instead, we always make the new projects to kick off from the suggestions of individual dev teams. This kind of culture is fully reflected in our Game Jam. Participants come up with the ideas and produce games by themselves. If they are awarded, it is even possible for them to get an opportunity to launch the game in the market.”
Last year, RisingWings began the Game Jam in March, which continued for about eight months before the demo session and the awarding ceremony in December. Compared to the previous years, the event saw more participating teams that submitted games with much better quality.
Among the entries, “Coupang Man” made by Juneyoung Yang took the first place with the most votes. This game, a match 3D puzzle, was inspired from parcel delivery. When a 3D object falls into a small place, the players must move them to decorate the place. For example, a cylinder object like a canned coffee, looks like a circle from the top, but a rectangle from the side. It’s the key point to distinguish them very fast, according to Yang.
Juneyoung Yang (Game Designer / RisingWings) – “I, a game designer, was the only member of my team, and for that reason I almost failed to submit my game in time. The deadline for build was originally by November, but I couldn’t find a client programmer who wants to work with by that time. I was so desperate to send an email to everyone in this company to ask for help, but it didn’t work. Luckily for me, the deadline was postponed to December and Hojong Beak from my project told me that he had some time for a week to help me. Beak is an exceptional developer whose main job is art directing. But he also knows things about client programming. Thanks to him, I could hand in my work before the deadline.”
The runner-up, titled “Where Are You?” was made by a three-member team consists of game designer Woobyung Chae, client programmer Donghyo Shin and server programmer Gwangmin Lee. Where Are You? is a 1-on-1 turn-based strategy board game in which the players guess the opponent’s location and attack on an invisible tile map. The three of them took about two months to make this game, while still working on their own businesses. They could minimize the resources by using purchased art and sound assets from the public store.
Woobyung Chae (Game Designer / RisingWings) – “I wanted make a simple but interesting game. I regarded it as meaningful to participate at first. I shared my plan to Gwangmin Lee, a server programmer I was working with in the same project. Lee gladly join the team, which meant we could actually start this project. In the meantime, there were some works that requires very sensitive visual coding skill. Then Lee told me he knew an expert in this matter. This expert turned out to be Donghyo Shin. We didn’t know about each other at that time, but we somehow work together very well to produce the game that won the second place! (Laughter)”
For those who participate in the Game Jam, the company allowed some time that they can spend solely for the event. The participants could use the given time as they apply for a leave. It’s a thoughtful measure by the company to help the participants do both works at the same time. Nevertheless, most participants who volunteered to join the Game Jam, aiming at making a good, a better game to get better evaluation, devoted themselves even after work and on weekends.
Around every February and March when the plans for the year’s Game Jam is announced, the staffs get many inquiries from the potential participants. They participate in the Game Jam for various reasons. There are many who are attracted to the entry fee, which is offered for all the participants. However, the biggest reason why they willingly take part in the event is to get the precious experiences of making their ideas into actual games.
Juneyoung Yang – “I live on a small amount of allowance every month. Honestly, I was glad that the entry fee and other expenses are provided by the company (Laughter). Of course, as a game designer, I love to come up with new ideas. If I get some inspirations while watching TV shows or movies, I immediately search for more information and organize them right away. Among them, I chose one to make a game. It was how I began Coupang Man.”
Al the games produced by participants are open to everyone at RisingWings on the day of the Game Jam at the end of the year. The members of RisingWings who try downloading the submitted build and test play it can vote for their best game. The game that gets the most votes take the top.
Juneyoung Yang – “Before I saw the other games, I thought my game would have a chance to take first or second place. But as soon as other games were open, I realized it would not be easy to take third place. They were just excellent in quality. On the very day, I had to tell my wife that I could only take the entry fee. Fortunately, I got a far better result than I expected.”
Woobyung Chae – “My game is mystery genre so it’s not easy for the testers to have interesting gaming experience unless enough time is given to play through and fully learn how to enjoy the game. We honestly set our goal for the third place. Thanks to all those who voted for us, we could win the second place.
Should RisingWings finds a good game from the Game Jam it believes is worthwhile, the company plans to give it an opportunity to launch in the market. But more importantly, it is trying to find the true meaning of the Game Jam as the event spurs the developers to share their creative ideas with each other, learn from the process that they make the ideas as actual games while growing themselves together with their colleagues.
Juneyoung Yang – “It was very refreshing to make a game with speed in a short time while tuning up different opinions with the colleagues. I also realized that it’s really fun to making a game fast to get the result quickly.
I used to develop a game for a year and a half and work on the live service when I was working in a bigger project. But as I was doing so, it didn’t feel like my own work. I wanted to do everything from processing my own ideas to designing, systemizing, preparing for the live service to balancing. I become more eager for such an experience after talking to some indie game developers. I guess many game designers would feel the same way. I think it’s a very good experience for all game developers to try making a game as a member of a small team. Even if your trial ends up in failure, it’s easier to realize the mistakes you made.”
Donghyo Shin (Client Programmer / RisingWings) – “My teammate for the Game Jam, Gwangmin Lee, is a server programmer who has experiences in client programming. So I could learn from working with him. As a programmer, I’m sometimes stuck in a rut when I work on one project for a long time. At the time, new experiences like the Game Jam can make my head fresh and I can be absorbed in the project all over again. It’s a good motivation.”
Woobyung Chae – “There are tons of things that need to be considered when you plan and design a game by yourself. You’ll never learn this if you don’t try. It was fun to experience and learn how to produce games of the genres that I haven’t tried making before. I could grow even more during the process. As a game designer, it was a very precious experience to go through the entire process of designing a game at a level that people may enjoy.”
There are many RisingWings developers sign up for the Game Jam every year. Some of them passionately and ambitiously submit the same title, of course by improving it with more creative ideas, to get evaluated again from the testers.
Bonghyun Cho (Lead of Connect Team / RisingWings) – “One of this year’s entries, called “FlipNoid2,” gave me a strong impression, as the team has submitted it again by upgrading from the previous version from last year. Although it couldn’t get awarded this time, I respect the team’s passion for the game. They didn’t want to make a game just for the contest. Winning the prize can be important, but I felt their strong will to make a better game.”
Last year’s Game Jam was held during the COVID-19. Originally the company holds the demo session and the awarding ceremony by gathering everyone of the company in one place so that the participants can get live feedbacks from the testers. Unfortunately, this year’s event was held online to prevent spreading of the virus.
The Game Jam will continue in 2022. RisingWings plans to make the Game Jam as a venue where its developers can realize their ideas while growing themselves. At Game Jam, the participants can get advice from leading developers of RisingWings. And if they win the awards, they can even meet the users in the market.
Juneyoung Yang – “I strongly recommend the Game Jam for my fellow colleagues who have not taken part in yet. There are many developers who haven’t experience the whole process of a project from the beginning to the end. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to participate in, even if they don’t have much time. Even though they couldn’t complete the project here, taking the first step itself would still be a valuable experience.”
