Jongpil Jung: How I Saved Atlantica!

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There is always a great deal to learn from a game that has achieved considerable success, like the story told by Blizzard at the China Game Developers Conference (CGDC); however, there is also a lot to be learned from a failed game, especially one which was doomed to fail yet successfully saved. Though people may be reluctant to tell about their mistakes and failures, these stories are no less instructive and interesting for the industry than the successful ones, particularly about how we can magically turn a failure into success.

This is maybe why the speech made at the Second CGDC by Jongpil Jung, Overall PD and Technical Art Director of NDOORS, was so popular! He told about the story of Atlantica.

NDOORS used to develop 2D games only. However, as 3D games were gaining popularity among the players, the company started thinking of producing one of them. The problem at that time was, the development team already in place was made up of 2D game developers. Can they successfully and easily switch to 3D? They did consider firing the old team and establishing a new 3D team but finally decided against it, as they believed that every developer at the company would qualify for the future work as long as proper training was done.

This is how they started developing their 3D game——Atlantica: as no one had any experience and was learning by doing, the outcome was tragic. They immediately concluded that no player would accept a game like that. Then confusion and bewilderment ruled the company: trust was dwindling in the team, some of the team members quit and there were even those who wanted to leave.

When everyone was busy suspecting that the choice they made was wrong, Jung spent his entire time doing cause analysis. He found that one of the causes for their difficulty was that planners were going too specific with the design, even including such small details as trinkets. However, as planners do not always have a good eye for beauty, their designs, after produced by the art staff, turned out to be unsightly. He therefore suggested in the revision plan that planners stick to such elements as the characters’ personality, occupation and disposition, not going into too many details.

The design and production work by the art staff was not free from problems either, who later were sent to receive further training. After that, their work indeed became much better.

Programming was another problem: still new with 3D games, those programmers who had been doing 2D failed to add enough effect to the game, including lighting and special effect.

However, with the time running, it would be very difficult to achieve all these revisions immediately. But he knew what he had to do: however difficult it was, he had to achieve as many visual improvements as possible, by making as few revisions or changes as possible. Finally he worked out a save plan: the team should first be reconsolidated and efficiency should be improved. He set up an internal BBS, on which every art designer needed to put what they had just finished for others to comment on. These were in pictures and notes were added to explain what they had in mind. His team leader or manager had to read and reply (according to him, this is especially important, because if there were no reply, then nobody would want to post anything or read what others posted). However, he added that in such public places as BBS, compliments and useful suggestions were preferred, while criticism could be left for private conversations. Everyone was required to stick to the end on their own designs until it was made perfect; free discussions were welcome, but not continuous quarrels. For the planners, he taught that they now had to work for both the art designers and programmers: at the present stage, the game did not need many changes in its system and way of playing it. In other words, we did not need many new plans; with the unsatisfactory visual effect we had now, planners needed to work with and for art design and programming, who would have a lot to do.

As there would be no time for the art designers to redo it or make great changes, he then instructed that revisions would be done in the following aspects:

1. revise art database for the main characters, including modeling and pictures.

2. add lighting to the scenes so that they would be truly three-dimensional and the colors would be brighter. This, of course, involves both programming and art design.

3. revise Map Editor. When designing and developing the Map Editor, consideration should also be given to whether the art designers would find it familiar and easy to use. It was found that art designers would react to what was edited (including modeling): if they find the Editor not handy, they would be in low spirits and find it hard to bring their potential into full play.

Another thing to be noted about this fantastic story is that though he made a revision plan for three months, the development team at first said that it would only take them two months. They actually spent four months on it. However, the revamped game turned out to be a huge success.

When looking at Atlantica today and the success it has gained, it is difficult to imagine that it was nearly killed before being put on the market. What Jung did in saving the project, of course, is even more fascinating and instructive to us than the game itself.

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