Internship report · 2018. 8. 29. · Quentin Delplace Internship Report GDA2 4 COMPAGNY DETAILS...

INTERNSHIP REPORT

Eugen Systems

By Quentin Delplace, GDA2

5th November, 2016

Quentin Delplace Internship Report GDA2

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CONTENTS

Internship Overview ........................................................................................... 3

Compagny details ............................................................................................... 4

My role in the compagny ................................................................................... 4

Details on the mentor ........................................................................................ 4

What did I work on? ........................................................................................... 5

My interaction with the team, the management and other departments ........ 12

What went right, what went wrong, what I’ve learnt? ..................................... 13

Which software did I used? .............................................................................. 14

Would I suggest this compagny to another student? ....................................... 16

What are my plans now? .................................................................................. 17


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INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW

Student Name: Quentin Delplace

Student Class: Game Design Advance 2

Company Name: Eugen Systems

Company Location: Paris, France

Mentor: Alexis Le Dressay, Co-Founder & Co-director

Salary: €550

Internship Duration: 5 months and a half

Starting Date: 18th July, 2016

Ending date: 31st December, 2016

Official Position: Assistant Producer

Effective Position: Assistant Producer

UI Designer

Game / Creative Designer

Sound Designer


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COMPAGNY DETAILS

Eugen Systems was founded in 2000 by two brothers: Alexis and Cédric Le

Dressay. From the beginning, they wanted to make the best RTS and tactical

games. Located at the centre of Paris in the 2nd arrondissement (at 5 minutes by

foot of Notre Dame de Paris), the studio is quite large and employ currently near

60 people.

MY ROLE IN THE COMPAGNY

During my interview to become Intern Assistant Producer, I’ve been

warned that my tasks would not be limited to the management of the production

team. Thus, I had to work as UI designer as well, to make some target render of

the interface, and to work as Sound Designer to prepare and integrate some

acknows in our different productions. I also had to take part into other projects

in pre-production as Game Designer (for the content, the creation of the lore,

the historical research, the mechanisms and features).

DETAILS ON THE MENTOR

I had two different mentor:

- Romain Ginocchio: He was my tutor for the first three months of my

internship before he found another job in another Parisian studio. He

worked previously for Ubisoft for a few years and he has been working for

Eugen Systems for 4 years.

- Alexis Le Dressay: co-founder of the studio with his brother in 2000 and

creative director, he used to be an architect before turning to the video

game industry. At first, he thought he would be able to keep his architect

office as well as making video games, but development appeared to be

too time-consuming. Former FPS big player, he finally stopped it to focus

on 4X and RTS games. Very demanding and rigorous, it’s not always easy

to work with him but he is very insightful.


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WHAT DID I WORK ON?

- Project 1 (codename). This project has been in pre-production for many

years. Eugen Systems tries to create a new sort of game, something

different from their previous RTS and tactical games. I was assistant

producer, creative designer and IU designer for this project.

- Project 2 (codename). This is an adaptation of their previous success: the

tactical game “Wargame” during another time period. I was assistant

producer, UI designer and QA tester.

- Wargame Red Dragon: Israel, Yugoslavia, Finland extensions and the 10

vs 10 map “Russian Roulette”. Those projects are the end of a series of

Nation Pack extensions designed for Wargame Red Dragon. The nations

were designed after a survey made with the players. I was assistant

producer, sound designer, assistant marketing (very briefly) and also QA

Tester on this project.

Project 1

What were my roles?

- Assistant Producer

- UI designer

- Creative designer

What did I do?

- Research on historical topics: for the sake of the project, I had to perform

some historical research about several topics like the relations between

the religious and the civilian society over a certain period of History, myths


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and legends from all around the world… in order to create a frame for the

story and some quests. I also had to gather information about the context

of insecurity (causes, consequences), the heroic figures and nationalisms,

the territorial repartition, size and scale, of some regions in western

countries in order to suggest and create new mechanisms for the

prototype. Since I have a bachelor degree in History I can tell that this work

wasn’t a problem for me: I already had some pretty solid basis and I could

quickly go further with my investigations.

- Benchmark: I had to test several games in order to evaluate the strengths

and the weaknesses of our competitors. But since I’d been playing most

of them for a while, yet again, I already had a sharp vision regarding these

analyses.

- Create icons and assets. I participated in the prototyping with game

designers since this project hadn’t a lot of resources dedicated to. I had to

write several specifications in the wiki of the project and with the help of

Julien Guéguen about the final interface. In the meantime, while the

prototype was still using a former interface, I worked on its relooking and

implementation in the prototype.

- Bug report and control of the bug fixing: this part was half QA, half

production. I tested the mechanisms set by the game designers and

reported bugs but also gave feedbacks on the balancing, level design and

game concept. Using the bug tracking software JIRA, I followed, controlled

and validated the fixing of the bugs.

- Task allocation: after every meeting, I synthetized the path to follow and

created tasks in order to reach the goals we set. The tasks were sent to

the team leader who reassigned them to their team members.

What happened?

In October, the directors have set a test session with external consultants. We

knew that the prototype wasn’t ready because it mixed several genres and the

result was a bit piecemeal. I am now convinced that the direction we took wasn’t

a good one for two reasons:

- The engine used by Eugen Systems isn’t appropriate to create some types

of games. To my fair opinion, the Iriszoom (which allows Eugen Systems

to create very wide and detailed maps) system is almost exclusively useful

in the RTS / Tactical game genre.


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- The creative director didn’t have a precise idea about where he wanted

to take the concept to. He was too influenced by what he just played or

watched and could make us change in one day the hole approach that we

defined previously.

In the end, the consultants pointed out the problems of the project and it got

rebooted. However, I don’t think the creative director will follow their advice

when it comes to the reboot.

Project 2

What were my roles?

- QA Tester

- Assistant Producer (specs)

- Sound Designer

What did I do?

- Bug report and validation process in the fixes: I was part of the validation

process regarding the bug fixing. I had to learn to master the engine in

order to control how the IA strategic works and check the missions that

the IA launches to interact with the player.

- Planning the tests for the Strategic IA: Once I understood how the IA

strategic worked, I was asked to write down test plans to control if the

missions assigned to the IA were working properly. I had to describe step

by step how to set a test: from exporting an existing map with all the

elements required for the IA to act, to using the script editor to tell the IA

what to do. I also had to learn how to use the editor to observe in detail

how the IA does react.

- Writing specifications: by using the wiki of the studio (Confluence) I had

to write a very precise description of how the interface elements are

supposed to work (interaction, different screen, panel, filters, excel board,

etc.). This is, with the task that I present right below, the preliminary work

for the implementation.

- Creation of target render for the interface: Using assets created by the

artists and specifications previously written by the producers, I had to

create drafts of the different screens of the interface. These target render

were at the beginning very precise (dimension of the frames indicated in


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pixels, font used, color with references RGB (red, green, blue) and

percentage of opacity) but the development of a new tool made it easier

in the middle of my internship. Once the draft was ready I had to send it

to the artist who worked on the final version and finally its

implementation.

What happened?

In October, a new program was created by Eugen Systems using directly

Photoshop layers to create the interface. This great improvement simplified a lot

the task of the interface implementation. Moreover, it was not necessary

anymore to express the composition of the interface in pixels since it was

automatically handled by the program.

Wargame Red Dragon: Israel, Yugoslavia, Finland extensions and the 10 vs 10

map “Russian Roulette”

What were my roles?

- Assistant Producer

- Sound Designer

- Assistant Marketing

(very briefly)


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What did I do?

- Link between the studio and Willmyth the freelance sound designer:

when my first mentor left, I was in charge of the communication with the

freelance sound designer who previously worked on the original game and

other extensions. I wasn’t part of the negotiation concerning the cost of

his work (this part was still up to Cedric Le Dressay, brother of Alexis and

technical director of the studio) but I had to set the deadlines with him. I

also had a small role as sound designer: right before the launch of the

Israeli DLC we received some acknows registration destined to the

reservist of the Israeli army. By the way those registrations arrived late, I

had to reproduce the effect that the freelancer applied to the others and

integrate them in the game.

- Collect, check and cut sounds from Israeli, Finnish and Yugoslavian actors

and proceed to their implementation in the game. This task wasn’t the

most exciting but very interesting anyway since I could catch and learn

some words of Finnish, Serbian and Israeli language. I had more than 700

acknows contained in excel sheets to check. Every type of unit had 4 or 5

specific lines matching a specific state of the unit in the game (moving,

selected, attacking, etc.). For all of them we had a basic translation of what

the voice should say. My job was to compare the original English text, the

basic translation and what the actor were actually saying. The thing is we

actually hired people who were perfectly bilingual but still: some of them

actually had a military experience so it wasn’t always easy to validate a

line that was different from what was expected, even more when it comes

to specific military vocabulary and expressions. Once it was done I had to

convert the acknows in the proper format to be integrated in the game.

Sometime we used the advice of actual ex-military members for the acknows.

Preparing a newsletter addressed to all the Wargame: Red Dragon players. By

the end of October, our chief marketing was on holidays, so he left me

instructions to follows in order to prepare a newsletter introducing a new 10 vs

10 map for all the players. I had to manage the visual (following a template

created by the marketing team), the update of the mailing list (with the

developer who had access to it) and the sending of the email. Due to several

problems with the steam page we had to delay the sending but finally on the D-

Day I have sent this newsletter to more than 100 000 people.


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What happened?

In November, we had a twitch session to showcase the Yugoslavian faction of

the game. And, due to a delay in the delivery of the acknows, we had to integrate

them a few hours before the live on the internet. But when we launched the

game, it just kept crashing because of the acknows but we didn’t know why. It

was very stressful especially because we knew that our freelancer applied the

exact same effect that he did previously without causing any problem to the

former prototypes. It turned out that the problem came from the excessive size

of the audio files despite the fact that they had the right format. In the end, I

found a way to properly resize the files, integrate them 20 minutes before the

live and it finally worked.

MY INTERACTION WITH THE TEAM, THE MANAGEMENT

AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS

My interactions with the team outside the Production pole were quite

limited. Except from the lead Game Designer, the lead IA developer, the lead

artist, my mentor and his brother (the two co-founder), I barely spoke with other

developers and artists. Even if Eugen Systems organized several activities to

increase the cohesion among the teams (like Paintball and a diner for Christmas),

without counting all the parties after work to celebrate the departure of interns

and sometimes employees, it didn’t seem to be enough to get or feel really

integrated.


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Otherwise I had very pleasant relationships with them, always listening and

respecting each other. Even if sometimes working with passionate people about

war can be a bit disturbing. (Hearing them joking about what kind of tank was

built in which factory wasn’t exactly my best time in the studio since I was a bit

lost.)

WHAT WENT RIGHT, WHAT WENT WRONG, WHAT I’VE

LEARNT?

What went right?

- The learning process was well organized: I had all the documentation I

needed to be able to be efficient as quickly as possible. Since the studio

takes in a lot of interns, they need to have a solid documentation.

- Quickly in the loop: from my second day of internship I was well

integrated to the production and validation process. Participating at every

reunion on Project 1. I was free to give advice and share my feelings

regarding the project.

What went wrong?

- My first mentor quitted: after 2-3 months of internship, my mentor

announced me that he found a job in another studio and he was leaving

the company at the end of the month. So in total I only had 1 month and

a half of internship with him (since he went in holidays for 3 weeks).

- Unavailable mentor: Alexis is one of the CEO of the studio. So he has a lot

of tasks to deal with which are not related to production, but more

administrative. So he wasn’t always available to explain and moreover it

happened a lot that he had business to do outside the studio for entire

days. In these cases, I needed to rely on my colleagues to explain me things

that were not documented.


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- Not enough experience in managing a team: I didn’t have the chance to

really manage the team. Indeed, the direction does not delegate a lot the

management tasks even if they are always showing good will to teach.

What I’ve learnt?

- A clear insight about how a medium sized studio works.

- A better understanding of the stakes regarding the Producer’s job.

- The thrill, stress and satisfaction of releasing a new content and having

good reviews on steam.

WHICH SOFTWARE DID I USED?

Microsoft Word: to write drafts for the documentation, the

researches and save the bugs to be reported for fixing.

Microsoft Excel: I used this software especially for the sound

designer job.

Adobe Photoshop: I used this software for interface design and

target render. But also, to report graphic and level design bugs.

JIRA: Developed by Atlassian, a company that develop

softwares for team using Agile Methodology. One of the

advantage is that it can be linked with article written on the

wiki (Confluence) because it has been developed by the same

company. We were using JIRA to manage the entire

production pipeline.


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Confluence: Developed by Atlassian too, it can be linked to

the tasks created in JIRA. In this wiki, we could find all the

documentation about the engine and the specifications

regarding the different projects.

Logger: I think it was developed in house by Eugen Systems and make the

link between several programs but among them I only used two:

- Launchy: this program centralizes all the versions available of the

prototype allows the user to launch the selected version and to update it

to have all the work committed by the colleagues. The launcher allows the

user to activate or not the Editor. The editor gives access to the level editor

(for the maps and missions).

- Planneur (French): this program allows you to plan your days off and see

the days off planned by your colleagues.

SubVersioN (SVN): this software allows you to commit your work on the

prototype once it is finalized. All the version available are centralized by Launchy.

GamePlay Editor (GPE): this program centralizes all the data written in the game

design excel sheets.

Audacity: Freeware, audio editor and recorder. I used it to work on the

acknows for the DLC of Wargame Red Dragon.

Mattermost: chat for internal communication.

Mozilla Thunderbird: electronic mailing application, used to receive

updates about the tasks we worked on (feedback, modifications, re-

opening of the task, etc.). Thunderbird was also used for external

communication, especially with the freelancer I worked with.

FileZilla: FTP server used to exchange heavy files with the freelancer.


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WOULD I SUGGEST THIS COMPAGNY TO ANOTHER

STUDENT?

Yes, I would, but with some reservation.

Pros:

- The studio has a very respectable size. Which allows the employee to be a

part of a team large enough to know how a big company works. But not

large enough for everyone to be specialized in a single task and it allows

the employee to work and train different skills.

- The social advantages granted by the studio are quite attractive especially

for an internship: the stipend is higher than the average salary for an

intern in France. The company pays half the price of the pass which allows

unlimited travel in Paris and restaurant tickets.

- The studio recruits a lot of interns: maybe because it is less expensive than

an actual employee but it’s a real opportunity for someone who wants a

first experience in the video game industry.

- The studio has a very large documentation on how the tools work. For a

new employee there are dozens of pages that he needs to read,

understand and practice before he can actually do something that can be

integrated.

Cons:

- The tools used by the company are quite difficult to handle in the

beginning. Since their game engine is made in house, everything has to be

learned from the beginning and the ergonomic isn’t at all in their first

preoccupation. The whole set requires several weeks to be mastered.

- Difficulty from the creative direction to have a clear vision about projects

that the studio is not used to develop.


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WHAT ARE MY PLANS NOW?

From my two internships, the first one as Game Designer, the second one as

Producer, I preferred this last one.

I like having a global vision of the project and the fact that you are, as a Producer,

more likely to do various tasks in support.

Regarding the studio I wouldn’t mind to work in gamification and serious gaming

but I would prefer to be in a small / medium sized studio.

So, for the job I would definitely go for Producer.

Internship report · 2018. 8. 29. · Quentin Delplace Internship Report GDA2 4 COMPAGNY DETAILS...

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