Krafton has a Producer Pathfinders Program, a game PD training course. It is a process of cultivating the necessary competencies for a game PD through a professional program. With the 3rd term recruiting ahead, we met Hwang Seon-il, who has completed the 2nd term and is currently leading the team as a Krafton PD, to hear the detailed story of how he became a PD. He described a game PD as a 'captain of the age of voyage'. Let's hear what kind of experience is required to become a game PD and what is different about Krafton's PD training process.
nice to meet you. Please introduce yourself to the blog readers.
Hello, my name is Seonil Hwang, and I have been working on the Pathfinders team since February of this year, and I am also leading a team that makes a strategy card game called Commander TF.
You have two teams, what do each do?
At Commander TF, as a PD, I oversee production and develop games according to our vision. I'm working to help you specifically design what to make and how long to make it, and make it along the way.
The Pathfinders team is working to build a community by sharing experiences gained during this production process, giving advice when concerns or concerns arise.
How did you get into the game industry?
I was originally from the Department of Electrical Engineering. I went to the army after finishing my freshman year, and I thought a lot about my career path in the army. I thought about what kind of work I could do to make it enjoyable, and I decided that making games was the best fit for me.
So, after being discharged from the military, I immediately transferred to the Department of Computer Engineering and participated in all kinds of game-related in-school and extra-curricular activities. I also participated in game production club activities, board game production club, and board game cafe rule manager activities. In the game production club, I led planning-related studies, and in the board game production club, I had a lot of experience making board games. We also participated in many competitions and Game Jams.
I had a lot of thoughts during this process. Since I had never been taught that토프리카 'games should be made like this', I was curious and thirsty about whether my current skills could work in practice. In the meantime, I learned about the curriculum of the Game Talent Institute through an acquaintance who graduated from the 1st class of the Game Talent Institute, and I entered the 2nd class because it seemed to be a good fit for me. After entering, I learned a lot through the 3-month project sex game production.
His history with board games is interesting. How did you get started?
It was a time when I wanted to try anything related to games. One of them was a part-time job at a board game cafe. I did it for 3 and a half years before I got a job. I decided that being familiar with board game systems and rules would be helpful in making games. At first, it was a part-time job, but later, I became a rule manager who taught me difficult games and watched me play. Even now, I think there are hundreds of board game rules that I know.
Do you think knowing board games well helps game development?
I think board games are in my DNA. However, I think this has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, since I've been playing board games for so long, it's natural to make rules for the game, and it's not difficult to predict how the game will develop. However, I think the disadvantage is that it can look a little hard because the user's position will not be like that. I think it's more difficult because I don't know what is the correct answer.
I heard that you also participated in a game development event called Game Jam. Are there any memorable anecdotes from game jams or contests?
I went to about 15 game jams as a student. To briefly explain the game jam, people who are interested in game development participate, form a team with developers on the spot, and develop a simple game in prototype form through all-night development from as short as 2 nights and 3 days to as long as 2 weeks. It is an event to watch.
At first, I couldn't even complete it, so my goal was to complete it. After completion, the goal was to win a prize. After participating, I tried to get 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places evenly. I think I did it about 10 times.
The most memorable thing was the experience of collecting about 5 of the best games from the game jam and submitting them to Smilegate STOVE as demo games. To mention one more thing, there was a time when a game that won second place was invited to the Busan Indie Connect Festival and exhibited. I think being prolific is my forte.
Why did you choose Krafton among many game companies?
Krafton was the only company that said they were 'raising' PDs. Ever since I thought I should walk the path of the game industry, and while working as a live planner at a previous game company, I always had a thirst to become a PD. However, in the current game industry, it takes at least 8 or 10 years to become a PD, whether it be a planner, programmer, or art. I thought I would regret it for the rest of my life if I missed it. So, I put my resume in the last Pathfinder 2nd class recruitment.
I wonder why you chose the job of PD.
I chose it because I wanted to oversee game production. To be honest, I didn't know what the PD job was exactly until I entered it. He was also the planner and programmer at game jams. Then later, I played a lot of roles as general manager, but after joining Krafton and working as a PD, I realized that my past experience was producing.
What kind of games do you usually enjoy?
My favorite is 'Sid Meier's Civilization'. That's why I usually do it the most. I also play and like 'Slay the Spire' a lot. I tend to like games that require a lot of thought instead of simple controls rather than games that involve tapping the keyboard or controlling a lot.
You became a PD through the Producer Pathfinder program last time. What did you learn the most?
To be honest, the biggest learning I learned was that the probability of 'success' for the idea or the rules of the game I thought of was not high. What I thought was something someone else had already thought of or might be on the market. While analyzing success stories, I learned that success in a game is not easy, seeing that a lot of things, whether it's luck or other factors, must come together to succeed.
I think I'm going to say this with a slightly less optimistic view, but I think PDs should have this view as well. There are always people on the team who can think optimistically, but as the head of production, you have to think the opposite way so that you can take care of things that you cannot take care of when you only think optimistically. I think it is the producer's job to deal with negative or pessimistic things in advance when they develop their own plans or designs with confidence.
To sum up, I realized that finding out what users want and which parts are currently empty is more difficult than I thought, and I realized that I had to look at various clues as a whole.
To say one more thing, I also learned that there is a difference in difficulty between existing projects and practice. Game jams and projects at the Game Talent Center didn't have much to worry about when gathering people. It's a form of getting people into a game that looks fun.
But when I came to Krafton and persuaded people, it was a different story. Approaching people who don't have to make games with me and persuading them to join me was much more difficult. The areas to pay attention to were completely different and wide. Going further and persuading the management was also very difficult, perhaps because it was an experience I had never had before. So, although I did a lot of things like persuasion and production supervision since my external activities, I think that the persuasion I did after coming here was the most difficult and the most raw.
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If there are any points that differentiate Krafton's Producer Pathfinder Program or boast, please introduce it.
I think the difference is that it is a PD training program that has never been done in the industry, and that it is a program that allows you to gain wisdom rather than knowledge. I think it is not the time to learn certain knowledge, but the realization and change click here of thinking. It was a time to grow with hard training and wisdom.
Recruitment for the 3rd class of the Producer Pathfinder Program is now starting. As an experienced person, what kind of capabilities, skills, and mindset would you like to apply for?
Speaking of skills, I think you need to know the basics of game production. Speaking of basic skills, at least I can make a prototype build by touching Unity or Unreal Engine. For the planning part, it would be good to know about the properties of the system, what a core loop is, and how mechanics work. In terms of art, I think it would be good if you can distinguish color differences, know how to see composition, and be able to see which art will suit a certain system.
Mindset believes that the most important thing is not to be afraid of failure. As you develop games, there may come a moment when your original values are broken. Even at that moment, rather than being discouraged, I think we need a strong mindset to get up and carry on again.
What if you think about Seonil Hwang's future goals within the Pathfinder team and personal goals as a PD?
My goal on the Pathfinder team is to contribute to a community where more meaningful opinions and insights can be shared. I think it's about maximizing our strengths. Our greatest strength is that we can share different perspectives and opinions.
As an analogy, let's say there's one in the Arctic, one in the Antarctic, and one in the desert. When everyone is asked, 'Which one is the hardest? In the desert, you need to drink plenty of water, and in the Antarctic or Arctic, you have to protect yourself from the cold. I think it's a process of sharing opinions that it would be better to move forward with a certain mind when a certain danger is encountered through such 'values that go through'. So, the goal is to share a lot of different but common values and perspectives.
My personal goal is to complete the strategy card game currently in development at Commander TF. I don't know how successful it is, but I hope it doesn't get buried without seeing the potential. Even if I fail, I want to go to the market and get evaluated and fail. Furthermore, I want to become a person with an attitude of being resolute in failure. That's why you constantly try, and believe that there will be success at the end of the attempt.