Interactive
GAME DEVELOPMENT HIGH 5 GAMES
High 5 Games: design High risk - high reward
High 5 Games has experienced strong commercial growth in the RMG online and mobile market in the previous 12 months, with its games now live with a host of operators across the globe
In this exclusive interview with G3, the company’s Vice President Creative, Tom Ang, talks us through the design and development process of its games and why they’re making a big impact in the European market.
What’s your background in game design and how did you become involved in the industry?
Tom Ang Vice President Creative, High 5 Games
Our Innovation team keeps an eye on the top performers and trends. We try to identify underserved areas or open opportunities to deliver on new designs. Projects can originate from a math concept or from a particular feature/mechanic or even from a narrative theme.
P162 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
My background was rooted in early interactive video game production. During the 16-Bit console era of SNES and Sega Genesis, I was a Production Artist, then Lead Artist, followed by Art Director. Over two decades later, I’ve been involved in various platforms and game types (side-scroller, FPS, RPG, MMORPG). Seven years ago, I joined High 5 Games (H5G) and became involved in the gaming industry, bringing over my wide and varied experience from AAA and handheld game production, and dove into RMG designs.
How do you prepare for the concept meetings? What research do you undertake before you discuss potential concepts?
Our Innovation team keeps an eye on the top performers and trends. We try to identify underserved areas or open opportunities to deliver on new designs. Projects can originate from a math concept or from a particular feature/mechanic or even from a narrative theme.
At the concept stage, who is in the room? Does everybody involved in game design, from the artistic team through to sound design, have an input and what are their roles in the meeting?
At the concept stage, involvement and contribution can come from a small core group or the entire innovation group at H5G. A key factor is that during the prototype phase, the project is visible and accessible to the innovation group as a whole, and individuals can and are encouraged to comment. Roles become concrete when a prototype transitions into production mode.
G3: How is the style and subject of a game determined? Is it a case of working to a particular brief or letting the team’s creative juices flow?
During the prototype phase, the intent is for the features, mechanics, and presentation of the design to come through with a generic set of assets; agnostic to style and subject. But sometimes style and subject become unavoidably enmeshed because of a natural fit to the design. In some cases, style and subject can motivate and propel design direction. Te core team collectively brainstorms styles and subjects per prototype. Individuals come with ideas, but riffing on the collective contributions pushes ideas into unexpected directions. A cursory brief is created for the top handful of ideas (via vote with core group). Te briefs are then presented to the various company-wide stakeholders. Te winning theme goes into production.
How many concepts progress beyond the drawing board and how are these whittled down? How much do ideas that don’t make it out of the door influence the final game?
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