Interview Game Designer - Jessica Covini

How would you define the job of game designer job at KT? Can you tell us more about your role at Kylotonn? 

Notre principale mission est de concevoir et structurer l’architecture globale du jeu pour qu’il soit cohérent et fonctionnel au moment de sa sortie, tout en restant amusant pour les joueurs. On parle d’un fonctionnement macro lorsque l’on s’intéresse aux principes de base du jeu, jusqu’au micro lorsque l’on entre dans les détails. Tout doit être réfléchi pour que cela ait un impact sur les joueurs. On conçoit un design de base qui évolue tout au long du projet pour le rendre le plus intéressant possible pour les différents profils de joueur, tout en respectant les contraintes de production qui évoluent au fur et à mesure. Nous touchons à tous les aspects du jeu, c’est donc nécessaire de bien connaître les autres métiers qui nous entourent. Il y a plusieurs types de Game designer. Par exemple, dans mon équipe, certains sont spécialisés sur l’aspect compétitif, d’autres se concentrent sur l’économie, l’artistique, la narration, le design des cinématiques…De mon côté je préfère le travail de la narration, mais je touche un peu a tout. J’apprécie le fait de pouvoir être polyvalente. 

Can you tell us about your background?

In high school I studied literature. After the baccalaureate* (*T.N: French high school diploma), I wanted to enter a design school, but the price of the formation was really high. So I decided to go study language in University, and I did a LEA (*T.N: French diploma in foreign languages) in English and Chinese. In my third year, I looked for video game schools that offered a shorter program, and I found Gamagora. I was able to do a one-year formation in level design. Afterwards, I went on to a master's degree in audiovisual and video games, specializing in interactive writing. It is as part of this formation that I did my final internship at Kylotonn. I was working on WRC 8 at the beginning, then WRC 9 and TT2 as QA. Finally, I switched back to game design for TDUSC. What's great is that I got to touch several jobs, and see several sides of game development. 

What do you like the most about your job? ?

I'm lucky enough to have a really great team on TDUSC. We don't all have the same experience levels, but it's a great opportunity because we don't see things the same way. We do a lot of thinking together, and in the end we always manage to move forward in one direction by learning from each other. It's a job where we need to share a lot in order to achieve the right result. We always need feedback and outside views. As game designers, we have technical restrictions but we also have space for creativity. The beginning of the creation of a project is always very rewarding. When our ideas become reality and are implemented in the final game, it's always a moment when we feel proud. In the end, game designers are a bit of a Swiss army knife, as we learn to adapt to many different subjects throughout a production, which is really very instructive. But my favorite part of my job is teamwork!

Tell us about your typical day?

We usually start the day with a daily meeting where we expose all the current issues and progress on our topics. We also review the background tasks, the new requirements, and what can be improved. I don't have a standard day, but generally I progress on my tasks until they are validated. I also exchange with the other departments to make sure that what we have designed is correctly implemented in the game. Depending on the feedback we receive, we also make changes and adjustments to our tasks until we get it right. 

What qualities do you consider essential for your job? 

Avant tout, il faut être ouvert d’esprit pour avoir du recul sur les retours de notre travail. Également, avoir des capacités d’adaptation et d’anticipation pour les contraintes techniques. Donc il faut principalement de la rigueur et de l’ organisation. Ce n’est pas toujours évident au début, il faut bien communiquer avec son équipe et ne pas hésiter à demander de l’aide.
Ce n’est pas une qualité en soi, mais connaître le vocabulaire et la base d’autres métiers fait gagner du temps à tout le monde. Puisqu’on travaille beaucoup ensemble, cela permet de comprendre les problématiques auxquelles ils vont faire face en implémentant nos idées.
En résumé, la chose la plus importante dans ce métier, c’est d’aimer le jeu vidéo, et d’apprécier transmettre sa passion et sa créativité !

What is your favorite project to work on?

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown! It's the biggest project I've ever worked on, and it's a project where you are very creative and you can bring your own touch to the game. It's very interesting, and then the project comes from almost nothing. We create it, we see it grow, it's kind of our baby!