Yeo Ying Zhi is a game developer from Singapore with an immense passion to create games and interactive experiences. He enjoys working as a technical artist and has explored other forms of media, using game engines to create cinematics and other forms of immersive content. He started making his own games since 2013, both independently and in small teams. We talk to him about his development processes and his most recent project.
Check out their website – https://yyz291.wixsite.com/yeoyingzhi
Q: Give the readers a short introduction about yourself. What drove you to make games in your free time?
I really loved flash games and wanted to learn to make my own. So I started learning this thing called “ActionScript” and “Photoshop”, and that’s how the journey began.
I also went on to make Enchanted Heroes, and it was my first real game that got a million plays online. This was a huge motivation for me. This made me realise that making games that people wanted is something I could do! With Flash and game engines like Unity, I realised it was possible to make games with just yourself, without a huge team, if you knew how to create art and do programming.
Enchanted Heroes is a WebGL (HTML5) idle incremental RPG game. You play and upgrade 3 unique hero classes and their skills to fight endless wave of monsters.
Q: How do you decide on what game projects to pursue? Where do you get your ideas and inspirations?
It starts with me finding a game that I enjoy, yet lacking in some aspects that I wish it had. I think that’s a strong motivation for me to start building something.
Other times, it starts with me lying in bed at 3am, unable to sleep, and then I just think of some wacky ideas of things to make. This is how I came up with the idea of Havendock, a game I’m making. I couldn’t sleep and just imagined this peaceful place in the ocean that I wanted to visit. I got up and wrote it down and that’s how the game was conceptualised.
Q: In your website, you mentioned that you worked as a technical artist. What are some of the tasks that you do in that role?
Since I understand both the art and programming side of things, I think I act as a “bridge” between artists and programmers – programmers might not understand certain art-related terms necessary to make in-game lighting look good for example, and artists may not always understand that assets must be built in a certain way to work with the game engine. So I may help artists understand some of the technical guidelines to follow when creating assets and help programmers deal with art-related issues if something doesn’t display pleasantly.
At other times, I also find myself creating cinematics and cutscenes. This requires understanding of animation such as composition and colours while also working very closely with the game engine (e.g. by using tools like Cinemachine) to put together game trailers and cool-looking shots many times faster than traditional ways.
This is a scene designed with iconic landmarks from Singapore, such as the Singapore Flyer, the Marina Bay Sands and Changi airport. It has 4 different lighting settings.
Q: What advice would you give someone who also wants to be a technical artist?
I think everyone does things differently so even the advice I give might not work for others. However, I can share that what worked for me was just trying to build and publish my own games. This allowed me to understand the entire pipeline of how a game is pieced together.
It also had the added advantage of helping me understand how to publish games, which was helpful in my journey to be an indie game developer.
Q: What are your favourite games or examples of entertainment media?
My favourite game currently is Dyson Sphere Program. I like the automation aspect in it and how you start off by just chopping a tree to travelling through the galaxy to build a megastructure. Speaking of galaxies, I really love sci-fi in general, which probably explains why my game has Easter egg references to Star Wars. Whoops!
Ying Zhi made Unlikely Heroes to be a third-person tower defense, resource management game with exploration elements.
Q: What is your work environment like? Any quirks or interesting stories you would like to share about your working habits?
I don’t think this is something I’m proud of, but I used to wake up in the evenings and go to bed in the morning. For some reason I just am more productive at night. But this also means all my friends are asleep when I want to talk to them. Pros and cons!
Q: Let us talk about your games. What are some of your favourite projects and what have you been working on recently?
I like to draw so I started out with 2D games and creating pixel art. My first game was a story-driven 2D puzzle platformer. I also had a lot of fun developing Enchanted Heroes, an idle RPG game that combines the idle and RPG genre while adding a touch of story, which was something not commonly done at the time.
Then I discovered the world of 3D and discovered the joy of creating immersive environments. It helped me build Unlikely Heroes, a tower defense game. As I built more games, it helped me expand on the complexity of games I could build, which allowed me to build a variety of game genres.
Now I’m currently working on Havendock, a quirky colony sim which is due to be released in Early Access on April 20th. I’m wild with ideas for this game – you can grow burgers, have dancing Gandalf and befriend birds. You can check it out if it interests you.
Havendock is a chill, resource management, multiplayer game where you build a town in the middle of the ocean. Try to survive, grow food, and attract settlers.
Q: Looking forward, what is your ambition?
I want to keep experimenting with ideas and continue to make games that excite myself and others. I enjoy being an indie-game developer. I’m obviously biased but I think this is the coolest job in the world (haha).
On the side, I also want to find like-minded individuals to work with. Working as a solo developer is really tough and at times I wonder what having a strong team is like.
Red Hare Studios Games 