this is a day in the life of a Japanese
game designer
[Music]
this is shita 29 years old living in
this one LDK apartment in the heart of
Tokyo and he's just waking up for work
[Music]
he moved in five years ago specifically
because it was walking distance to work
but the office moved recently so now he
trains luckily in Japan it's typical for
most companies to pay for the train
commute
so right after earning a master's degree
in computer science at one of the top
schools in Japan at scuba University he
was hired immediately by the company he
works for today in Japan's gaming
industry but growing up his dream was
originally to become a chef and never
imagined what he would be doing today
but we'll get into that in just a bit
you wear makeup
oh when did you started
I guess he's motivated today
so for Tokyo standards a shooter lives
in a rather spacious apartment but says
he also prefers to keep things simple
apparently that goes for breakfast as
well
[Music]
since he was a kid she'd love creating
and Building Systems whether it was in
the kitchen with Legos at drawing or
even on his computer which ultimately
fueled his decision to study engineering
at a specialized seven-year hybrid high
school and University during this time
Keen to become a Creator in the I.T
industry he eventually discovered a
Creator's path in a game development
which we'll get to see today so we're
back with another day in the life this
one is going to be super fun I'm always
interested to see how game development
Works shoot this should be coming down
the train right now
good morning did you sleep well last
night
[Music]
directly connected to rapunzi station
his office is located inside of Tokyo
Midtown shooter works as a lead game
designer in Japanese game planner at
codopla one of the largest mobile game
developers in Japan popular for making
casual mobile games like Shiro Neko
project and Meow Meow Star Acres with
about 800 employees in their Tokyo
office their creative teams produce a
wide variety of mobile games that the
world can't seem to put down
oh I guess he's starting off this
morning with a healthy banana apparently
the company has an all-you-can-eat
policy so healthy
and today is a big day for him since the
game he's been working on for the last
few years is supposed to finally be
uploaded to the App Store but we'll see
if things go as planned yo that deck is
extremely small
wow what's the setting
that's so tiny so in typical Japanese
game development companies the job title
game designer is rare instead like in
Shooter's company only the job title of
game planner really exists though the
roles are more or less the same maybe
because in Japan the designer title is
thought of as a person who focuses more
on visual Aesthetics while a planner is
involved in the entire creation process
foreign
[Music]
level and course planner these days she
deletes a development team for the game
title Neko golf a realistic animated
style golf game where players can play
each other online it's one of the most
critical parts of the game as a course
planner most technically design and
imagine engaging courses that will key
players continue to attention it's part
of shoots his job to help guide this
process to ensure that the courses are
in line with the overall Games vision
[Music]
now shoot the moves on to another quick
meeting with FX designer
although the initial development cycle
for the game is complete and it's
scheduled for upload to the app store
today the team is far from stopping
development as they will continue to
improve the game by adding new features
play modes Etc while also fixing
reported bugs for as many years as the
game is popular
from here a meeting with the games
costume designer
as a Japanese game planner he's
continually in meetings as he needs to
project manage and help direct all the
various team members who designed and
develop the game to ensure that it's
produced as conceptualized and completed
on schedule and working in such a large
team it's crucial to communicate
constantly as small adjustments are
often required
so it looks like [ __ ] is going to be
here for just a little bit longer so
while he's doing that let's look around
and see what develops
wow there's just so much stuff look at
all of these books here so what's
interesting with all of the books on the
walls you can rent them out and a
company actually has their own rental
system right here that they develop
themselves in fact the complete library
is sped out through the entire office
and let's see what's going on over here
in addition to these vending machines
right here they have these Frozen
gourmet meals ready to go wow those
meals look rather balanced okay cool
let's see what's over here oh wow
[Music]
so check this out they have all of these
mobile devices they have phones they
have tablets and it looks like they even
have all the adopters right there that's
pretty convenient
okay so we're in the office area right
now let's go talk to that guy over there
excuse me what are you doing right now
oh really so what do you do um
cool what infrastructure do you use here
but you guys have maintenance right nice
nice he says that it's sad when users
can't play because of Maintenance so
they can figure the system in a way that
there is never any user downtime so how
long have you been with the company
so you're the only one on the team
well thanks to him and his team you can
literally play Forever
hi what are you doing right now
oh balls he is the programmer that codes
a golf Ball's Behavior like how it moves
to the air and how it bounces on
different surfaces do you need some sort
of science
backgrounds
oh so how long have you been with the
company
I see so what's the most challenging
part
um
hey the code is in English do you speak
also
in Japan it's typical for programmers to
use standard English code While most of
the comments and documentation are in
Japanese
[Applause]
now shoot is attending the weekly all
team project meeting for them to share
updates and report on their current work
progress
and it's confirmed the game will be
uploaded today
hmm where are they going
so what happens if you find bugs
the entire team plays together for about
an hour to make sure the final version
has no bugs before it gets released to
get to this point it's been a long seven
year stretch but shooter says that he's
enjoyed the journey working with such a
talented team from the coders to the
music composers he appreciates that they
could all come together to create one
beautiful game
foreign
[Music]
with some of his co-workers and I guess
they're all getting stuff from the
matsuya vending machine
[Music]
can I ask you some questions what do you
do
oh when's it coming out
what kind of game is
you're not gonna give me anything
so how long have you been working on
this project
well I guess I'm looking forward to your
new game what do you do
what game are you making sure
is there anything that's difficult
[Music]
sounds a bit stressful
at least after lunch they can chill a
bit and play some games together what
are you guys playing
did you help make it
shoots says that the key to being a
successful game planner is exposing
yourself to all kinds of entertainment
which of course includes different
styles of games anime manga movies even
theme parks the experiences he has and
the knowledge of those experiences are
reborn into the games he creates so as
part of his job to regularly seek out
new experiences
so in this game area I was actually kind
of wondering what's inside the boxes
below damn they've got an old school
famicom Wii Dreamcast and even a Zelda
controller
[Music]
shooter what are you doing now
by the way did you start as a game
planner
how was it when you just started
as a Japanese game planner it's
important to have strong management and
communication skills it's not enough to
be creative and come up with ideas but a
planner must also be able to organize
these ideas create proposals and
specification documents in order to
effectively communicate their ideas to
their team
plus it doesn't hurt that shoota even as
a kid has been comfortable speaking in
front of an audience
[Music]
oh he's using one of the test phones
although the company has simulators
sometimes the team needs to test and
verify bugs on physical phones luckily
the company has a wide range of phones
that they can use to thoroughly test
what's the emperor
testing sometimes must be like a kick in
the golf balls
foreign
apparently all employees get one free
massage per week which they usually use
working in Japanese game development
it's no surprise that the staff spend
many hours sitting at their desk in
front of their computer screens so the
company tries to promote healthier
habits and encourage them to take care
of their bodies as much as possible
so it looks like shoota is going to be
getting this massage for just a little
bit longer so while he's doing this
let's go putt around this place
[Music]
okay so we're just past the entrance
area here let's see what's going on over
here I think there's actually a meeting
room over here
hi oh
what are you two doing game no story
and what do you do
[Music]
is a mobile action RPG one of the
company's biggest titles produced eight
years ago now with over a hundred
million downloads and they were just
playing the game together to discuss
future plans how was it in the beginning
he says that when he first developed the
app many people internally who played
the game didn't think it would do well
but as a Creator he didn't allow that
deter him and was pleased when the game
became Ultra popular so what do you do
oh so you're the one who decides what
games get made how long have you been
with the company
so how was it back then
so what are you planning next
time
no doubt oh shoot is back at his desk
already are you going somewhere
okay everything is going to plan first
upload ever
compared to PC games mobile games must
be approved first by Google and apple
before it's available to the public so
uploading to the app store for review is
a last step just before it's finally
available for public download
for many playing the game they'll
probably never truly understand how much
time went into creating it but for
shooter and his team I'm sure there's a
great sense of accomplishment today
yeah finally done this evening shooter
has plans to go out with his co-workers
[Music]
so where are you guys headed to foreign
he says that they often go to an actual
golf course on the weekends but during
the week this is where they hang out
since the office is located in Roppongi
which is filled with all sorts of
entertainment they never have trouble
finding a place to go after work that's
one nice thing about working in one of
Tokyo's popular night spots
[Applause]
yeah
[Music]
so what do you do
all of you go out often
you brought your own golf club right you
must love golf
so what do you do
[Laughter]
so it looks like shita and his friends
are going to be here until nine o'clock
and then after that he'll go home
probably take a bath and then play some
games watch YouTube and then go to sleep
around probably midnight but that's
pretty much a day in the life of a
Japanese game planner if you guys like
this video help me out and hit that like
button if you guys want to see more
videos like this or anything related to
Japan hit that subscribe button on the
Bell button I'll catch you guys in the
next one