Chapter 50
Chapter 50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Interview (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Good morning.”
“Oh, you’re here, PD.”
“Hello.”
The following Monday, I arrived at the office with a nervous heart.
You might wonder what I had to be nervous about, especially after the prototype was approved, but…
‘Hoo… I wonder how many résumés we've received.’
Last week, after the prototype’s approval, we officially posted the job openings for our team, ‘Christian’.
Five graphic artists, two programmers.
It’s so hard to find good talent these days that it was doubtful whether we could even fill all these positions.
The number of applicants we received over the first weekend would give me a rough idea of how the rest of the hiring process would go.
As soon as I sat down, I logged into GameJob—a recruitment platform for the game industry—using the ID the HR team gave me.
And then…
“What… what is this?”
My eyes widened at the list of applicants displayed on the screen.
‘It looks like there are well over eighty people, at least.’
Considering the application window had been open for less than a week, it was an unbelievable number.
Moreover… we’d only posted openings for art and programming, but there were also a few résumés for planning.
I took a deep breath and began to slowly go through the résumés one by one.
‘Their experience levels are so varied. From fresh graduates to people with ten years of experience…’
It was a strange feeling, thinking that so many different people had applied for my project.
I started meticulously reading each cover letter.
[I wanted to make a meaningful game. During that time, Forgotten Andersen's Story moved me…]
[Watching the discussion between Coby Fox and Christian made me feel that things could change.]
[I wanted to find an opportunity to create the kind of games I dreamed of as a child.]
[I know you're not hiring for planning, but if given the chance, I'm prepared to pour my soul into the project…]
Surprisingly, many people seemed more interested in my project than in just joining NB Soft itself.
This was one of the top five companies in the industry… It was strange to see this kind of reaction.
They all said something similar.
The dream of making a game they could be proud of, a game they wanted to create—they wanted to achieve that on this team.
I knew exactly how that felt, so I couldn't take their words lightly.
‘I have to review these as thoroughly as possible.’
Wanting to repay their passion, I read each résumé as carefully as I could.
I didn't stop there. I opened Excel, scored each applicant, and added my personal comments on their cover letters and portfolios.
Even… for the planning positions we weren't even hiring for.
[I believe you have a good attitude toward games. However, while your fundamental skills seem excellent, it was difficult to find parts of your attached portfolio that align with this project, which made it hard to specifically assess your professional capabilities. We won't be able to work together this time, but I hope you continue to make great games as you advance in the industry. Thank you.]
[The direction and quality of your portfolio are excellent, and we've determined that you have a strong understanding of games, which is crucial for collaborating with other departments. Your potential for future growth is promising, and your unique style is also a positive…]
Thinking of the effort the applicants must have put into their résumés, I wrote my comments as meticulously as possible.
I chose my words carefully, phrasing things as politely as I could without distorting the actual meaning.
‘When applications close, I'll send these comments along with the acceptance or rejection notices.’
Most game companies often don't even bother to inform applicants whether they've been accepted or rejected.
You were lucky if they at least sent an acceptance email; many would just drag things out, stringing you along before sending a generic, automated response.
But since the game I was making was about dreams, I didn't want to do that.
‘For some people, just joining this team, or this company called NB Soft, might be a dream in itself.’
I didn't want to hurt people who were chasing their dreams, and as the face of this team, I needed to be careful with my words and actions.
I believe that hiring is one of the most important responsibilities of a PD, so I had no intention of cutting corners.
I'd seen too many problems arise from other PDs or executives making bad hires.
I don't know how much time passed…
“PD-nim, let's go get lunch.”
“Ah, I'm a bit busy today. You two go ahead without me.”
I skipped lunch and quickly reviewed the résumés and portfolios.
I had to finish the first round of reviews quickly so I could pass them on to Jeong Yosep and Heo Yuri.
I wanted to meet these talented and passionate applicants as soon as possible, not a minute or a second later.
‘I’m done.’
At 5:15 PM, I finally finished reviewing all the résumés.
I leaned back for a moment, slumping into my chair.
My eyes fell upon what… used to be an iced americano on my desk.
I'd bought it this morning and forgotten to drink it. The ice had melted, leaving it bland and watered down.
I sipped it slowly, cooling my head for a moment.
‘This is so hectic. Being a PD is no joke.’
After resting for a few minutes…
“PD-nim, do you have a moment?”
“Hm…?”
I turned my head to see Daeri Jeong Yosep standing there, looking at me.
“Ah, yes, I do. What is it?”
“I did some R&D on the artwork in my spare time, and I was hoping you could take a look.”
“Oh, yes. I'll come see it right now.”
I immediately got up and went over to Daeri Jeong Yosep's desk.
Daeri Heo Yuri, her arms crossed, watched us from a step away with a tense expression.
On the screen was a character illustration drawn by Daeri Yuri.
“This is before applying the plugin I made.”
He pressed the play button, and the character illustration moved slightly.
It seemed he had used the Spine tool, which adds a skeleton to a 2D image to animate it.
The quality was a bit lower compared to full-frame animation, but it had many other advantages.
It drastically reduces file size and work time, and using the tool and managing prefabs is relatively simple.
It's a perfect method for small-scale projects.
Most of the games you see on Cogle Play, where 2D images move like paper dolls, use Spine.
“And this is with the plugin applied.”
Daeri Yosep changed the settings slightly and pressed the play button in Unity.
And then…
“Ooh, that looks pretty good. What method is this?”
Whenever the character moved, the rough texture of acrylic paint was overlaid on top.
It was a similar, strange effect to what I'd seen in ‘Loving Vincent’, the film that depicted Van Gogh's life through oil painting animation.
“It’s a method that outputs by overlapping eight panels, applying alpha values shaped like brushstrokes between them, and then adjusting each panel's opacity by cross-fading them in and out. When a character performs a certain action, we can create a preset for each action and apply that.”
‘…That's a great idea.’
Having dabbled in solo development myself, I'd at least used tools like GameMaker and Unity.
Because of that, I could understand the basic principle behind the method Daeri Jeong Yosep was demonstrating.
It was an idea most people wouldn't have even thought of.
‘This guy… he's not just good, he's a genius.’
This wasn't just a matter of being good at programming.
It meant he had a deep understanding of art, enough to design visual tricks that would show people the optimal artwork.
Without a doubt… Daeri Jeong Yosep was exactly the talent I needed.
“Uh… what you just said… was that Korean?”
Just then, Daeri Heo Yuri, who had been watching from behind, made a bewildered face.
An expression that said she hadn't understood a single word.
Well… even I had to admit the terms Daeri Yosep used weren't simple.
I translated it into language more suitable for a graphic artist.
“Basically, he's layering a bunch of panels with holes shaped like brushstrokes and then turning them on and off to create that effect.”
“Ahhh! I get it. So you're turning layers on and off?”
“Yes, that's right.”
I turned back to Daeri Jeong Yosep and asked him a question.
“But if you're constantly turning panels on and off, will there be any optimization issues?”
“The panels themselves are loaded all at once, and we're just repeatedly adjusting the opacity, so there shouldn't be much of a performance load.”
“That's good. You said you had a few other methods besides this one, right?”
“Yes, yes. I'll implement those as quickly as possible and show them to you.”
Daeri Jeong Yosep replied, full of confidence.
Judging by his expression and what he'd shown me so far, he was sure to produce something satisfactory.
As the conversation was winding down, I looked at the two of them and spoke.
“Ah, and I'll be sharing all the résumés we've received today with both of you.”
“Uh… the résumés? You've already reviewed all of them?”
“Yes, I want to move things along as quickly as possible. I'll pass along my comments and the template I used, so I'd appreciate it if you could both review them and add your own by the end of the day tomorrow.”
“Hoo… Understood. Reviewing résumés, that's nerve-wracking.”
“Ah, and there's something else I wanted to ask you two.”
Both of them tilted their heads at the same time.
“Originally, I was only planning to show the applicants the prototype during the interviews… but would it be okay to show them the plugin Daeri Yosep just demonstrated, and the concept art and animation Daeri Yuri created, during the first round of interviews? I think it would be a good way to clearly show them our project's vision and draw out a more in-depth conversation.”
“Ah, of course. If it's okay with you, PD-nim, then I'm fine with it.”
“I'm fine with it too!”
And so, preparations to welcome our new team members were proceeding smoothly.
****
“Hoo, I'm so nervous I could die, being on the interviewing side.”
“Same here… I never dreamed I'd be in this position with a Daeri title.”
“Don't worry. Everyone has a first time for everything. Besides, you two will be Gwajang starting next week, won't you?”
In a conference room on the same floor as our office, all of our team members sat in a row on one side.
The first round of interviews was scheduled to run from 11 AM to 7 PM today.
It was a bit frustrating not to be able to work, but it was unavoidable.
‘Hoo… I hope we get a lot of good people.’
I was anxious to get the team members hired as quickly as possible.
Now that I was actually doing it, I realized it was quite an energy-draining task.
After the three of us reviewed the résumés, we spent more than half a day in meetings just to select the candidates for the first round of interviews.
Not only did it take a lot of time, but the selection process itself was also extremely meticulous.
By the time we were done, all three of us were so exhausted we had to take a short break.
‘We were so picky, so there should be some decent people.’
Five for the art department, two for the programming department.
I sincerely hoped that among them, we'd find people who were not only skilled but also good-natured, so we could finish hiring quickly.
A moment later…
“Hello.”
The first interviewee entered the room.
He was a man who had applied for the UI designer position in the graphics team.
He had three years of experience, had previously released an idle game at a startup, and apparently applied to our team right after that.
Dressed in a suit with his hair neatly combed back, he made a decent first impression.
I slowly flipped through the résumé he had submitted before delivering my prepared lines.
“Mr. Kim Ho, first of all, I am Jo Hyunsoo, the PD of the project you've applied for. To your right is Daeri Heo Yuri, and to your left is Daeri Jeong Yosep. They are currently the heads of the art and programming teams, respectively, and you will be working with them should you join us.”
We bowed our heads lightly in greeting.
“Before we begin the interview, we'd like to show you a few things we've prepared.”
Using the laptop connected to the wall screen, I displayed the artworks Daeri Yuri had created, one by one.
Each time, Mr. Kim Ho would let out a low sound of admiration and nod his head.
The job posting had only described our project's goal with the rather abstract phrase ‘Western painting style’.
Therefore, seeing these concrete images would surely leave a different impression.
“First, what you have just seen is the artistic direction for our project, Pass On Dream. We would like to conduct an in-depth interview, comparing this with the portfolio you submitted, to discuss how you, Mr. Kim Ho, would align your work with this style.”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
The applicant seemed a little frozen; his voice trembled slightly.
It was probably because, unlike a typical interview, we had skipped the usual flow of asking about his motivation for applying, personal details, and so on.
But I didn't want to waste our precious time—or the applicant's—on such meaningless formalities.
I wanted this short time to be an opportunity to hear as much as possible about our project and to exchange ideas, to see what we each thought.
This wasn't about finding an obedient slave, but a colleague who would run toward a dream together with us.
“Please don't be too nervous. Just feel free to share your thoughts and opinions, Mr. Kim Ho.”
I said to Mr. Kim Ho with a gentle smile.