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Raymond Yan Q&A

by rawmeatcowboy
15 August 2006
GN 1.0 / 2.0

Raymond Yan, Senior Vice President of Operations for DigiPen Institute of Technology had a chat over at Camp Hyrule today as well, and reader Cmm sent the transcript my way. Cmm says he had a little bit of a connection issue, but almost all of the chat is there.

chs 01

RAYMOND_YAN: you need to understand physical science…things like momentum…
RAYMOND_YAN: velocity..
RAYMOND_YAN: you can also take computer programming classes…
RAYMOND_YAN: this will help you to see if you even like programming…
RAYMOND_YAN: for art
RAYMOND_YAN: drawing…
RAYMOND_YAN: more drawing…
RAYMOND_YAN: and…
RAYMOND_YAN: drawing
RAYMOND_YAN: learning to paint is awesome
RAYMOND_YAN: sculpting
RAYMOND_YAN: acting
RAYMOND_YAN: photography
RAYMOND_YAN: graphic design
RAYMOND_YAN: and…
RAYMOND_YAN: drawing
RAYMOND_YAN: did i mention drawing?

RAYMOND_YAN: and finally…
RAYMOND_YAN: i’m sure many of you are interested in game design
RAYMOND_YAN: we all have game ideas right?
RAYMOND_YAN: well..
RAYMOND_YAN: if this is your goal…to be the next miyamoto-san…
RAYMOND_YAN: you need to learn everything….both technical and creative….
RAYMOND_YAN: most designers typically start out as programmers…
RAYMOND_YAN: or artists..
RAYMOND_YAN: i’d certainly recommend going this route…
RAYMOND_YAN: if for no other reason….
RAYMOND_YAN: to be a good designer….
RAYMOND_YAN: you need to understand how a game is made…
RAYMOND_YAN: it takes much more than just having a good game idea…
RAYMOND_YAN: most of you have probably played games that weren’t all that great…
RAYMOND_YAN: in many instances…the reason the game is not that good is not that the idea is bad…but that the designer did not understand the structure of how a game is really put together.
SIRVENOM: How many years does one have to spend in Digipen for a good education in programming and production art?
RAYMOND_YAN: it really takes our students about 4 years…
RAYMOND_YAN: and…
RAYMOND_YAN: that’s for each discipline…in other words…
RAYMOND_YAN: they focus on either art…or programming over the four year period
NOA_ANDY: I have a question here about your experience in game development. Before I present it, can you please give a brief overview of some of the games you’ve worked on?
RAYMOND_YAN: well…
RAYMOND_YAN: before i joined digipen a few years back….
RAYMOND_YAN: i was the head of the art department at nintendo software technology….
RAYMOND_YAN: which is a first party development team located right next to digipen
RAYMOND_YAN: so…
RAYMOND_YAN: during my time with nst…
RAYMOND_YAN: i made a couple color gameboy games…
RAYMOND_YAN: one called “Crystalis” (RPG)
RAYMOND_YAN: another called “bionic commando” (adventure/platform)
RAYMOND_YAN: on the N64…
RAYMOND_YAN: i worked on a game called “Pokemon Puzzle League”
RAYMOND_YAN: another called “Ridge Racer 64″
RAYMOND_YAN: for the gamecube..
RAYMOND_YAN: i worked on a launch title for the system called “Waverace:Bluestorm”
RAYMOND_YAN: i was also involved with 1080 Avalance….
RAYMOND_YAN: and finally…
RAYMOND_YAN: i was on the original development team for a AGB game called “Mario vs. Donkey Kong”
NOA_ANDY: One word: Poliwhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl … Thank you for PPL. That’s one heck of a list! OK on to the question.
RAYMOND_YAN: lol
OF_DESTRUCTION: Hi! This is just a personal preference question. Given you used to work on the development of games, did you have more fun making games or do you enjoy teaching new students how to develop games more?
RAYMOND_YAN: that game still is one of my favs
RAYMOND_YAN: great question…
RAYMOND_YAN: why did i leave nst?
RAYMOND_YAN: i LOVED the job…
RAYMOND_YAN: i’ve been a gamer all my life
RAYMOND_YAN: i still have my game and watch’s
RAYMOND_YAN: anyhow…
RAYMOND_YAN: game development, particularly for companies that are tyring new things…
RAYMOND_YAN: is very difficult…
RAYMOND_YAN: very challenging…
RAYMOND_YAN: trying to come up with something new for the player…
RAYMOND_YAN: and..
RAYMOND_YAN: it ends up taking a LOT of time…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s not a 9-to-5 job…
RAYMOND_YAN: for me….
RAYMOND_YAN: i “grew up” a bit…
RAYMOND_YAN: got married…
RAYMOND_YAN: started to have kids…
RAYMOND_YAN: and then….
RAYMOND_YAN: realized that I was working all year…
RAYMOND_YAN: all day…
RAYMOND_YAN: with no time for my family
RAYMOND_YAN: so…
RAYMOND_YAN: making one of the most difficult choices in my career…
RAYMOND_YAN: i decided to leave…
RAYMOND_YAN: and join digipen
RAYMOND_YAN: where i get to still be involved somewhat…
RAYMOND_YAN: and where i can help future game developers get trained…
RAYMOND_YAN: so to answer your question…
RAYMOND_YAN: i really like both…though if i had to choose…
RAYMOND_YAN: i think i’d be right back at NST
RAYMOND_YAN: maybe when my kids grow up! ;)
REVOLATION: For the summer workshops, is their a certain age limit, What is the youngest age you can be to go to the summer workshop? Also will you be adding a Masters and PHD program for Computer engineers and Realtime interactie simulation degrees. Since currently there is only bachelor for those degree programs.
RAYMOND_YAN: for our workshops…
RAYMOND_YAN: the youngest is about 9 years old
RAYMOND_YAN: the oldest…up to around 18
RAYMOND_YAN: regarding the masters/phd question…
RAYMOND_YAN: we’re definitely moving in that direction
RAYMOND_YAN: when you look at how complicated today’s games are…
RAYMOND_YAN: there is a TON of material that we need to continue to learn…
RAYMOND_YAN: to research
RAYMOND_YAN: think about the artificial intelligence players want in a game….
RAYMOND_YAN: this is a big topic
RAYMOND_YAN: with lots of research left to do…
RAYMOND_YAN: so yes, i expect we’ll eventually offer that high level of degree
ILOVETOPLAYNESGAMES: Does digipen offer any scholarships, and if so how do you get them? I would love to go to Digipen, but my parents are worried about the money. What do you recommend?
RAYMOND_YAN: we’re starting to look at that and do offer some scholarships….
RAYMOND_YAN: we’re a private school…
RAYMOND_YAN: so everything we have is paid for by tuition
RAYMOND_YAN: i would expect that as we continue to grow (we’ll have about 800 students total this September)…
RAYMOND_YAN: more scholarship opportunities will c ome up
MIG31: Was there a game that influenced your choice of career? And if so, which one?
RAYMOND_YAN: oh man…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s wierd….
RAYMOND_YAN: i never thought as a kid i would grow up to make games…
RAYMOND_YAN: and especially game development with nintendo…
RAYMOND_YAN: but i’d have to say that Donkey Kong was what really got me hooked…
RAYMOND_YAN: it was like fate….
RAYMOND_YAN: playing donkey kong…burning my allowances at the arcade…
RAYMOND_YAN: and then many years later….
RAYMOND_YAN: sitting in japan…
RAYMOND_YAN: across the table from the man (miyamoto-san) who made this game….
RAYMOND_YAN: talking to him about the games we were making at nst…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s like being an animator…
RAYMOND_YAN: and meeting walt disney
NOA_ANDY: Great story.
NOA_ANDY: I think we have time for two more questions …
GAMEQBER: Hi Mr. Yan! How often do students graduate from Digipen and go straight to working with Nintendo?
RAYMOND_YAN: it is actually a minority of our students that go on to actually work for a nintendo team…
RAYMOND_YAN: that said…
RAYMOND_YAN: i’m pretty sure i can say that at least half the team at NST is made up of grads…
RAYMOND_YAN: so..
RAYMOND_YAN: if you REALLY want to work for Nintendo, we’re certainly a good option….
RAYMOND_YAN: no guarantees…
RAYMOND_YAN: and expect that Nintendo only wants the best….
RAYMOND_YAN: which is not easy at a school like ours
MOZZARELLA: What seperates DigiPen from other schools that offer classes in game design?
RAYMOND_YAN: hmm…
RAYMOND_YAN: i think it is important to understand the philosophy of what the different schools are offering…
RAYMOND_YAN: our philosophy is that we want our grads to be “creators of technology” and not just “users”…
RAYMOND_YAN: the best way to explain this would be to think of something like a word processor…
RAYMOND_YAN: they’re very easy to use…
RAYMOND_YAN: doesn’t take long to learn…
RAYMOND_YAN: but…
RAYMOND_YAN: if you do NOT know how to write….
RAYMOND_YAN: the word processor will not do anything to help you be a great novelist
RAYMOND_YAN: so…
RAYMOND_YAN: for programming…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s not about learning C++….or java…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s about understanding the math…the physics…the computer graphcis theory…
RAYMOND_YAN: for the artists…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s not about 3DS Max…or photoshop…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s about understanding good design…animation techniquest….color theory
RAYMOND_YAN: as a result…
RAYMOND_YAN: i think there are many good schools…
RAYMOND_YAN: it’s up to you to do the research to understand what the school is trying to do.
NOA_ANDY: That makes a lot of sense.
NOA_ANDY: So study up campers!
NOA_ANDY: Thank you so much for taking the time to visit Camp Hyrule. This was an extremely informative chat!
RAYMOND_YAN: my pleasure….
RAYMOND_YAN: good luck to you guys…
RAYMOND_YAN: hopefully we’ll see some of you at DigiPen…and if you want to check out our programs….
RAYMOND_YAN: or even better…
RAYMOND_YAN: play some of the student games…
RAYMOND_YAN: go to www.digipen.edu
NOA_ANDY: Thanks for the link!
RAYMOND_YAN: cya later!
NOA_ANDY: Thanks again!
NOA_ANDY: Chat with George Harrison, Nintendo’s Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications at 11:00am Pacific, Wednesday 8/16.