Name: Daniel Vega
Function: Art director
Location: Barcelona
“I’ve been working at GameHouse for a little over 6 years now. That says something about the work environment in our team: I’m super happy here.”
There’s never a dull moment at GameHouse. From nurturing a pre-released game to analyzing and improving games that are already live. But what is it like to work there? We asked Daniel Vega, Art Director for the live game Delicious World, working for GameHouse from the city of Barcelona.
“GameHouse is not super big, they’re not super famous, but they are super passionate about the things that they want to do!”
What do you do on a daily basis?
“Normally, I spend half of my time – or even: most of my time – coordinating the team. This would mean managing the team, giving feedback if necessary, checking if they need something, or helping them grow in 1-on-1 conversations. Furthermore, I’m checking with the other teams in the studio to make sure everything is working, and everything looks good. I’m coordinating with programmers and the design to be sure that everything is on track and we try to always plan the year ahead.”
“So a great part of my day is about management. Management of the team and a bit of production of the project, to make sure everything is looking good and on track. Then, let’s say almost a third of my time is spent working on the app. So I do the concept art of the restaurants in the game, and I work on the user interaction tool. Doing the concept art is like doing the sketch. This is finalised by the other artists because I don’t really have the time to work it out. I need to be managing and giving feedback on the artwork the team is creating, so I can’t spend my whole day drawing, unfortunately.”
How do you stay in touch with your colleagues?
We have frequent calls and I try to be in touch with everyone. I could also write to them to see how they are doing, and how the task is going. I try not to do it too much, because that would become annoying, but I do want to stay in touch with my team members. So every once in a while I check in”
“Sometimes we visit the office. I try to go more often. The good thing about GameHouse is that they are super open about working from home. This new reality that covid brought, has opened the eyes of the company to the possibilities of working from home. So they don’t want to change that too much. We are now deciding how we want to work when everything goes back to normal. Online, or in the office.”
He tries to find a balance: “I’m mixing going to the office – and all the benefits of being with my peers – with all the benefits of working from home.”
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
“For me, it’s super motivating to be creating the game,” says Daniel. In this case, Delicious World is a game that is already live, which brings different tasks than a game that is not yet released:
“It’s not a new game that needs to be released really soon. But for me, it is super motivating to be managing the team, helping them to improve the game, and deciding how the game will look and work. It’s about being part of my team! It’s a really awesome team, which I miss a lot now that we are separated.”
One of the big motivators is the project itself, Daniel adds, and the other part is the people he works with: “It’s super important to enjoy working with your team, and in this case, it’s one of the best!”
When do you feel like: ‘Yes! That’s a success!”?
Daniel thinks for a while. “When a new feature is added to the game that I’ve been involved with.” He says: “I start by creating the new visual, and it’s really great to see how the team takes ownership of the task and brings it to the next level. And once the feature is actually implemented in the game: that’s very nice.”
How did GameHouse help you grow/develop?
“They trust me a lot to be the lead artist. It helped me a lot to grow because I had to face things that I had never done before!”
What makes GameHouse awesome?
GameHouse is a really special place to work because it’s not the typical company for video games. It’s not super big, it’s not super famous, but they are super passionate about the things they do. GameHouse gives a lot of freedom to the team to create the game they want to create (with boundaries, of course). I think that this level of trust they give us is really special.”
“GameHouse is really easy going. It feels like an indie company in some ways. That’s super valuable to me. It’s difficult to find this kind of structure in the industry if you compare it to other big companies.”
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to work at GameHouse?
Daniel laughs: “A tip to be hired or something like that?”
Well, yeah, what should they bring?
“Ah! It’s important to be professional and to be good at your job, but the most important part (having that experience and skill) is that you are a nice person. It would be best to be fun, interact with other peers, be a team player, and be a people person. Or, if you are not a people person because you are a little shyer, at least be open to it. This is, in some ways, a family: we will be approaching you and will want to get to know you. So be open-minded and have fun with your teammates!”
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