Have you heard of Renegade X? The tactical shooter is a fan-made remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade, a spinoff from the real-time strategy Command & Conquer series from EA Games.
EA Games gave permission to Renegade X’s development team to set the game in the Command & Conquer universe. But that’s not what’s interesting about it. The Renegade X development team, Totem Arts, was established in 2006, but is not actually a company. Instead, Totem Arts is a group of freelancers, volunteers, and gamers.
Shahman Teh.
Malaysia’s Shahman Teh, based on Penang Island, is a part of this group, and has shared a little bit about how the collaboration worked out.
25-year-old Teh is a video game developer by training. Describing himself as “just a dude who can do programming and [is] able to think and analyze game design mechanics,” he submitted his application to Totem Arts back in October 2012. However, it wasn’t until nearly six months later that Totem Arts responded. At that time, the team was looking for a UI/UX designer who could also work on Autodesk Scaleform. This person had to love the original Renegade game. Teh was a fit, and was inducted into the team.
Teh’s role in Totem Arts was to get the user interface fully functional within the Unreal Development Kit through Scaleform integration. He also oversaw the game’s UI implementation and resolved feedback regarding UI with the rest of the team.
How things worked
However, fitting into the multinational Totem Arts was not easy for Teh, who claims he was inexperienced when he first joined. Since the majority of Totem Arts was based on the other side of the globe, Teh had to work within their timezone, even more so when milestones and the final launch drew nearer.
“Tying this with a day job is the hardest thing to do,” says Teh. He also acknowledges that everyone knew how important their role was, and when it came to crunch time, things simply had to get done no matter what.
Still, Teh reflects positively on his continuous experience working at Totem Arts. “It is definitely an eye-opening experience to be in a team that’s so active in development,” he says. Teh adds that the diversity of each team member’s role makes personal interaction interesting.
“At times, it was casual and fun with them, but there are tough times too, which you have to steel your heart indefinitely, and all that has paid off when we first released our public beta. No words can describe that feeling when you’re work has been mentioned in any game site, any developer, and Youtubers, it was amazing.”
Communication is paramount
Totem Arts is a remote team, and naturally, communication is everything. Teh says the team used Skype for daily discussions, and TeamSpeak for when they playtested builds. Every so often, Totem Arts would hold a team meeting – which he shares was tough since he usually had to be up at 3 am in order to participate. Still, he persevered and got online each time, because each meeting was important, especially so they would know where the product stood in development.
Totem Arts also used a tool for version control, which synced each developer’s work together. Teh says it allowed the team to know where its progress was, and motivated members to put more into each build. A forum was also set up for the team to communicate with fans and testers.
There was a lot that Teh, as a fledgling developer, learned from the team at Totem Arts. A notable lesson was what made up a strong team. Teh says that it’s steadfast belief, determination, effective communication inside and outside of the team, and proper versioning and project management tools that define a strong developer or team, indie and AAA alike.
What’s in it for Totem Arts?
Teh has never been paid for his work on Renegade X. And his situation is the same as the rest of his teammates’ at Totem Arts. No one is compensated for their time in any form, which means each person on the team is driven by passion alone.
This arrangement is part of the terms and conditions that EA Games offered Totem Arts, in exchange for letting them use the Command & Conquer: Renegade IP. Use the title and the universe, as long as you don’t profit off it. This is something that might put off many developers. Not Totem Arts.
Still, Teh says that Totem Arts has hopes that Renegade X can eventually be listed on Steam. The team is unable to do so without EA’s explicit permission, yet the EA licensing manager who can grant the favor has so far proven elusive. Teh asks that if anyone who knows how Totem Arts can get Renegade X onto Steam, or who knows who the team can speak to at EA, to get in touch! (This is the Totem Arts website.)
In the meantime, however, Totem Arts will continue to work on Renegade X until it feels “it’s time to wrap things up.” Then, Teh says, who knows? It might just continue to develop more games.
The gig in Totem Arts has already proven helpful for some team members, whom Teh says have gone on to find jobs in the video game industry. “I’m looking for my own big break someday,” he says. “Right now, working on this and other projects I picked up is good enough for me.”
Renegade X is free-to-play for PC.
See: This guy got sick of losing in Starcraft, so he made his own strategy game
This post Renegade X: A Malaysian developer on working with a team across the world appeared first on Tech in Asia.
Renegade X: A Malaysian developer on working with a team across the world
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