After deciding on a general career direction, the next very practical question is: where should I start my career?
Right now, my plan is to go back to Shenzhen for work after graduation.
First of all, Shenzhen has a series of support policies for fresh graduates, including things like entrepreneurship, housing, and household registration. From the perspective of someone who has lived in many different cities, I feel Shenzhen is a very young and energetic place. China’s biggest game company, Tencent, also has its headquarters there.
Of course, besides Tencent, the Nanshan District of Shenzhen is home to all kinds of big and small game studios. I hope that in such a place, close to the core of the industry, I can quickly absorb mature development experience and make the transition from student to professional.
Working at a small company is also appealing in its own way, but my first choice is still Tencent. In recent years, Tencent has been pushing the “Bamboo Shoot Program” (“春笋计划”), setting up lots of small studios to incubate innovative projects. Joining one of these teams is my goal.
Their recent game “Lili’s Tiny Kingdom”（《粒粒的小人国》）has a style I’m very good at. I could work in that kind of team as a 3D modeler or animator.
“Lili’s Tiny Kingdom”
Besides “Lili’s Tiny Kingdom”, many other Chinese companies have released PVs for similar 3D casual games this year, which was a pleasant surprise for me. Before this, realistic “next-gen” style was generally the mainstream in China. I even spent some time learning ZBrush sculpting because of that. Fortunately, now I have more options that better fit my strengths.
Between realism and full-on cartoon style, there’s another company whose style I really like: Papergames (叠纸).
“Infinity Nikki”
Papergames’ “Infinity Nikki” was developed using UE5, which I’m familiar with. Also, their environment artist positions are among the few that explicitly welcome Blender users. If we only talk about software, Papergames is probably the company that best matches my skill set.
That’s roughly how I’m thinking about cities and companies for my future job.
Reference
Infinity Nikki Official Website – Side by side, the world unfolds in beauty