Passion Meets Judgement for Great Synergy! 2020-06-09

 

Smilegate Entertainment CF Live Development Studio created CROSSFIRE which is serviced in more than 80 countries around the world and has over 8 million simultaneous users. We met with Planning Team 2 who are creating a synergy effect in capturing users’ hearts through passion and judgement. 

 

[Interview] Smilegate Entertainment CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2

<(From the left) Smilegate Entertainment CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2 Chon Seon Park, Jung Hoon Han, Hyun Kyu Lee, Sung Hoon Kim, 

Seung Hwan Oh, Seok Hwan Choi, Tae Hee Kang, Seyoun Oh, CheolMin Kim, Jung Sun Min, Jongmin Kim> 

 

| Where CROSSFIRE’s diverse contents are born

CROSSFIRE’s popularity is partly due to its constantly updated diverse content. The realistic battle effects, unique special forces characters, hundreds of modes and maps, and weapons are born through planning at the planning office of CF Live Development Studio.

The planning team is divided into three teams. Planning Team 2 is in charge of in-game content, in-game system planning, and gun item development. Due to the nature of CROSSFIRE, gun items are very important. The most popular items are gun items which adds to the sense of responsibility and pride of Planning Team 2.

CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2, Team Leader Seyoun Oh says that he feels rewarded for his accomplishments as the season progresses. “In the past, we updated content for every version and worked on other content if it did not do well. We set a mid to long-term goal three to four years ago, to implement a season content called rank match system. We are already on our 12th update of it. It has become an anticipated content of the users and contributes to CROSSFIRE’s high share in the market”.

<CF Live Development Studio Team 2, Team Leader Seyoun Oh> 

| The secret to solid planning, extensive communication

Planning is in charge of the beginning and end of work. It solidifies ideas through constant planning, verification, and improvement. It collaborates with various departments to bring the project to life. It is also responsible for presenting the final results.

Team Leader Seyoun Oh says the important thing during planning is extensive communication, a strong suit of Planning Team 2. “We have various forms of discussions. If one person plans, the results will be of that caliber. We try to contemplate and communicate with each other a lot. Sometimes we even have heated arguments. This is possible because we know extensive communication leads to higher quality results”.

<CF Live Development Studio Team 2, Supervisor Seung Hwan Oh>

We asked other members of the team if they thought the same way. Supervisor Seung Hwan Oh says the atmosphere for communication was created through Team Leader Seyoun Oh’s effort.

“He tries hard to listen to our opinions. He is very considerate of the teammates, on and off the job. The team members are strongly-opinionated but he does a very good job mediating communication for great final results”.

<CF Live Development Studio Team 2, Deputy Director Chon Seon Park> 

Deputy Director Chon Seon Park also credits Team Leader Seyoun Oh for the atmosphere. “If he were to ignore our opinions, we would be less motivated to share them. However, he listens to all of our ideas and many of them actually get implemented. This allows for freedom of expressing our opinions”.

<(From the left) Smilegate Entertainment CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2, Supervisor Seung Hwan Oh, 

Team Leader Seyoun Oh, Part Leader Tae Hee Kang, Deputy Director Chon Seon Park> 

Planning Team 2 is able to marry together Team Leader Seyoun Oh’s leadership and communication between members to produce high quality content. Members are able to develop their capabilities in doing their parts. This allows for higher quality content in the future. It’s a positive cycle of development. 

| Planning with passion and judgement

When asked about the most important capability in game planning, the team replied , "passion". You have to have passion for games to develop interest and understand them to come up with good ideas. A passionate attitude is also needed when transforming ideas into outcomes. 

<Smilegate Entertainment CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2, Part Leader Tae Hee Kang> 

Part Leader Tae Hee Kang says judgement in addition to passion. "I think rational thinking training is necessary to develop judgment skills. It may be that I am a workaholic, but I'm used to thinking about whether my choices are reasonable and efficient. For example, when I visit a good restaurant, I ask myself, "How much flavor can I get from investing this much time and money? Is this the right choice to make or is there somewhere better?” Having such a mindset helps me a lot in planning”.

Planning is a series of judgments. The reason why content is planned through intense discussion and consideration is that the users judge the outcome. In order to satisfy as many users as possible, refined planning through rational judgment is key. We look forward to exciting content from CF Live Development Studio Planning Team 2 in the future.

* The following article was edited from Smilegate Group’s newsletter <Smile Tong>.