​​​​Johann Seys ​

Edge Of Eternity is a project originally kickstarted in 2015. There are earlier versions of the product first intended for mobile under the name I-Fantasy. The team has always been composed of very few members. I joined the team (composed of 7 members at my arrival) in 2017 as a gameplay programmer. However, I quickly realized that my tasks would not be limited to gameplay. Moreover, the release model of the game was very particular and required a great flexibility. Indeed, Edge Of Eternity was released in Early Access chapter by chapter. So we changed a lot our workflows in order to adapt to the growing demands of the chapters while solving the problems of the released chapters, due to major changes, regressions...

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My lead being also the boss of Midgar put a lot of emphasis on the fact that I had to dive into the code base as we went along because the project was already at a stage that would, 3 months later, become the early access version of the game in which the first playable chapter of the game appeared. My first tasks revolved around the turn-based combat system of the game whether it was:

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• The management of the hexagonal squares and what they could contain

• The interactive sceneries offering to the game an additional richness in the interactions and the strategy

• The basis of the functioning of the puzzles (interactions between the elements, states of the puzzle elements, ...)

• The states of the entities in the squares (Under cover, blocked, obstruction, ...)

• The battle dialogs

• Spell/skill creations

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It was not only about programming, I also participated a lot in the creative process and design. This led me to develop the AI and create the encouter design for some enemies and bosses of the game but also the design of 3 playable characters that are Ysoris, Fallon and Theia.

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The following is a non-exhaustive list of bosses and enemies I worked on  

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As said before, the chapter release required a lot of changes to existing features, either to improve them or to completely redesign them. This led me to work on the UI and the Tool. The UI being already in place and much too scripted, it was complicated to redo them entirely, so I preferred to embrace the existing logic to graft my improvements. I also had the opportunity to make some UI completely, especially the Teleportation UI and the Scan

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I also took the time to work on some tools and systems to automate or facilitate some tedious tasks for artists, animators or myself. Unity has the advantage of offering a tooling API that is extremely easy to use and quite powerful. It is thanks to this API that I have created some of the following tools:

• Generation of mesh impostors

• Map discovery via a shape drawer

• Collider generator to determine map boundaries

• Timeline to textbox converters

• Audio management of the game

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Over the years I have not only gained skills and confidence but also responsibilities. This is what led me to review my role and define it as a generalist programmer. I confirmed this by taking charge of the technical part of a chapter of the game. This is also due to the accumulation of tasks, bugs and necessities for further development. Moreover we had recruited interns to help us in the integration of quests and FX. Even if I wasn't their tutor, I strongly contributed to their training and I also took part in some recruitments.

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As with every project, it's obvious that looking back at it, there are things I would approach differently. Today, the whole team can attest to the fact that we were all amateurs when we started Edge Of Eternity. But this project was formative for many reasons. First of all for our respective skills, for my part I had the chance to take responsibilities and to gain hard and soft skills on tasks that I enjoy doing. We all made a common effort to adapt workflows, try different organizations, understand what went wrong, and learn from our mistakes. In the end Edge Of Eternity was released on PC and consoles and the fact that I was involved in the decision making process many times throughout the development is very rewarding.

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