YLANDS

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CONTENT SPECIALIST

I joined Ylands looking for a way to test myself in the “big leagues”. Bohemia Interactive is the largest gaming studio in the Czech Republic, so I applied there with my usual go big or go home attitude and managed to get the job.

Ylands is a hybrid live service game. On one hand it’s a survival game set in a procedurally generated world and on the other it’s a Roblox-esque content platform. My role when I joined was to manage content created by the players and to be their helper and advocate within the studio.

I had to quickly figure out how such a large company with multiple teams, offices and massive partners operates. My role required quick adaptation, since I went from strictly 2d projects with production cycles of a few months to a massive Unity based 3d game that has already been in the making for years. I had to learn how to work within Unity and the amazingly complex in-game editor as fast as I could to help players make their own games and to create marketing content.

Despite how overwhelming the beginning was, it was also incredibly valuable. In a few months I could navigate the large scale project, create my own small games and see what could be improved. The in-game editor also gave me good insight into Unity and the technical aspects of game development in general.

Biggest Challenge
Addressing community concerns. Working on a live game in a position that faces the community is tough. The dialogue between the players and developers is constant and sometimes negative, so I had to grow thick skin and learn how to be more active with my communication to navigate it.

Biggest Achievement
Being a part of the community events. I helped with creating the concept for the first creators competition and the Easter event and seeing how these projects come together in a large team focused on developing a live game was a great lesson that helped me in my next role.

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PRODUCER

A few months into my tenure at Bohemia I was informed that the team’s leadership was going through changes and they need to fill a producer role. The situation seemed like a déjà-vu, because it mirrored my previous position at Lipa Learning. I accepted and got to work.

Another difficult learning-curve ensued. Managing Ylands was a huge responsibility, especially during the pandemic. I had to figure out how to work in tandem with producers from other Bohemia teams and balance the demands from the leadership, the community, and Bohemia’s massive partners.

My number one priority was to establish better communication between teams. I set up new stand up meetings right away and I created a new Confluence home page for Ylands for better transparency. I wanted every member of the whole company to be able to open one page and immediately be able to see what was happening on the project without needing to message people and ask the same questions repeatedly. I also created a new roadmap as fast as I could in collaboration with other producers. Once the consolidation of information was done, I focused on maintaining a singular vision of the project and delivering updates.

Biggest Challenge
The never-ending cycle of a living game. Planning and maintaining production on a project that is supposed to continue for many years was difficult. I had to switch my mindset from “how can we deliver this in the best shape possible” to “how can we deliver this without sabotaging future growth”. Maintaining momentum was far more important than publishing an amazing piece of content and my approach had to reflect that.

Biggest Achievement
Implementing changes on a very tight schedule. Putting the new roadmap and processes in place within a few weeks gave me a lot of confidence going forward, because I knew I could get things done even on a large and very complicated project.

I can’t show examples of internal work, so here’s a link to one of the updates I worked on.