Iron Harvest

Summary

Iron Harvest is a real-time strategy game developed by KING Art Games, set in Jakub Różalski’s “World of 1920+” alternative universe where diesel-powered mechs dominate the landscapes and conflicts of Interwar-period Europe.

Responsibilities

I worked on the project throughout production and its post-launch phase, including its Kickstarter-exclusive DLC Iron Harvest: Rusviet Revolution. My primary responsibilities were:

  • Owned the design for various gameplay features and systems from concept to implementation such as proximity-based stealth, multiplayer ping communication, and Native Mode.

  • Iterated on the game’s multiplayer AI system together with the lead AI programmer to improve the player’s PvE experience across various difficulty levels.

  • Co-designed several gameplay features such as the game’s bark system and Reserve Picking system.

  • Supervised and co-directed VO recordings for character dialogue for cinematics and barks across multiple international recording studios.

Achievements

I initially joined KING Art Games as an intern within their new game design department, formed when Iron Harvest entered production.

With the core mechanics, systems, and assets already locked in during pre-production, I implemented and iterated on planned features, solved design problems and edge cases, as well as conceptualizing additional features that needed to be added based on feedback from players during the game’s closed alpha and public beta.

As the sole native English speaker on the team, I also took on additional responsibilities such as editing and writing dialogue for in-game cinematics and barks in conjunction with the lead writers. I subsequently supervised the recording of said dialogue across multiple studios in separate countries on behalf of the studio.

Results

After my internship, I was directly hired as an intermediate game designer to help ship the project and provide post-launch support for the game by developing quality-of-life improvements and fixing bugs based on player feedback.

This project was my first commercial title, teaching me what it took to ship a game across multiple platforms and provide post-launch support.

As a bonus, I also learned first-hand about other production pipelines not directly related to my work such as localization, console and age rating certification, and voiceover recording.