Who am I?

My name is Yidi (pronounced like Edie). I am a passionate game designer and programmer. I'm currently pursuing my Master of Entertainment Technology degree at the Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University, and expect to graduate in May 2019.

I'm also remotely leading a small indie game company based in Hong Kong. We dedicate ourselves to crafting intrinsically fun games.

What do I do?

I make games. Sometimes also other interactive experiences. It's my dream to spend my life making games, and, I'm living my dream.

Beside games, I play the guitar, make handcrafts, swim, play badminton, and travel.

What's my design philosophy?

1. Games are art.

I'm an advocate for "Games are art". Part of it is because games can be visually and aurally stunning, but more importantly, the interactivity in games makes them stand out from other art forms. Mechanics are the most powerful way to invoke emotions and inspire people.

2. Designs serve goals.

Each game should has its major goals it wants to achieve and each single design decision should be made to better serve the goals. It's a good way to prevent designs from going too far.

3. Feedbacks. And more feedbacks.

Strong and rich feedbacks are the key to immersive experiences. I try to give as rich feedbacks as possible for each interaction. They can be visual, aural, or even tactile when possible. Interactions without rich feedback should not exist in games (unless they are conscious decisions that serve certain design goals).

4. Iterations are the key.

Each game should start small as a prototype and grow through iterations. There is more than once when I started from a small prototype, playtest it, iterate on it, and finally build something really cool. And there is more than once when playtesters saved my design.